Phil Wilson

I fitted mine years and years ago to a vehicle I now don't own...but, from memory: - Fit it to the rear cross member with the uber-long bolts, - Drill the holes for the top mount - Bolt through top mount - Remove the back door card - Remove the plate with the old spare wheel mounts - Put in the white plate from the kit - Close the door and carrier and mark the holes on the new plate - Drill the holes and fit the bolts. - Done. Something like that. I definitely do, however, remember that the instructions were useless. So you're not missing too much. I remember finding a picture of someone else's fitted online, and basing my whole installation off of that. And somewhere I had to pad something out with my own washers!?!?!?

My wife has a distinct talent for breaking wing mirrors. And this time, she's broken the bit the mirror clips on to. It's the bit circled in red. There's a top cover held on by a single Allen bolt, and the turret on the back of the mirror clips on to it. Any ideas what it is, and a part number? TIA

I'd put money on it being one (or both) of the U.J's on the front prop'.

Sounds like the valve stem seals to me.

This can also happen when you are towing (if you were?) as even more current flows through the switch to run the trailer\caravan lights. LR excelled themselves with that design.

I think you're heading down the right route: fuel\air mix incorrect. But the fact it's not running badly all the time leads me away from a timing problem. Have you checked the simple things first: Fuel filter clogged Air getting into fuel lines Air filter clogged Turbo about to fail Obstruction in, or the collapse of, an air pipe Fuel sedimenter (if fitted) faulty The fast running of the engine could be a number of things too. Have you checked the idle-speed adjustor? Mine came loose once, which almost saw me crash on a motorway slipway as I couldn't slow down!

I've only got a single key and fob for my wife's Freelander 1, but I've got a spare FOB. I live in Cranleigh, so any chance I could swing by at some point?

Normally the front prop will squeal under engine breaking, rather than when engaging/dis-engaging the clutch. This sounds very much like the thrust bearing. If it's just started making the noise, you could have a while yet before it goes (mine took about 2000 miles from noise to failure). I managed to drive 10 miles in 3rd gear only, to get home and drop the gearbox.

I recently had a similar problem to this, which eventually I found to be a dry joint on the injector harness. It was intermittent because whenever I took the inlet manifold off as I was poking around, I would disturb the harness and make it connect again for a bit. Reving the engine would make the whole unit twist on it's mounts, and sometimes cause the bad connection. Have you connected a diagnostics and found any fault codes? If garages think it is the injectors, did they find a code, and have they tried swapping the injectors around to see if the fault follows the injector or not (i.e. injector or harness)?

OK....I've thrashed myself with a birch branch for using the wrong name (that is, by the way, used on lots of different websites) and will in future use your name (which returns 4 results from google when used in quotes). However, if the "low fueling adjustment" is set incorrectly the engine can produce lots of smoke.

The "Smoke adjustment screw" on the top diagram : http://dodgeram.org/tech/dsl/more_power/Power_ve.htm

My mate's does this too, and we have always assumed it is the ECU working out the ambient temperature and adjusting the fuelling with a bit of diesel knock whilst it "thinks".

Are all of the pump settings factory standard, and did you check the smoke screw? You're probably right, and it's probably a tooth out on the timing - but it's best to start with the basics and work from there.

Yes. Mine lasted <8 months of strictly road use. I put a deCarbon damper on in it's place which lasted 3 years (it got goosed by a broken drop-arm joint) and gave a slightly smoother drive too. I'm now on my second deCarbon damper. My Britpart rule of thumb is: if it has moving parts, go OEM. If it doesn't, Britpart will be OK. Seems to work for me.

Hi - I have the same problem, only mine seems much worse when the engine is on over-run (such as touching the accelerator when driving down a shallow hill) but like yours it only lasts for the first few minutes. It then won't happen again until the engine is properly cold and has been stood for a while. Did you ever try the clear fuel-line test?

In a nutshell, a really cheap one will work but won't last long in any setting. If you go off-roading a lot (including farm work) it will probably fail quite quickly. A mid-range item will be slightly more refined on the road, and put up with a good few years of occasional off-roading. The HD items are more for people who off-road a lot, or for overland travels across difficult terrain, where the steering takes a beating and so does the driver. These dampers can take the abuse and save the driver a bit of fatigue. That RTC item, I think, is very much overkill for you. I think they are intended more for people with huge tyres and suspension lifts where the castor angle has been altered (it's the castor angle that causes the vehicle to naturally RTC). I would get a decent (emu, decarbon..etc) damper and spend the extra money elsewhere.

I have the same thing with my wife's Freelander (2005 TD4), and had a good poke around yesterday. I jacked each rear wheel off the ground and could turn them both, with a bit of resistance. I also got a mate to turn them whilst I was under the car, and could see the VCU slipping to allow the rear prop to turn but not the front one. The IRD oil came out red and clean. The front tyres are both bald on the inside (I hadn't realised they were that bad!). The gearbox oil came out clean. The rear diff (why is it called a final drive on a Freelander?) had about 0.2 litres of black sludge in it. When my mate turned the rear wheels, the diff visibly bounced up and down. The diff mounts seem very loose. The VCU bearings are starting to crack (the rubber) but seem reasonably firm still and as if they have some life left yet. I don't think they are exactly 90 degrees to the drive-train though. So, I have replaced all the oils and I am getting the tyres, balance and tracking done tomorrow. Next week I am going to do all of the brakes, and I'll have a look at the bearings whilst I am in there. IF the noise (comes at ~50MPH) doesn't go away with all of that, what should I do next? Remove the VCU to discount that? Replace the diff mounts that look (to my very untrained eye) like they need doing? Also, there is a lot of play in the front wheels when I try to turn them by hand. The play seems to be at the joint to the gearbox....is that normal? Thanks everyone.

Take the belt off, turn it inside out and run a wire brush along it. Then look over the whole length of the belt and remove any tiny bits of accumulated metal that are stuck in the grooves. Finally, slacken off the tensioner and place a 1p coin behind it at the 9 o'clock position before re-tightening. This solves a slight misalignment some peoples tensioners seem to have. I did all of the above to my 300TDi, which had the same squeal, 20K miles ago - since then, no noise.

Does it do it if you pull away (relatively) quickly? It could be your A-bar ball joint.

I'm not sure that's true mate. My 300TDi (with a good strong battery) starts on the first key-turn, even when the bonnet is covered in snow, and pulls like a train from the off. Does the 200TDi differ in a way that would affect the starting with a different IP?

Is it possible you have cracked a fuel pipe during the work, allowing air back into the lines overnight. The IP will self-prime but it will cause the engine to turn over a couple of times before it fires. Otherwise it could be a coincidence that your lift pump is failing, or your glowplugs are knackered. Someone else will be along to answer the actual question you asked.

I used the Deflex orange bushes (sourced from Paddocks) about 5 years ago, and they seem fine so far. I use the wagon on and off road, and they seem better than OEM in both situations. Getting the OEM rubber bushes out was one of the worst jobs I have done on the vehicle. My mate bought the bushwacka tool, but it broke after doing all of his bushes and only two of mine. We ended up having to drill holes around the rubber until we could pull the middle metal core out, then using a hacksaw to cut the outer metal until it could be bent and freed from the radius arm. Such a faff! I would have polybush just to avoid ever doing that job again.

Before you do all of that...have you check the battery is securely fastened down? I once spent a month trying to find the source of a terrible, worrying metal shearing sound....it was the battery clamp undone and rubbing. Free fix!

I did mine in an hour with hand tools, a vice and some swearing - so I would expect you to pay an hours labour for a garage with air tools and a press. They will caveat it with "as long as it all comes apart OK"...it's a Landy, they almost never come apart OK. If you leave it, it will get more and more clonky, and eventually you will feel like the back end of the car is a bit disconnected (feeling) from the front.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_point#Examples_of_flash_points