Gents,

I recently acquired a '99 Freelander 1.8 petrol, knowing absolutely
nothing about the model and its potential weaknesses. Spending a little
time on Google and speaking to friends quickly made me more that
ordinary nervous about the car.

The car as done 47.000 miles in its 7 years, and reading the various
postings it almost seems eminent that a head gasket blow-up is to be
expected any day.

Driving the car home from the dealership I was quite alert as to any
signs of upcoming disasters. The temperature stayed reasonable low,
even drivign through London. No smells of coolant reached my nose, no
metallic sounds reached my ears, and in fact the car made it all the
way. There seems to be a sligt spill of oil on the engine block itself,
but not something I would necesarrily classify as a leak.

Anyway the situation is this. The car has never had the cambelt
replaced, so I want that done immediately. And as I have no reason to
believe that the gasket will not blow up (Im eligble for most types of
disasters with heavy financial damage), I may as well ask the garage to
do as much they can to extend the life of the engine.

Driving the car to a LR garage seems to be financial suicide as them
seem to suggest to replace the entire engine regardless of the
condition of the old one. Reading postings in newsgroups however seem
to indicate that some independent garages seems to have less dramatic
approaches, refurbishing/reworking the old engine and making it less
prone to a gasket blow.

So what it boils down to, what should I do with my '99 Freelander that
seems to have a still intact engine, to make sure it stays intact. And
additional, any recommandations of an independant garage in London that
have served some of you good with respect to this particular issue ?

Cheers
Carsten