Alternate motor for 2001 Freelander

[Eknows]

My wifes 2001 2.5 ltr freelander is starting to develop overheating problems. I have had the cooling system checked and a new radiator fitted and it now apparently needs new head gaskets. It would appear from other sites that this may be the start of an endless pit of expense on this motor.
Do you know of anyone in Oz who has fitted an alternate motor than the standard V6 as supplied as this may be a viable expense if it works?
Thanks Colin

[SuperMono]

I think for a start it is worth getting a second opinion from someone familar fith Freebies. Better to travel a little way down one path before fully committing to the alternative.


Doubt anyone has transplanted anything into a V6 FL1.
Always liked the idea of a 3.5L Magna engine though, or a Holden 3.8 V6.

[Ausfree]

Look mate, I'm not a mechanic but I do know that the Freelander KV6 is notorious for water pumps leaking, could this be the cause of overheating?? May be as simple as replacing the water pump. I would check out all possibilities before taking on an engine transplant and quite honestly I don't think it's worth the effort unless you are keen on a "project"!!!:DYou say you have had the cooling system checked does this include a pressure test???

[PhilipA]

There was a person a couple of years ago who "tried" to put a Mazda turbo engine in a 4 cylinder Freelander and posted it as a project.
The fitting problems he ran into were enormous and I do not know whether he ever finished it.

Regards Philip A

[rainman]

The TD4 Freelander was the BMW M47D20 engine. If you could find an M47TU2D20 that would be a "rather nice" replacement and I guess should slot in quite easily. Better still, the M47's replacement, the N47 in theory would be possible. If you could find the twin turbo version you'd have 204hp and 400Nm, and around 6.5 litres/100km. Oh how good it would be.....

Dreaming perhaps.

James.

[Eknows]

Thanks to all for your help. Tried everything, water pump, radiator, thermostat, header tank cap, yep the works and still no go.
Ended up taking to Land Rover wrecker/repairer in Brooklyn Melbourne and let him do his thing.
Six months later after a virtual engine rebuild the initial problem was finally diagnosed and rectified. After the heads were worked on they were dyed to ensure that everything was ok. At this time the dye showed up an extremely fine rectified fault. Apparently it is a fault that occurs in Fords quite regularly but no so in Land Rovers.
It is known as "channeling". Basically a super fine "channel" occurs between the head and the head gasket on the head itself. This allows the coolant to escape under extreme pressure and temperature, but only at minimal levels of loss. Unfortunately however it causes an almost immediate and extremely high temperature rise in the system when placed under pressure.
So when we were driving locally at @60kph the system operated perfectly well, but when we placed pressure on the system and increased to @80kph it immediately began to overheat and cause a loss in water pressure which the system compensated by increasing the temperature. Dog chases its own tail.
Total cost to me ended up being loss of use for six months and approx $4,000.00 for a almost total engine rebuild.
So there you are people another possible diagnosis of fault for freelander (now known as freeloader)

[camel_landy]

Thnx for the update... I'll add a couple of other things for anyone else who stumbles on this thread later on:

1 - Don't assume that your temperature gauge is correct as a faulty earth can give you misleading figures. Make sure you get the temperature checked with an external 'laser' thermometer before jumping in & 'fixing' things.

2 - The V6 Freelander has a slightly different front end to the other Freelanders, so an engine swap might not be as simple as you'd expect.

M

[zedcars]

Hey fellas
I have looked at doing this re-power project a number of times.

Each time I revisit the idea, the "costings" don't make it viable as a cost effective project.
The maxim must be that the rig once converted MUST be better in all aspects than the original.
I used to do re-powers for a big Anglo-Dutch truck and bus maker in south America, in any event these things ain't easy, 'cos if it was we'd all being doing it.

Physically the Freelander forward dimension from the centre line of the front struts to the radiator core support is about 4 inches too short to accommodate MOST of the regular FWD power packs available from Toy't, Mazda, Ford, even Audi/VW. So that limits what you could even find to go in there using the donor ECM harnesses and security system interface.

That leaves an engine transplant only hooked to the original transmission.
I looked at the only available diesel here in NA that was a VW ALH 1.9.
Again a bit issue to adapt it to the bell housing and mounts, then you have the cost to interface the electrical circuits to make it all work.

Cost evaluations even doing some rudimentary fag packet calculations showed that it would be in excess of $10,000 US of shop time and materials , simply just not a viable conversion.

Better to fix the overheating issue, use it, then trade the brute when ready.
Up 'n over here they are going to the crusher fast! Poor timing belt installs, lack of maintenance and transmission problems with the attendant parts pricing has put the boot in to this Landrover.

In a few years it will be a Dodo or should I call it a "do do" box!
shame because its not a bad truck when running save the fuel consumption issue
Cheers Dennis
zedcars