Towing with Freelanders

[Allan_374244105]

what are they like to tow with I'am thinking of buying a td4 to tow a Coachman Pastiche 460/2 (1430kg) .Your thoughts please

 

[scottironsbtinternet.com]

Hi Allan,I had a td4 towing a Bailey Senetor Arizon,its about the same weight as yours and it towed like a dream.

 

[redbullsid]

Hi Allan,

I tow a Challenger 540 with a TD4 No problem !!

 

[cris_408518]

TD4 will tow it when it works, even the CC magazine has just published the report with Freelander as one of the worst cars for reliability.

Nephew was well chuffed after having his TD 4 Electrics fixed, the magazine hit the doormat and it blew the rear diff the next day at 40K on the clock.

 

[wayne_5097681]

TD4 will tow it when it works, even the CC magazine has just published the report with Freelander as one of the worst cars for reliability.

Nephew was well chuffed after having his TD 4 Electrics fixed, the magazine hit the doormat and it blew the rear diff the next day at 40K on the clock.

how strange that are no 4x4's in the top ten, and the only ones in the worst10 are probably the most popular ones :0)

 

[redbullsid]

TD4 will tow it when it works, even the CC magazine has just published the report with Freelander as one of the worst cars for reliability.

Nephew was well chuffed after having his TD 4 Electrics fixed, the magazine hit the doormat and it blew the rear diff the next day at 40K on the clock.

Mines done 66k and aint missed a beat, me and all the other hundreds on the road must have stumbled on good ones !!!!

 

[Bryan_5064490]

Hi Allan,

I have a td4 51 reg towing a Sterling 520 and find that it tows like a dream.

 

[Jayne Simpson]

Hello Allan, we tow an Amara 530/4 (top end 1425kgs) with a 2000 Freelander which has now covered 105,000 miles.This has the older engine which is inferior to the TD4 and we find no problems in towing our beefy Coachman at all and we always take two kitchen sinks away with us. So in saying that it is the boot space we crave for so always use a roof box.Our last repair bill was about

 

[John_374224558]

Interesting what Peter has just said about the dealers, I have recently bought a Freelander 2 and used a dealer some miles away because I didn't like the patronising attitude of my local one!!

 

[redbullsid]

If your anywhere near Bicester I recommend Mark Smith's, they are Land Rover approved and only charge half the price.

 

[tjambarker]

Most of the bad press should be attributed to the 1.8 because of the use of the infamous Rover 1.8 petrol engine which has head gasket problems - these engines are found in all sorts of Rover cars and they all have the same problem. Don't get me wrong the other models have there problems, but I personally don't think they're any worse than anything else. Ask any early diesel MkIII Mondeo driver about diesel injector pumps - I know and I was lucky that I had a warranty the total bill came to around

 

[Jayne Simpson]

Hello john, My niece went to our local L/rover dealer in Stourbridge about 18 mths ago with the intention of buying a pre owned fleelander it was ownly about 15 mths old and she was so incensed by the treatment she received not only did she walk away from the dealer she walked - ran away from the marque.

She went to the local 'Tie-N-dye' dealer purchased a new Tuscan for less money ,a bigger trade , and lots of extra goodies including service and smiles. They even mopped up for her!!

Peter.

 

[emmerson2]

tjam, the 1.8 freelander head gasket problem is caused by a) "O" ring failure in the inlet manifold: dead simple item to replace on routine service, but rarely done or b) thermostat fitted in poor position by LR.Kit available to correct this. If these mods are carried out early enough, it's a cracking little motor.

 

[tjambarker]

tjam, the 1.8 freelander head gasket problem is caused by a) "O" ring failure in the inlet manifold: dead simple item to replace on routine service, but rarely done or b) thermostat fitted in poor position by LR.Kit available to correct this. If these mods are carried out early enough, it's a cracking little motor.

Your're right I should have qualified my statement about the 1.8. As you say the repairers are often at fault rather than the actual vehicle. The trouble is that there have been many bodged and therefore repeated repairs that the whole range has been tarnished IMHO.

 

[Danny_5134221]

I think you will find head gasket failure on the K series engine is due to an O ring on the head gasket itself not being of the correct material, some gaskets have the same O ring made of a copper based material and this solved the problem.

Rover have never admitted to this but often blame head gasket failure on not changing the coolant often enough.

I have known head gaskets fail with less than 10,000 on the clock.

Usually on failure of the head gasket the the engine dumps the oil into the water jacket. Fixing the engine is fairly straight forward but what takes the time and costs the money is flushing out the water side of the engine, radiator, heater matrix etc.

My advice if you own a Rover or petrol Freelander and the head gasket goes, fix it and then get rid of it.

 

[tjambarker]

I know it was me that bought it up, but I think we're getting away from the theme of the thread. I mentioned the 1.8 issue to highlight that the brand probably owes some of its unreliability reputation to this fact. As I said earlier I tow with a TD4 and my experience is that it is both reliable and a fantastic tow vehicle for its size.

 

[Les_374294105]

If your anywhere near Bicester I recommend Mark Smith's, they are Land Rover approved and only charge half the price.

I would also recommend Mark Smiths, my Disco td5 is always in there.