Hi guys,
I've recently purchased a 2003 Freelander 2.5 V6 and when driving down the highway around 60mph the engine went into safe mode I presume, dropping to around 1700rpm with no throttle response. The engine management light came on. Whilst the engine was still running and after trying pumping the throttle etc. I quickly turned the ignition key off and back on again. I was in the fast lane and surrounded by moving traffic so could not pull over. This solved the issue and the car drove fine after.

I checked the fluid levels and the engine coolant was nearly empty out of the bottle although the pipes and radiator were full, you could squeeze them and the fluid would flow back up the pipe into the reservoir. After inspecting the reservoir bottle it is brittle and cracked due to age I presume.

Would this be the cause of the alarm and the safe mode or do you think it was something else?

As I said its a new car to me, in great condition but I'm worried by this.

Any help would be much appreciated

 

You'll want to have it full of coolant, and stop by a parts store and have a free read of the engine codes. The codes will point more to your problem. The factory shop and owner manuals are in the RAVE, a free download of Rover manuals. Lots of places in a Freelander that can leak coolant, it has more hose clamps under the bonnet than you would imagine. Running a Rover low on coolant is a great way to empty your wallet. You can also do a pressure test of the cooling system with a tester from a parts store, you pump it up to 15 PSI and wait 30 minutes to see pressure drop and where leak(s) are.

See attached.

 

throttle body connector harness. there is a bulletin, you replace the end of the harness going to the throttle body. simple fix.