Is this the dreaded VCU problem?

Morning All,

Recently bought a 2001 TD4 auto and have so far been very pleased with it.

Up until now it has driven perfectly and certainly performed brilliantly during the snow fest last week.

Didn't drive it over the weekend, but noticed something a little odd on my way into work yesterday.

The beast went well for about 5 miles or so, when I started to lose speed a bit, a slight vibration became noticible (which gradually increased,) and there was a distinct feeling that the brakes were being applied. In fact, if I lifted off the accelerator, the speed dropped off very quickly.

I carried on for the remaining 3 miles or so to work and decided to test it a little in the car park. I drove forward in a straight line relatively slowly and then put it in neutral. Rather than coast as I expected, it slowed very quickly and then stopped. I tried it in reverse and it did the same thing. When I say stopped, it isn't like a rolling stop, it's quite sudden just as if I had braked. I previously had a car which (despite the best efforts of the local garage) had a tendancy to occassionaly bind on the rear brakes and would stop in a similar fashion at low speeds. Could it be the brakes on the Freelander. I did wonder if the Hill Decent was turned on, but it isn't.

Needless to say, I haven't had an opportunity to test the VCU, but thought I'd ask here first, but issues such as this seem to relate to reversing with full lock.

I might add that I didn't notice the braking effect as much going home, but it was certainly there again this morning.

Thanks in advance,

Chris

if it won't roll even in neutral sounds like the brakes are binding to me.

hi there sounds very much like your hand brake linkage to the rear shoes is seized on one ore 2 sides a common fault with freelanders very easy to fix stip rear drums free of the linkages apply a bit of copper slip re assemble making shure you have plenty of travel in your handbrake to keep things moving , forget all that sh,t about 6 clicks mine is like a Persian missile launcher and it has never bothered me since, a good way to diagnose this is to have a drive somewhere safe and try not to use the brakes roll to a stop and feel the drums if one is as hot as hell you have found the problem, hope this helps ian

iand1967 said:

, forget all that sh,t about 6 clicks mine is like a Persian missile launcher and it has never bothered me since,

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3-4 clicks is the UK MOT acceptable limit, personally I prefer two clicks, especially for hand braking front wheel drive cars LOL

iand1967 said:

hi there sounds very much like your hand brake linkage to the rear shoes is seized on one ore 2 sides a common fault with freelanders very easy to fix stip rear drums free of the linkages apply a bit of copper slip re assemble making shure you have plenty of travel in your handbrake to keep things moving , forget all that sh,t about 6 clicks mine is like a Persian missile launcher and it has never bothered me since, a good way to diagnose this is to have a drive somewhere safe and try not to use the brakes roll to a stop and feel the drums if one is as hot as hell you have found the problem, hope this helps ian

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can you not just jack it up and try and turn the wheel rather that drive it and wear yer brakes down to the extent that the shoes and drums are shafted?

slob said:

can you not just jack it up and try and turn the wheel rather that drive it and wear yer brakes down to the extent that the shoes and drums are shafted?

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not to shure as you get a bit of drag of the diff

am fairly sure you could tell the difference between diff drag and brake bind. atleast you can on most other light vehicles

LR 1796 there are no number of clicks for a UK MOT, it is purely on how much reserve travel is in the lever when at maximum (if it catches any console etc or runs out of ratchet)

The VCU went on my FL, bust right open, the whole back end of the car shook like mad when it happend, it was like the car was falling apart!!!

£722 later and it was fixed then the front part of the prop shaft wnet BANG!! LOL!
You gotta love em

Cat's Eyes said:

The VCU went on my FL, bust right open, the whole back end of the car shook like mad when it happend, it was like the car was falling apart!!!

£722 later and it was fixed then the front part of the prop shaft wnet BANG!! LOL!
You gotta love em

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Very nice eyes !!!

Cat's Eyes said:

The VCU went on my FL, bust right open, the whole back end of the car shook like mad when it happend, it was like the car was falling apart!!!

£722 later and it was fixed then the front part of the prop shaft wnet BANG!! LOL!
You gotta love em

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Oh, I'm so looking forward to fixing one expensive part after another.

As a quick update, I'm pretty sure it's not the brakes binding. I did as one of the others here suggested and left the hand brake off over night and it didn't make any difference.

Last night I took a different route home with a few more hills and a lot more slow winding corners.

The first few miles seemed fine, but then the braking effect started again. At one stage, I put it into neutral (It's an automatic, if that makes any difference,) on a slight downward lane and the wretched thing was slowing down rather than speeding up. If I'd let it, it would have come to a stop.

A few more fairly slow corners and I started to notice a distinct "wu, wu" sound from the front (If I had to guess, it would be somewhere around where the IRD is,) the sound sped up as I accelerated and then was gone. Didn't notice it again.

When I arrived at work this morning (I live in an area not well covered by public transportation or I would take the bus,) I felt each of the wheels to see if any were particularly warm. All were fairly cool except for the front nearside which was very warm.

Wheel bearing, perhaps? Would that give the braking effect I've described without the car pulling to that side, and wouldn't it be constant and more noticible when turning?

Another thought, if the VCU has in fact seized would I get the braking effect through transmission windup after a few miles of driving? That said, I don't see any odd wear patterns on the rear tyres.

Anyway, I've joined the AA this morning so I know I can still get home and the beast is being serviced on Saturday by an LR trained mechanic. We'll see what he thinks.

mite be useful to remove the front prop to remove drive to the rear and see if it makes any difference.

The Mad Hat Man said:

mite be useful to remove the front prop to remove drive to the rear and see if it makes any difference.

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Cheers, I'm going to take your advise and ask my mechanic to do just that on Saturday. I assume that taking just the front shaft off without removing the whole lot will be okay for a short time.

its a common mod all summer for sum folks - improves fuel consumption too - i believe.

The Mad Hat Man said:

mite be useful to remove the front prop to remove drive to the rear and see if it makes any difference.

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Is it just removing the front prop which is bolted to the IRD ?? Where do you (they) fix it than to avoid it falls off ? Also isn't that turning all the time through the rear differential, the rear prop, the VCU and than the front prop ? Or am I wrong completely on this in thinking like this ??
Or do you mean disconnect the front prop off both ends, IRD and VCU ?

remove it completely - Mondeo or Minge will now the details.

Thanks MHM,

That way one has not to hassle with the weight of the VCU etc.. and as there is almost no to non resistance on the vcu the car will handle as a strange fwd as said. Tnx.

nowt strange about it willo!

It will go like a hooligan

Think Mini ! but bigger

Hi All,

I think I've got off light for now, the mechanic had a good look at the beast this morning and has determined that the braking effect is caused by the front nearside caliper being seized on the pins.

Certainly having cleaned the pins, etc. everything is now working again as it should. He added that the rubber dust boots have split and that the pins will seize again in due.

Anybody any ideas where I can buy the offending parts online?

Thanks for all the help and advise.

Chris

mondo said:

nowt strange about it willo!

It will go like a hooligan

Think Mini ! but bigger

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Bigger and BETTER!!!!!