Thought I would do this write up for those who are not so keen to take on what seem to be 'big' jobs.
A leaky inlet manifold gasket is a common problem and on a 1.8 could prove catastrophic if not dealt with.
So after taking some advice from others on here I changed mine.
It was easy, quick and a cheap repair to do with only simple tools.
1. I began by removing all the hoses and cables that would get in the way. The plan was to remove the manifold with as much attached as possible.
Idle control valve connection:-


Throttle body connection:-

Breather from cam cover:-


The breather at the other end:-

The water pipe that runs form the manifold to the coolant bottle:-

Behind the brass connection is the 'jiggle' valve. This iften gets stuck so needs either removing once the manfold is off, or clearing and checking that it 'jiggles'
Haynes recommend attaching a length of tubing and blowing and sucking down it.
(I did this after the manifold was released.)


I removed the air filter top cover to allow some 'wiggle room when moving the manifold back.


At this stage I drained the water by opening the bleed screws on the upper heater hose and then removing the bottom radiator hose from the large plastic valve body.
(Sorry, I forgot to photograph this part!)

Using a 10mm socket and 2 extension bars I was now able to get at the manifold nuts.

All the nuts can be got at quite easily although it doesn't look like at !
By swapping between the long, short and both together they can all be reached.
I put a dab of gasket cement in the socket to make the socket sticky to avoid dropping the nuts.


Once all the nuts are off the manifold just pulls away.



Here you can see the 'jiggle' valve. Or at least where mine used to be! Someone has removed it in the past.


So I removed the old gasket and placed the new one in carefully . (Gasket cost 77p from Craddocks)
I used some Blue Hylomar to hold it in place as it can drop out easily.




Before putting back together I made sure the head mating surface was clean of all old gasket and any dirt. These gaskets only give you one shot at it!
Before:-


After :-



It was now easy to bolt it all back up and reconnect everything that came off earlier.
Points to note:-
Bolt the plastic manifold back up evenly. Start in the middle and work outwards, tightning each one in turn.
Open the upper plastic bleed screw on the heater hose and the lower one on the metal coolant pipe before attempting to refill the system.
When water appears from the lower one, close it.
When the upper one blows water out . close that one.
Refill the system to the correct level.
After completing the job I ran the engine until temperature was up then let it cool down. I opened the upper bleed screw and some air came out.
The next day after the car had been used I did the same again and there was no air in the system.

This is to hopefully show those who want to do the 'bigger' jobs on their car that the Freelander is a user friendly car to work on.
Get a Haynes manual , ask questions on here and have a go!

Scott

That's a clear and concise write up - thank you.

Thanks - this has encouraged me as I get ready to do this job in the next few days.

Thank you for the How To.