Argh head gaskets gone!!

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Wingee

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I've had my lovely Freelander for less than a week now and the HG has gone!!! Just been reading the forum on the preloved site and it's really scarey seeing people who are on their fourth engine!!

Mine's an 03 1.8 - which I bought privately. I've found a guy who just does Freelanders (Surrey 4x4) whos quoted £300 cash to fix the HG - which seems pretty good looking at other quotes people have had on here.

Should I be worried, and get rid of the thing ASAP or just get it repaired and keep my fingers crossed!??!?!
 
Oh mate thats a dog, however not 100% on this and i'm sure others will help on this ,that they have changed the gasket slightly ta help with the problem so ya chances are good for a non return [as long as your head has not warped] and yes that is a very cheap price indeed , i would not even think bout doing it fer that,best oh luck. . .:)
 
Well we didn't run into any major problems, no smoke blowing out the back - the engine sounded funny just as we got it home and into the drive. then I noticed the coolant had gone. tried topping it up, but the coolent was dissappearing. So I checked the dipstick and I think the coolent's gone in there! LOL

Does that sound like there isn't too much damage? I've only just read about the thermostat change so I'm gonna see if that has been changed when I get home.

The Missus is having a right stress though and wants to get rid of it )-:
 
Yep wingee . . .yer h g has gone, the good bit is it sounds like you have not done other damage ,i,m sure the other guys will help ya out when they read your problem, as I'm more a diesel man[sorry alien] ,and yes there was a thermostat mod. . .:)
 
£300 sounds very cheap to fix a head gasket. Saying that, my V6 would be more expensive as it's got 2 head gaskets. Yes, my V6 even blew a HG once upon a time.
As Ming said, there is a thermostat mod. There is also an expansion tank mod too.
Welcome to the HG club :D
 
Not sure maybe the l r guy can answer this but once the mods are done very rare to have a problem again. . .
 
Well we took the car to our local land rover dealer to get them to look at it to see if we can get LR to pay for it - they've stripped the engine down and told us it needs a new HG and a new cylinder head!! If LR don't pay for it the cost is going to be 2grand!!! Anybody know if this sounds like BS?!!

We were told not to get the HG replaced until it 'went' and as soon as it went not to drive it - which we were lucky that it occured not far from our drive. So it hasn't been driven much with the HG blown.

The LR dealer said that the HG can go over time, and the cylinder head can be damaged insantly. Is this true?? If so, why would people tell us not to get the HG replaced until it blew?!
 
well theres no point in fixing something that isnt broke,it might never blow, unless you have a burning desire to waste money,
true the failure of the headgasket can take some time and might not be noticed untill the engine throws its dummy out.

regular checks of coolant and oil would reduce any damage,

the over heat process can cause damage to the cylinder head which will not be noticed untill it is removed, the face will be checked for flatness(not warped), also small pits appear in the face, this will also mean it will have to be replaced. i think new heads are approx 700 pounds new and your looking at 7 hours labour

if its only head and gaskets then 2k is far too much thats nearly new engine price
 
Well we'd only had the car for a week, so it's hard to tell! but I did check oil and coolant regularly during the week we had it. Can the cylinder head be damaged so soon? The car had not been overheating, nor did it have any symptoms - no smoke, no strange engine noise.
I guess we're going to see how much we can get LR to pay for it - the car is only 3 months out of warranty, 29k miles, and we've only had it a week!!
 
i dont think they will help because you are not the original owner of the vehicle(i know this is part of criteria for good will claims), also you brought it private and not from the LR dealer, that may also go against you, but hope you are lucky.

unfortunately the engine can cook itself without any real signs,
what were your symtoms of failure? water in oil, oil in water, excess smoke?
 
water in oil - we checked the coolant and there wasn't any. Then I topped it up and it disappeared into the engine.

I hope we're lucky too - i'd read that it shouldn't matter, as the HG problem is surely a defect - engines shouldn't really go at 30k should they!?? Not on the scale of failures this engine appears to have!
 
yes as everyone knows its a common problem but LR do draw the line on certain claims otherwise they will be giving unlimited warranty, the policy is 3 years and they try there hardest to stick to it. ive seen a lot of claim rejections for second owners, the good thing you have is low milage this may help, but regardless of milage its still over 3 years old

other issues such as oil in TD5 engine harness also atttracts out of warranty claims which again are thrown out,
i do hope you get it though :)
 
My head gasket went on my V6 Freelander at around 37k miles. You're right though Wingee, it just shouldn't happen to engines with such low mileage. Then again, how many Freelanders have you seen for sale with average or high mileage? When I was looking, none!
 
Verging out of my depth here technically but as the owner of 1.8 which has had hg go, new cylinder head, hg go again, new engine, hg go again, cylinder head skimmed and replaced with no problems so far (everything crossed!) is it main dealer policy to replace cylinder head when another garage (providing cylinder head is not warped/damaged) just needs skimming to ensure clean/flat mating surface ?

Prepared to learn that I am out of my depth here!
 
You're right that it IS out of warranty, but I would still think that the engine has a design fault and is not fit for purpose. I just cannot imagine anybody buys a new car expecting the engine to have a major problem before 30k miles. Otherwise, wouldn't manufacturers make a lot of parts that don't need to survive after the warranty is over! It seems unfair to me. I know I have a fight on my hands, but i'm gonna try damnit!!

Yeah I think you're right - an independent garage told us they would replace the HG and skin the cylinder head for £550. I think LR dealers are told to replace rather than repair cylinder heads...
 
Ours went just few days after purchase but went back to dealer and got them to arrange and pay for skim and repair, been fine since. I'm sure the dealer we bought it from would have known that problems were already there and was hoping that hg would hold for 3 months in order that there would be no comeback on their warranty. I would suspect that the previous owner of your's would have known about problem for it to have gone so quickly after your purchase. If you have recent service/repair details could be worth a visit to the garage to see if seller provided you with all details or witheld advice about problems with hg.
 
We are starting to think the previous owner might have known about it. He had bought it only a few weeks before we bought it off him, saying he bought it for his wife, but she wasn't comfortable driving it. But there aren't that many signs to say that it was going to go - I did a couple of hundred miles in it the week we had it, and the coolant was fine. It was running fine, no excess smoke or anything like that. You'd have thought if the women before him had any idea that it might have a problem she'd have got it looked at under warranty rather than sell it on.

I think that it was a test drive car, as she bought it from the dealer at 6000 miles. if LR say that only the original owner can make a out of warranty claim, that doesn't sound fair either, as that would be the original dealer!

They're going to get back to us today with LRs response, so fingers crossed...I'll let you know how it goes!
 
Previous owner's reason sounds a bit lame. Ironic that we bought our Freelander for my wife. She has bit of back trouble and as soon as she got in it on test drive she loved higher driving position and felt far more confident on the country lanes she uses to get to work.

Even if LR don't pay out all may not be lost as a private LR specialist or decent garage should be able to do sound repair on hg. Then you can look forward to the sunroof leaking, cubby hole getting damp, rear window getting stuck, heater/blower reheostat failing, interior trim falling off, it really is all plain sailing from now on !;)
 
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