Land Rover Freelander Diesels - Reliability?
 

Anyone know how reliable the Diesel engines in the Freelanders are? (Or how reliable they're meant to be :thumb:)

Thinking of getting one for the daily drive... (Wife wants one :cuckoo:)

Looking at around a 2001 model... Hopefully TD4 engine but if not will be the Di

Hopefully they are not as "reliable" as the K Series! :D

it's the drivetrain that you need to worry about

several design faults in the drivetrain ment that the diffs/VC's would slowly sieze, then blow

a RR specialist I know said that he has never seen a freelander of that year without the problem -- turn in a tight corner and listen for the wheels skipping

Ashcroft Transmissions

I wouldn't touch one they are rather unreliable.

Must admit, the only Freelanders I've seen with blown gearboxes (when I mean blown, I mean holes in the casing :D ) have had close to 100,000 miles on the clock.

They also don't crash very well at all (well, legend has it that the floorpan design was partly borrowed from an Austin Maestro and put on stilts, if thats true then the nCap results are of no surprise). The Freelander 2 is much improved in that aspect.

The diesel engines are the more reliable, the BMW unit obviously being the much better performing unit (although not without their own issues on high mile units).

Having said that, K-series petrols that have already had head gasket repairs done recently by LR should be now be ok (I emphasise on the word "should"), as new replacement gaskets and block strengthening ladder has all but cured the fabled HG issue (unless the engine is allowed to overheat big style and damage the lower seal on the cylinder liners: ££££).

If you've not guessed yet, its not my favourite 4x4 by far. Can't you sway her into something Japanese, or at least something that doesn't roll over so easily if you clip a curb at 15mph (like my mate did :lol1: ).

Honestly, if you have to have one, try and stretch to a current shape Freelander 2 (2006 onwards), at least thats based on the current Mondeo chassis, which is no bad thing.

i have had a few freelanders, ranging from a 1.8GL to the TD4 - all i can say is if your after a reliable diesel freelander ONLY look at the TD4 the others aren't really worth a ****.

if you want some good advice from freelander owners nip to www.freelanderclub.org they are a good bunch and will give you sound advice.

What is it about ladies and soft roaders, they will drive a really rather poor car as long as its high up and chunky.

K series was nearly a good engine, light, high output, economical, just saddled with some bad design in the headgasket area, they can be nursed to high milages by the sympathetic but your average school run mum in her Freelander ten minutes late hoofing a relatively low torque engine in a fairly heavy car is a recipe for killing the HG double quick, even quicker than normal, the 1.8 produces more power, generates more heat and has less metal due to larger bores, its the lightness of the engine thats the problem, boot it and it heats the coolant up very quickly, before the metal has warmed up and you get uneven expansion and cold/hot spots, no excuse for bad design (it wasnt all bad) but thats part of what kills them, along with poor maintenance.

I would look to the Japanese for a reliable Soft Roader, Rav 4 or some Honda with three letters as a name ending in a V.


Did you know that the Freelander is basically a Rover 200 chassis, adapted for off road use and high rise suspension, not a million miles off a Streetwise.

dont touch one with a bargepole.


get an xtrail if you have to have one

Even the new ones are not brilliant. Bought a new diesel one for my mrs a few months back and has had a pretty constant oil leak from the turbo which they are still trying to fix. Supposedly all Land Rovers are pretty unreliable and so far I'd agree.

I've just got rid of a 56 plate TD4 Sport, nice car to potter about in but there are many better 4x4s
Fuel cons was approx 28mpg, turning circle was bad (sport model has different suspension and 18"s though), water leaks in through rear door seal (check in boot storage cubby hole on a 3 door model for damp), EGR valves clog up very easy - can be cleaned easy enough or replaced with a bypass valve

I also fitted a Synergy tuning box as when setting off there was a lack of power making the thing so hesitant that pulling out of junctions was a gamble

Mine had only done 21k but was nearing the end of its 2nd set of front pads and the discs had to be replaced as well

i read a funny article the other day about the difference between LR products and Toyota's for overlanding in Africa

it compared two diaries from two different trips -- the guys who went in the LR filled page after page with tails of brilliant (and constant) emergancy repairs to the truck -- praising it (rightly) to the hilt when it finally got them to Cape Town

the other Guys went in a Toyota -- only mentioned it once, when they had to source some wiper blades

unreliability is part of the LR experiance -- ask the Taliban, they hate roadside repairs, makes them a sitting target, they tend to drive Toyota,s not LR products

I just got rid of one although it was 1.8 petrol. We had no major problems but judging by the amount of reciepts in the handbook i would say the previous owner spent some money

It's a funny old world. Land Rover have been making unreliable vehicles for years and yet people still continue to buy them. I drive Hondas and am currently on my seventh. (Seven in a row) Only one has ever let me down and that was just a flat battery.

Geoff.

Wife bought a 2000 model civic brand new. The best build quality car we have ever owned

We bought a 2003 TD4 five door Freelander when it was 3 years old and had 30,000 miles on it; my other half needed a tow car for the horsebox and her A3 1.6 couldn't really cut it! :)

We've put nearly 90,000 miles on it and it's been a good car. It only failed once when one of the intercooler hoses blew whilst I was driving it. This is quite common so I had one in the car as a spare - undo 2 jubilee clips and put in the new pipe (which I added a sacrificial reinforcing panel to) and carry on.

It had a new clutch around the 100,000 mile mark, but we have a LR-trained independent guy running a garage a mile from us so he looked after that. Obviously towing puts more strain on the clutch than normal use; ours is a manual, apparently the autos clutches are better for towing but hey ho - didn't know that when we bought.

Things to look for are rear electric window winders (both sides) on the 5 door - they wires can fray. Replacement parts are around the £80 mark; one of ours is getting a bit slow to wind up & down, but there are only 2 of us so no-one's ever in the back.

As mentioned, check the cubby in the boot floor for damp on any model - 3 or 5 door. It's not always caused by leaks though - the exhaust runs under the cubby so can cause condensation problems if you store damp stuff there. The door seal for the rear door should also have cut outs in the bottom of the seal to ensure any damp in the door drains outside not inside the car!

Our car did develop a lumpy idle around 95,000 miles. Dealers will tell you this is caused by blocked injectors and try to sell you new ones. At around £250 each, plus labour, this is not what you want to hear - especially as they are sods to get out on some higher mileage engines. I did some searching and found on a LR equivalent of ScoobyNet that a guy had cured the problem on his by using a £15 fuel conditioner/injector cleaner from Halfords (has to be the £15 one) - I tried it & it worked a treat; it’s this one: STP Diesel Complete 500ml.

Regarding the transmission wind up between front & back wheels, this was cured to a large extent on the ‘01/’02 onwards cars with revised ratios. LR did issue instructions about how to deal with the earlier models (e.g. always put new tyres on the back first due to diameters or some such!).

Be aware that some unscrupulous sellers completely remove the propshaft to the rear wheels when the reduction drive breaks! :eek: The car still drives, but is 2 wheel drive only on the fronts – allegedly this is most often seen at auctions but check anyway.

As you know, loads of these don’t go offroad so things like the HDC (hill descent control) don’t get used and, like anything, it needs to be used now & then to ensure it works. I take ours round the fields on fence checks etc. so it gets to crawl down grassy slopes – it’s interesting trusting the ECU & ABS to work out the braking etc, but it works (Freelander 2 models are even better) – just make sure it works on the model you look at.

Did try the X-trail and wasn’t as impressed as I’d hoped (especially for the price). They did have a reputation for slack timing chains on the Diesel – don’t know if they still do, but the 2 people that have bought them at our stables wish they hadn’t as they’ve spent lots of time at the dealer’s for various faults – these are 05 and 06 models and cost a lot more than the Freelander but it could just be bad luck.

Anything else, just ask.

Oh, and yes, if we’d had the money we would have got a LandCruiser LC5 or a horsebox! :D

Cheers,
Steve

good post spider -- its what these forums are all about:-)

got to say i'm a land rover man as well as a scooby man, i've had a couple of td4 freelanders now and they have been very reliable. its the petrol versions that the heads go on all the time, but its the same as a scoob buy one with a good service history and you'll be fine.

why not get a forrester ? same size etc etc. stay true to the brand.

friend had one- entire drive train had to be replaced.

Sorry, could help myself ;)

Nik

Hodgy - thanks; I've had lots of helpful advice here over the years so I try to help out when I can!

Nik - LMAO :D The guy who runs the garage has caused our neighbours to ask a couple of times if we have a new car since he'll leave whatever he's driving on our drive whenever he takes the FL for servicing "Oh, I see you've traded the Freelander for a Range Rover Vogue now?" Erm, no, although my OH would be more than pleased if I did! :)