Mark Adams

It is an NGK sensor, it looks the same as the old one. Is the fitting for the sensor very tight? Unfortunatly you cant see inside due to the stupid design. Mark.

Hi, Bit of a strange problem, I need to replace the O2 sensor on a 1.8 freelander. I have managed to remove the old one (with a struggle), but strangly the new one does not fit in the hole in the manifold, (it will push in part of the way but it is very tight and will not go in far enough to reach the threads). I seems to be catching on the inside of the manifold. Due to the location it is not possible to see what the problem is. I can refit the old sensor no problem. I have noticed that the slits on the old sensor seem to have been almost closed (maybe on the inside of the manifold). Has anyone else had a problem reftting an O2 sensor? Mark.

Silas, Interested to know what you paid for the TD4 and where you purchased it from, I have been looking for one for a while and can't find a reasonably priced one. I am happy to do work on it if I can find the right car. Mark.

Hi, Has anyone found a tool other than the LR Special tool to remove the fuel pump on a 1.8 freelander? Mark.

Hi, Due to a leaking heater matrix I decided to rip out the dash and replace the matrix, no problem with that, I have now reconnected everything and thought I better try the fan before I put back all of the remaining plastic. Good job I did as now the fan does not work, it worked fine before the replacement matrix so I am wondering if I have managed to not reconnect a wiring plug somewhere. When the speed control is switched on I checked the voltage on the bottom of the motor (two wires, one white/red, one black/orange) with earth taken from the battery - both wires show 12V. On the side of the motor housing it has a two pin socket with a white and red wire. I have nothing connected to this, am I missing something as I cant find any missing plugs. Can you suggest any tests to check for where the fault may be as I do not have a decent circuit diagram. Mark.

The best advice I can give is to go into a land rover dealer and speak with the parts department, they will have exploded diagrams of the whole car and you can show them the exact part. They will also be able to advice if you can get the connector separatly. This does sound like a main dealer only part, but you could also ask your local scrap yard if they have a similar car you can take the part from (if possible). Mark.

Just to add my comments to the already great advice here. Firstly, Get yourself the following: 4 1/2 " angle grinder course sanding discs (a few of these), metal cutting discs and maybe a metal grinding disc. a good quality pair of welding gauntlets good quality welding overalls, make sure they are suitable for welding and will not catch fire. a good powder fire extinguisher. a quality auto darkening welding mask (do not get a cheap fixed one as you will regret it) a welding hat (wear it with the peak backwards) it will stop you burning your hair when working under the car. A bottle of argoshield light from somewhere like BOC, I would also look on ebay for other companies as BOC charge a yearly rental and it can get expensive if you are not using it. Depending on the thickness of the material being welded I would say you will probably get away with .6 wire for most of the jobs you are doing. And last but not least, Practice, Practice, Practice. Always safety first and I would strongly advice you always have a second person (with a welding mask on) standing as fire watch. These jobs are certainly achievable if you take it steady and get a feel for welding before you start. The only information I can give for the actual welding is: always make sure you are welding CLEAN metal to CLEAN metal, testing the wire speed and voltage setting on a scrap piece of similar thickness before you start. The quality of the weld can be judged to a great extent by how it sounds while you are welding. Hope this helps. Mark.

Hi, Just an update to the original problem. Well still a lack of power, and as mentioned also high CO and HC. I have now checked the Oxygen sensor with my scope and found that it is giving a constant reading of approx .750 mv (RICH), the reading does not cycle at all. I opened the throttle a few times and the reading dropped very breifly to just below 0 and then immediatly settled back to .750 again. This implies to me that the sensor is working OK but something else is causing a rich condition. any ideas what may be causing it? I have changed the plugs, cap and rotor but not the leads yet. Any suggestions for further tests. I have visually checked all vacuum pipes and they look OK and secure. Mark.

I have not used it for a while so do not know how long the problem have existed for, the only welding I have done was to the outer sill, do you know how the wire is routed? All the other electrics work on the rear of the car (lights, wiper etc). I came to the same conclusion about the wire, but I was hoping that someone would tell me that it is something else as the wire is not so simple to replace. Mark.

Hi, When ever I press the button for the rear demister, I hear the relay click and instantly the fuse blows. I have tried disconnecting the wires on the demister and trying again and the same happens. Has anyone else had the same problem? Mark.

I would also expect poor hot or cold starting if the sensor was faulty but the car starts perfectly every time. Mark.

Would I be wrong in thinking that if the temperature sensor was giving false reading then the idle speed would be raised as the car would still think it is cold? The car starts at about 1100 rpm and settles at about 800 when warmed up. Mark.

I have now changed the plugs for up rated NGK plugs, replaced the rotor arm and cap (which w as slightly burnt out). I have just received my Sykes 4 gas portable gas analyser back from having a new battery installed so I thought I would test the emmisions. I was surprised to find them extremely high, CO was about 4.5, HC about 300 - 400, so it seems to still have poor ignition, I have noticed a very slight misfire on idle. I am going to change all the HT leads next as the Lucas ones that are fitting look old. I was going to use new Lucas leads but happy if someone can recommend a better quality. Anything else people think might be worth checking? Mark.

Hi, I have just tried to fold the rear seats to discover that one side does not operate. upon inspection I notice that the cable inside the handle has become detached. I have tried reattaching it with the handle in situ without success, so just wondering how the handle is removed from the seat and I cant find any screws/fittings. Thank you

Plenty of exhaust gas gets out, I have just completed a back pressure test and found little - no back pressure, so exhaust seems fine. Mark.

Do you know how I would test to see if the cat is faulty? Mark.

I now understand what he meant, I have now tried double locking the car and when locked using this method all is fine and the alarm does not sound. So with this in mind does anyone know what may need adjusting/replacing? Is it going to be straight forward? Mark.

I notice that only the drivers door has a key lock, if I use this to lock the door it only locks the drivers door (not all doors). I guess this is another problem. Mark.

After recently purchasing a freelander 1.8 1998, I locked the car via the key fob and all was well for a a couple of minutes (all the doors locked and the dash light flashed). I then walked away and the alarm went off, nothing was anywhere near the car to set it off so I can only assume it is a faulty sensor? This happens everytime I lock the car. I know nothing about the security systems on these but I guess that the PIR is picking up movement that does not exist? Any advice on how to resolve the problem? Mark.

I have not locked to car until know as I live on an a farm, I tried locked it with the button and shortly after the alarm went off, I turned it off and tried again and same happened again 5 minutes later. Are the sensors prone to failure? Mark.

Hi, I have just purchased a freelander 1998 1.8 for a runaround while I do some repairs to my Disco, It has had a full service just before I purchased it inc timing belt change, oil, filters, plugs etc. I struggled to even get the car home as it was loosing power going up hills, I suspected the head gasket had gone as I understand it is common on these so did a compression test and found compression to be fairly even between 10.5 - 11.5 Bar on all cylinders. I then found that the wrong plugs had been fitted so changed these for the upraded versions and it is better but still seems under powered. It is right that you need to rev it above 3K rpm to be doing 70 on the flat? It will go up hills but will not accelerate up even slight inclines. I had thought about maybe checking the timing and checking the condition of the rotor and cap but just wondering if anyone has any other suggestions? Mark.

Thanks Les, great information. Mark.

So .60 is not enough then, you say they need adjusting, how can they be adjusted? Thank you Mark.

Les, I am not sure what you are referring to, are you talking about the thickness of the head gaskets? I was not aware that the valve stand down was effected by the head gasket? I thought it was the gap between the flat of the head and the top of the valve. Mark.

After a overheated head gasket (for the second time) I decided that I would obtain another cylinder head as I do not trust the one I had, so I ordered a second hand head and had it skimmed and tested just got it back and I checked the Valve head stand down (as adviced on this forum). The thickest feeler gauge I can get in all the valves is .6mm some will take slighly thicker but most are just .6 does anyone know what it should be? Is this something the engineering works should check when they skim the head? Mark.