Freelander engine replacement ...

The 1.8 engine is renowned for this problem, I'm surprised you weren't warned when they replaced the head that a full engine replacement was on the cards if that "fix" failed. I assume it started with loss of coolant/ oil in the coolant ?

Land Rover have been flexible in the past with the warranty as it's a known problem. 2 years out of warranty is possibly stretching it a bit far but the low mileage may work in your favour. It is worth your dealership requesting a warranty replacement. My understanding is that Land Rover will then review the case on it's own merits.

Mine (1998 model) was replaced under warranty when it was a few months after the warranty period and had done 80k. There was a slight delay (a few days) while Land Rover assessed the case. My dealer fought the battle for me, I don't think Land Rover will be as forthcoming if you approach them yourself. They did the complete engine change (labour and parts) under warranty, all I paid for was the parts for a new clutch that they suggested changing rather than transferring the old clutch to the new engine.

cheers

Dave W.

Very recent experience with the head gasket going leads me to suggest you get it done by an independant.

My local dealer was all set to go ahead and do £3000 worth of work replacing the head on ours, of which LR were going to pay 50%.

P**s off, said I, and took it to the independant LR specialist that looks after my 110.

Final costs:

Total cost would have been about £600 if I'd gone straight to my independant.

Two weeks later, it needed £470 spending on a new CCU so that we could open the tailgate. The feckin' thing's now getting replaced with a Honda Accord.

Not that I'm bitter, or anything...

cylinder

weren't

months

It's not a manufacturing fault, it's a design fault AFAIK.

The Freelander is far from a "premium car", it's aimed at the "lower end" of Land Rover's potential customer base. Not that their top of the range cars don't have problems of their own !

You'd have a hard time justifying a position that design faults should be covered by warranty beyond the 3 year period. Most, if not all, vehicles have design faults that result in component failure eventually. The use of steel in a vehicle could be seen as a design fault in countries that insist in spreading half the earths salt supply on the roads each year. Vehicle manufacturers still insist on using steel pipes, chassis, bodywork, suspension without suitable treatment and it is known that those components will corrode and fail over time.

The 1.8 Freelander engine was a lemon, within 18 months of the first Freelander hitting the streets it was well known that the engine had problems and Land Rover made a number of changes to the design in an attempt to improve it's reliability. The changes improved things but didn't cure the underlying problem. The engine is badly underpowered for the weight of the vehicle and I suspect that is at the heart of the problems.

It comes as one of a long list of Land Rover engines that have proved to have "issues". The 3.9(4.0), 4.2 and 4.6 V8 petrol engines have real problems with many of them only lasting 60000-80000 miles. The TD5 uses plastic dowels to locate the cylinder head and these are now failing to hold the head in position making TD5 head gasket replacements a daily chore for many Land Rover garages. They are also starting to experience problems with the oil cooler leaching oil into the coolant system.

In my case I was one of the lucky ones - I bought one of the first Freelander 1.8s and managed to get 80,000 miles out of it before the engine gave up and was replaced under warranty. I sold the vehicle 6 months later before any further problems could develop. My advice to anyone with one of these engines is simple... unless you are prepared to foot the bill for replacing the engine then get rid of it before it starts showing symptoms. If it has already started then replace the head and associated gaskets, clean out the waterways and sell it (preferably to a franchised dealer). Anyone considering buying a 1.8 Freelander... don't, after all, it may have just had all it's gaskets changed to cover up a problem :-)

It's only fair to say though that having covered the best part of 100000 miles in my Freelander in 4 years, it still rates as one of the most enjoyable cars to drive (albeit a bit slow) that I've had and never left me stranded at the side of the motorway.

cheers

Dave W.

I thought Land Rover was one of Ford's Premium automotive brands and thus by implication all Land Rovers are premium cars. I think whether it's a design fault doesn't really matter. Design and manufacture are one of the same in my books. I buy a car that is manufactured (built) and sold by Land Rover. If the engine is so duff and Land Rover know this why do they keep selling cars with it. Don't they know they open themselves to legal action. I know this happens because the poor woman who bought our three year old Freelander experienced the third engine blow. Unfortunatley for Land Rover her father was a barrister, who promptly got her a new Freelander free of charge.

Think the 1.8 engine has improved a lot during the years it has been used now.Originally it got some developers price when it went into production, You can read a lot of this K-series Rover engine on the Internet.Used in the MGF ,Lotus Elise and some Rover models. There are some statistics about the blown head gaskets,and you can see that it's hardly occuring on post 2002 engines.But I agree that using this engine in the Freelander was a bad move. Further I think ,apart from the IRD problems on older cars that the Freelander is not a bad car at all. It drives superb on the road,and off road it can go to places where I don't want to be at all.

They design and build the car, and then warranty that it will work for three years. If it doesn't, they fix it.

If you decide that you think a car should be defect free for five years then you should buy a car with a five year warranty. If you don't, then that is your risk.