Hi shilen, its funny should say the most reliable car you had was a vauxhall vectra.
I bought one from new and apart from a new exhaust and one camshaft position sensor and the usual servicing I drove that car through 110,000 miles on same clutch. It never one let me down and nothing else failed or stopped working.
It was the most reliable car I ever owned.

The Vectra comments are interesting because the Vectra came dead last in the 2012 JD Power survey! That's 76 places behind the Freelander. Just goes to show...

Unnecessary quote removed


Perhaps the JD Power survey was written by Clarkson? We all know how much he loved the Vectra! I'm surprised it was even listed in a 2012 survey, when they stopped making them in 2008...hey ho!

For my part, I had 5 Vectras over 11 years, and whilst they were not anything special, not ONE of them EVER let me down, either Petrol or Diesel variants.  Foraging near Gaydon....
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MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

I had a vectra for 4 years, put 40000 miles on it. Only thing that went wrong was the washer jet pump, replaced under warrenty. Great car, with a baby at the time it had loads of room in it. I remember a woman rear ended me, policeman who came along just sung the praise of the Vectra! I replaced the Vectra with an Antara, it wasnt quite as good as a Vectra. It had alarm problems and electric problems too. Black MY2013 SD4 GS Auto, Wood Company Armrest, Freel2 sticker.
Gone MY2010 Freelander 2 Manual TD4.e S, Alaska White.

No need to blush about the Vectra shilen, a lot of Vauxhalls are pretty well fault free. We had a new Zafira 2.0DT, it had nothing done to it under warranty. It's replacement was a 1.9CDTI, ex motability, but had been out for three months only and returned after a bereavement. We had no faults repaired under warranty on that one either.
I always do a extra oil and filter change, between annuals, to help keep the insides clean.
The first expense on the first Zafira, was a new pair of front tyres at 40,000 miles. Then front discs and pads, and more tyres at 75,000. Good reliable motors.

Having had Carlton s and Senators that were great so i bought my wide a Vectra SRi 140

What a awfull car, one of my most unreliable & seriously thirsty, nothing like my previous two SRi's which were fab.
Tail gate struts failed
ignition switch
headgasket
cambelt snapped
idle valve
clucth hydraulics
servo leaked
air con pump
evaporator leak
blower motor
front Anti roll bar links
ABS pump
wheel bearings & numerous sets of front discs
alternator failed
cam sensor failed twice
crank sensor failed BH weekend in Plymouth
Diff spat sun & planet wheels out of gearbox ! & that was £1300 quid & just out of warranty
appalling mirrors and headlamps
coil pack failed
Thats just the bits I remembered ! & I had owned Vauxhalls for 20 years & everyone great until the Vectra worst car ever ! & then an omega V6 which was even worse !

You do have some luck with cars OG, salesmen cower when you arrive on the forecourt.

"You do have some luck with cars OG, salesmen cower when you arrive on the forecourt"

I have had a lot of cars, Vaux were fab for 20 odd year trouble free & a Carlton GSI 24 v that went on for 7 years absolutely brilliant car, one of the best ever, but then Vectra Omega years were bad.

I have had 2 X-type sports which were 100% reliable & Fiesta TDCi's which have been fab so its not me !& a Citroen C1 that in 4 years from new has had 1 indicator bulb and a wiper blade ! just the luck of the draw with the FR2 being almost as bad as the Vectra & a hillman imp I bought in the 70's.

I just hope defenderben finds the cause but hate to think the cost of repair not a good start for him with an FR2

Update
So far the with the rocker cover off the local independant has established that the top end is badly damaged, inlet cam seized solid, possible bent valves.

He has only managed a quick look as he is busy with other LR's at the moment. Once the head comes off I will know more.

To say I'm dissapointed is an understatement, spend your life savings on a 1 owner car with full main dealer history, manage 7 months and 9K miles under my ownership then this, is gutting. I know you pays your money you takes your chance but I did not expect this.

Not managed to get any lower down the engine yet to find cause of catastrophic failure or get an idea of a total repair cost.

Ben (GONE) FL2 2008 SE (manual) Santorini Black, the expensive one
(LEFT WITH) 300tdi Defender 90 the cold, reliable & sensible one

I can imagine how you feel. Its heart breaking to say the least. I suspect that the oil pump drive has failed. As ive said before, a engine running with no oil feed and pressure you only have seconds to react and thats only if your reves are extremely low.
Anything more and you will suffer total engine damage.
Its hard to tell the full extent but you will have friction damage on most if not all moving parts. I for one would not want to rely on this engine again and would not hesitate to have it replaced.