Coming back to the Freelander Club

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Well After a lot of issues with my TD4 Auto I sold it back in November last year. Final straw was a faulty Jatco box. After a year without any Land Rovers in the family, driving a Mini Cooper S & now a Merc C230 estate I've decided I miss the FL (and this forum believe it or not) too much. I'm taking the plunge & buying another TD4.

After running my last one for years & years and having every issue possible with it I can't believe I'm having another go with them.

I look forward to catching up with you all again, got the Merc up for sale if anyone is interested. Will be buying another Freelander any day now.

John
 
Cheers guys.

To be fair the old Freelander was like part of the family. Took us all over the country in all weather. Never failed to get us home. I wish I'd took it to Dave Ashcroft to get the jatco replaced. Ended up paying £800 for a repair only for it to go wrong & get screwed by a disappearing garage. Then couldn't afford the £1500 for Ashcroft. Real shame.

Glad to be in the thick of it. Where are all the tratter boys? Surprised I've not been told to "not get it wet, doors fall arf" or "burn it"
 
Where are all the tratter boys? Surprised I've not been told to "not get it wet, doors fall arf" or "burn it"

Wait for it! When the one member from the tratter boys club that can read see this and points the rest this way via a link. Then you will get the usual cut and paste replies :)
 
It will be another auto. Loved the td4 auto until the jatco box gave up. Learned a lot from the last one.
Yup welcome back i had the jatco box go years ago now paid the piper [Ashcroft] for a recon box , must say it has not missed a beat looking back it was money well spent, most jobs i sort out myself but to be honest its been really good and as i do go off the beaten track quite a bit copes well . . . . .as fer the tratter boys an gurls well you gotta admit its fun wen they get all durdy an nasty cos they have a smelly tratter wiff a pig in the back. . . . . . .run :eek: :eek: :eek:
 
Yup welcome back i had the jatco box go years ago now paid the piper [Ashcroft] for a recon box , must say it has not missed a beat looking back it was money well spent, most jobs i sort out myself but to be honest its been really good and as i do go off the beaten track quite a bit copes well . . . . .as fer the tratter boys an gurls well you gotta admit its fun wen they get all durdy an nasty cos they have a smelly tratter wiff a pig in the back. . . . . . .run :eek: :eek: :eek:

I thought the Jatco was a nice box, until it went bang. Never really failed, but the gear changes got worse & worse. Kept holding gears and over revving the engine because it wouldn't change up. I did have a good 70k miles out of that box in a few years without missing a beat. Was great in Scottish snow & on the beach in Cornwall. Even better in the mud.
 
I've spent about £3000 overall over the last couple of years sorting out bits that went wrong... replaced engine after oil starvation, replaced Jatco box after dying engine overstrained it, recon VCU, replaced total sunroof, and lastly 5 new Pirelli Scorpions to include spare tyre.

She flies along now :D so go for it Jod
 
I've spent about £3000 overall over the last couple of years sorting out bits that went wrong... replaced engine after oil starvation, replaced Jatco box after dying engine overstrained it, recon VCU, replaced total sunroof, and lastly 5 new Pirelli Scorpions to include spare tyre.

She flies along now :D so go for it Jod

Thanks, just what i needed to hear. nice to see people are happy to fix & maintain their vehicles instead of just trading them in. Out of curiosity, the guys who have had the Jatco replaced by Dave Ashcroft, how painless was it & how long did it take?
 
I've spent about £3000 overall over the last couple of years sorting out bits that went wrong... replaced engine after oil starvation, replaced Jatco box after dying engine overstrained it, recon VCU, replaced total sunroof, and lastly 5 new Pirelli Scorpions to include spare tyre.

She flies along now :D so go for it Jod

That might sound a lot, but when you think that buying a new car was costing me £4000 per year in repayments, it puts it all in perspective. (and that car is now only 4 years newer now - 60 plate)

If my TD4 costs less than £4000 per year to fix, then I'm quids in. I would hope that it won't cost me anything near that, including sorting it out. Mine is relatively high milage for the year -'06, 116,000 in 7 1/2 years. I would expect to have to do some repairs, on any vehicle this age.
 
That might sound a lot, but when you think that buying a new car was costing me £4000 per year in repayments, it puts it all in perspective. (and that car is now only 4 years newer now - 60 plate)

If my TD4 costs less than £4000 per year to fix, then I'm quids in. I would hope that it won't cost me anything near that, including sorting it out. Mine is relatively high milage for the year -'06, 116,000 in 7 1/2 years. I would expect to have to do some repairs, on any vehicle this age.

I agree with that completely. I looked into financing a disco or maybe a Freelander 2 and the prices just don't warrant it for me. The old Freelander did me well, it's only since chopping and changing cars I realise how much I liked it.

That's a nice looking car epicuser - still not sure to get pre or post facelift. Will depend on condition of the car all round I guess.
 
I agree with that completely. I looked into financing a disco or maybe a Freelander 2 and the prices just don't warrant it for me. The old Freelander did me well, it's only since chopping and changing cars I realise how much I liked it.

That's a nice looking car epicuser - still not sure to get pre or post facelift. Will depend on condition of the car all round I guess.

Look at it this way: if you were buying an MGB, would you buy one with the original chrome bumper or one of the newer rubber ones? ;)
 
Mine had 77k on it when I sold it. Mileage doesn't bother me either way, check condition of major components & wear & tear items. I'd rather have a well maintained high miler than a 1 lady owner, pootle down to the shops never warmed up low miler.

I've driven so many different land rovers and the freelander has always been a good compromise between on & off road. had a P38, that was always broken, briefly had an L322 and that was lovely but thirsty & always going wrong. We have a 110 in the family which is amazing but I often do 300 miles upto Scotland from manchester and back and it's not nice for those long journeys.

Going seeing a few this week so fingers crossed we will have another TD4 on the drive in the next couple of weeks. Of course I'll have to go through the motions of synergy, VCU check, ATF change, EGR replacement and all the other wonderful things I did to the last one. Sounds like more fun.
 
I came back too. I had an L series anniversary Freelander, did all the jobs to sort it, then eventually sold it to get a very rare soft top 2.8 Pajero which I heavily off road modified. After a few other heavy old 4x4s and a diesel Golf, I came back to Freelanders. It was that or an SLK. The missus is up the duff with our first nipper, so 2 seater will have to wait until she can drive (and have a boring kiddy carrier) leaving me to get another sporty thing. Saying that, I'll probably keep the Freelander....
 
Look at it this way: if you were buying an MGB, would you buy one with the original chrome bumper or one of the newer rubber ones? ;)

I agree about the MGB, but I personally prefer the look of the FL1 facelift. Which is why I bought one. :lol:

But I know many prefer the pre facelift, and they will be considerably cheaper than the £100 I paid for mine :lol:
 
Thanks, just what i needed to hear. nice to see people are happy to fix & maintain their vehicles instead of just trading them in. Out of curiosity, the guys who have had the Jatco replaced by Dave Ashcroft, how painless was it & how long did it take?
I didn't have mine replaced by Ashcroft as the main dealer was closer. Balancing the cost of the change and miles on a recovery truck v the more expensive main dealer without the travel etc, I went with the main dealer as I was given promises which turned out to be un-claimable and work was busy at the time. Ashcroft use 2 fitter garages that replace the auto's. Ashcroft recon the auto and do a proper job. They list the method they use.

See here > Ashcroft Transmissions

They also have a you tube channel.

They can change a Jatco in a day but you have to be there early and they need it all day. They would help with that when you book it in anyway.

I wouldn't change mine again if it failed as it's a v6 and eggspensive to run, but if I were to change it I would go with Ashcroft and their fitter garages. I visited one of the garages after the main dealer fitted mine for them to test drive mine and assess it. As said mine was fitted by a main dealer and not the best purchase I've made. I wish I'd gone to Ashcroft instead. :doh:
 
I didn't have mine replaced by Ashcroft as the main dealer was closer. Balancing the cost of the change and miles on a recovery truck v the more expensive main dealer without the travel etc, I went with the main dealer as I was given promises which turned out to be un-claimable and work was busy at the time. Ashcroft use 2 fitter garages that replace the auto's. Ashcroft recon the auto and do a proper job. They list the method they use.

See here > Ashcroft Transmissions

They also have a you tube channel.

They can change a Jatco in a day but you have to be there early and they need it all day. They would help with that when you book it in anyway.

I wouldn't change mine again if it failed as it's a v6 and eggspensive to run, but if I were to change it I would go with Ashcroft and their fitter garages. I visited one of the garages after the main dealer fitted mine for them to test drive mine and assess it. As said mine was fitted by a main dealer and not the best purchase I've made. I wish I'd gone to Ashcroft instead. :doh:
what difference do you think there is between ashcroft rebuild and dealer supplied one or anyother
 
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