I missed most of the trouble on freelander problems as it's far too new for me to have one.
Was the overheating/headgasket problem limited to 1.8 engines?
My mate's wife bought a V6, new, two years ago. It has just had its second replacement engine under warranty. It still over heats.
I have only discussed this with her over the phone but it appears that there is no low coolant warning and the temperature gauge never rises into the red, even though when stopped bubbling can be heard.
My initial thought is that the LR garage are being told to replace the engine by LR Assist and so no effort has gone into finding a small leak away from the engine. Carpets are not getting wet and there is no smell of coolant in the cab, there is a smell of coolant in the engine bay.
I'm guessing what is happening is that, between weekly checks on coolant level, there is a small loss. All the time there is sufficient coolant to operate the thermostat the circulation works fine, after a long journey with water loss the vehicle is parked and the pressure maintains a coolant loss until the engine cools. On restarting from cold, without checking coolant level, there is insufficient fluid to either open the thermostat or affect the temperature sensor so the engine quickly overheats.
Any other ideas?
AJH