Having acquired my 56K 96 Freelander last year I had , as posted at the time, had a full service undertaken by Stratstone in Aylesbury.
To cut a long storey short, they hadn't done most of what I had requested (and agreed with them, and listed in written instructions!). I would never have known other than their free check suggested that brake fluid should be changed and as this should have been done, it caused me to delve deeper. I discovered that a lot had not been carried out...they had only really done a minor service, with a gear box oil change. After rasing a stink, they agreed to take the car back and finish the work and, as a gesture of "goodwill" they would replace both prop shaft bearings as one was starting to split. By the way, they never did do everything
Just after Christmas, I noticed a whining noise, but only on over run. It sounded like the front nearside wheel bearing had failed. My local garage were not convinced and we decided to leave it a while until it got louder to help a better diagnosis.
Yesterday, fed up with the whine, I put it in and asked them to change the bearing, even if it might not be the cause. It wasn't the bearing. They could now hear a whine from the IRD....worrying!
But I'd looked on here and saw that someone had experienced similar and that it was the Prop bearings.
I had my guys check and, sure enough, both prop shaft bearings are shot! See where this is going?
My garage did not know of the work that had been done last year, and suggetsed that they were not really surprsied as "they looked original from when the car was new". When I explained that they were replaced last year (3,000 miles) they were, shall we say, perplexed.
Obviously there is no way of evidencing the age of the bearings, but is it right that the bearings would only last a year of reasonable use and only about 4000 miles? Now you must see where I am going
Luckily however, the "work" is just under a year old, so in warranty and is booked in for an inspection in a few weeks time. They can have a another go, but all work will be checked by my garage.
By the way, otherwise the Freelander has been fantastic
To cut a long storey short, they hadn't done most of what I had requested (and agreed with them, and listed in written instructions!). I would never have known other than their free check suggested that brake fluid should be changed and as this should have been done, it caused me to delve deeper. I discovered that a lot had not been carried out...they had only really done a minor service, with a gear box oil change. After rasing a stink, they agreed to take the car back and finish the work and, as a gesture of "goodwill" they would replace both prop shaft bearings as one was starting to split. By the way, they never did do everything
Just after Christmas, I noticed a whining noise, but only on over run. It sounded like the front nearside wheel bearing had failed. My local garage were not convinced and we decided to leave it a while until it got louder to help a better diagnosis.
Yesterday, fed up with the whine, I put it in and asked them to change the bearing, even if it might not be the cause. It wasn't the bearing. They could now hear a whine from the IRD....worrying!
But I'd looked on here and saw that someone had experienced similar and that it was the Prop bearings.
I had my guys check and, sure enough, both prop shaft bearings are shot! See where this is going?
My garage did not know of the work that had been done last year, and suggetsed that they were not really surprsied as "they looked original from when the car was new". When I explained that they were replaced last year (3,000 miles) they were, shall we say, perplexed.
Obviously there is no way of evidencing the age of the bearings, but is it right that the bearings would only last a year of reasonable use and only about 4000 miles? Now you must see where I am going
Luckily however, the "work" is just under a year old, so in warranty and is booked in for an inspection in a few weeks time. They can have a another go, but all work will be checked by my garage.
By the way, otherwise the Freelander has been fantastic