Freelander Head Gasket issues?

[flyingjase]

Hi

I'm thinking of buying a 4-5 year old Petrol Freelander and have been told that I shouldn't buy a petrol version with more than 40k miles as you're living on borrowed time as far as the head gasket is concerned.

Is this true? Is there anything to watch for with a Freelander of this age?

Thanks for any advice

Jason

[falcemob]

If it's the K series engine, it's true and it's not limited to the gasket, the head gets damaged when it goes.

[Graham]

there are a couple of issues.

1 is the total coolant isnt much so it needs to be watched like a hawk, you dont need to leak much to have a big problem..

also dont rev over 3k rpm until the temp comes up.

one of the head issues is that in cost cutting the metal headlocating dowels were replaced with plastic. this allowed the head to shimmy ever so slightly. this can lead to head gasket failure or the top of the liners Cracking. There is a really good website on the K-series myths and facts somewhere...


DOnt forget the Elise also uses a K-series and lots of caterhams...


I've just bought an 00 freelander 60K and it had a new motor literaly the week before i bought it. Aparently another common problem when you do have a head or engine problem is that it fills the rad with shit. new engine old rad and the new motor is rapidly buggered too. th eone i've bought has new rad etc as well..

[flyingjase]

Thanks for the tips guys - pays to be know what you're looking for!

[BLUETHUNDER]

Best and safest option is to go for the TD4 diesal option.
There are to many issues with the petrol version.

[GKP]

I think the days of head gaskets failing every other day are pretty much over. Land Rover were very good about the issue and did a few mods (mainly the thermostat area) and replaced engines on case by case basis.
Even if the head gasket does fail it's not the end of the world. It's just a k series and can be fixed by any competent mechanic. You shouldn't have to spend more than a few hundred quid for the repair.
Preventative maintenance and considerate warming up techniques are the key. Fluid levels should be checked weekly and any leaks addressed promptly. Radiators and electric fans may benefit from a refurb on some of the earlier cars.
Bear in mind that the engine is used in a ot of performance related cars and is addictively tuneable. Any Elise owner will be able to give you details of headwork/manifolds/cat-pipes etc to bring the bhp figure up to a user friendly 150-160ish without it being a screamer. Don't think of a potential head gasket failure as a disaster, think of it as an opportunity!

[Graham]

There is also a good stock of new spares.... a local company bought all the stock from powertrain under the nose of the chinks :heh: new (complete) head certainly sir thats about 350 quid

G

[flyingjase]

GKP said:

I think the days of head gaskets failing every other day are pretty much over. Land Rover were very good about the issue and did a few mods (mainly the thermostat area) and replaced engines on case by case basis. Even if the head gasket does fail it's not the end of the world. It's just a k series and can be fixed by any competent mechanic. You shouldn't have to spend more than a few hundred quid for the repair. Preventative maintenance and considerate warming up techniques are the key. Fluid levels should be checked weekly and any leaks addressed promptly. Radiators and electric fans may benefit from a refurb on some of the earlier cars. Bear in mind that the engine is used in a ot of performance related cars and is addictively tuneable. Any Elise owner will be able to give you details of headwork/manifolds/cat-pipes etc to bring the bhp figure up to a user friendly 150-160ish without it being a screamer. Don't think of a potential head gasket failure as a disaster, think of it as an opportunity!

That's what I couldn't work out. Why do the Elise drivers never whinge about this issue? So are you saying that as long as I check that the 'recall' has been done, I should be ok?

Also, most people say that once the head gasket has gone, then you need to replace the whole engine - is that true??

[BLUETHUNDER]

This is where the problem is.the K series is ok in a light weight car such as Lotus,MGF,or Caterham,but not in a vehcile like the Freelander.The vehcile is twice the weight of the others so has that much harder to work,this puts the engine under to much stress and in turn causes the issues mentioned.And thats speaking from personal experiance plus from people in the trade.If you have a 1.8 that hasnt suffered these problems then count your self lucky.

>> Edited by BLUETHUNDER on Saturday 18th February 01:48

[GKP]

flyingjase said:

Also, most people say that once the head gasket has gone, then you need to replace the whole engine - is that true??

Elise/Caterham divers are probably more mechanically minded than the typical Freelander user. Therefore they'll be keeping an eye on all the relevant gauges and levels. If a problem is noted then most likely they'll stop and investigate. Your average Freelander driver/owner (obviously I'm not including any PH'er in this next sweeping generalisation!) would carry on drivng, blissfully oblivious to any maladies, until the thing grinds to a halt. Consequently the engine is fit only for scrap.

The head gasket issue for Elise owners (which does happen, btw) is normally only considered an irritation and a foible of the car.
If you catch it when the symptoms first appear (gradual water loss/temp gauge fluctuations/mayo in oil cap etc etc) then you'll be looking at a garage bill of around £350 - of which the bulk is labour.

A potential IRD/viscous coupling coupling failure is a lot more expensive and almost as common but doesn't seem to grab the headlines as much as 30 quid gasket set.