If anyone can help me out, here, it would be greatly appreciated. Apparently, I have a bad rear main seal. The fix is about $1800 per the dealer. There is a definite oil leak, and I thought it might be something simple, such as a loose filter or something. TheFreelander has 48,000 miles on it, so there was no way I thought it would be something this major.

The warranty ran out at 40,000 miles. But is there anything I could do to plead my case to Land Rover directly? I just paid $1300, two months ago for an upper intake manifold assembly that broken and other things. It seems to me that a main seal should last the life of the vehicle. Certainly, if it had 150k miles on the clock, I couldn't complain too loudly, but at under 50k, I believe it must be a defective part.

Any suggestions?

 

at around 25,000 mine started leaking oil but it was the oil pan gasket.

good luck

 

Thanks for that. I'm going to have it checked out thoroughly at an independent garage, and make sure the problem is as it was suggested.

 

Well, good news! I spoke with the service manager on this issue a few days ago, when she said she'd investigate my situation, further. She had my advisor call me back today with the news that they are going to take care of the whole fix for me, with the exception of the parts. That will run less than $200, out of an $1800 job!

The more information I got on this, the more it became apparent that thishad to bejust a defective part. There's no way a main seal should go on a vehicle with this few mileage on the clock.

To their credit, the dealership decided to help me ut on this. They instructed me to bring the vehicle in on Tuesday morning and they'll have a loaner car waiting for me, and take care of this problem.

It's easy to complain when things don't go right, so I like to give credit when it's due, also. Kudos to Dimmit Land Rover of Clearwater, on US 19 North!

 

You are very fortunate, Ford has reigned in Rover so much that to get this sort of help is great.
Good luck,
Mike

 

Thanks, Mike. That's what I kept hearing, but I'm just glad they did decide to do something. I really do like the vehicle, but after all I've read in these forums, I don't think I'll be buying another Land Rover.

Consumer Reports just came out with their annual list of cars, ranked by reliability. Out of 25 car manufacturers, my two vehicles are made by the last place and second-to-last place rated companies: (24) Land Rover, and (25) Mercedes Benz.

Japanese auto makers routinely inhabit the top ten places in thses kinds of report every time. The Europeans better start doing something about it, and soon.

 

UPDATE:

I went to go and pick up the vehicle this morning. I took it in Tuesday morning and they had a loaner car ready for me, as promised. The service advisor said he'd have it back for me at least by close of day, Wednesday.

Well, they called me close to closing, and said it was ready, but I opted to pick it up this morning, instead. When I went and picked it up, it was all done, washed, and pretty, as I expected.


What I didn't expect: when I went in to the casheir to pay for the approximately $200 in parts we agreed upon, I was advised that the dealership was taking care of the entire bill, instead!

Parts, labor, rental car, all taxes and all fees.

Everything.

As I stated earlier, it's easy to bash -- even rightly so -- when businesses don't take care of you, or when you feel you haven't gotten a fair shake. But it's important to recognize when these folks go above and beyond, too.

The truth is, these people had every right to tell me, "sorry, there's nothing we can do. Your warranty's expired." My warranty ran out at 40k, and my truck has 48,000 miles on the clock. Obviously, I wouldn't have liked it, but, going by the book, they would have been well within their rights. With taxes, fees and the rental car, we're easily talking about over $2000 in charges, here.

They saw fit to take care of the customer above and beyond.

Again, I want to say, kudos for a job well done, and to give recognition to Dimmitt Land Rover of Clearwater on US 19 North. I especially want to applaud Jennifer Gniadek, Service Manager, and Nick Hawk, Service Advisor for taking care of me on this.

 

Hell my hat goes of to you. Good luck.