First time 4x4 owner. I recently purchased a 2001 Landy Freelander 1.8 Petrol SE.

I did do a little research on the subject and know the 1.8 Petrol engine is supposed to be a bit crap.
This one had one lady owner 15 stamps in the book, head gasket done at 22k I think and it’s currently got 49k on the clock. Everything works fine windows, sunroof, mirrors, heated seats etc.
I have just swapped out the stereo and will stick some new speakers in with maybe a subwoofer too .

The only one thing I have noticed is a slight grinding noise from the center bearing. Is it the viscosity bearing.
I’m thinking of taking it to to garage to have it looked at but if it’s not a to bigger job to swap them out I can do it.
(Could someone advise me please?)

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/propshaft-separation.332148/

There’s a write up that hippo has done that goes through it all and also a video grumpygel posted that me separate the propshaft from the vcu as mine were a pain to separate,but it’s not a bad job to do.

Absolutely fantastic, just had a flick through hippos guide. It’s outstanding. I’m almost 100% sure that’s the cause of the noise so will now investigate further.
Thanks for the help

Freelander1-2001 said:

Absolutely fantastic, just had a flick through hippos guide. It’s outstanding. I’m almost 100% sure that’s the cause of the noise so will now investigate further.
Thanks for the help

Click to expand...

If you do take it to a garage, check with them first that they are familiar with Freelander propshafts and the correct way to separate them. A few folk have had garages trash their propshafts because they didn't know what they were doing.
Good luck with the new car and so long as you keep an eye on the coolant level the K series is a great engine, I miss my old one.

Second that, I had a lucky escape with mine,they gave up before trashing it. Just follow them posts you’ll be fine.

Before you do anything, I'd run these tests....

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

So make sure you've got 4 matching make and model tyres and if the VCU is duff, whip the props off until you replace it. You'll need to inform your insurance co if you run with the props removed - ie 2wd instead of 4wd.

Failure to run with 4 matching tyres or a duff VCU will trash expensive parts of the transmission.