Mike the Bike

Here's an update. How much bleeding should one reasonably expect to do? Have now put 450ml thru the clutch hydraulic circuit via the reservoir on the master cylinder using an easy bleed one way valve and she's showing a marginally higher biting point, very marginal though and still not "normal" gear selection possible. This time I flushed it thru faster not bothering to close the bleed nipple on the upstroke of the pedal. The pedal is still firm with engine off and "floppy" for the first 25% of the throw with engine on. This bit I can't understand, the clutch isn't engine/ vacuum assisted so why should a completely isolated passive system behave differently depending on the engine being on/off. Have just seen in RAVE manual that a serviceable clutch plate has 7.5 mm of friction material. If a plate had more, say 8 mm as I believe the one I bought had, perhaps the throw of the slave cylinder is too short to disengage the drive ewquired to provide sufficient clearance to enable smooth gear selection? Any thoughts/ comment welcome. Mike

Thanks chaps for the helpful comments. I'll continue with the bleeding operation tomorrow, felt too ill to resume today. Need to shake off a cold before attempting 2nd phase. Is there a consensus that the proceedure is sound but just put more fluid thru the system, or is it faster to fit an easy bleed one-way valve and simplify the procedure and leave the bleed nipple open on the pedal unstroke too? Thought this might increase the risk of air entering the system. Cheers

Hi Would be grateful of any tips going on the clutch issues i'm experiencing. Purchased a new slave cylinder & clutch kit from Island 4x4, paid £68 and £99 respectivley and believe they were genuine/ OEM units and supplied to Freelander Specialists in Suffolk. On getting back the car the clutch bite has moved much lower but was initially acceptable and gear change smooth. Gear selection has become more dificult in the last 2 weeks since the change over and my wife has complained she got stuck on more that one occasion not being able to select first gear. I bled the clutch/system, using the following procedure taking care not to allow the reservoir to get below a third full, topping up with DOT 4 fluid when necessary. I had my son depress the pedal to the floor, I'd release the pressure via the bleed nipple and retighten it, he would lift the pedal fully back up to the normal position by hooking his toe underneath. We did this a dozen times, until we'd pushed 250 ml thru the system. The situation now has not improved in fact its a lot worse. When the engine is off I can change gears without issue and the pedal feels firm from the top. When the engine is running the first inch of pedal travel shows no resistance at all and when fully depressed, gears are near impossible to select. When starting the engine with gear pre-selected she creeps forward unless I'm more or less standing on the clutch pedel. Am about to go outside and bleed it with the engine running to see if we get more clearance this way. If I'm unsuccessful has anyone cured anything like this by replacing the master cylinder? The current master is 18 mths old after the original failed spring last year. Sorry its so long, just wanted to provide enough detail to avoid simple responses. Thanks

I had a similar problem with our 20003 Td4, drove well for a while then once in a steady state of c3000 rpm on motorway etc stuggled to reach 75/ 80 mph. I solved this by replacing the PCV, cranckcase breather assembly. The engine note changed and she became quieter and responsive above 3000 rpm. There is a a thread on the same subject with c 4000 viewings with a recommendation to substitute the LR part for the BWM alternative. The BM part is stated on the thread. Cost is £43 inc tax approx and an easy diy job that took me with no specilaist tools around 1.5 hrs. Mike H

Mike Posted the BMW breather off to Oz yesterday afternoon on a 5-day "signed for" deal as agreed, so its probably sitting in a european airport currently :-) Re your post - I can confirm that the buzzing noise does disappear when the EGR vaccum pipe was reconnected on mine also. With the new breather fitted it does reappear from time to time in a milder form, and now I've replaced the EGR with a straight thru there's nothing I can do about it, but I'm not bothered. The two most recent mods have transformed her performance, ....so a samll price to pay, the odd fart for a fun drive...... Mike H

Great pictures, most be fun being able to push her capabilities. I was ab;e to this year with 30 cm of snow falling overnight in London! Was one of the few cars on the road the following day, took her for some long 4 wheel power slides in a vacant car park. Mike

Hi Not sure how to get to my control panel to mail you directly. Just confirmed funds are in the Paypal account and thought I'd ask one of my lads to check for you re postage to Perth from the UK. Hold on to your hat,........for the actual package dimensions & assuming a weight of 300 --330 grams, delivery in 7 days will be £30.99 or within 42 days is £26.99. Need another £13 minimum at least if I do it all at cost. What assumptions did you make for a £10 postage fee? We got our costs form the Parcel Force Uk website. Will await your instructions. Mike

Had no warning lights when our 2003 Td4 was playing up but found an 8mm vaccum hose leading to the EGR activation solenoid was ruptured/ worn thru. This appeared to affect the turbo boost performance also, a similar vaccum pipe sneaks across the injectors terminating on the turbo so the entire vaccum circuit was compromised by this leak, though the brakes required no extra effort.

Hi, back from Europe, have you sourced the part yet? I can provide the URL for the BMW dealership I sourced mine from. Cost £42 GBP. Mike

Just followed your thread and I'd recommend the EGR bypass mod. I bought the version recommended by "tuning diesels" and signiuficantly more grunt noticed, even with same fuel map. Mike

Just posted my story after changing mine today, ( the rasberry post..) cost in the UK for the whole unit is 42 GBP. Not sure of postage hit to Oz, box is 20x15x6 cm and weighs about 180g. Would like to help, ....am of to europe for 3 weeks tomorrow, will look up this thread when I return. Mike

Just incase you decide to attempt cleaning the PCV, I tried this just after Xmas, popped out the felt oil/ vaour separator and soacked it in white spirit over night and flushed thru next day. Cleaned the valve diaphram and reassembled. She went like a dream the once refitted, sounded quieter, smooth at tick-over and the power between 2 and 3.5 k noticably improved. In the last 2 months I've been posting here about variable performance issues, suspecting fuel pressure (sensor) and then found a vacuum pipe leak which made a big difference when sorted but everything was not well becasue at 3k rpm she got noisey and held back, well I just found my answer. Found a thread here recommending the replacement of the LR spec PCV for one currently used by BMW when the M47 engine is installed in their 320d/ 520d saloons. Purchased one today and fitted 2 hrs ago,............magic............like a new engine. I can only conclude that my attempt at cleaning the felt filter was a limited success because within a few months she was misbehaving again. Also the good news is that the BMW part is cheaper and does not need further maintenance becasue there is no filter to clog, simply a couple of chambers. the science of which I've yet to understand. but this option will cost you less over a 24k stretch because you'll have had to change the LR filter twice (according to their latest service recommendation) @£26 a pop (uk prices). Looking foward to driving to work tommorrow for the first time in months. The parts guy at BMW looked at UK stock movements for this part and revealed that across the UK, the company sold 600, yes thats 600 last MONTH, demonstrating that many other BMW owners are having the same perfomance problems with their 2 litre diesels. So save a few dollars and enjoy a better perfomnace with the latest spec PCV, forget cleaning iit - IMO. Cheers Mike

Correct, two components within the same assembly, interestingly had this happen about a year ago when i last ran the car with the EGR valve deactivated, also showed much white smoke but reactivating the EGR solved both problems. White smoke issue i beleive was related to blocked PCV, now thats clean no smoke visible and engine noise reduced. Cheers Mike

Spent last Sunday cleaning out the inlet manaifold of the Td4 and reassembled torquing all screws correctly. Just tanked it down the A3 to work , torquey and smoth up to 3 k revs then gets loud and rough over 3k rpm. Arrived at work and when I switched off FRAN the Freelander blew me a rasberry, okay a light buzzing sound that slowly disappears, as if pressure (or a vacuum) is being equalised. Could this be the cranckase pressure valve working correctly? Came from the right hand side of the engine (viewed from front) near vacuum reservoir. EGR is deactivated via plugged blue vaccum hose and crankcase breather cleaned out with white spirit along with PCV about 3k miles ago. Ideas anyone...........? Mike

Cheers Mike