Stuttering when pulling away

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D11V MC

New Member
Posts
16
My I bought my 1st Freelander about 1 month ago, and I am loving it.

But I have noticed that on occasion, not everytime, that when I pull away in 1st gear or even in reverse the car sometimes stutters and drives like its a kangaroo.
Now I have looked at if I am revving too much, not enough, but this seems to be a random thing.
Maybe I pull the clutch up too fast ???
But I am not exactly a new driver, been driving 14yrs, so it can be abit embarressing when pulling away like a Learner :(

Any advice on what could be causing this, the Freelander has been previously fitted with a new clutch,a few yrs back and has got 99Kmiles on the clock not bad for an S reg 99the clock.

Thanks in advance

PS I Still think it is a great car :D
 
First port of call is to get the fault codes out of the ecu and see what that tells you. Would suspect some kind of sensor issue, possibly the throttle pedal position transducer.

Other things to consider. Is the air con switch on, if so, switch it off as this has the ability to adjust the power demand to compensate for the compressor load. I find on my L series that it over cooks the correction and causes the engine to surge slightly, which I have to correct for with the pedal.

Also, as it is First and Reverse, is the HDC switched on in error. Are any indicators showing on the dash for the HDC or TC?

A few things to consider. Hope they help.
 
D11V MC said:
What is HDC and TC....sorry for being a dumb ass but being new to 4x4 I have no idea
Click to expand...

Ah ha. Some on this forum would be armed with the term RTFM. As in (Read the F@@king manual).

I'm not so cruel.

HDC = Hill decent control

On the gear stick is a trigger, squeeze it and push the collar down and a green light should come on the dash. In first and reverse the traction controller, which is located under the drivers seat, will use the ABS modulator and, I believe, an auto throttle control to allow you to decend a very steep gradient (We're talking off road terrain here, not normal roads) without thouching the pedels. You just steer. This is a unique FL feature.

If you change gear to second or above the HDC cuts out and the green light flashes to tell you to disengage HDC. If you use the HDC for extended time then the traction controller may signal with the amber lamp, which means the brakes are getting too hot. Stop for a while to let them cool.

TC - Traction control

If, on a slippery surface you loose traction (ie a wheel starts spinning) the traction controller will use the ABS modulator to kick on the brake on that wheel alone so to stop the slip and to stop all the drive from bleeding into that wheel alone. This allows the other wheels to contribute to driving the car forward.
 
Thanks Darmain.
The guy I bought the car off showed me the HDC working during my test drive.....so I know how to work it so that aint my problem.
The problem of it "stuttering" only occurs randomly.....very strange.

Is there anyway I can turn the TC off, or is permanently on.....there is no lights on my dash to indicate if its on or not.
This car has been well looked after and maintained,...got loads of receipts and service history with it, all from LandRover.
I mean guy only ever hand washed it :)

Where should I take it to get the ecu reading...and is this expensive?
Spent all the money I had on the car so cant really afford to splash any cash just now......I am sure many many others are in the same boat.
 
The ECU can be read using a suitable diagnosic system. What you need is a good independent landrover garage. Prehaps a thread on the general forum to see if anyone can recommend somewhere in your area.

As for the problem I have to say that I am not familiar with the 1.8 petrol lump, but I would strongly suspect an electrical issue, either with the engine control sensors or the ignition system. As a starting point I would suggest a check of all connectors, disconnecting and then reconnecting to help clean the contacts. Check the high tension leads and the distributor, if it has these items. (Some engines use a wasted spark system that fires pots 1 and 4 together or pots 2 and 3 together so there is no need for a mechanical distributor. On my Picasso 1.6 there is an ignition module that plugs into the four spark plugs in one hit, then a low tension wire loom plugs into that. No leads, distributor, or coil.) You might be lucky and spot something silly so its worth a go.

Also, check your spark plugs for condition. Gap is right, no burning, oil, wetness etc.

Failing that its probably going to be a garage job to do the diagnosis.
 
Hi thanks for the pointers

What do you mean by a warped clutch plate Northern Irelander ?
What causes thius and what do I need to do to make sure it is this...and all importantly how much does this cost to sort roughly ??
Thanks
 
While I agree that a warped clutch plate could cause symptoms like this I would suggest you investigate the simpler, and cheaper possibilities first. The cause of a warped clutch plate is most likely to be thermal cycling of a piece of steel that wasn't destressed properley during manufacture. To fix involves remoing the gearbox so to access the clutch mechanism. Then to strip down the clutch assembly and replace parts as necessary. Obviously this is a lot of work and hence expensive.

I suggest a visit to a friendly independent garage for a check up would be worthwhile.
 
My money is on your clutch, it only happens when you pull away.

The clutch will warp if overheated. Easy done by riding the clutch, can happen at low mileage.

I remember doing a clutch a bit of warpage when dragging a friends 1972 VW beetle off his drive. The car sat static for 2yrs, rear brakes had seized solid.
Had to rip the arse out of the beetle to get it shifted.

A warped clutch isnt terminal, just annoying,
has it ever had a 2nd fitted in the service history
 
Checked the history and it has had a clutch fitted in the summer of 97, at just under 95,000.......it is now only just under 100,000 seems unlikely a clutch would be knackered after that short period.
Dont you think ??
 
D11V MC said:
Checked the history and it has had a clutch fitted in the summer of 97, at just under 95,000.......it is now only just under 100,000 seems unlikely a clutch would be knackered after that short period.
Dont you think ??
Click to expand...

Assuming that all the parts were good and it was assembled correctly......

I fear the picture of what is going on here is becoming clearer. :(
 
D11V MC said:
Checked the history and it has had a clutch fitted in the summer of 97, at just under 95,000.......it is now only just under 100,000 seems unlikely a clutch would be knackered after that short period.
Dont you think ??
Click to expand...

Going back to yor OP, what is an S reg, that means nothing to me. What year?

Summer 97 - Is that a typo?

tbh - Yes it is possible to warp a clutch as soon as you go down the road from the garage.

Is it more of a judder rather than a sssss.....ststt........sssstttttttt....sssssttttt.....stutter?
Without any other info, there is not much more I can advise you from afar ;)
 
Sorry mate, it was a defop type error....Summer 07 the clutch was replaced.
S reg is the year of the car ie 1999.
And yes it is defo more of a judder than a stutter :)
 
No, its definetly a random thing.
I took the freelander out tonite to the supermarket its sat since Thursday and never juddered on way the or on way back.
Very strange ???
Yet on Thursday I drove for about 1hr parked at my kids school for 10mins, then as went to leave after picking her up, the car did its "embaressing" judder making me look like I drive a heap and I am a learner
 
An interesting topic stops suddently....No final answers...
I have the SAME symptoms soon after I had the clutch replaced (2.000km)
Any thoughts?
 
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