I have recently joined the ranks of Freelander owners with a late KV6 auto (after reading some of the posts I may have made a mistake...). It has a number of problems which I'm going to get around to gradually. Today, some time after changing the Jatco gbox oil, I backed the car out of the garage and parked it up. I noticed that the cooling fans stayed on for a while. Plugging in my diagnostic tester, the coolant temperature registered as 72 degrees centigrade. The fans went off after what seemed like a couple of minutes, but can anyone help me understand why they should be on with such a low coolant temperature please?
Nodge68
Well-Known Member
The gearbox ecu will communicate with the engine ecu all manor of bits of data. The engine ecu will run the cooling fans under the request of the gearbox ecu. As Hippo said how was to gearbox fluid level checked?
If the engine isn't showing any faults on a generic obd reader, you will need to have the gearbox ecu read to see if that has an issue, I suspect it might have a failed temperature sensor so is putting the fans on for safety. It's also with checking the gearbox barrel connectors. For the record, I love my Freelander V6
If the engine isn't showing any faults on a generic obd reader, you will need to have the gearbox ecu read to see if that has an issue, I suspect it might have a failed temperature sensor so is putting the fans on for safety. It's also with checking the gearbox barrel connectors. For the record, I love my Freelander V6
Thanks Hippo and Nodge68,
I looked at both this site and the Rover 75 / MG ZT forum and followed the advice for level checking there. I only did a partial drain of the auto gbox oil, draining just short of 4 litres of oil and replacing this amount plus 500 mL with fresh fluid. I then idled the car for 5 minutes, got my partner to sequence up and down the set shift positions pausing for around 5 seconds at each position. After the selector had returned to "Park", I unfastened the level plug and let the surplus run out. The temperature of the oil was comfortable to the touch (not too hot) and I took this to be near enough to the required value (not ideal I know).
Thanks for the information regarding the link of fan operation to gearbox health. I believe that there may be a problem with the box and this weekend the car is going to an ex-MGR technician for water pump / cam belt replacement as I have a coolant leak from the pump. I will ask him to check for stored gearbox faults.
Many thanks to you both.
I looked at both this site and the Rover 75 / MG ZT forum and followed the advice for level checking there. I only did a partial drain of the auto gbox oil, draining just short of 4 litres of oil and replacing this amount plus 500 mL with fresh fluid. I then idled the car for 5 minutes, got my partner to sequence up and down the set shift positions pausing for around 5 seconds at each position. After the selector had returned to "Park", I unfastened the level plug and let the surplus run out. The temperature of the oil was comfortable to the touch (not too hot) and I took this to be near enough to the required value (not ideal I know).
Thanks for the information regarding the link of fan operation to gearbox health. I believe that there may be a problem with the box and this weekend the car is going to an ex-MGR technician for water pump / cam belt replacement as I have a coolant leak from the pump. I will ask him to check for stored gearbox faults.
Many thanks to you both.
Nodge68
Well-Known Member
Are you sure the water leak is from the water pump? The thermostat O rings are far more likely to give trouble. The water from them will drain out the water pump end of the engine
Are you sure the water leak is from the water pump? The thermostat O rings are far more likely to give trouble. The water from them will drain out the water pump end of the engine
I haven't looked very carefully at the pump itself, but have a Rover KV6 which had a thermostat housing leak (the ultrasonic weld had failed). The result there was coolant in the V of the engine. The Freelander has no coolant in the V, but it has run down onto the oil filter and sump cover below. I have taken a morning off to deliver the car to the technician who's going to do the cam belt change, and so I now don't have the car for a few days.
The coolant leak problem is actually worrying me less than the chaffing whine that is very noticeable and which tracks engine speed through the gear changes. I don't think it's IRD-related because it's linked to engine rather than road speed, but it could be gearbox or maybe flywheel linked. I'm expecting bad news soon...
Nodge68
Well-Known Member
If you are having the timing belts changed then it's false economy not to do the pump at the same time. If there is a whining noise that is engine speed related it's worth getting it checked by someone in the know. My gearbox has a while at 2100 rpm. It's always done it from new and it works as it should.
I agree completely. I didn't express myself very well, but the pump is being changed too. I am having the noise checked by the technician who's doing the cam belt change. He feels confident he can get to the bottom of the problem. He cheerfully told me "Don't worry, after all it's only nuts and bolts"...
Nodge68
Well-Known Member
Mostly that is true, although there are a lot of electronics involved too. At least the timing belt and water pump change is pretty straight forward.
