Update on my 100,000+ mile 1.8XEI 5 door Sunroof has been fixed £380 Exhaust has snapped in the middle again this is being fixed under warranty as the exhaust is only 3 months old. Starting to lose water again - looks like another head gasket. Clutch is playing up and the gearbox is awful. Local LR dealer offered £3,000 trade in for new freelander at £27000. They were totally amazed that it had reached that mileage. Much laughing and joking from the sales staff re K series engines. Service manager has an extra 3 staff just to carry out warranty work. Some cars don't even reach 15,000 miles.
So I have now retired the Freelander and bought a Jag XK8 instead. As the Freelander is now worthless but the basic chassis running gear is ok, I'm looking into the possiblilty of swapping the engine for something a little more interesting. Current favourites are cosworth turbo or Rover V8.
Well, I am going to stick up for the Freelander. Mine is a 2000 Xei 1.8 petrol. Yes, parts are expensive and so is servicing, I guess that goes with buying what is classed as a luxury brand in Australia, and our exchange rate sucks. But in saying that the car really has had little go wrong with it. It has now done 136,000 klm, I do around 800klm per week. On the negative, it did one clutch cylinder at 26,000klm, fine since. Needed a new rear door seal because it was leaking at around 50,000klm, this has been ok since. Did the famous head gasket at 92,000klm, I expected it would go, so I drove with my eye on the temperature gauge and did no damage. Landrover paid half the bill with no argument. Car appears to be running better than ever. Recently did 9,000klm in 3 weeks towing a 16ft caravan weighing 1400kg through outback Australia, excellent fuel economy and didnt miss a beat. As far as tyres go, the first set the car came with lasted 45,000klm. I have just replaced the second set, after 87,000klm. It has had one set of brake pads on the front, and one set of shoes on the rear. I am sure as the car gets older things will go wrong, but is that because it is a Land Rover, or because most cars go wrong when they get older.
Was going to buy a 2nd hand Freelander, but going for the Forrester instead after reading these comments. Thankyou. I would however recommend you tell the rest of us how bad these cars are only after you have sold yours, cos you are going to rapidly run out of buyers. Thanks again!
Guess what!! My head gasket has blown! Welwatdoyaknoe! Has anybody heard of this happening before? No, not unless you met anyone with a Freelander At 80,000km, here's the damage! sunroof rail broke now the motor and glass and metal panel is rusted through Rust at seam of both rear passanger door's window rubbers Crunch into reverse Window regulators busted Just the usual .. have signed up to 600 strong class action suit
Once again I find the "FREE" Lander is back in the garage. I travelled to Scotland last week and to my amazement. When I pulled over on the motorway for fuel or toilet breaks the engine refused to start. It was apparent from the buzzing and the click under the bonnet that the Starter Motor was refusing to start. So I had to push start the car on numerous occasions. I have now taken to carrying a hammer in the car as this frees up the starter motor. Looks like another bill headed my way. Any one else had a similar problem.
I have just agreed to purchase a 1.8 Y reg freelander from my local dealers.I'm suppose to pick it up today sat 16th Aug.They just called to say there is an oil leak from the gasket and it needs fixing!!!!! Don't think i should buy it now after reading all the comments.
Well, I've just bought a 2003 Epsom Green TD4 from Harwoods (ex demo model with 7000m on the clock) and tanked down to Cardiff for the weekend. I have to say I love this car. It goes like the wind and it looks the dogs *********s. It has a solid reassuring feel to it that makes you want to just get in and drive. My previous car, a Peugeot 806, had the same sort of high driving position but always felt wobbly when you drove over speed bumps or potholes. In the Freelander you hardly even notice them. And the fuel consumption is excellent. London to Cardiff and back on one tank with my foot down... Responsive, agile, comfortable, economical...I had to drag my wife out of the driving seat! So far no problems, and reading through past comments here it would seem to be the earlier petrol models which suffered most.
Our first freelander a 98 xedi gave us perfect service for 14 months. So much so I wanted a newer model. The weak rover engine was starting to annoy me. Rattles to the trim and vibrations unless i was eccalating hard through the gears......but then again I never bought it a speed machine. Never one single technical fault or breakdown, oh except a new digital clock. A replacement for £60 from e-bay and the simplist plug job. We now have 2000 TD4. Wow the power is great! basically the same car but lots more power. I think i might now have the perfect car. Oh no, the rear window mechanism is noisy, must investigate. I fel bad for all you guys having so much trouble but thought I needed to redress the balance slightly.
after 6 months of trying to get some kind of refund for the damage caused by the cylinder head gasket, at last i have got a full reimbursment. i tried unsuccesfully with landrovers so called customer service, and have had to take various legal advice, including very helpful people at the a.a.and eventually had to threaten to take the dealer i bought the car from to small claims court, as it seems they are infact ultimately responsible and not landrover.this had the effect of them getting a full refund for me. anyone out there should try this route as the goods, ie the car, was sold as faulty and you have upto six years to claim. waiting to see what goes wrong next. for more info please read my previous comments a few months ago. best of luck. never again
I have a 50th Edition 1.8 XEI. Bought new Sept 98, just coming up to 100,000 miles. 3 throttle bodies in the first 6 months Head gasket 28,000 Rear window replaced after attempted break in - I had to wait 7 weeks for a replacement. diff mounting bushes failed 58,000 Head gasket 60,000 Replaced front disks 65,000 Power steering hose 70,000 Clutch bracket broke, smashing plastic master cylinder 70,000 replaced clutch at the same time Engine mounts replaced 75,000 Head gasket 85,000 50% success rate selecting reverse for the last 2 years syncro on third intermittent since 70,000 now gone completly Radio/Clock LCD failed last year Sunroof broke last month Wheel bearings or diff or maybe both, sound like a 30 year old Ford Transit with 500,000 on the clock. 3 exhusts 3 sets of distributor cap and rotor arm New cat being fitted tomorrow together with another set of tyes - this thing eats rubber. Once the bearings and gearbox are fixed, its going. The bill just keep get bigger and bigger. On the plus side When it's working, it's an excellent family car. Plenty of space for oversized teenagers, good motorway cruising etc. It's just that the reliability is pants (I think after 6 years ownership I can say that) Price new, a fiver short of 25K Just been offered 4K trade in. Cost of ownership over 6 years excluding car tax, insurance and petrol, £450 per month. I'm not buying another car, I can lease a new car every 2 years for £100 less than that. BTW. Does anyone know how to fix a broken sunroof on a Freelander
I am now convinced that the Freelander is not a bad car. Mine is a 2000 XEi 1.8 petrol. Yes the head gasket went and Land Rover looked after me, but in saying that, the car does appear to have had other problems. In looking back on my ownership, the car has now done 115,000 klm, I seem to have problems AFTER the car is serviced. I really don,t think the dealers know what they are doing. For example, I have just had the 110,000 klm service done, they changed the fuel filter, to do this they had to remove the fuel pump, imagine my surprise when I fill the car up, and within a short distance, I have lost half a tank of fuel. They didnt put the seal back correctly. Same dealer changed a power steering hose, didnt do up one of the joints correctly, lost all the fluid and wrecked the power steering pump. Different dealer, I instructed this one to change the platinum spark plugs, he charged me for them. The car starts to misfire shortly after. Took it back to the dealer and he says the misfire is caused by spark plugs and they need to be changed, said they were corroded. When I explained they had just been changed by them, they said they must have corroded in the last month and they would replace them under warranty. How stupid do they think the public are. They hadnt changed them at all. The list goes on. I think the Land Rover product may have a few issues, as most cars do, but I think the dealers need to have a look at their operations:
Our only hope of getting anything out of Land Rover is through a group action with Irwin Mitchel. They have had a very poor response to their request from the questionnaires they sent out asking for more information. If you have not sent your questionnaire back please do it now, as our case may be lost. If anyone has proof that LR fitted 'duff' engines please let Irwin Mitchel know. Are there or do you know of any empoyees of LR who are prepared to talk? Please contact James LLoyd on 0114 274 4527 or email [Log in to view email]
own a 1.8i freelander, had new uprated head gasket fitted at 15k, no problems since now 58k. apparently on the old gasket the water and oil ports are surrounded with a silicone bead, if the oil gets above a certain temperature it melts the bead away thus causing oil and water to mix or water pouring into the cylinders!...new engine. A good fix would be to uprate/install an oil cooler, this advise has been given by a couple of specialists garages. The other is to try and get your hands on an uprated gasket, easier said than done apparently.
I have owned a special edition 99 Freelander for 4 years and well as the story goes the engine is Cactus. The car has only done 50000k in that time and has always been serviced by LR. Two days ago the freelander decided it had had enuff with life and blew its gasket i presume. The mechanic took one look in the oil filler and diagnosed that the engine had died... too easy. This car has never been off road and does an average of just over 200kms a week.. I could do more on my push bike, which will obviously be my mode of transport for the forseeable future whilst i wrangle with LR over who should stump up for the repairs. I take it the 99i model is one of the engines with the faulty design. I have never had any other problems with the car so I accpet that i am one of the lucky ones... Cant wait to unload this crock of sh*t as soon as it is repaired.
i have owned my 98 (s)1.8 xei for 2 years and guess what cylinder head has blown i am very annoyed at this and will be contacting land rover hq a.s.a.p very good to read that so many of us are in the same boat which proves the point as pointed out on watchdog that there is definateley major problems with the k series engine
My 2000 MY01 XEDI has just reached 30k miles. My local Land Rover garage are keen to do a cam belt change based on 4yrs or 48K. Sould I bow to their judgement and £400 costs or risk another 10-20k on the clock first? Comments please.
Update- Land Rover Chipperfield rang to say that the Fuel Injectors have welded themselves to the head gasket and that they cannot fix the car onsite.It will have to be towed to a specialist company who can drill the gasket. They cannot even quote a price which incidentally went up another £200. Buyers beware, this is a car that has always been serviced by Land Rover since new and has never been off road. Buy one at your peril.
I bought a TD4 GS Auto locally from the Original owner with 18k on the clock and with a couple of months warranty. After 6 months and 8000 miles with full Land Rover service history the Sump, ECU Management system, fuel injectors x4 all need replacing at a cost of £2200. All from a vehicle with 26k on the clock. This is without a load of small problems such as fuses blowing weekly. I would not recommend the Freelander to anyone and I will be trading it for a Japanese car as soon as it is returned from Chipperfield Landrover.
Just noticed I made a typo in my last message. It had 47,000km on the first set of tyres. One other thing, I did have a new wheel bearing at 70,000klm, but my last car, a Mitsubishi, had a wheel bearing replaced at 60,000klm. I guess thats cars and things do wear out
I own a 2000 1.8 XEi. At 95,000kms head gasket blows. Landrover and dealer here in Australia have been excellent. Head gasket blew on Friday morning, straight to dealer, Landrover agree to pay 50% by Friday afternoon, pick the car up Tuesday afternoon at 2pm. Pretty good service. I know the head gasket shouldn't have gone this early but thats life. It has been a good car, this being the only main problem. The dealer now tells me with the modifications done the head gasket will last as long as on any other car. My main gripe is that servicing and parts are expensive. Many people have complained of poor tyre life. My first set of 4 lasted 47,00klm. I changed to a Bridgestone tyre and with 100,000klm now on the clock, I estimate another 20,000 klm left on this set. I don't like the clutch, it's not worn out, but the pedal has very little travel until it bites, dealer told me it is normal. I will wait and see how the next 100,000klm go.
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