This won't be a "how to" guide on changing a V6 engine as I just don't have the time but I'll include some usefull hints and information for anybody that might be mad enough to contemplate doing it themselves.
A bit of background info on the car. It's an a later 2001 but on a Y plate Fully Loaded ES that has covered just 31K!! I bought it as a local load lugger for winter and towing duties. I've had Freelander 1.8s for the last 6 years and found them generally pretty good. The only complaint with the 1.8 is it's lack of power for it's weight Especially as my summer car is a tuned 200bhp MG ZS180!
As i'm planning on selling on the ZS to reduce insurance costs but as I love the KV6 engine I thought a Freelander V6 would be a kind of best of both worlds kind of car. After a short search I found one local with an engine problem. The car was a good condition very low miles but was loosing it's water into the sump. Knowing lots about the KV6 I guessed it was probably suffering HGF. When I looked at the car a noticed it had already had a set of new HG's as well as countless other parts. The owner told me he had had them done less than 2K before but they had failed again!! So we agreed a price and I took it off his hands.
Not wanting to waste my time and money on doing the HG's again I decided it would be easier to swap the engine, so after a short hunt I found one from an MG ZS180 which should do the job. The long term plan is to correctly rebuild the original V6 and if I have the time, money and inclination maybe try to convert it to a manual as the auto hampers this engine somewhat.
So that's where I am at the minute. There is a big hole where the V6 once sat. But just getting the this point is a pile of work.
This is where the V6 once sat.
This is the replacement engine. Note the cam pulleys are marked up ready for the new belts!!
So what is involved in getting the V6 out? A lot is a good description!! Annoyingly there are many things in the way of various fixings so these need removing or moving out the way first.
First up is drain everything. Water, engine oil, gearbox oil and the IRD.
Next i stripped the engine and the surrounding ancilleries includung the air filter assembly, inlet plenum, alternator, PS pump, rear 3 Bremi coils, complete engine harnes, the starter, the upper bell housing bolts, the battery, the battery tray, cruse control actuator, all the pipes off the thermostat and heater and move the brake resavour out the way.
Support the body at the jacking points so the front wheels can be removed.
Pop off the Off Side lower ball joint and steering joint so the driveshaft can be removed from the IRD.
From under the car the front exhaust manifold needs to be removed completely then the exhaust collector pipe needs to be unbolted from the rear manifold and the joint to the exhaust system. To save time i simply moved this assembly out the way leaving the O2 sensor connected.
The front prop joint with the IRD is next to be removed, the shaft can be slid to the right and rested out the way on the subframe.
The IRD is the next thing to unbolt and move ouy the way, it's bolted to the gearbox with 4 bolts but is also supported on a bracket mounted onto the engine front plate at the other end, i did'nt remove IRD but did remove it's bracket. The IRD is clearly visible in the picture. The IRD is moved purely so it's possible to gain access to the driveplate to torque converter bolts, but moving it out the way also improves access to the rear bell housing bolt and exhaust manifold to head bolts, which can be moved out the way.
Next i removed the cover plate to gain access to the 4 driveplate bolts via the access hole an the rear of the bell housing.
Now i support the gearbox bell housing to stop it falling when the engine is removed. Once the weight is taken it's possilbe to remove the remaining lower bell housing bolts and unbolt the AC compressor.
At this point the engine is ready to be removed after a quick double that everything is free.
It's a pain to get the engine out as the gap between the bulkhead and slam pannel is'nt large enough to allow the engine to be removed strait up so needs to be lifted up front end high to get it out. The way i did this was lift it with the diagonal lift points so the front engine mount can be completely removed, the engine is then slid off the gearbox lugs so it's free to move about.
Next i placed a trolly jack under the sump to take the weight so i can move the rear lift point to a bolt in front of the alternator bracket, this then lifts the angine at the correct angle for it to come out the engine bay and moved clear or the car!!
A bit of background info on the car. It's an a later 2001 but on a Y plate Fully Loaded ES that has covered just 31K!! I bought it as a local load lugger for winter and towing duties. I've had Freelander 1.8s for the last 6 years and found them generally pretty good. The only complaint with the 1.8 is it's lack of power for it's weight Especially as my summer car is a tuned 200bhp MG ZS180!
As i'm planning on selling on the ZS to reduce insurance costs but as I love the KV6 engine I thought a Freelander V6 would be a kind of best of both worlds kind of car. After a short search I found one local with an engine problem. The car was a good condition very low miles but was loosing it's water into the sump. Knowing lots about the KV6 I guessed it was probably suffering HGF. When I looked at the car a noticed it had already had a set of new HG's as well as countless other parts. The owner told me he had had them done less than 2K before but they had failed again!! So we agreed a price and I took it off his hands.
Not wanting to waste my time and money on doing the HG's again I decided it would be easier to swap the engine, so after a short hunt I found one from an MG ZS180 which should do the job. The long term plan is to correctly rebuild the original V6 and if I have the time, money and inclination maybe try to convert it to a manual as the auto hampers this engine somewhat.
So that's where I am at the minute. There is a big hole where the V6 once sat. But just getting the this point is a pile of work.
This is where the V6 once sat.
This is the replacement engine. Note the cam pulleys are marked up ready for the new belts!!
So what is involved in getting the V6 out? A lot is a good description!! Annoyingly there are many things in the way of various fixings so these need removing or moving out the way first.
First up is drain everything. Water, engine oil, gearbox oil and the IRD.
Next i stripped the engine and the surrounding ancilleries includung the air filter assembly, inlet plenum, alternator, PS pump, rear 3 Bremi coils, complete engine harnes, the starter, the upper bell housing bolts, the battery, the battery tray, cruse control actuator, all the pipes off the thermostat and heater and move the brake resavour out the way.
Support the body at the jacking points so the front wheels can be removed.
Pop off the Off Side lower ball joint and steering joint so the driveshaft can be removed from the IRD.
From under the car the front exhaust manifold needs to be removed completely then the exhaust collector pipe needs to be unbolted from the rear manifold and the joint to the exhaust system. To save time i simply moved this assembly out the way leaving the O2 sensor connected.
The front prop joint with the IRD is next to be removed, the shaft can be slid to the right and rested out the way on the subframe.
The IRD is the next thing to unbolt and move ouy the way, it's bolted to the gearbox with 4 bolts but is also supported on a bracket mounted onto the engine front plate at the other end, i did'nt remove IRD but did remove it's bracket. The IRD is clearly visible in the picture. The IRD is moved purely so it's possible to gain access to the driveplate to torque converter bolts, but moving it out the way also improves access to the rear bell housing bolt and exhaust manifold to head bolts, which can be moved out the way.
Next i removed the cover plate to gain access to the 4 driveplate bolts via the access hole an the rear of the bell housing.
Now i support the gearbox bell housing to stop it falling when the engine is removed. Once the weight is taken it's possilbe to remove the remaining lower bell housing bolts and unbolt the AC compressor.
At this point the engine is ready to be removed after a quick double that everything is free.
It's a pain to get the engine out as the gap between the bulkhead and slam pannel is'nt large enough to allow the engine to be removed strait up so needs to be lifted up front end high to get it out. The way i did this was lift it with the diagonal lift points so the front engine mount can be completely removed, the engine is then slid off the gearbox lugs so it's free to move about.
Next i placed a trolly jack under the sump to take the weight so i can move the rear lift point to a bolt in front of the alternator bracket, this then lifts the angine at the correct angle for it to come out the engine bay and moved clear or the car!!
Last edited:
