First time landy owner.. Freelander 1 TD4

Just picked up an 04 TD4 3 door Freelander off ebay.. obviously!

Hopefully a bargain.. Brand new MoT, various things done to pass, 105k miles

First landy for a while - a girlfriend in a previous life had a 1969 2A SWB for towing a horse (APB129H from memory?) Quite a step change in technology!

Service history is good to 58k, but nothing after that.

Will have an fluids & filters service done ASAP, although there's engine oil spilt in the boot, so either it was changed recently or it needs constant topping up!

The tyres have been replaced piecemeal (every tyre a different brand.. all the same size at least).

It's on 195/80 15s and feels very wallowy (compared to an Alfa 166 on 225/45/17!) I know it's never going to corner that well, but as it's mainly road use I might swap to 16" or 17" rims for the summer , and stick some winter/mud tyres on the 15" rims. Assuming we have a winter and a summer..

Been used on road to tow a caravan, but clutch didn't slip in 1st with some welly, so I'm hoping that's OK.

Still 4WD, and the prop shaft bearings were done recently

Probably won't be used off road much, it was more for the high driving position, "convertible" feature (hence the 3 door) and towing capacity (I own some woodland a few miles away so drag a trailer for a quad bike and logs back and forth) , could go into it, but the tracks are not really passable and it doesn't have a winch.


But as a warning to us all, the previous winner of the auction turned out to be a Romanian car theft gang, turned up to view, did something in the engine bay to lock the car with the keys in and left the window down an inch, then circled in a van after the seller went indoors, presumably they'd then use the open window to gain entry and steal the car...

Good luck with it but read as much as you can about VCU and one wheel up test. They have a nasty habit of trashing the drive train (rear diff and IRD - see very expensive) when not looked after. If you don't know what they are then Google them, lots of info out there, especially since the tyres are all different.

Thanks! Absolutely - TBH I budgeted for a new VCU - some say it should be replaced at 70k whatever - and there's no evidence it's been done. Shame they don't die quietly!

Reading around I think probably the best thing would be a temperature sensor on the VCU and a warning light when it's getting hot. you can get an lcd thermometer with a probe for about £3, attach probe to VCU, thread wire into cabin, stick gauge somewhere..

I paid easily £1k under retail, and at least I'll know what's been done.. and we're near Telford so I'll be dropping it into Roean for a good check over.

There's some debate on the relevance of temp. Basically if the VCU is so stiff it isn't turning at all then it will be stone cold and when working perfectly it'll be a bit warm so somewhere inbetween it goes from getting too warm back down to the correct temp even though the drive train is about to sh1t itself.
If you change it or refurb yourself then you'll know it is OK without fannying around with temp gauges and around 100k miles is a good time to do it.