jonnymaserati

guys thanks for the responses and apologies for the late response... seems the emails have been going into my spam folder. i serviced the car the other week and they told me that it does not engine break with cruise control on, except that i don't really trust what i'm told here... regards...

i've had my 2009 freelander 2 HSE i6 since new (october 2008) and the only problems i've had are continued amber light on the dash for the self leveling xenon lights coming on when i hit a bump while turning (resets when the car is re-started) and failure of the central locking (land rover came and picked the car up and repaired it in a day under the warranty). they really should integrate the stereo with the sat nav screen though and cut down on the number of buttons on the center console. sometimes the stereo gets stuck in pause, but a restart sorts this out and the sat nav has started to reboot a couple of times when the car starts up which is not a good sign. in general been pretty happy with it... great road handling for the size and height (can get it to drift with all the nanny features switched off), pretty decent off-road despite the lack of clearance/articulation (i've tried it out on steep rocky tracks, deep mud ruts, sand, fine clay dust and deep snow... i find it a bit too easy to "overload" the diff in thick snow), pretty solidly built (only minor damage after someone drove into the side of the car the other night, see attached pic... carp driving here in syria). the i6 3.2 liter engine is very thirsty though and not as torquey as i'd like, but keep it in the power band and it's ok. i'm finding it a bit small though for my increasing family size... i'm 1.99m tall and there's not much space for my 3 year old to sit behind me in her child seat... also the angle that the isofix chair fits is not great for babies in a maxi-cosi as their heads end up flopping right forward when they fall asleep. had to change the rear discs after only 20,000km, but managed to get this done under warranty and i suspect the dealer was playing games. the big 19" wheels scuff easy on curbs also. overall i've been happy enough and will likely import the car back into europe to drive for a bit, but i always regret not having got a disco (the V8's had sold out though and i didn't want a petrol V6 one).

i've responded to this post before, but thought i'd add a picture of my freelander 2 driving offroad here in syria... this picture shows one of the many orchard tracks the farmers here use in the mountains north of damascus. there's been lots of rain this year and some of the tracks have been severely washed out, but the freelander 2 still managed to get through... lots of grip (despite the road tires) and despite the poor articulation... even with a mountain bike on the roof! jonnymaserati... damascus, syria

I've had a 2009 Freelander 2 from new and one thing that has always annoyed me is that the cruise control can't hold the set speed going downhill and therefore over speeds unless I manually change down a couple of gears to engine break. I spoke with another Freelander 2 owner who seemed to suggest that his car automatically engine breaks when the car detects that it is going downhill, so I wanted to verify whether or not this is the case? Appreciate some feedback from other owners on this forum? My car needs a service this month so if I can get a quick response then I can get things checked at the dealer. Maybe I have an outdated firmware on the ECU for example (is it possible to check the firmware number myself to ensure that I have the latest version?)? Regards... Jonathan

it's not advisable to carry petrol on the roof and if you do ensure that you don't fill the can completely... been quite a few incidents of them exploding in hot weather. diesel should be fine though since it's much less volatile than petrol. max load on my freelander 2 is 60 kg i think in the manual. bear in mind this is the manufacturer's limit and has a large cover your ass safety factor in it.

Hi there Went for a drive up in the mountains this weekend to a place called Bloudan near Damascus. We had a big dump of snow at the end of last week so there was still plenty of snow up in the mountains plus during the day a lot of it melts and then freezes on the roads overnight. Anyway, I tried driving up an icy slope but quickly ran out of traction with my summer tires. I then started to roll backwards and alarmingly the engine cut out and I was left to slalom my way through pedestrians and parked cars going backwards at a decent speed with unassisted brakes... to say my heart rate increased a little would be an understatement! Obviously, I need winter tires and snow chains, but my question is... is the engine supposed to cut out like this? I subsequently read on the Land Rover website that the hill desecent should be engaged when driving up slopes in the snow... would this have helped me in this situation? Does hill decent work when going in reverse and should I have engaged reverse gear as soon as I started to slide backwards? Any advice appreciated before I find myself in a similar situation again. Regards...

that's very interesting... thank you! i never knew that and certainly something i should consider for the spare key that i have tucked safely away in a drawer that i don't use... but doesn't answer for my "beep beep", since i use that key every day!

guys toying with the idea of getting a new disco, but in syria they only sell the export models (V8 engines) and not the diesel engines (which i'd prefer, but the dealer here says they can't service the diesels as they're not supplied with parts). so my question... if i buy a V8 here and subsequently export it back to europe, will i be able to service it at the dealer in europe, i.e. do the dealers carry spares for the V8s? also, can the V8s even be imported to europe? regards... jonny

i also thought it might be a low temp warning, but the lowest it's been when i've started up has been 6 deg C on the display and as high as 18 dec C and still giving the beep. and nothing lights up on the dash. interestingly though it hasn't done it the last couple of days (sod's law... stops the day i write on the forum) and the temp has warmed up a bit. don't suppose it keeps a log of night time temps and beeps if the temp dropped below the threshold in the past 24 hours (i.e. there might be ice on the road)? i'll get them to run a diagnoses next time it's at the dealer. maybe my middle east spec car has the temp threshold set higher... 6 degrees is cold here! i can also vouch for the terrain response... traction on the car is very good offroad, the constraint is the lack of clearance and lack of articulation. it seemed pretty decent in sand (the revs stay nice and high around 5000 rpm) and i've been on some pretty rough tracks with no problems (although reversing seems to be an issue). not sure about performance in snow, at least not combined with steep angles and turns... i got the "operating over limits" light flashing up, but to be fair i was using standard tires so not a lot of traction.

hi there anyone know what it means if, within a couple of minutes of starting the car, you hear the "beep beep" warning but don't get any info on the dash display? it's the same "beep beep" you hear when, for example, your washer fluid level is low, but in that example the info screen has the text "washer level low". this latest "beep beep" has no associated message. it's happening every time i start the car but the timing seems a little random, but always within a few minutes of starting the car. any ideas/suggestions? regards... jonny

can you not run it off a trigger wheel... a 4 tooth wheel will give 4 spikes per rev off a trigger sensor?

assuming it's a new freelander (2) then the radio switches off when you remove the key, or at least it does with mine.

hi there thanks for the response... what an amazing waste of money from land rover! that probably explains why the badge is so expensive... 35 quid for a bit of plastic. thanks for the info... at least i know when i'm forking out the cash that there's no other proper solution and that i'm justified in breaking the little person I'm not that keen on's arm if i catch 'em knicking it regards... jonny

a while back someone took a key to my freelander 2's rear and removed the oval land rover badge on the left hand side of the rear door... so i'm looking for a replacement. anyone know where i can get one at a decent price... i've been quoted 35 quid plus vat which seems a bit steep? it's difficult to find parts online for the freelander 2, but i can't believe the badge is unique to this model? anyone know if the badge from say the disco 3 for example will fit? i've attached a pic of the car climbing up the mountain tracks near damascus, syria... impressed with the traction but the articulation isn't great since the lack of it limits ground clearance somewhat. on the road it's quite nimble though as a result! regards... jonny

Hi there Anyone any good ideas as to where to locate a jerry can (holder) on the Freelander 2? Regards... Jonny.

Hello I purchased an i6 Freelander 2 here in Syria a few months back. It's going fine (already plenty of bumps and scratches from crappy city driving here), although I've noticed that the interior sunroof blind doesn't roll back properly on either the front or rear sunroof (the roller blind type ones). It's as if the spring in the roller isn't sufficiently loaded, resulting in the blind folding up and not retracting into the roof properly. Before I give the dealer some hassle, just wanted to check how these are supposed to work? i.e. is mine normal? Regards... Jonny.

Jonny... Damascus, Syria

if you just want to transfer small files, your laptop probably has bluetooth and you could get a bluetooth usb dongle for the car computer... you can just use the right click and send to command then. but indeed, look at setting up an ad-hoc wi-fi connection. you can make your laptop act like a router and assign an ip to the car computer, but this might cause you problems when you want to go back into the house and connect to your home wifi. if you're using a g or pre-n wifi, then the speed should be ok. can you connect them via a usb cable? http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_...ls/usbmain.html

Correct! Wheel nuts are made from high tensile steel! They have to fulfill a minimum standard to be road worthy... probably a BS in the UK, but certainly TUV in Germany.

Use an LED instead if the buzzer... current draw is very small then. Otherwise, put the buzzer in parallel to the pump on the other side of the relay... might have to use a resistor to get the voltage across is right though?

have a look online for wheel nuts... see if there is any reference to different nuts for different wheels other than the profiles, threads and lengths. the steel of a wheel bolt is high tensile and standard material. so as long as the bolt profile is correct and the bolt length is ok then you can use it. the nuts are often treated... zinc or chrome surface finish.

hi there great... thanks for the reply! i know what to ask for now! i know saudi cars don't have cats (i fitted an OEM saudi exhaust to my car), but i had a look under one of the LR3s in damascus and it definitely had cats. cheers...

Hi there Thanks for the info! Makes sense given the temperature (it was pushing 40 deg C when I was just over there). Talking with one of my Brunei-an colleagues, he told me that in Asia many European cars are overlooked by the locals because they have insufficient cooling and air conditioning for the climate, which pushes many of them to buy Toyotas and the like. However, I know with the new Land Rovers they spent considerable time climate testing the cars... they spent a few months in Dubai driving around the dunes (and we got a sneak preview of the new cars!). So hopefully the cooling should be sorted on the new cars. However, this is unlikely to prevent the cars from getting re-imported to Europe I think? My biggest concern is environmental stuff... the quality of petrol in Syria is not great and I'm not even confident that the fuel is unleaded. This would wipe out a catalyst pretty sharp! So to prevent this it might be worth me fitting a de-cat exhaust and keeping the original to refit if I try to import the car back? Are there many good after-market exhausts for these cars? Cheers... Jonny.

Hi guys Does anyone know if Land Rovers manufactured for the Middle East market are made to a different spec and more importantly, is it feasible to import these cars easily back into Europe without having to spend a lot of money on conversions? I'm new to this forum, but since I'm considering buying a new Disco I thought it would be good to join up and ask a few questions. I'm in the process of moving to Syria. I'm not a stranger to off-road driving having some good experience in the UAE and Oman (deserts and wadis), but that was with a Jeep Cherokee. I've always wanted a Land Rover though and now is my chance! It seems that there's not a lot of choice on Discovery models in Syria... the only model that they now offer is a fully loaded V8 HSE. Given the relatively cheap fuel price there though, it's a realistic prospect although I probably would have gone for a diesel if I bought the car in Europe. They did until recently also offer the V6 engine, but have stopped due to lack of demand. The alternative is a Freelander, which is probably more practical for driving in Damascus (driving there is quite an experience to say the least), but the Disco just seems so much more comfortable and certainly far more competent off-road? If anyone has advice on good options and mods or general advice I'd be most appreciative! Regards... Jonny.