Would recommend purchasing a 27mm ratchet ring spanner with a hinged head. Once on the filter housing working from underneath the car it is a simple job to remove and replace. Next time a 20 min job!

No you use the same housing, once removed take a firm grip of the paper oil filter with one hand and a firm grip on the housing with your other hand and gentley pull. The old filter will pull out, be sure to remove the Black "o" ring seal as there will be a new one on the new filter.
Make sure the filter housing is compleatly cleaned, smear a small amout of oil on the new "o" ring and gently push the filter back into the housing, you should hear a small snapping sound as the new filter clicks home.

Thanks for that great advice regarding the 27mm ratchet swivel-head spanner. Got one from Ebay for £14.00 and did the whole oil and filter change in half an hour.

I would love to see 'em do it at a Land Rover dealership - even with the spanner it wasn't easy. Fortunately, I have long thin fingers and wrists - which ended up well scarred. Anyone with big hands just couldn't do it.

I would guess that very few dealers swap the filter - which was my reason for wanting to do it myself.

Vince

I changed my oil and filter during the last Bank Holiday weekend and it took me about an hour and a half from start to finish. Given my comment in the original post about the filter being missed by some garages (same comment from Vince) I must admit the old filter looked fairly good, certainly changed at the last dealer service I would say (although only covered 7K since last service, I like regular oil changes).
Next time I might cut down my 27mm combi spanner as I had to remove the trim in front of the cross member to get access. It was removing this trim which took most of the time. Quicker nex time.
I found the under shield quicker to remove than on my old Freelander 1.
Regards,
Chris

I have a 2007 Freelander 2, nice to drive but too much Ford in it, not the build quality of the previous model.
I found it easier to put the spanner onto the oil filter housing from the top of the engine with the spanner hanging down and then go underneath to undo it. The plastic housing nut has spring lugs which make it very difficult to get the spanner to fit on, it has to be square on to fit easily. It is a pig to get to and took me 2 hours to do an oil change, now I have found a way to do it I hope to do it quicker next time without all the blood.
Can anyone tell me what oil Castrol BOT119 is for the power transfer unit, cant find this anywhere on Castrol Site?Thanks
Regards
Peter

Just a thought Never done an oil change myself but is it not possible to use a pump and suck the oil out to save the issue of raising the car to remove the underside protection. How else do operators who service your vehicle at home change the oil?

Yes, you can use a pump and suck the oil out through the oil dipstick tube, but a good practice tells us that at every oil change you need to change the oil filter too.
And for that you must remove the underside protection, for easy access.

I use a oil vacum pump to remove old oil from the sump but have found that you can only get about 4 litres or so out due to the shape of the dipstick tube.
It would appear that you cant get all the way to the bottom. After removing thatamount I remove sump guard etc and drain the last smal amount through the sump plug. Advantange is that you can use a much smaller bowl than if you drain the whole lot. Then carry on to remove old filter and so on, works a treat

Peter Willey wrote:

I have a 2007 Freelander 2, nice to drive but too much Ford in it, not the build quality of the previous model.
Regards
Peter

I must be missing something here, as the previous model was far inferior to the FL2. Ford build some of the best cars in their class, whereas Rover.......well.......no comment really The reason the D3 is so unreliable is due to the Rover build quality. We've got a D3 at work and it spends it's whole life going wrong. I can't be the only one on this site who thinks the FL2 is superior to the FL1

Back to topic though - the oil change is a pain the a e, but with the right tools and a bit of swearing, it's not too bad  Gone - TD4 XS Auto, Sumatra Black, Mud flaps and side strips, clear indicators, private plate, privacy glass

If you dont have a garage to do it in, pick a realy nice day, "summer time" Get the misses to bring out cups of tea and biscuites and its not to bad, not to bad at all

Noting the tricky task of filter change is causing a bit of heartache in this thread, I'd thought I'd share my tactic to change the filter only at the recommended service interval of 15k miles and do a DIY oil change at about half-way (between 7 and 8000 miles after full service depending on time available). The small volume of old oil trapped in the system is not significant compared with running the same oil for twice the mileage.

Also, articulated ratchet ring spanner is the tool to have! Gone... 2013 XS TD4 Manual Firenze Red
Gone... 2008 (09MY) XS Td4 Manual Stornaway Grey
Prior... 2003 G4 Discovery 2, 1998 Disco 1 and 1997 Disco 1 Company car before that
Also gone in Nov'13, after 7.5 yrs, to new owners with time for more TLC - 1980 Series III 88
Current 2015 Discovery Sport HSE 2.0

yer Chris B, the articulated ratchet ring spanner is what I use, makes it much easer

There has been much written on this subject by Yamaha Fan, and it should be remembered.
The oil quality that most of you are suggesting to use on this FL2 engine does not meet the standard now required by LR.
kezman50 - the 30 SAE that you recommend is too low a viscosity for this engine; being diesel fuelled it is necessary to have a more viscous oil on the big-end bearings, with a greater pressure bearing factor.
Without going into any detail, it is always a source of contention, this 'value for money' lubrication issue.
There is a simple, no-nonsense answer - buy the best!
The SAE 0-40 would be superb, but I have used Castrol 'Edge' 5-40 with complete confidence, and I have a mileage of 67k+.
You have bought a fairly expensive car - treat it right!

The oil that LR is recommending now and is on the market in this moment, meets both requirements of A1/B1 as well as the more performant standard, A5/B5, that YF recomended.
See: http://www.freel2.com/forum/post109412.html#109412

Underpan held by 6 13mm bolts easy to do, jack the car up if you haven't got ramps doesn't have to be that high.
Anyone know what Castrol BOT119 oil is for the power transfer unit? This is called for in the manual but can't find this anywhere.