Danielsand
New Member
So,.......driving 06 Full Fat in Zambezi silver, and ran into a 2002 Hippo in the same color. MINT, parked at the junkyard! Traced the owner (75 year old original owner), who LOVED the car, but had the timing belts replaced at the indy, and the usual happened,......belt broke. They told him 6K USD (this is SoCal) to get it back on the road, and he junked it. This happened one week after new tires, new brakes, new exhaust, and new shocks were put on, at 92K miles.
Wife fell in LOVE with Hippo! Just a cool thing to have,.....a BIG RR, and a matching Hippo. So I bought it, thinking (as a commited DIY type, with extensive experience on Jags, RRs, and bikes)...."how bad can it be"? Complete rebuild (if needed) will be done.
Well,.....instead of rebuilding (takes time, and she wanted THIS Hippo now!), decided to put another engine in. Hard to find in CA, and the cheapest I found was 2500USD with 114k. So I bought ANOTHER (running) Hippo, for less! This one had three-four owners, and the interior was pretty trashed, ....not loved. Wife didn't like it either. The solution was obvious,.....yank the engine out of it, and get the first one in running order!
Done. But with issues (and that's what brought me here!). Joined few boards in the States, and their Freelander forums are DEAD! Looks like Yanks gave up on them. Found THIS forum (looks active, with some knowledgeable people that like to DIY), and been reading some stuff.
Our Hippo's problems? Well,......starting from minor (not important), to major:
1. Sunroof inop (no clicking, no sound, NOTHING happens when the switch is operated). Not important, don't like sunroofs anyway, used the one on the RR MAYBE once.
2. HDC light (amber) ON all the time (annoying, but she could live with it)
3. No brake lights! (MAJOR problem. Third one, and the two on the bumper work, but the two main ones do NOT)
4. F4 flashing sometimes, Hippo crawls (MAJOR problem. Turning the car off, for few seconds, and restarting, gets it back to normal)
So far,......ABS module (under the dash) swapped (from the parts car). Brake switch also swapped, as well as the gear indicator, and HDC switch (by the shifter). Checked all fuses, swapped some relays,....no changes. Hippo threw CEL yesterday, and I pulled P1717 code. Erased the code, and wife will take it to work today,....we'll see what happens.
It would be much easier to junk this thing, and buy something reliable, but I am a stubborn old sod, and wife absolutely LOVES her Hippo! I refuse to accept defeat (retired military), and I am determined to get this thing running right for her.
So kindly,.....please give me some pointers Gents! My next step would be to yank the tranny out of the donor, and swapp them (only the engine was changed). Since trannys get changed often, I don't think that would cure my problems, as it's not essential that the engine and tranny are "matched". Once I have this Hippo sorted out, I will start rebuilding it's original engine (plenty of time). The rest of the donor will be parted out/junked.
GREAT little cars! They handle like a dream, too bad they have crap for the power train, and tons of electrical issues. But since I drive Jags and RRs,.......I'm used to it!
Looking forward to your answers.
Wife fell in LOVE with Hippo! Just a cool thing to have,.....a BIG RR, and a matching Hippo. So I bought it, thinking (as a commited DIY type, with extensive experience on Jags, RRs, and bikes)...."how bad can it be"? Complete rebuild (if needed) will be done.
Well,.....instead of rebuilding (takes time, and she wanted THIS Hippo now!), decided to put another engine in. Hard to find in CA, and the cheapest I found was 2500USD with 114k. So I bought ANOTHER (running) Hippo, for less! This one had three-four owners, and the interior was pretty trashed, ....not loved. Wife didn't like it either. The solution was obvious,.....yank the engine out of it, and get the first one in running order!
Done. But with issues (and that's what brought me here!). Joined few boards in the States, and their Freelander forums are DEAD! Looks like Yanks gave up on them. Found THIS forum (looks active, with some knowledgeable people that like to DIY), and been reading some stuff.
Our Hippo's problems? Well,......starting from minor (not important), to major:
1. Sunroof inop (no clicking, no sound, NOTHING happens when the switch is operated). Not important, don't like sunroofs anyway, used the one on the RR MAYBE once.
2. HDC light (amber) ON all the time (annoying, but she could live with it)
3. No brake lights! (MAJOR problem. Third one, and the two on the bumper work, but the two main ones do NOT)
4. F4 flashing sometimes, Hippo crawls (MAJOR problem. Turning the car off, for few seconds, and restarting, gets it back to normal)
So far,......ABS module (under the dash) swapped (from the parts car). Brake switch also swapped, as well as the gear indicator, and HDC switch (by the shifter). Checked all fuses, swapped some relays,....no changes. Hippo threw CEL yesterday, and I pulled P1717 code. Erased the code, and wife will take it to work today,....we'll see what happens.
It would be much easier to junk this thing, and buy something reliable, but I am a stubborn old sod, and wife absolutely LOVES her Hippo! I refuse to accept defeat (retired military), and I am determined to get this thing running right for her.
So kindly,.....please give me some pointers Gents! My next step would be to yank the tranny out of the donor, and swapp them (only the engine was changed). Since trannys get changed often, I don't think that would cure my problems, as it's not essential that the engine and tranny are "matched". Once I have this Hippo sorted out, I will start rebuilding it's original engine (plenty of time). The rest of the donor will be parted out/junked.
GREAT little cars! They handle like a dream, too bad they have crap for the power train, and tons of electrical issues. But since I drive Jags and RRs,.......I'm used to it!
Looking forward to your answers.
