New member, new owner, new problems

Hi guys, new member here and totally new to landrover. So Ive always loved landy and wanted a freelander for a long time. Finally bought my first about a month ago now. And the problem begins.

So when I drove her home she drove beautifully but from about 3 days later I noticed the clutch biting point getting closer and closer to the floor With about an inch or 2 at the top of the pedal with no resistance. I figured hydraulic problem ? Now the clutch will "rectify" itself and drive perfect after a few days for a few days to a week and then return. Done this ever since however tonight I've found the biting point on the floor again but this time no resistance in the pedal whatsoever ever aside from the spring. More or less had to drive home with no clutch at all. Near impossible to get inot first or reverse however I've checked the usual fluid level on the master cylinder and have lost no fluid since I bought her. Also checked the little black tank right next to the master which has also not lost any fluid. Strange ? I can't help but think of air in the system as the previous owner told me it had a new clutch last year but could t remember when... worried this is going to cost me a fortune. I have experience with smaller cars as a mechanic but never tackled anything this big so all amd any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post and thamks in advance lol. Jamie.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Sorry it's not going well for your Freelander so soon after taking ownership.

It's a good idea to give information about the vehicle, like fuel type and year. The different engines/ years have different clutch arrangements, so we'd need to know before a potential diagnosis can be given.

Nodge68 said:

Hi and welcome to the forum. Sorry it's not going well for your Freelander so soon after taking ownership.

It's a good idea to give information about the vehicle, like fuel type and year. The different engines/ years have different clutch arrangements, so we'd need to know before a potential diagnosis can be given.

Click to expand...

Apologies shes a 2005 2.0 td4 freelander 1

Ok. It could just need bleeding. However if it's had a clutch reasonably recently, then it could have cheap clutch hydraulic components fitted. Generally these are very poor quality and fail to work correctly.

So first is check for hydraulic fluid leaks from the master and concentric (slave / bearing assembly). The latter will drip fluid out of the bell housing joint if it's failed.
Once leaks have been eliminated, you can try bleeding the system to see if it makes a difference.

Welcome. Can't add any more on this subject, but would be well worth your while having a quick read of this...

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

Thanks for your input guys I'm definitely not loosing any fluid as uve had a good look all around and taken the bottom pan off and cant see any signs of a leak. Have checked fluid levels as mentioned and seen no drop in levels. Will get booked into my local garage this week and have them bleed it for me and see how that goes.

Thought I'd update you. Collected the car from the garage this afternoon to find that they havnt even touched the car, they were apparently to scared in case they lost the clutch all together. On the other hand driving it back I found that if I pumped the clutch a few times she would come back right again for a few miles. I still cant help but think this has to be air in the system. The one thin the garage did confirm is that I am definitely not losing any fluid. So it has to be air in the fluid right ???

If pumping the pedal works, then it could be air in the system. They can be a devil to bleed, which is one reason why I drive an auto.

I haven't bled the clutch on a Freelander but I have had very good results on other difficult bleeds using a pressure bleeder.
I started with a Gunson Eezi-bleed but they need a tyre to supply pressure which is a pain. I recently bought a Motiv Industries
bleeder with a built in pump through Amazon and it is fantastic. It bled my MGF in minutes after I exhausted my wife's left leg trying to bleed it manually.
For once she approved of a tool purchase!

Hi guys sorry for delay in updating. So my lovely new landy has just got cost me almost £1200 as the entire clutch kit including master, slave, and dual mass were totally shot to pieces. Previous owner lied quite drastically unfortunately.

Now I have a separate issue which I could do with some advice on.... so over last couple weeks I've noticed that when the car is up to temp every time I go to accelerate the car seems to "snag" and I get small metallic clink and puff of smoke from the exhaust, only does this when pulling away or at low speed. I've had the diesel filter changed 2 days ago as I thought this would be the typical cause ( my mechanic told me the filter was in a real bad way ). However this hasn' solved the issue. Im dreading that someone is going to confirm fears and suggest injectors thanks in advance all

As many will tell you, the TD4 is a fussy bugger when it comes to fuel. They will run on supermarket fuel, but they do tend to clog up if you do.
As you won't know what the previous owner used, I would recommend a good injector cleaner and decent fuel.
I use Miller's diesel power with Texaco fuel and some mineral 2 stroke oil. So a full fuel up would be:
50 L Texaco diesel
50ml diesel power
200ml mineral 2 stroke
I find this works great, others use different brands.
Some always argue the point about supermarket fuel, but, I've had my Freelander 14 years, done around 150,000 miles and I still have the original injectors and many other parts using this mixture.
Don't worry yet, until you've used a couple of tanks of fuel and cleaner.
Mike

Skinny Mike said:

As many will tell you, the TD4 is a fussy bugger when it comes to fuel. They will run on supermarket fuel, but they do tend to clog up if you do.
As you won't know what the previous owner used, I would recommend a good injector cleaner and decent fuel.
I use Miller's diesel power with Texaco fuel and some mineral 2 stroke oil. So a full fuel up would be:
50 L Texaco diesel
50ml diesel power
200ml mineral 2 stroke
I find this works great, others use different brands.
Some always argue the point about supermarket fuel, but, I've had my Freelander 14 years, done around 150,000 miles and I still have the original injectors and many other parts using this mixture.
Don't worry yet, until you've used a couple of tanks of fuel and cleaner.
Mike

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Thanks for advice mike I'll grab a bottle of redex diesel and try that. Ive done around 2k miles in her already but I must admit I often use tesco fuel as I live in a very rural area and tesco is a hell of a lot cheaper but I do have a texaco local so I'll stick to them for now and see how she goes with your suggested mix. Thanks very much