Well, it has happened, I am now a fully fledged member of the Freelander owners long suffering group. My wife took the car out to Glendale shopping centre and she had only been gone five minutes when I walked into the garage and saw a big puddle of coolant on the floor, and it had a creamy texture to it and very oily. Glendale shopping centre is only five minutes away so I imediately phoned my wife and asked her to check the coolant level. She replied it is down a bit and very frothy in the cooling system reservoir, so I asked her to get some extra coolant into the reservoir and bring the vehicle home.

On ringing All4X4 at Kotara they gave me the worst case scenario, possibly slipped liners, engine rebuild and up to $10,000 (Yes, Seahorse I know, low coolant alarm, I was booking the car in next week for a 90,000klm service and to have a low level coolant alarm fitted). I don't think a coolant alarm would have assisted in this case because I checked fluid levels yesterday and all was OK.

Can anybody give me some good news?

All 4X4 at Kotara can't look at the vehicle for two weeks and if it is a rebuild, probably another few weeks. Oh, the engine is a KV6.

you have my sympathy

my truck is booked in for an early feb walletectomy as well so i feel your pain...

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1959 SII 88 O'drive ARN 110-574
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It's the principle of it

Thanks, Incisor I read your thread on a strange noise in your Landrover, we can cry on each other's shoulders, Ah, the joy of Landy ownership.

Couldn't wait for All fourX4 at Kotara to look at my vehicle so I took it to my local mechanic who I have been dealing with for years. Reasonably good news (better than an engine transplant) the transmission cooler for the Jatco Automatic transmission is cactus causing the auto transmission fluid to mix with the coolant, cost of repair about $1100 as compared to $10,000 for an engine transplant if a cylinder liner had dropped (phew). Has anybody experienced this before? I am sure it has happened!!!
Absolute TOP priority now is to install a low level coolant alarm. By the way, another worry, does anybody know if water has got into the auto unit (driven at the most about 5 kilometres after the problem was recognised) would it do long term damage? My mechanic said he will do a multiple flush of both the coolant system and the auto box before filling them up with correct fluids.

Yes have seen it before. Coolant can enter the Auto. But a few flushes will get it out. I would look at fitting a air blast cooler from a TD4 auto, V6 don't have them. they are a better cooler designed for hot climates and have no coolant running through it. Make sure it is the correct fluid incorrect will bugger this auto

If the heat exchanger in your auto box has corroded through - I would also be concerned about the heat exchanger in the IRD as well.

If your auto has to come out then I would check the IRD but if the box stays in then it is not worth pulling the IRD out. I would be regularly checking the IRD oil every few thousand Km - it goes milky green (assuming you have green lubricant.

Garry

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REMLR 243

2007 Range Rover Sport TDV6
1998 Freelander XEDI
1977 FC 101
1957 Series 1 88" (Baby)
1957 Series 1 88" Station Wagon
1971 Jaguar V12 E-Type Series 3 Roadster

The auto coolers on v6 usually crack so it's probably not corroded

With 80,000 km of mostly short distance driving, our 2002 FL1/KV6 has been using a lot of coolant (around 400ml daily for past 3 - 4 months) although without any sign of coolant mixing with oil or leaks from the cooling system. We suspect a problem with liners, even though this engine has never overheated.

I'm curious to know what options there are in a situation like this. Are new engines available from LR? At what price? Are reconditioned engines available? Has anyone converted their FL1 to electric? I would be happy to convert to electric (not hybrid), as we do mostly short distances, and understand it may be an option, but money is the issue there.

Welcome any information anyone can offer.

Mine was doing the same thing and as the rest of this thread has revealed it was the Auto box cooler that failed letting coolant into the auto box. I am having my transmission rebuilt as we speak as it did eventually fail. I have been quoted up to $5000 depending on how much damage has been done. I am also having the cooler replaced with an air cooled one, like the diesel Freelanders use, so I won't have that problem again. Good luck!!! Check the coolant overflow container for any sign of sludge, if it is there, thats the sign that coolant is getting into the tranny!!!

Get the thermostat checked . they are made of plastic and are in the valley of the engine, they do leak without puddles on the ground as it pools in the valley and evaporates when engine is ran