What have you done to your Freelander today

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Spent a couple of hours washing and polishing him, which is the first time in 6 months. :eek:
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Looking smart! It's a nice colour that! I reckon you should get the rear glass tinted John.
I like it, but the colour definitely looks better in the sunshine, as the pearlescent effect shows better.
I've been thinking about darkened windows myself. I think I'm going to black some some key components, like the side vents, boot handle (which I hate now), maybe the front grill and wheels too.
I'm also thinking of adding a boot spoiler, and do the mirrors body colour.

I think that should make it look a bit less normal , maybe.
 
Decided to put the new belts on, air con belt went on ok, but aux belt is being a swine, doesnt seem to be enough movement on tensioner.

Not even getting close to going on
 
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Check belt length against old one if you haven't already to check it is correct.

If it is a Td4, use a 15/16 inch ring spanner with additional tube on it for leverage and jam it with a block against the chassis to stop it sliding off.
Never put your pinkies between the belt and the pulleys unless you want them to stay there when the tensioner spanner slips!!!!!
 
I think it may just be a case of not being able to hold the spanner correctly whilst needing 2 hands to get belt on.....will try and rig something up with the spanner.
 
Just changed my ad in the for sale section to 'free' for 4x Michelin X Ice tyres (studs removed) to suit FL1, I need the space! Unfortunately no good for my FL2.
 
Not quite today, but a little mishap has kept me off here for a while, having to work, and then spend spare time clearing a large tree that decided to come crashing down on the Freelander I’d spent so much time (and money) on getting road worthy last year. Noooo!..... It happened in that storm at the end of November. I saw it come down and my heart sank seeing it covering the front half of the vehicle. But thankfully the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And I’ve got away with only dents on the bonnet. (Upon cutting up the tree with a cheap Far Eastern generic chainsaw I bought from Toolstation, (which did the whole job amazingly), I found that an 18” long 4” diameter branch had speared itself deep into the ground under one of the main trunks, which is probably what saved more weight of the tree not ending up on the Freelander).

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Being silver (Zambizi 737 apparently) it expect finding an exact colour match to be difficult. But hopefully the clamshell lines and curves on the bonnet will disguise any batch mismatch as much as possible, as I try to find that colour code from a scrappy.

I’m still driving around with the exposed metal from that larger dent, which I would have though by now would have been as rusty as hell with all the salt on the roads. But surprisingly it’s holding up quite well, so must be a sign that they gave those bonnets some reasonable anticorrosion treatment before painting.
 
Not quite today, but a little mishap has kept me off here for a while, having to work, and then spend spare time clearing a large tree that decided to come crashing down on the Freelander I’d spent so much time (and money) on getting road worthy last year. Noooo!..... It happened in that storm at the end of November. I saw it come down and my heart sank seeing it covering the front half of the vehicle. But thankfully the damage wasn’t as bad as it could have been. And I’ve got away with only dents on the bonnet. (Upon cutting up the tree with a cheap Far Eastern generic chainsaw I bought from Toolstation, (which did the whole job amazingly), I found that an 18” long 4” diameter branch had speared itself deep into the ground under one of the main trunks, which is probably what saved more weight of the tree not ending up on the Freelander).

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Being silver (Zambizi 737 apparently) it expect finding an exact colour match to be difficult. But hopefully the clamshell lines and curves on the bonnet will disguise any batch mismatch as much as possible, as I try to find that colour code from a scrappy.

I’m still driving around with the exposed metal from that larger dent, which I would have though by now would have been as rusty as hell with all the salt on the roads. But surprisingly it’s holding up quite well, so must be a sign that they gave those bonnets some reasonable anticorrosion treatment before painting.
WOW, I'm glad it's come through virtually unscathed, I think the bonnet is galvanised or has some other treatment, that's why it has that dull grey look where the paint is missing. I had a 1986 BMW 320i which was hit on the front wing whilst parked & it had the same dull look under the missing paint & that never went rusty either. Glad no one was in or near where that tree come down. Hope you can get it sorted soon, all the best.
 
Thanks. It definitely could have worse! I was in two minds earlier in the evening about whether to move the cars back, just in case, but the weather forecast said it wasn’t going to be too bad. Hmmm. I shouldn’t have been so lazy. Still, there are no more big trees to come down here any more.

The bonnet dent rusting not happening is one small bonus, making it less urgent to find a replacement straight away.
 
clearing a large tree that decided to come crashing down on the Freelander
I feel your pain.
My V6 suffered a similar incident a few years ago, when a large laylandii came down in a storm, falling right across the bonnet. Thankfully it also fell against a granite post, which stopped the full weight landing on the bonnet, so damage was to the bonnet was mild.
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Ouch!, That was a nasty dent too. On such a nice vehicle as well. Sounds like the concrete post saved you a bit in keeping the damage to just the bonnet. But still a pain though.

With mine, I'm hoping what I manage to find from the breakers will be a reasonable match to the wings. And that putting it on and aligning it will not cause too many difficulties. Definitely a job of a warmer spring day.
 
Put some more drawing pins in the headlining. I'll sort it properly one day!
I had some of those pigtail pins in mine, they worked well too, and having clear heads, didn't show up too badly.

Doing it properly is the way forward, although I am keeping an eye out for an FL2 for you, as they're much more roomy, and safer for the family too. ;)
 
Clutch test?

I was just reading Oilydiff’s writing above on their clutch issue…

Recently I was on a sandy beach with my small trailer on. It has small 8" rims and quite skinny tyres and as you might guess. With a small load of sand in the trailer I couldn't get out. Stuck :( Happily a passing Disco 1 was on the main road beside the beach, saw me and stopped, offered help which was much appreciated.

Now the K series 1.8 just didn't have enough power to really get all the wheels working on the sand, the front dug in as did the back. At one point I thought there was no wheels turning, engine revving but nothing. Was starting to suspect a stuffed clutch. I wasn't struggling on the beach for ages just 3 attempts then accepted that offer of a tow. The FL drives as it always has and I towed my trailer home on Monday, 300+ km, without any issue.

What is/are the tests to check the condition of the clutch operation.
 
Clutch test?

I was just reading Oilydiff’s writing above on their clutch issue…

Recently I was on a sandy beach with my small trailer on. It has small 8" rims and quite skinny tyres and as you might guess. With a small load of sand in the trailer I couldn't get out. Stuck :( Happily a passing Disco 1 was on the main road beside the beach, saw me and stopped, offered help which was much appreciated.

Now the K series 1.8 just didn't have enough power to really get all the wheels working on the sand, the front dug in as did the back. At one point I thought there was no wheels turning, engine revving but nothing. Was starting to suspect a stuffed clutch. I wasn't struggling on the beach for ages just 3 attempts then accepted that offer of a tow. The FL drives as it always has and I towed my trailer home on Monday, 300+ km, without any issue.

What is/are the tests to check the condition of the clutch operation.
Last time I had a worn clutch it was OK in first and 2nd but in 3rd and 4th it slipped when applying the throttle. I could hear the engine revs rising but the speed didn't change.
I guess on a hill or towing it would have been bad in 1st and 2nd too.
 
Clutch test?

I was just reading Oilydiff’s writing above on their clutch issue…

Recently I was on a sandy beach with my small trailer on. It has small 8" rims and quite skinny tyres and as you might guess. With a small load of sand in the trailer I couldn't get out. Stuck :( Happily a passing Disco 1 was on the main road beside the beach, saw me and stopped, offered help which was much appreciated.

Now the K series 1.8 just didn't have enough power to really get all the wheels working on the sand, the front dug in as did the back. At one point I thought there was no wheels turning, engine revving but nothing. Was starting to suspect a stuffed clutch. I wasn't struggling on the beach for ages just 3 attempts then accepted that offer of a tow. The FL drives as it always has and I towed my trailer home on Monday, 300+ km, without any issue.

What is/are the tests to check the condition of the clutch operation.
I had an 'issue' reversing the boat up the drive (in desperate need of a pee after a long drive way rather impatient and the trailer was stuck on a post). Needless to say that I realised I should pee and start again when the smell of the clutch was far to evident to ignore! That was probably 9 or 10 years ago and on the same clutch. It is quite juddery pulling away though, doesn't like low revs.
Last time I had a worn clutch it was OK in first and 2nd but in 3rd and 4th it slipped when applying the throttle. I could hear the engine revs rising but the speed didn't change.
I guess on a hill or towing it would have been bad in 1st and 2nd too.
Those were the symptoms on my son's Beemer - would pull away from a stand still OK, but accellerating in higher gears would slip the clutch.
 
The old girl, now getting on for 23 years old, passed the WOF (MOT) first time - again.

I'm sure the fact I tend to give the car its wash before a WOF helps put testers in a frame of mind to pass it.

It has needed quite a bit of work over the last couple of WOFs to get it through - actually, just a couple of new tyres :D

The tester did say though that there was a smell of diesel in the engine bay. He couldn't/wasn't allowed to remove the covers so couldn't check the top of the engine, and the bottom of the engine was just caked in thick oil with no signs of diesel, so gave it a pass. So I'll check that out. I replaced the leak back hoses 5 or 6 years ago, I'll go there first. Probably a good time to replace the fuel filter, which I've never changed in my 10 years of ownership.
 
Over the last couple of weeks, I've noticed a strange vibration coming from the rear of my FL2, which seems to happen at 60, which increases in intensity, then decreases, then increases and so on.
While pumping up the tyres, I saw a potential cause of this vibration. The rear struts on the FL2 are equipped with a mass damper, hanging off the spring seat by a single bolt. It looks a bit like a suspension bush in appearance, but it's a mass damper, of which there are about a dozen on the FL2. The LH side is fine, as it was when I checked it whist I was replacing the diff. However the RH side has completely detached from the support assembly. Basically it's a steel rod about ½" in diameter bolted to the spring seat, with a heavy steel tube (the mass) around the rod, with a soft rubber filler material between, holding the 2 components together, but the outer mass can move in a controlled manner over the steel rod.
It's not dissimilar in appearance to a suspension bush, only the mass tube is thicker (heavier) and the rubber insulator part is softer.

The RH side on the rear of mine isn't held by the rubber at all, in fact the steel mass is just loose on the rod, which I'm fairly confident is the cause of my vibration.

Mass hanging loose.
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Mass can be moved about, which obviously isn't correct.
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I've ordered a replacement, so will update if replacing it fixed the issue.
 
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