First Freelander, excited & questions

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.

outofstepper

New Member
Posts
5
Greets all.
Great place you have here! I've searched high and low for info before
stumbling across this site. Kudos & am hoping to learn a lot about my Freelander.

Picked up a pre-loved 1999 Freelander 2000 Di. Thats what the guy
told me it was, all the paper work says 99 Freelander Diesel engine.
Even the handbook is quite generic.

Two questions and I'll try to keep this short-winded:
1. Previous owner bought this thing new, had it for 10 years, put 121,000km
on the clock (about 76k miles). He tells me its been well maintained, oil and
check every 10k km. Little to no off-road but "its been good in the snow".
He says all he's changed in 10 years time is two head lamps (bulbs).

He says it has a Landrover engine in it, not the BMW engine -- which means its not as prone to the head gasket problem. Don't know if this is true.

So my first question: should I be worried about something? Or should I just live in ignorant bliss assuming "it won't happen to me"? What should I look
out for?

2. decided to try the AWD to see if the tranny still worked. slope of about 20 degrees or so.. damp grass.. i expected something to slip. Esp since the tires have seen better days.

nothing slipped, but the engine died. 4 times. I had it in 1st from a dead stop (on the slope).. even with high revs seems like it had no power and just stalled. is this normal? never had an AWD vehicle. Maybe they don't act the same as 4WD.. thoughts?

the HDC seems to work though its a bit noisy. Again I have no reference, its my first time.. but it did take the grades nice and slow.

with some momentum, on not-so-bad slopes, the freelander did great. great handling, etc. For reference, its not somewhere I could've gone with my front wheel drive car. But no problem for the Freelander.

Any insight greatly appreciated!
-Tony
 
:welcome:
first things first - are the propshafts and VCU still there?
if so - do a VCU check - always a good idea.
Any knocks/bangs from front or rear of motor?
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the quick replies. Re: VCU and propshafts -- I wouldn't even know where to
start! Ordered a Haynes manual and plan to go through that step-by-step (maintenance).

Just checked my VIN online.. 2000 19J 2.0L, inline 4 cylinder, 'L' Series, turbo-diesel.

-Tony
 
Now now nathan thats no way to welcome someone into the landyzone family isit ;). He may one day realize when his doors have fallen off and half of his transmission doesn't work anymore or that his clutch pedal has stuck down and has found out it needs everything from the pedal to the engine replacing that he should have got a propper landy like a Disco or even a Fender, so be nice to the nooby and say :welcome2: and enjoy you time working on your gaylander.
:welcome2:
 
Thanks for the quick replies. Re: VCU and propshafts -- I wouldn't even know where to
start! Ordered a Haynes manual and plan to go through that step-by-step (maintenance).

Just checked my VIN online.. 2000 19J 2.0L, inline 4 cylinder, 'L' Series, turbo-diesel.

-Tony
L series is a rover diesel, not a direct LR enigne as such, but used by them with permission of rover. The head gasket worries are mainly rover petrol engines which are also used in Freelanderd - 1.8 and 2.5

To check the viscous coupling (vcu), put 2 markers on the prop sharts where the yellow dots are in the pic below. VCU is arrowed. Take it for a drive round the block. If the dots are out of alignment, then the vcu is not seized. If they're still in alignment, then go for a drive again. If they stay in alignment then it's seized. Best to remove as soon as possible to reduce stress in the transmission when this is seized. If seized it puts stress on the IRD intermediate reduction drive (fixed ratio transfer box after the gearbox - splits power to front wheels and powers props to rear diff/wheels) and rear diff (between the rear wheels). The prop shafts referred to above by MHM are in the pic below, with yellow dots on. If either/or/and the front prop, rear prop, vcu is missing, then your Freelander is 2 wheel drive only.

8e4Dw2n.jpg

vcutest 8e4Dw2n
 
Last edited:
Thanks Hippo.. all the parts are still there :) and my marks moved.
I did find this while I was under there through.. rear diff leaking.. pic below.
Will power wash it and see whats going on, hopefully its just the gasket?

Thanks again!

freelander_rear_diff.jpg
 
Back
Top