Hi all. May have bitten off more than I can chew.... After an old series 3 and disco 2 I've only gone and bought a 2001 1.8 k 3 door targa in Monte Carlo blue. Great fun for summer and told my wife I can handle it.....
But in the week I've owned it it seems to be falling apart.....

So got car for 1k euros. Fsh, 1 owner from new, 71k miles, hg done at 63k with water pump and timing belt. I suspected vcu may need doing... Everything passes nct (mot) this week.
1. Gears are a mess, low bite on clutch and going in reverse. Expected, will get new hydralucs and mounting frame ez.
2. Brakes all squeak. Will upgrade everything, they were all last changed in 2005.
3. There are 3 makes of tyres all different ages and wear. Reading thru NCT it failed a year ago for 1 Tyre so they replaced that one Tyre. I've driven it for a week or 300 miles hoping it would last but only in last two days it has started to make a knocking noise when I press clutch (gear change) or quickly apply or remove power (pressing pedal) to accelerate.
The noise is odd and seems to come from rear... Like a chain swinging on a metal wall. Like two pieces of metal knocking or banging.... Only on application of power or turning. Brake and clutch has no effect.

I'm completely list now between vcu fail or ird or something else. Don't want to admit I bought a lemon.. please advise on troubleshooting (I'm a tree shade mechanic) and I'm happy to make any preventative changes as needed... Just don't want to spend a fortune replacing a vcu or ird if it turn out to be be a spacer or bush fail.

Hope u can help, thanks!

If the noise is coming from the back, take a look at the differential mounts, especially the front one. Plenty of posts on here about the problem.

Welcome to Freelandering

Nothing sounds too bad..... yet.

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

2 first things.... 1) get 4 matching make & model tyres, 2) Check the condition of the VCU (as in above thread) and get a recon (£275 from Bell Engineering inc support bearings) if needed (which it probably will be).

Re gear changes, lube up the release arm as it goes through the bell housing, check the bracket holding the slave for cracks and if need be replace the hydraulics (its a 1 piece master/slave/piping) and slave bracket.

Re brakes, even if you need to replace all the discs, pads, drums & shoes they are not expensive or difficult to do. Even if you replace the cylinders on the back they are not expensive, but you usually have to replace the copper pipes to them that add a disproportionate cost (unless you make them up yourself).

Re rear noise, its probably the front support for the rear diff perished. Its a usual problem and quite cheap & quick to fix.

Before you do these things though, change the oil in the IRD (loosen fill plug before draining). If the oil comes out grey/metalicy then your IRD is goosed - you may then consider if you do want to go to the trouble of sorting the tyres & VCU or just change to 2WD. If it comes out looking like oil, you should be good.

Thanks guys. That's my day sorted doing these tasks and tests. Even if broke I'd like to keep it 4x4 as I bought it cheap, I'm totally ok with building it up with quality parts and keeping it a long time.

I've ordered 4 general grabber at and I'm just looking at ordering the diff mounts. There does seem a lil too much play. Not excessive, but a little. The bearing mounts on the vcu seem fine... No noise and minimal movement.
I need to find an axle stand to test vcu as my workshop is inaccessible ATM. If needed I'll replace the lot.

Strangly with all wheels on the ground, if I grab the rear wheel and push/pull hard until the car rocks I can hear the rattle. Maybe the diff play is more obvious with wheels off the ground???

So I'm gonna order parts to night. Where is the best place? I've used paddock spares and bearmach in the past. Do I need oem or bearmac for clutch and diff mounts... I think any brand is fine for brakes???

Will update after test

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irish109 said:

I've only gone and bought a 2001 1.8 k 3 door targa in Monte Carlo blue.

Click to expand...

I've never heard of the Hardback be call a Targa before.

Targa-roof applies to the removable sunroof panels apparantly, not the hardback, only learned about it recently when I was looking for the hardback. Not all hardbacks had the targa roof.

Also it's been dry and hot last few days and I've been hearing the clanking. Today it's colder and been raining and the roads are wet. I drove it around 2 hours around 30mph to 50mph and no clanking or noise at all. Even with hard accelerator action and heavy reving between gear changes.
Would a cold wet greasy road hide any transmission issues? Wind up from different size tyres etc or vcu stiffness?