So hello everyone.
bought my first Land Rover a couple of weeks ago - a Freelander 1.8 on a 52 plate. Before that I had a cheeky little Sportrak but it was dying from rust in the chassis and the loom was disintegrating - it was too far gone for me to bring back to life on my drive so I had a harsh word or two with myself, wiped a tear from my eye and moved into the 21st century with a 2002 Freelander.
Obviously I did my research online and lurked on the auction sites looking for a prime candidate and pretty soon I found a car with a complete service history at a price that left me money in the kitty for any problems it might throw up once I'd bought it. Went and viewed the car - externally very good, no rust underneath, clean inside, all the switches & buttons work. Test drive reveals only a near side rear wheel bearing to be grumbling a little. Service history shows a head rebuild at 65K (LOL) but the car is at 100K & no record of VCU replacement. However the IRD shows no symptoms of damage so they want £1200 & I say £900 & I've bought it
Drive it 50 miles home - all good. Over the next week I notice it loses a bit of coolant - hmmm. I should add that I did a sniffer test before I bought & it passed. Anyhow, it's using a bit of coolant. Of course the temp gauge sits bang in the middle at all times & the fan works fine. The original expansion tank had micro fractures around the neck - hoping this was where the leak was I replaced the expansion tank. This didn't solve the problem. However, the nice clean expansion tank + cap did reveal something. First time I took the new cap off I found deposits of a copper coloured substance speckled on the cap seal - so an new HG set + uprated oil rail + head bolts is on the way + cam belt + water pump is on the way - ROFPMSL, honestly.
Next, about a week after purchase the TC and HDC waring lights started coming on & off on the dash apparently in relation to braking events - checked the brake light switch (disassembled, cleaned contacts, reassembled) to no avail - noted that brake lights continue to function normally regardless of the TC & HDC warning light status. Have run OBD and it reports no codes though I am aware that cheap units cannot access the ABS ECU, hence I diagnose an ABS sensor fault perhaps related to the aforementioned "grumbling wheel bearing".
So I have 4 new wheel bearings on the way too, and I'm fitting the new VCU tomorrow, because all of this is much easier than fixing up a knackered old Sportrak on your drive you know
I suppose that's a lot about my vehicle & not much about me so here's some other stuff - I used to be a teacher & before that I was a philosopher - now I'm free to do what ever I feel like given that I have a wife & 2 kids to take into account - these days I work a lot with various tools & materials but I don't really make any money from it.
Cheers
Simon
bought my first Land Rover a couple of weeks ago - a Freelander 1.8 on a 52 plate. Before that I had a cheeky little Sportrak but it was dying from rust in the chassis and the loom was disintegrating - it was too far gone for me to bring back to life on my drive so I had a harsh word or two with myself, wiped a tear from my eye and moved into the 21st century with a 2002 Freelander.
Obviously I did my research online and lurked on the auction sites looking for a prime candidate and pretty soon I found a car with a complete service history at a price that left me money in the kitty for any problems it might throw up once I'd bought it. Went and viewed the car - externally very good, no rust underneath, clean inside, all the switches & buttons work. Test drive reveals only a near side rear wheel bearing to be grumbling a little. Service history shows a head rebuild at 65K (LOL) but the car is at 100K & no record of VCU replacement. However the IRD shows no symptoms of damage so they want £1200 & I say £900 & I've bought it
Drive it 50 miles home - all good. Over the next week I notice it loses a bit of coolant - hmmm. I should add that I did a sniffer test before I bought & it passed. Anyhow, it's using a bit of coolant. Of course the temp gauge sits bang in the middle at all times & the fan works fine. The original expansion tank had micro fractures around the neck - hoping this was where the leak was I replaced the expansion tank. This didn't solve the problem. However, the nice clean expansion tank + cap did reveal something. First time I took the new cap off I found deposits of a copper coloured substance speckled on the cap seal - so an new HG set + uprated oil rail + head bolts is on the way + cam belt + water pump is on the way - ROFPMSL, honestly.
Next, about a week after purchase the TC and HDC waring lights started coming on & off on the dash apparently in relation to braking events - checked the brake light switch (disassembled, cleaned contacts, reassembled) to no avail - noted that brake lights continue to function normally regardless of the TC & HDC warning light status. Have run OBD and it reports no codes though I am aware that cheap units cannot access the ABS ECU, hence I diagnose an ABS sensor fault perhaps related to the aforementioned "grumbling wheel bearing".
So I have 4 new wheel bearings on the way too, and I'm fitting the new VCU tomorrow, because all of this is much easier than fixing up a knackered old Sportrak on your drive you know
I suppose that's a lot about my vehicle & not much about me so here's some other stuff - I used to be a teacher & before that I was a philosopher - now I'm free to do what ever I feel like given that I have a wife & 2 kids to take into account - these days I work a lot with various tools & materials but I don't really make any money from it.
Cheers
Simon
