please help, don't know where to start, need a mechanic Basingstoke urgently and advice please.
got stung big time.

bought my very first Freelander on monday, test drove absolutely beautifully. paid, finished business, phoned insurance, went to drive 26 miles home, coolant exploded out of pipe, empty, temp gauge only slightly above middle, turned engine off quick.

the guy didn,t return with the second key as promised, went to door, elderly gent answered (sincere) and didn't know anything about the guy who supposedly lived there and sold me the car sitting outside. Sh**

long story short, towed home stuck with dream car sitting outside unable to drive. worse than that fulltime carer for disabled brother stuck at home.
where can I get a mechanic to diagnose fault and fix for me (feel sick at the thought of the price) but don't know where to start, not only new to Freelander but new to area as well, please tell me who any of you guys use please. desperate, any help would be really appreciated
thanks
Joan

Whats the point on spending money on a possible stolen car?

Fixing the car would not be on my list just yet.

I would first try to find out if the car you bought, is legitimate.
You sadly may end up handing the car to the insurance, or to the rightful owners.

Was the old guy being genuine, or was he just covering up for his son maybe?

vette

hi
thanks so much for answering, I missed out the big spiel about how many phonecalls I've made today. private seller turns out to be a trader on A*** T***** been onto their fraud dept (it's not stolen thank god) various consumer people data protection etc, the works. seller sells a significant amout of cars on there and has sold another one today from the street next to where I bought mine. lots of people investigating him, but this will takes a long time. car not stolen just broke. I can#t understand how it worked perfect during 2 mile or so text drive (I had my son with me to oversee the mechanical side of it etc. he is as gobsmacked as me. (but knows nothing about freelanders, just normal cars as he puts it). I have spent all day on the phone (for the legal side of it) and about six hours trolling through this forum, can't sleep for worry. I get a bit of hope when reading things like "replaced cap, now works fine" then I read a nother horror story of someone replacing head casket three times etc. I need someone who knows what they're doing to get me back on the road asap as cheap as possible having just paid out for the car. but who can I trust>

Joan

Welcome to the Basingstoke crew!

Read the crock of **** thread on here. As he is a trader, you have many rights. Get yo money back & inform Basingstoke police and Trading Standards.
A cheap fix is unlikely, but pm me yo info.

I assume it's a petrol freelander. Is it the 1.8 or the V6?

reet folks......
so she has had it pressure tested and sniff tested and no signs of HGF.... so what would cause it to throw out all the water all of a sudden?

airlock

The Mad Hat Man said:

reet folks......
so she has had it pressure tested and sniff tested and no signs of HGF.... so what would cause it to throw out all the water all of a sudden?

Click to expand...

If it was a liquid sniff test they are not worth a toss exhaust gas analyser in engine bay start engine and then put over open coolant-HC jump it is hgf.
Airlock possible, but don't get your hopes up
Other than that thermostat or localised boiling due to jack of flow.
Water pump impeller or rad blocked

Bit of a long shot, but as she drove a fair distance home, what's the chance of the thermostat opening and blowing a perished hose? particularly if the test drive wasn't long enough to fully open the thermostat.

I think a blown hose would be obvious.

Most likely water pump, I reckon, but difficult to diagnose without seeing or hearing it...
What throws me is, apparently, it happened suddenly - a water pump or other similar failure is not likely to happen suddenly. a hose would, but as said, that would be obvious. the other point is that "it drove lovely to the garage and back" to get it HGF tested.

2 miles isnt really a long enough test drive to get a car hot, (depends on traffic of course!) but i did have a similar thing on my mgf once and it never did it again, no head gasket problems or anything in the next 50,000 miles i covered in her.

it "could" just be one of those things.... im just putting that out there of course as it could be something more serious, could be nothing.

if its been stood for a while with just water in it.. (tight arse trader type topping it up?) thermostat could have been stuck, could have been an air lock and then once it boiled the water it just spat it all out.

You may well be correct.
Unfortunately the OP aint particularly clued up on motors (but wants to learn) so maybe a few short trips and keeping an eye on the water level wouldnt do any harm . (with a gallon of water handy)

The Mad Hat Man said:

I think a blown hose would be obvious.

Most likely water pump, I reckon, but difficult to diagnose without seeing or hearing it...
What throws me is, apparently, it happened suddenly - a water pump or other similar failure is not likely to happen suddenly. a hose would, but as said, that would be obvious. the other point is that "it drove lovely to the garage and back" to get it HGF tested.

Click to expand...

I must be going mad but where does she say that it drove lovely to the garage for the HGF test?

Sorry but.

Queen - 'Another One Bites the Dust' - YouTube

Tazz070299 said:

I must be going mad but where does she say that it drove lovely to the garage for the HGF test?

Click to expand...

In a PM

This sort of thing REALLY ****es me off

Buying a motor is a massive expense for pretty much everyone and to make a living from trading dishonestly is beneath contempt.

Hope the thermo/air-lock theory is right

What engine is it??? maybe I have missed it. I have probably done 50 rover head gaskets over the years (mechanic) and bleeding them properly is absolutely essential. They can be an absolute nightmare to bleed correctly. Many head gaskets are NOT gone!! its the cap not sealing properly. The cap MUST seal. The pipe blowing off/splitting might not be because of too much pressure. It might be just pure chance. If it is just a simple case of blown heagasket it can be replaced very easily and relatively cheaply. Just my thoughts on the thing anyway. (I am assuming its a K series)

blue beasty said:

This sort of thing REALLY ****es me off

Buying a motor is a massive expense for pretty much everyone and to make a living from trading dishonestly is beneath contempt.

Hope the thermo/air-lock theory is right

Click to expand...

Too true mate, the truth is he needs a right f888 kicking end of story......oh and the locking up for good
Poor lady, I do feel for you.

So which pipe did the coolant explode from?

PARSLEYRIPPER said:

What engine is it??? maybe I have missed it. I have probably done 50 rover head gaskets over the years (mechanic) and bleeding them properly is absolutely essential. They can be an absolute nightmare to bleed correctly. Many head gaskets are NOT gone!! its the cap not sealing properly. The cap MUST seal. The pipe blowing off/splitting might not be because of too much pressure. It might be just pure chance. If it is just a simple case of blown heagasket it can be replaced very easily and relatively cheaply. Just my thoughts on the thing anyway. (I am assuming its a K series)

Click to expand...

I can second this, i had loads of problems with mine until i replaced a couple of quid part... the coolant bottle cap. All problems solved instantly!

Hi guys, thank you for your answers, a wee quick update...
I didn't drive it home, hose burst spilling the coolant everywhere, rac guy found it and towed me home. Says Ishould replace the "T bar joiner" thing. took this to Hawfords and they said nothing wrong with T connector and never known it to fail. My son put the hoses back on, tightened jubilee clip things and it doesn't come out there anymore. since parked on the driveway, I have started it three times (just to see if the fairies have fixed it) to let a mechanic across the road have a look at what was happening. He obviously didn't want the job, said get refund probably head gasket or engine, tried a snifer test on the coolant expansion tank, not conclusive as after about 8 mins the water started bubbling up and out. there was bubbles in his tester but I don't think they changed colour. He was supposed to get back to me with ideas and prices, 10 days later I text him, supposed to come round last night, still not heard from him.

I tried it again, just to see how long it took before overheating, to see if I could get it to the garage, again it took about 10 mins iddling, then sounded like a kettle and started leaking out, expansion tank, and somewhere right under the engine but couldn't see where. The fan or fans kicked in, but I switched it off at this point. I had the heaters on full heat, full power, which heat up within a minute. not sure about the hose under the radiator as it was too hot to put my hand anywhere near it and I wimped out of that test. The mechanic said it was stone cold when he tested it.

the next day i drove it to the garage, they said, done exstensive test on HG and snifer test (I think they had it running over half an hour) said I would have to get the coolant flow tested professionally but it doesn't show any signs of HGF. drove it home a little more confident of a slightly cheaper fix, and maybe worth spending the money on it.

Phoned Keith Gott (thankfull recommendation from "The Mat Hat Man" he can book it in for end of next week, but I don't think it would make it that far without stopping for an hour every ten mins to cool down. i can't really risk that, as I'm a carer for my disabled brother and hanging about for hours in a broken car isn't really an option (I would have to take him wwith me or do it at nightime)

so back to a nearer garage?

one other thing, when we test drove it, there was pink coolant in it at the right level, obviously only water now, he could have topped it up for me getting there with pink food colouring for all I know. by the way no luck with catching up with him yet but trading standards onto him with auto trader.

thanks everyone for taking an interest, I really do appreciate it.