Well it has happened again , we have had this vehicle for less than 4 months and it has given me more problems than any other vehicle I have ever owned. The Freelander is a 2002 AWD 2.5L V6 with 65,000 miles. It has been somewhat less problematic for the last couple months and I had began to think that it was going to straighten up for a bit. Today as my wife was going to work she calls me to tell me that this POS was shaking like she was constatly driving on the rumble strip, so I told her to come back home and I would take her to work in my reliable vehicle. When she finally got back home I test drove it myself and it felt like a horrible misfire even at idle, it barely had enough power to pull itself up to the hill to get to the house. I could not get above 50 mph and it was running very hard to do that. For one or two seconds during driving it, I think it had quit missing and starting running right again, but that only lasted for a short time and it began to misfire again.The service engine soon light was on so I used to diagnostic tool to attempt to pull the code but it only said error, and finally I could get a pending code that said P0410, but that does not really account for the horrible running and no power.I thought at first it seemed like a bad plug wire or coil but it was not throwing a code for misfire. I also thought that maybe it was a plugged catalytic convertor but I have not had time to pull that yet and check it. Does anyone have any ideas? I am really at my wits end with this junker, when we first bought it I had to replace all the vacuum hose becasue they were all broke, and it has the codes for the Variable Intake motors that come and go but they have not been on in a while and I don't think that they would cause the misfire, but then again I don't think that Land rover would follow common logic. It is not experiencing any type of lean backfire when I rev the engine under no load and I have seen no smoke to suggest an over rich condition.ANY IDEAS?[/align]

 

yes i have some ideas
never seen a clogged cat on freelanders
tell me about the coolant, low? recently overheated? oily look to it?
was the engine light flashing? the obdII type scanner has problems
reading most of the codes in that system on the high speed can bus
the Variable Intake motors faults are in every freelander i have scaned
and the faults should not turn the check engine light.
p410 i 2ndary injection fault, dont think that that would cause the
vibrations and misfires at speed.

 

It has not overheated to my knowledge and the coolant level is consistant with what it was when we purchased it, I have been checking it weekly, dreading that is is going to starting loosing coolant. The Check Engine Light was constant and not flashing when I see it and my wife never seen it wasn't flashing with her either.

As far as the oily look to the coolant, the coolant has always looked good but the reservoir is very "grungy" inside and has been that way since we bought the POS. I am thinking that it has blown the Head gasket in the past and caused that. This one also has older style Green coolant where most of them I have looked at since then have the newer red/pink coolant, that might just be another sign that it has been drained due to head gasket problems and they just put the cheaper coolant back in.

 

all freelanders take XLC orange coolant, this is odd that it has green coolant in it.
i think a better scan tool will give us a better understanding of what codes are in the
engine system. i'm thinking misfires codes are present in there.

 

get your codes read with something thatll read them right, that engine doesnt have a secondary air system, so i think your scaner isnt working right with the car

 

Well I tore into it this morning, with the determination that I was going to fix this crazy thing, or wear myself out trying. I began by checking for any intake leak sI could find and there were none. I then began testing every coil , the front three coils: 2, 4 and 6 all tested good so then I started pulling the back ones out to test ,1 and 3 were easy to get out so I went ahead and tested them, they were both good. I was dreading getting to number 5 but I was hoping that maybe it was the problem. I began by unhooking the wire to it so that I could remove the bolts and take it out for testing, but when I removed the plug from the coil, it fell to the ground. Something sometime or another had mashed the crap out of the wires going to the #5 coil and they had finally fallen apart. I checked everywhere back there for anything that could have cut them but could not find anything. I really think that somewhere along the line someone has put a different engine in this vehicle and they probably messed these wires up when doing it. Well after some soldering and taping and then reassembly, everything is better than it has been since when owned this vehicle, it runs smoother than ever. Hopefully this is the last problem we are going to have for a while.

But then again, it is approaching 70,000 miles???

 

good job on the fix, glad to hear you got it taken care of... just so you know though, odd cylinders are up front

 

I am used to working on fords where that right hand side of the engine are the odd cylinders and the left hand is the even. I would like to have a repair manual on this thing but I really hope to be getting rid of it soon, I am really tired of that feeling that everytime something littlegoes wrong with it, it could be the head gasket or the entire engine gone.

 

LAW OFFICES OF HOWARD A. GUTMAN


230 Route 206, Suite 307


Flanders, New Jersey 07836


Phone (973) 598-1980 Fax (973) 598-1982

Please get in touch with Mr. Gutman. We have a class action lawsuit against Landrover. I have a 2003 Freelander, I've replaced the engine, the fuel pump, the brakes on passenger side at least 10 times. My car sat at the LR dealership in american fork Utah for 10 months. My car was still under the original factory warranty. I was given a rental car for 10 months. After all was said & done I got stuck with a rebuilt engine at the price of $7000, a rental car bill $6000, paid for a car that I did not use for 10 months & insurance on that car. Finally, after finding others that had the same problems with thier freelander and a young lady on you tube who had wanted to file a class action law suit. Land Rover North America would never return my phone calls, and blamed me for being negligent in the care of my car & thats why I had the problems. I had paperwork, showing that I had done the recommended oil changes etc. I recieved a phone call from Michael at LRNA customer relations, last week & this week, trying to reimburse me for the engine. I forwarded the phone call to Mr. Gutman in hopes that we will soon have these unsafe vehicles off of the road & no one will ever purchase one of these money pits AGAIN!!!