98 xedi - lseries head gasket

[aikendrum105]

Hi folks,

Our kseries hippo is still going strong, but now we have 2 kids - we needed another kid-friendly car for me to use instead of the old Alfa I belt around in.

Masochistically - decided to grab a dead '99 xedi for pennies and try to rescuscitate it. She most likely has a blown head gasket leaking compression into the cooling system - expansion bottle blows all the water out the top - stained with diesel by-products (not engine oil)

I've pored over the aulro, landyzone, mg-rover diesel forums, have the Rave rebuild manual and the good ol' haynes manual - looks pretty straightforward to change the gasket - renew all the belts and other service items, clean up the intake and exhaust systems and away we go.

I'm reasonably mechanically culpable, rebuilt a couple of Alfa engines, but if anyone's done an lseries head gasket and has any tips (apart from the usual freelander advice from the defender forums ;) ) would love to hear them.

Props to GarryCol, Woko et al on Aulro here for all their advice in the forums - very very useful reading.


Cheers !

[101RRS]

Never had the issue so can't really help with this one - except you will get lots of comments about dropped liners etc etc etc - well of those sort of comments do not apply to the L series - K series yes, L series no.

A blown head gasket on a L series is a rare occurrence - the block is iron so unless there has been a major other issue - shouldn't be a problem. In view of the hassles in changing the cam and injection pump belts I would put new ones in - they have to come off anyway.

Good luck with it.

Garry

[aikendrum105]

Thanks Garry - I hear you on the belts - will be replacing both belts and going over all the perishable hoses, mounts etc to get everything up to scratch.

Our k-series has had some internal mods (as well as the thermostat relocation / updated head gasket etc) to prevent the liners dropping - a groove was machined on the outside of the liner and a thin o-ring installed such that the o-ring binds the liner where it passes through (and is glued to) the block webbing to help hold it at the correct protrusion - was a little extra cheap insurance - but the thermostat / gasket updates and keeping a very close eye on the cooling system in total will keep the kseries belting along fine. The low coolant alarm you can fit is prudent too - catches a blown radiator hose quick enough to stop cooking the engine.

Looking forward to getting the diesel going - My wife's decided she'll take it once it's sorted - prefers the red paint colour.... * shrug *

Appreciate your help.

[camel_landy]

If you have a hoist & the space, it's a lot easier dropping the engine out & working with the engine on the deck. ;)

If all in situ, the belts at either end can be fiddly due to the lack of space but still doable. Word of warning though, be very careful with the oil pump casing... Don't split it coz they are now obsolete (took me a couple of weeks to find one for mine)!

As for the head gasket... I've never heard of one going on an L series. Get some pics as I'd be interested to see where the problem is. :)

M

[aikendrum105]

Cheers mate - I have an engine crane - but from your post - sounds like it's easier to drop the lot out the bottom as a unit, rather than pull the gbox / IRD under the car to get the engine out the top....

I guess - if I pull the engine - I can check the clutch / IRD etc - and then I'd be tempted to do the engine bearings / rings / pistons (they're getting quite cheap to buy nos on the interwebs) - slippery slope... The car has 230k on the clock, and I don't think has been treated all that kindly in the last 3-5 years.

It does need a core plug in the middle of the back of the block replaced - the overpressurisation of the cooling system seems to have started it weeping coolant - I figured with the head off it wouldn't be too hard to get to - but with the whole lot out it would be a doddle.

It'll be a week or two before I get started - we've just moved house and the shed is still full of boxes.. I'll definitely post plenty of pics as I go for when one of you spots something awry I've missed.

Cheers,

[sheerluck]

IF the worst comes to the worst - they're flogging off brand new L-Series blocks here (http://www.landroverclassicparts.com.au/SearchResults.aspx'model=-1&cat=-1&subCat=-1&keywords=LCF104180) for less than $300.

Might be an option if yours is looking dubious.

[aikendrum105]

Wow - what a great find, I've never seen that site before. Cheers !

[woko]

If they havnt coolant in them the headgasket rusts through. they are a straight forward head to do the hardest part is the timing belts. did you get it off ebay?

[aikendrum105]

Hi Woko, yep - where would we be without fleabay?
Thanks for the tip, expansion bottle has rust residue as well, so block bound to be corroded in water jacket. Id say she started using water, and just been topped up with no glycol for a while. I'll probably get the head off this weekend to see how the land lies.

Appreciate the advice !

Cheers,

[aikendrum105]

Any product recommendation for flushing diesel combustion residue out of the cooling system?

[woko]

When you get it running, put just water in the cooling system and a spoonfull of front loader washing powder and go for a drive for half hour then flush out

[aikendrum105]

Thanks Woko - the omo-thought crossed my mind - but I wasn't brave enough to suggest it on here ;) I've been spoilt with the wet-liner alfa engines - when you have the head off, you can clean out the water jacket from the top...

Should have enough room in the shed cleared this weekend to make a start. Looking forward to it. (it always starts that way...)

Cheers,

Scott.

[101RRS]

When you put it all back together it is easy to get the injection pump belt and cam belt one tooth tooth out - so make sure you mark everything up - cogs and belts and transfer the marks across to the new belts.

Garry

[aikendrum105]

Thanks Garry - sage advice :) Got the hippo into the shed yesterday - it's wading in a sea of removalist boxes, so I have to unpack enough boxes to get access to the doors and bonnet before I can start...

Looking at getting a faultmate MSV for the two hippos to help with troubleshooting etc (I have to recode some new alarm fobs as well) should have some fun tinkering with that. A real downer that they chose to encrypt all of the ecu stuff on the earlier cars... meh.

Cheers,

[aikendrum105]

A little update..

Hooked my shiny new Faultmate up to the car last night - Recurrent faults on both the crank sensor and the #1 injector lift sensor. It needs both to run well, but at least one of them to fire - explains a few things.

The #1 injector lift sensor is open circuit when tested with a meter, should be somewhere in the range of 100 -300 ohms if the internets are to be believed. Will need to grab another one of those. Haven't checked the crank sensor yet in case it's worked loose - but expect it's dead too.

Nice bit of gear the faultmate - you can do all your ABS bleeding etc, rekey alarm fobs - check all the sensors around the car for this and that - the live feed off the ABS sensors is *very* handy for the ol' three amigos that usually requires pulling lead to the abs ECU and buzzing out all the inputs. The information you get from the Bosch EDC Diesel controller is a lot more comprehensive compared to the MEMS petrol controller....

A side benefit of all this - I was mucking around testing the 1.8k hippo we also have - had a couple of odd faults here and there but they cleared and didn't reoccur - but as it was dark outside (as it is wont to be at night) I noticed the Ignition Coil leaking spark all over the place - might go a little way to explaining the uneven idle. Add another thing to the list of bits to collect.

Cheers,

[101RRS]

Have you got a RAVE CD workshop manual - if not they are available on this site under the Shop Menu (well worth getting but designed for use by Landie Mechanics and as such just have the basics. A Haynes manual is also worth getting - more for the dummies (like me) but fill in some of the information holes the Rave has in it.

Garry

[aikendrum105]

I know what you mean Garry - I do have both. The Haynes one is particularly oily around the Petrol timing belt and ABS wiring diagram area :)

One area that has been helpful from the diesel point of view is the MGRover forums in the UK - once you get past all the posts about "increasing boost to 20psi" and "bigger injectors from xx car" and "cut the particulate / catalyst out of the exhaust" and "EGR Blocking plates" :)

I found the old myfreelander.co.uk pages with some service bulletins on the cars really handy too - you don't know anywhere *all* the service bulletins could be found do you ?

I've also done the weld-repair to the rear subframe on the petrol hippo - the diesel we just picked up is pristine in this area, no cracks or anything - even thought the car has had a harder life and done more km that the petrol... go figure. Popeye must have been on ratchet duty that day. Actually - I think I remember reading that the early cars were ok, and a contractor supplied incorrect subframe parts later in the production run leading to the subframe issue....

Anyway - I waffle - appreciate the advice Garry as always. Been checking out some of the pics around the forums of places you've taken your car (and beforethevisions pics as well) - awesome stuff. Ours lead fairly sheltered lives - but it's surprising how often the ABS / TC combination and extra articulation of the cars comes into use day to day in the overgrown wilds of suburbia.

Cheers,

[101RRS]

I cannot help with the service bulletins. I used to use this forum a lot - was really helpful when I did my IRD soon after I got mine.

Land Rover Owner • View forum - Freelander (http://www.lro.com/forum3/viewforum.php?f=20&sid=dc56f14d97d9b62f4a13bbbc66129642)

On here Woko seems to be the expert on the L series - he has put up some good information over time. Camel Landy (Mark) is another good source of information - he is UK based but is here quite often and also has been a great help.

Unfortunately my car has been very reliable :), so I have only had experience with a couple of minor things (with the exception of early IRD/VCU failure) so I really have no experience with things electrical etc.

The little rubber hoses that take excess fuel from the injectors back to the tank fail (took me 6 months to find where the diesel smell was coming from) so check yours - easy fix. The original one piece coolant hoses fail but the new ones have T pieces and are clamped together and seem to be cheapest at the dealers. Handbrake levers on the actual rear shoes also break off - don't bother trying to repair - new is cheap. The wires to the hill descent button get chopped by the gear lever - I replaced the switch in mine with a 50c micro switch from Jaycar and re-routed the wiring fixed.

A problem I have at the moment is the gearchange (into first and reverse) is almost impossible when outside temp (not car temp) is above 25 degrees. The little bracket on the side of the gearbox where the slave cylinder is, either cracks or distorts not allowing full movement of the clutch so sometime you have top switch the engine off to get 1st and reverse - bracket is $25 and easy to replace.

You must follow the air bleeding routine in the handbook for the fuel system - take a shortcut and just pump it up with the bulb and your car will start and run - but will be difficult to start next time around. Lastly the car still runs Ok with the check engine light on in what some limp home mode - when the ECU detects a fault, it then ignores sensors and uses default settings in the ECU program - car tops out at about 110kph and requires 3rd up almost any hill but still quite drivable.

That is about all I have picked up in 7 years of ownership - mine is now 270,000km and is still tight, trim is in good nick even though it has spent most of its time outside (bonnet paint suffered UV damage), suspension is tight but getting a little noisy - probably grit from going offroad and steering is tight.

The two biggest things that impacted on the reputation of the FL1 was not developing the thermostat system on the petrol and putting in the correct front diff ratio as it managed to kill a few VCUs and IRDs.

Good luck with yours - I started to replace the belts on mine in June before it got cold, winter came along and then I was sick all Aug and most of Sep so it is still in the garage (RRS has to live outside :() with a jack holding the engine up with the timing belt off - hopefully the rain will stop soon (that is why I here now) and I can finish work on it - all belts, new front engine exhaust pipe, new clutch slave bracket, one outer CV and then we will be all operational again.

Garry

[camel_landy]

On here Woko seems to be the expert on the L series - he has put up some good information over time. Camel Landy (Mark) is another good source of information - he is UK based but is here quite often and also has been a great help.

Awwwww... Shucks. :blush:

[aikendrum105]

Heh Heh - I had been reading through your posts Camel, saw some vids of the Camel Trophy Freelanders on FaceTube as well - like the beefed up Hippo look !

Not much of an update - I replaced the #1 injector and it's seal, managed to put my fingers on the Crank Sensor - but as you know, it's pretty tight back there - have to take the intake / exhaust manifold off to get to it apparently... will get to it when I take the head off.

Also replaced the diesel bleed-back hoses on the injectors - the car had a mish mash of rubber hoses cobbled on there that were leaking everywhere. Graham @ Britcar found an original LR part somewhere - has the hose and the four little T pieces that screw into the sides of the injectors (I thought I was just buying a length of hose but that's what turned up...)

Now when cranking the engine seems to cough on one or two cylinders but won't catch. (admittedly I only cranked it 3 times for about 5 seconds... was getting late)

There was a fair amount of diesel smoke floating above the engine bay when I went back around to take a look - possibly an exhaust gasket failed, or that new injector not screwed on tightly enough. Ran out of time to tinker with it any more until tonight - will get A to crank it over while I see where that smoke is escaping from. Possibly the high pressure union from the pump to the injector isn't on tightly enough and it's just atomised diesel escaping.... I'm quite new to the whole diesel thing - I'm told the novelty wears off.....

Also noticed that the uni / CV joint at the front of the propeller shaft, which mounts to the IRD flange, seems to be faulty - has a large amount of angular slop in one direction to it compared to the one on the other freelander. Anyone else seen one of these fail ? I'll pull the rubber boot off it and take a look-see.

Cheers,

[camel_landy]

Also noticed that the uni / CV joint at the front of the propeller shaft, which mounts to the IRD flange, seems to be faulty - has a large amount of angular slop in one direction to it compared to the one on the other freelander. Anyone else seen one of these fail ? I'll pull the rubber boot off it and take a look-see.

Check for movement on the IRD output while there as that's one of the signs for IRD failure... Also check the drive saft to the O/S/F wheel for play.

While you're in that area, have a look at the engine/gearbox mountings as a knackered one of those can cause problems with the output shaft.

HTH

M

[aikendrum105]

Well - got the engine firing on two cylinders this arvo - the smoke was combustion from the other two blowing out the side of the head gasket under the manifolds - couldn't see it until I took the inlet / exhaust manifolds off - but the gasket is well and truly hosed. Hopefully the surface of the block and head aren't too corroded where it's blown - find out shortly when I get the head off...

[aikendrum105]

Snuck a little engine time last night. Anyone that manages to engage the locking pin in the crankshaft with the inlet / exhaust manifolds in place deserves a medal. A few folks on the forums were after a pic of where it is hidden.....

Also - The Auxiliary belt and Camshaft timing belts were well due for replacement - but the Injection pump belt seems brand new... The area inside the injection belt cover is the cleanest part of the whole car :)

Cheers,

[aikendrum105]

An update (war and peace) for interested readers :) - it may help you sleep


over the last few weeks I removed the head to sort the failed gasket.

The Gasket had failed between cylinders 2 and 3, and also into the nearby water jacket casting opening of the block (See pic) - the compression of both cylinders going into the cooling system - no wonder it blew a core plug out of the block.

The corrosion damage to the head where the gasket had failed seemed quite deep, and the Rave / Haynes manual warned against head skimming - insisting on replacement. After a chat with a few folks in the know (thanks Woko ! ) it seems this is because of an anodised type coating on the head, rather than critical valve / piston tolerances. The folks on the MG/Rover diesel tuning forums (same l-series engine) all skim away merrily whenever they blow a headgasket after mucking about with the boost - so I thought I'd chance my arm.

The head was bowed slightly, deeper in the centre where I wanted to clean up the surface - even once bolted solidly down to the mill table - I was tempted to shim it underneath the middle to pull a little of the warp out - but decided to stick with it and get it level - took the minimum off to get the damage down to 'head gasket can deal with that' levels and reassembled the head. (I noticed that 4 of the hydraulic lifters seemed very stiff - I'll see how the car runs and replace them if required.)

Replaced the leaky 1 1/8th core plug on the back of the block, used a smear of permatex aviation sealant to help it out. (great stuff)

Got the head back on the car and torqued down (with new head bolts), and set about fitting the new timing and injection belts. The manual recommends replacing the sprocket bolts at either end of the camshaft and the crankshaft bolt as well - but neither of the two LR parts/service places I tried had ever sold any or replaced them when doing the belts, so reused the old ones. Probably because the manual talks about torquing to x ft/lbs, and then a further x degrees to stretch the bolt which can be a one-time thing... not sure.

The y'shaped middle radiator hose had a massive split almost all the way along so a new set of hoses was ordered - they've all been running with boost pressure inside so safe to assume they're all.. uh .. hosed..

Filled up with water and a little anti-corrosive - takes a while to fill the car through that small dia hose leading off the header tank - be quicker to take the upper rad. hose off and fill up to there first I think.. Water pump leaking out the diaphragm holes on the bottom - looks like the boost took that out too.. will replace that this weekend.

So the moment of truth - I knew there'd be air in the injector lines from removing the injectors so a little bit of cranking to get things moving would be required. A nice fresh battery, ignition on, hand primed, crank crank crank.... Probably took a few minutes of hand priming, a couple of glow cycles and cranking before I started getting a cough off one cylinder (probably the one with the new glow plug behind the pump). I'd just about given up when it caught on all four and returned to a rock solid smooth idle. I think I sat there shocked for a minute with a stupid grin on my face listening to it.

Loads of smoke in the engine bay - a moment of panic, but just the exhaust flex joint has failed and leaks everywhere - add that to the list.

So I haven't taken the car up the road in anger yet, but so far so good - will get the pump / exhaust sorted, do an engine oil change / flush, same with the cooling system,
and hopefully be mobile shortly and can get a roadworthy sorted.

Thanks for all the help thus far folks - it's the first Diesel I've mucked about with, bit of a learning curve - but still enjoying it...

Cheers,

Scott.

[101RRS]

Loads of smoke in the engine bay - a moment of panic, but just the exhaust flex joint has failed and leaks everywhere - add that to the list.



My flex joint has been gone for a few years and fills the engine bay with soot on start - you get about 2000km out of an air filter. I have a new section of pipe to go in (I am sure the nuts on the exhaust will be rusted and snap the studs). I think I would get a generic flex joint and an exhaust shop and just get them to weld it in rather than replacing the entire section of pipe.

Glad to see it is all coming together. Well done. Oh make sure you have primed the fuel system in accordance with the the manual - if not you will have problems later as there will still be air in the system. Once I just pumped the system up until it ran but later it would have issues starting but would start.

Cheers

Garry

[aikendrum105]

Thanks Garry - much appreciated, good call on the exhaust - there's a place nearby that should be able to sort that.

I have a question for you, as you've just done the belts on your xedi - the routing of the alternator belt - the haynes diagram is clearly for another car with extra idlers (or no A/C) - I can't see how the belt can travel around the A/C pulley grooves down - between which two pulleys does the belt path travel around the idler ?


Cheers,

Scott.

[101RRS]

Thanks Garry - much appreciated, good call on the exhaust - there's a place nearby that should be able to sort that.

I have a question for you, as you've just done the belts on your xedi - the routing of the alternator belt - the haynes diagram is clearly for another car with extra idlers (or no A/C) - I can't see how the belt can travel around the A/C pulley grooves down - between which two pulleys does the belt path travel around the idler ?


Cheers,

Scott.

Yep a trick for new players - it took me a day to work out the serpentine belt out when I did it 6 years ago - there is a post of mine on this back in mid 05.

So this time I did a diagram - is logical when you think about it.

http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e334/gazzz21/Forum%20Posts%20Album/IMG_04601.jpg

Garry

[aikendrum105]

That's perfect - I must have rotated the tensioner down between the crank and the A/C pulley to release the tension and confused myself about the path (i'm easily confused) - the diagram makes perfect sense - many many thanks !

In a way - I'm lucky I didn't work it out before filled it up with water and found the water pump was leaking - I'd have had to take it right off again.

I've done timing belts on a few cars - but this one seems unnecessarily painful to me... your tip about raising / lowering the engine on the jack to get to the various bolts was a great help.

Cheers,

Scott.

[101RRS]

I started the job in June and I now have the injection pump and cam belts on and test run the engine - the engine is still being held up on the jack, still need to put the belt covers on, put the serpentine belt on and put the engine mounts back together - things move slowly at my place :).

After that - change the engine pipe, put in a new outer CV (has been clicking for 120,000km and 7 years and never got any worse) and put in a new clutch slave cylinder bracket so that I can change gears when the outside temp is over 25 - strange that - 20 degrees no problems - 25 degrees and reverse or first.

Suppose I should finish the job by the middle of next year. :(

Yes - the belts are a pain and just think you will have to do it all again in 80,000km - it comes around too quickly.

Garry

[aikendrum105]

It's interesting, our K series Hippo gets fiddly with 1st / reverse when hot as well - when we bought it, the clutch takeup point was right on the floor - I checked the slave bracket - it hadn't cracked, but seemed a little bent to me, so I straightened it out and welded an extra metal triangle in to strengthen it. This moved the takeup point off the floor about 1 cm.. Then I took the slave cylinder + pipe + master cylinder unit out (can't believe they made that a single replacement part...) and mucked about bleeding the old fluid out and new fluid in (upside down Miss Jane...) and replaced it - that moved the pedal up a little more - but still notchy when hot.

I started to suspect that the release fork / arm inside the bellhousing must be fatigued / bent - I ended up making a spacer cup to sit on the end of the slave cylinder rod to extend it about 10mm - that moved the takeup point up to a reasonable spot - it still has a spongy feel to it, and is still notchy in 1st / reverse.

I think in our case the problem lies in the gearshift linkages - I haven't even looked at them, but expect any wearing parts (roll pins etc) might be the next culprit. The car has a nasty judder on clutch takeup anyway, so I'll need to take the gearbox out, machine the flywheel, replace the clutch and check all those linkages out at the same time - have a brand new master/slave unit to go in as well. that should sort it - any remaining judder will likely be the CV joints (which seem to be very cheap on ebay at the moment - $45 !??

That all awaits me once the xedi is on the road again... looking forward to that - torque will be a relief - the k-series is many things good and bad, torquey is not one of them..

I came across the auxiliary drivebelt diagram in Rave by accident last night too - it's in the electrical section - how.. uh .. intuitive ....

Cheers,

Scott.

[aikendrum105]

Update: Replaced the water pump, both the rave and haynes manual tell you to remove the alternator to do this. Unfortunately - you need to remove the lower hingebolt that pivots the alternator on the block, and on my car at least, one of the power steering fittings of the pump are squarely in the way. However once you get some hoses and other bits and bobs out of the way - you can get the pump in and out with the alternator in place.

Changed the OIl & Filter, the air filter and away we went up the road in a cloud of smoke. Happily this cleared after a couple of km (probably just all the unburnt diesel in the exhaust from when the engine was running on 2 cyl) Very happy with the performance of the engine - I think it suits the car much better than the petrol units - but it might just be that you progress at a more sedate pace with the diesel ... surprising amount of punch off the turbo.

Significant bearing noise and vibration from under the car - removed the propeller shafts & VCU and all is smooth as silk.

One of the propeller shaft support bearings is Fubar, and the harmonic balancer on the VCU has come loose from it's rubber mounts - so that explains that. The VCU didn't seem seized for the short run I tested it on. The car has 240k on the clock - you'd assume the IRD would have futzed / been replaced by now, wouldn't you ? I guess while the shaft is off, I can jack up a front wheel and count the turns to work out the ratio. the bearings are cheap enough, although a bit fiddly to replace - we'll see if I can find a balancer for reasonable $$...

A nice surprise - the A/C is fully gassed and works very well. Gotta have a win sometime eh ?

So it's off to roadworthy in the next day or so and we'll see how that goes.

Cheers,

[101RRS]

Great work. I just put my timing belt covers back on - I knew there was a reason why I hated working this engine - will go back out soon and but the serpentine belt on and the drivers side engine mounts.

Did you end up replacing the exhaust flex joint - if so did they do it in place for what sort of cost? I have the complete pipe but I just know I will have trouble getting the old one off the exhaust/turbo.

In theory the IRD should last as long as the gearbox etc - maybe up to 500,000km in the right circumstances - the IRD itself is reliable it is the VCU that causes it grief - but then the VCU is reliable if the IRD ratios were right.

Before I had VCU then IRD failure, at 100kph the engine was doing just over 3000rpm. With the replacement IRD at 100kph the engine does about 2600rpm so if you are doing over 3000 at 100kph you still have the old IRD. If that is the case and you want to keep AWD I would replace the VCU with a new one - they will last about 140,000km before locking up. With newer IRD ratios they last as long as anything else.

If you are happy with 2wd pull both tail shafts out and the VCU. They run fine on 2wd. Mine ran fine in 2wd, even with the U/S IRD as it was the bearings on the rear PTO that had failed but were good enough to allow the rear drive shaft to turn OK with no load - with the VCU connected there was too much load and the pto crown wheel and pinion would slip making a huge racket.

Cheers

Garry

[101RRS]

It's interesting, our K series Hippo gets fiddly with 1st / reverse when hot as well - when we bought it, the clutch takeup point was right on the floor - I checked the slave bracket - it hadn't cracked, but seemed a little bent to me, so I straightened it out and welded an extra metal triangle in to strengthen it. This moved the takeup point off the floor about 1 cm.. Then I took the slave cylinder + pipe + master cylinder unit out (can't believe they made that a single replacement part...) and mucked about bleeding the old fluid out and new fluid in (upside down Miss Jane...) and replaced it - that moved the pedal up a little more - but still notchy when hot.

I started to suspect that the release fork / arm inside the bellhousing must be fatigued / bent - I ended up making a spacer cup to sit on the end of the slave cylinder rod to extend it about 10mm - that moved the takeup point up to a reasonable spot - it still has a spongy feel to it, and is still notchy in 1st / reverse.

I think in our case the problem lies in the gearshift linkages - I haven't even looked at them, but expect any wearing parts (roll pins etc) might be the next culprit. The car has a nasty judder on clutch takeup anyway, so I'll need to take the gearbox out, machine the flywheel, replace the clutch and check all those linkages out at the same time - have a brand new master/slave unit to go in as well. that should sort it - any remaining judder will likely be the CV joints (which seem to be very cheap on ebay at the moment - $45 !??



I have just removed my clutch slave bracket and mine is all OK - that little bend in the bracket is supposed to be there. So my 1st/Reverse issues when the car is hot is something else - like the issues you have identified. I am going to elongate the bracket mounting holes a little so that the whole bracket and slave is a little closer to the clutch actuating arm. I also am thinking of extending the shaft on the slave cylinder as you described - what did you do to achieve this?

Thanks

Garry

[101RRS]

I also am thinking of extending the shaft on the slave cylinder as you described - what did you do to achieve this?

Thanks

Garry

I pulled the little plastic end off the shaft and put a small nut inside and put it back on - makes the shaft about 3mm longer so hopefully is enough when combined with the elongated holes (3mm) in the bracket.

Garry

[aikendrum105]

I pulled the little plastic end off the shaft and put a small nut inside and put it back on - makes the shaft about 3mm longer so hopefully is enough when combined with the elongated holes (3mm) in the bracket.

Garry

That's almost exactly what I did - I have an old hercus lathe in the shed, so I turned up a piece out of delrin (plastic) that was cupped at one end to centre on the end of the rod and the right diameter to sit inside the release fork cup - I reckon the nut will work perfectly with less effort :)

Has it made any difference to the 1st/rev notchiness ? Once I have the Diesel registered fully I'll put the petrol up on the ramps and go over the linkages - see if that sorts it.

The Diesel has 300km on it now - still going strong (touch wood)

Cheers,

[aikendrum105]

Before I had VCU then IRD failure, at 100kph the engine was doing just over 3000rpm. With the replacement IRD at 100kph the engine does about 2600rpm so if you are doing over 3000 at 100kph you still have the old IRD.


Thanks for mentioning that again - I know I'd read it in one of your other posts - but it slipped my mind. I checked both cars yesterday - The Diesel has the new IRD, and a healthy VCU - obviously replaced as a pair some time in it's turbulent past. The Petrol however, I *know* chewed out it's IRD before we owned it (due to mis-matched tyres front / back rather than the VCU seizing.) They've obviously re-used the original VCU which is why it's now hit the end of it's life (and is in the workshop being turned into the franken-VCU with that other fluid I bought)

Cheers,

[aikendrum105]

An update for the cognoscienti :)

The hippo seems to be a happy camper - about 2500km on the engine now and all (touch wood) seems sweet.

Had to fit the Propeller shaft for the Roadworthy to pass - so replaced the failed support bearing with a new one, swapped the harmonic balancer with the good until off the Petrol's propeller shaft, and also swapped the front shaft over as the CV had failed on the diesel one. Got it all back together and all is quietly happy. VCU operates correctly, and the rest of the system is quiet.

On the way home from passing the roadworthy - the Oil return line from the vacuum pump on the nose of the alternator split - and proceeded to squirt all the engine oil out over the front of the engine, and basically everywhere else it felt like it.. Very annoyed about that as I'd cleaned up the engine bay / engine etc while I repaired it...

The return line is a hard plastic one, with short rubber sections at each end (with metal olives inside to stop them collapsing) The plastic line appeared to crack and splinter at the first bend after leaving the pump - I know I was moving that out of the way a lot when replacing the water pump - so perhaps I weakened it.. Didn't notice until someone pointed it out to me in traffic - just as the low oil pressure light came on - nursed the car to the next side street and used some colorful metaphors to help the engine cool down.

There's a slight squeak from the vacuum pump now when cold, and the slight main bearing knock I'd been pretending was just diesel slap is a little louder when cold - but otherwise survived ok.

Have rigged up a temporary pipe with some other hose while the replacement comes from the UK - not a common failure part at all...

Apart from that - popped down to AllFord wreckers here in Melbourne (braeside) - the name is deceiving -they have loads of freelander parts - make a good living in IRD units apparently ;) Pickup up a nice 2t towbar, later leather steering wheel, some leather seats and a few other bits and bobs very cheaply - brings the car up to scratch nicely.

I noticed the car took an awfully long time to come up to temperature - bought a new thermostat, took off the housing and found there wasn't one fitted to the car - POs mechanic must have removed it to try and reduce the overheating when the head gasket went.

Took the opportunity to flush and replace the naughty green antifreeze I'd used after the rebuild with the red OAT stuff Land Rover favours... Apparently it's not too critical which you use as long as you thoroughly flush the system between colours - but the OAT stuff is supposed to last a lot longer. New Expansion bottle too - the old one was too stained from the diesel combustion in the cooling system, and it also had some serious cracks around the cap ... you can actually see the fluid level now - bonus :)

All seems well in Hippo-land - will wire up the towbar this week and head up to Albury with a trailer for the weekend to help the folks move house - If the car behaves I guess I'll have to regretfully hand it over to Andrea and the kids while I get the petrol hippo back to sort out.

Getting about 8L/100 while goosing the car around town - pretty happy with that. I did blank off and remove the EGR as it was coked solid inside - and also knocked the center of the Cat out as it was blocked solid as well - so that may be helping with the mileage. Definitely lose a bit of sparkle with the VCU connected.

Anyway - I do go on.

Cheers :)

[101RRS]

Thats great - seems to have all come together well.

Once sorted they are quite reliable.

Cheers

Garry

[woko]

Took the opportunity to flush and replace the naughty green antifreeze I'd used after the rebuild with the red OAT stuff Land Rover favours... Apparently it's not too critical which you use as long as you thoroughly flush the system between colours - but the OAT stuff is supposed to last a lot longer.

The L series never had OAT coolant. It was introduced in Freelanders from 2001. It won't worry it but you may find it will spring leaks running OAT having never run it before.

[aikendrum105]

Hmm - I hadn't picked up on any threads about OAT causing leaks - only warnings not to mix the different types - but now you mention it and I cast my eye over the intarwebs, there's a few warnings about it starting leaks where none where before.. I know there's a slight leak around the housing at the front of the head where the thermo sensor screws in - if I see it get worse I'll know why... I expect the Oring seals will be fine (water pump / thermostat etc) particularly as they are both brand new - but any old paper gaskets might let go...

And there I was so proud of myself for putting it right... hahahah

Jokes aside, I do appreciate the info Woko - cheers !

[woko]

It doesn't cause leaks it just finds leak areas easier than green coolant.

[101RRS]

You can get long life green coolant - mine has a 5 year life.

Ho0w is the clutch working with your mods done.

Garry