04 Plate Petrol Freelander

Just wondering what the general feeling was about the newer petrol Freelanders?

I'm considering an '04 1.8 petrol XEI which looks clean and tidy, drives OK, and has a clean MOT attached.

I've previously owned a petrol Freelander that was a complete nightmare with regards HGF.

This one has the newer hoses with remote thermostat.

Are these generally felt to be OK or should I avoid it?

its the same injun....... deep pockets, good luck or a spare car

Is this on its original gasket?
If not, were the other mods (oil rail, dowels, bolts) done at the same time?
They won't solve the issue but may mitigate it.
I'd have one, but not as my only car.

Post '01 ish they had changed the metal dowels, the engines were much more reliable, and then again I think it was in '03 they revised it further. I saw a stats page somewhere that showed the head gasket incidents fell off massively after the 01 changeover and went down to background noise on the final run after 03.

An '04 car should be far more reliable - but it's still a K series and needs to be looked after.

If it's cheaper than the equivalent diesel by at least £350 I'd go for it, then buy a SAIC gasket+rail kit, spend a weekend swapping it over and it'll run till the end of time quite faithfully. People don't seem to realise that once you get past the head gasket issue (which I'll admit can be a nightmare if you don't tackle it head on,) the K series is a very simple motor and will be far less twitchy than the TD4.

Pick of the bunch for reliability is still the L series in my book though.

I bought an 04 K series with 104,000 miles and 12 months MOT. Had to change the HG 2 months later and I recon it had been changed before. If you can change a head gasket yourself then so long as you pay cheap money (well under £1500) then go for it. If not then run.
I'd say it should be a grand cheaper than an equivalent TD4

What's a good gasket to use to replace the **** ones?
Attempting rebuild myself

If you are 100% certain the liners are level and approx 2 thou above the block and the head is perfect then mls or n series. Otherwise payne elastomer. It should be good for 40,000 to 70,000 miles if done properly. There are lots of stories of head gaskets failing every 10000 miles or less but these are the fault of the mechanic failing to find the cause or using cheap parts or not prepping the surfaces correctly.

The liners need to be proud, not level !!

Ok thanks guys

my wife has a 1800 petrol and has had it for 14 years she had the head gasket done about 6 years ago and the only thing that has hat to be done since is the water pump I thought it was going to be another head gasket as it kept loosing water but had a look and could see the water was coming from the water pump BUT not all 1800 engines are the same some have been mistreated so you pays your money and takes the chance .

freelance said:

The liners need to be proud, not level !!

Click to expand...

Level and proud.

Ok so i didn't say it very well but what MHM said is what I meant.

If you use a mls head gasket i'd go for the Victor Reinz it's a quality gasket, i've used this one without issue, stay away from the cheap gasket kits and you'll be fine.

Thanks for all the replies, folks. It's been offered as a swap (with 10 months MOT) for my old M-reg 300tdi that needs a bit of work doing to it for the MOT. The guy is keen as he wants something he can off-road and wants to fit a winch, etc, etc.

The Freelander is on a 54 plate and the engine looks clean and tidy. It has the new pipework with the remote thermostat so I'm assuming from what people have said that the other internals would have been done at the factory.

I had a '99 Freelander before and it was a nightmare. Although it had had the head gasket replaced by a garage before I got it, it failed again soon after. I replaced it but it went again so I diagnosed slipped liners and swapped it with a mechanic friend who had another go at it but eventually swapped it out for a diesel engine. I got a Rover 214 Cabriolet from him which also had the K-series engine but was as sweet as a nut to run.

Yep, avoid cheap gaskets like the plague...


Proper MLS gaskets work fine if the liners are flush, the proud thing is mainly people applying witchcraft analysis and failing cheap gaskets.
The one that people should really be using is the N series SAIC gasket, it's an incredibly solid piece of kit, feels a lot better to handle than the landrover MLS gasket. It has a different torque procedure and stronger bolts though so people need to be careful using it.

My wife and I both have 05 1.8 3 door Freelanders and she previously had a 1.4 Rover 45. All had their head gaskets changed once they were bought and have never had an ounce of trouble from them. I do not subscribe to the mob paranoia about K series head gaskets based upon my experience.

As said previously, if done correctly the head gasket should last around 70,000 miles but from my experience and what I have read they don't usually last much longer. I have a MGF which needed a new head gasket in an engine which was only 25,000 miles old (the engine had been replaced by the previous owner) and I had to replace the HG in my Freelander at 105,000 miles but it had been done before, so in my experience they are MUCH more likely to fail than pretty much any other make of engine but if you can do it yourself and catch it before the engine overheats it isn't that expensive.