Not into wine bars, but here's my intro as a new poster. Have substantially read this forum, and, finally registered as I have found some invaluable advice/knowledge on here. Mucho thanks to all for imparting their wisdom, here's my Freelander experience:-
In a lifechanging/cost cutting excersize I waved goodbye to the TD5 Disco and eventualy got enough pennies together for a TD4 Auto 5door S with towing kit.
Looks pretty and does all I would need in towing (up to 2 tonnes) and hauling boats up the slipway, excellent on wet grass and mud - I don't need a full-on offroader since the horses went with the Mrs and the TD5 !!
Damn fine running vehicle - 30mpg extra urban cycle,
until..... a slight uneven idle resulted in £2,000 of work to replace 1 injector -
- smash cam cover, remove head send away for removal of 2 stuck injectors, skim head, pressure test and replace.
Collect from non-franchise dealer/workshop at end of working day, drive home dizzy from the loss of weight in my wallet but pleased with improved running of vehicle.
Halted at rail crossing in dark just before home, and with a sense of Carbon Footpint awareness - switched the engine off to wait for crossing to open after passage of trains.
An hour later the AA turned up to attempt to start the vehicle, couldn't find fault, but I wiggled some wires and she burst into life, waved bye to the very nice man and went home.
From then on I established a pattern over the weekend - would start cold, but not hot. Rang non-franchised repairer and was told to "tap" the underbonnet fuel filter - common problem he mused.
Common my arse - that never did the trick - buggers had damaged the Cam Sensor during the rebuild. Ho-hum.
On the brighter side I scored a full set of 5 x 16" 5 spoke alloys on ebay complete with virtually brand new Michelin 215 tyres for the arm off price of £330.
These replaced the 15" 195's - WHAT A DIFFERENCE !!! handles, corners, rides better and no longer squeels around corners
Overall I'm pleased with it, bought her as a late 2000 TD4 with 42,000 miles on the clock and immaculate (yes - 42k !) The other good news is that it quaifies for the standard tax level - vehicles registered from 1st March 2001 (Yplate) attract the £300 pricetag for the TD4 Auto - it's just ONE point over the particulate threshold (the manual is under).
Now developed the subrame click from the offside rear, but with my welding kit and a weekend stripping out the rear I should be able to fix that for no spondulas.
So, there you go, bit of a long intro - eat yer Heart out JK Rowling.
In a lifechanging/cost cutting excersize I waved goodbye to the TD5 Disco and eventualy got enough pennies together for a TD4 Auto 5door S with towing kit.
Looks pretty and does all I would need in towing (up to 2 tonnes) and hauling boats up the slipway, excellent on wet grass and mud - I don't need a full-on offroader since the horses went with the Mrs and the TD5 !!
Damn fine running vehicle - 30mpg extra urban cycle,
until..... a slight uneven idle resulted in £2,000 of work to replace 1 injector -
- smash cam cover, remove head send away for removal of 2 stuck injectors, skim head, pressure test and replace.
Collect from non-franchise dealer/workshop at end of working day, drive home dizzy from the loss of weight in my wallet but pleased with improved running of vehicle.
Halted at rail crossing in dark just before home, and with a sense of Carbon Footpint awareness - switched the engine off to wait for crossing to open after passage of trains.
An hour later the AA turned up to attempt to start the vehicle, couldn't find fault, but I wiggled some wires and she burst into life, waved bye to the very nice man and went home.
From then on I established a pattern over the weekend - would start cold, but not hot. Rang non-franchised repairer and was told to "tap" the underbonnet fuel filter - common problem he mused.
Common my arse - that never did the trick - buggers had damaged the Cam Sensor during the rebuild. Ho-hum.
On the brighter side I scored a full set of 5 x 16" 5 spoke alloys on ebay complete with virtually brand new Michelin 215 tyres for the arm off price of £330.
These replaced the 15" 195's - WHAT A DIFFERENCE !!! handles, corners, rides better and no longer squeels around corners
Overall I'm pleased with it, bought her as a late 2000 TD4 with 42,000 miles on the clock and immaculate (yes - 42k !) The other good news is that it quaifies for the standard tax level - vehicles registered from 1st March 2001 (Yplate) attract the £300 pricetag for the TD4 Auto - it's just ONE point over the particulate threshold (the manual is under).
Now developed the subrame click from the offside rear, but with my welding kit and a weekend stripping out the rear I should be able to fix that for no spondulas.
So, there you go, bit of a long intro - eat yer Heart out JK Rowling.