Hi all just signed up but been looking at this site for well over a year now.
Always wanted a freelander and I went for a 1.8 2001 Station wagon model 31,000 on the clock.
That was 13 months ago before I paid for it I got the garage to do a compresion check and sniff check, after reading all the problems about the head gasket I even contacted L/Rover and asked about my model and they said it was upgraded and should be fine as it was mainly the older models with the H/G problems.

However I checked the water and oil every weekend not a problem at all never had to put a drop of anything in except fuel

This weekend water gone from header tank no leaks to be seen topped up about 2 ltrs 20 miles driven checked again water gone again checked dip stick and oil filler cap nothing to show no smoke from the exaust topped up again 30 miles later re checked water gone dip stick check lots of mayo head gasket gone water into oil yuk.

The car as never overheated no problems driving it the last 30 miles were done on a motorway bang on 70 mph never missed a beat.It drives like new.

I know this has been done to death about the H/G on this site but it just shows even if like me you check and check the H/G can still go and it can be pumping water into the oil and the car just keeps going without a problem how long for i dont know but i think i must have done about 70 miles with the gasket gone without a problem well the next time its getting drove is to the garage for full H/g job £450 with the head skimmed i dont think thats a bad price.

worst of all gold seal warranty ran out 3 weeks ago bloody hell

if it not a l/r dealer carrying out the work, make sure they buy the lastest multi layer haed gasket, this will prevent it happening again

some motor factors will still supply the old style gasket which you dont want

also make sure the liner heights are checked to latest spec (its on here somewhere) and get the heafd checked for porosity.

AT LAST! (Minge) hgf is NOT because of poor maintenance!

I think one of the probs is that the temp is not monitored in the engine - therfore yu can be cooking the engine and there is no increase in water temp, where it is actually measured! get yoself an electric water pump switched by a thermostatic switch placed IN THE ENGINE at the same time, and a remote thermostat, and a new water tank with water level switch.

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. I can vouch for the new multilayered gasket. Covered 7,000 miles since my rebuild and touch wood car has not missed a beat.

Hopefully if you get it replaced you still have a very low mileage vehicle with a good few years service left in it.

Regards,

Steve.

The Mad Hat Man said:

also make sure the liner heights are checked to latest spec (its on here somewhere) and get the heafd checked for porosity.

AT LAST! (Minge) hgf is NOT because of poor maintenance!

I think one of the probs is that the temp is not monitored in the engine - therfore yu can be cooking the engine and there is no increase in water temp, where it is actually measured! get yoself an electric water pump switched by a thermostatic switch placed IN THE ENGINE at the same time, and a remote thermostat, and a new water tank with water level switch.

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Flopster, its not caused by local hot spots, its caused by a **** gasket, the seal around the head bolts is only a poxy thin bit of rubber, eventually this fails and the coolant travels down the head bolt and into the sump, the new type gasket is a totally different design and has done away with ****ty stuck on rubber bits, its now a proper compression type gasket.

Why they didnt use a composite type in the first place is beyond me, every other manufacurer does it but rover/land rover have to be different, ****s!!!

clutchdust said:

Flopster, its not caused by local hot spots, its caused by a **** gasket,

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You tell him clutchy !

He wunt listen to us

clutchdust said:

Flopster, its not caused by local hot spots, its caused by a **** gasket,

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I didnt say it was on the 1.8, Clutchy. Its the KV6 which, I believe suffers from hotspots.

yu aint saying its a a bad idea to get the remote thermo option are yu? the modified water tank and lecky pump will only make a **** cooling system better and give a warm feelin to paranoic hippoo owners.

Anyone had any experience of Castrol 4life?

The Mad Hat Man said:

I didnt say it was on the 1.8, Clutchy. Its the KV6 which, I believe suffers from hotspots.

yu aint saying its a a bad idea to get the remote thermo option are yu? the modified water tank and lecky pump will only make a **** cooling system better and give a warm feelin to paranoic hippoo owners.

Anyone had any experience of Castrol 4life?

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The kv6 runs too hot full stop!!!! and the rad cap can only just handle the pressure before ****ing water all over the place!!!

No not saying mods are a bad idea

Hi all been a while since my H/G went been using other car whilst i battled and lost with the garage any way got a mate to do the H/G the old one was well knacked top right side almost gone totaly.
Fitted new type plus head bolts also skimmed head took us 5 hours in total with no problems at all took longer to clean the mayo out lol also did a tune up as well.

Total cost £110 plus a few pints for my mate it is now running spot on again.
my mate thinks this as been done before and someone did a shi* job also think it was on its way out when i bought it from the garage strong smell of coolant noticed this on test drive was told they had just done the coolant in all the cars at the garage that week this is a main dealer garage as well .
So if this is gasket number three that adds up to two blowing in 41000 miles I know some on here have had new engines fitted after 3000 miles then the head done again after this always someone worse of than yourself.
at least because of this site I was aware of the problems before I bought my freelander it was no great shock once it went
I will not change from freelanders maybe a diesel next time though

be aware - i have heard that it is not a good idea to skim the heads on hippoos, coz the surface has been hardened.

Yes I heard this before but as the head was of no use unskimmed i had no choice I have spoken to lots of garages about it and almost all said they would skim it anyway.
I would not normaly bother unless it was like mine and realy needed to be done plus I could only get one at £300 and this had also been skimmed
I know L/Rover just change the Head at about £800 the old ones are sold on to other out lets that skim them and sell them on at £300ish.

ron/liz said:

Hi all been a while since my H/G went been using other car whilst i battled and lost with the garage any way got a mate to do the H/G the old one was well knacked top right side almost gone totaly.
Fitted new type plus head bolts also skimmed head took us 5 hours in total with no problems at all took longer to clean the mayo out lol also did a tune up as well.

Total cost £110 plus a few pints for my mate it is now running spot on again.
my mate thinks this as been done before and someone did a shi* job also think it was on its way out when i bought it from the garage strong smell of coolant noticed this on test drive was told they had just done the coolant in all the cars at the garage that week this is a main dealer garage as well .
So if this is gasket number three that adds up to two blowing in 41000 miles I know some on here have had new engines fitted after 3000 miles then the head done again after this always someone worse of than yourself.
at least because of this site I was aware of the problems before I bought my freelander it was no great shock once it went
I will not change from freelanders maybe a diesel next time though

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Thats interesting that you mention the smell of coolant, I bought a 1.8 Freelander new in 2001 and ran it for 2½ years (27,000 miles) without bother, never had to top up the coolant yet there was always a slight smell of coolant through the air vents!