2011 Freelander 2 TD4 GS 15k miles

Hi,

Ever since buying the car from new I've not been 100% happy with the general performance of my Freelander (poor MPG, lack of power going uphill from cold and sometimes strong smell coming into the car).

Yesterday the strong smell became alsot of smoke into the cabin so removed the engine cover and investigated to find what appears to be 1-2 cm of green liquid immersed on the number 4 injector?.

Any ideas to what is going on?

As an aside I have intermittent problems with the Terrain Response & HDC System being Faulty.

Oh and the interior is falling apart too

The car is obviously still under warranty but will the dealer frown upon not having the car serviced until now?

I have pics to upload.

Thanks

Sorry did I read that correctly...you haven't serviced your car since you got it in 2011??

If this is the case I think you may have kissed goodbye to your warranty? 

Thanks for that. Car has covered 15k & is a year & 4 months old so isn't that far out.

Far enough for LR to turn it away, by three months I think.

Looks like you have a coolant leak, straight back to LR for warranty repairs, whilst there I would bring up the other issues mentioned and do not take there Bu reply's for an answer, you probably haven't done yourself any favors by missing the service intervals, but it shouldn't leak coolant or have "Oh and the interior is falling apart too ,these problems because you missed the service interval. Exactly what does Oh and the interior is falling apart too encompass
IE dashboard fallen off, headliner resting on your melon etc

Your warranty will be null and void for the engine however you will probably be covered for fault on non service items like interior trim.
First ignoring the current problem it might be prudent to have it dealer serviced so the service warning on the dash is cleared and you have stamp in the book ready for when you trade in.
Now to the problem
Have you had any coolant water loss?
If you take the header tank cap off what colour is the antifreeze? It should be pinkish.
If it is green then you could have incorrect antifreeze and you could have a head leak.
Air conditioning systems can leak and usually have a dye built in to indicate a leak however from memory the air con pipes don't run anywhere near your puddle.
The area of the leak would typically be a diesel leak from the injector but the colour is wrong.
Take the engine cover off again and using kitchen paper towel soak up the liquid; how does it smell? Try setting light to the paper, if it doesn't burn it must be water based. If it burns and smokes it must be diesel.
Where are you buying diesel from ie is it normal retail diesel fr a major suplier?
Kind regards
Fred 2010GS Auto ex Celeb, Santorini Black, 2011 facelift , spoiler, spats, mudflaps, LED footwell lamps, Witter detach,
Other cars:-
1958 & 1959 Austin J40 Pedal Cars under restoration (I make many J40 parts)
If you have an Austin J40 or Pathfinder Pedal Car looking for a new home pls PM me.
2009 Meriva

fredastaire wrote:

Your warranty will be null and void for the engine however you will probably be covered for fault on non service items like interior trim.
First ignoring the current problem it might be prudent to have it dealer serviced so the service warning on the dash is cleared and you have stamp in the book ready for when you trade in.
Now to the problem
Have you had any coolant water loss?
If you take the header tank cap off what colour is the antifreeze? It should be pinkish.
If it is green then you could have incorrect antifreeze and you could have a head leak.
Air conditioning systems can leak and usually have a dye built in to indicate a leak however from memory the air con pipes don't run anywhere near your puddle.
The area of the leak would typically be a diesel leak from the injector but the colour is wrong.
Take the engine cover off again and using kitchen paper towel soak up the liquid; how does it smell? Try setting light to the paper, if it doesn't burn it must be water based. If it burns and smokes it must be diesel.
Where are you buying diesel from ie is it normal retail diesel fr a major suplier?
Kind regards
Fred

the strong smell is likely the green liquid on the injector, and as someone else said it would point to a diesel leak from the injector apart from the colour. ( would also explain your loss of power )

you need to establish what the fluid is and where it's coming from, and check that the injector is not loose.

I would advise that you put in to a dealer for a service and see if they pick up the fault and sort it under warranty.
the dealers all need the warranty work and I'm sure they will be happy to sort it.

as far as the interior goes it's not really something that normally causes problems, but if not due to abuse should also be covered by warranty.

let us know how you get on.

Iain

Fredastaire

You are correct i also own a 96 Disco that has green coolant, I confused myself, so what leaks green in a Freelander, perhaps the mysterious substance that is also destroying the interior.

To stand any chance you'd best get it serviced NOW and then try your luck warranty wise with the dealer later on - cant you say that the car has been laid up for 3 months or that you've just come back from a long stint abroad? They do have a 15,000 mile service interval and ok, you are a few months over that, but the mileage is not excessive after all.

Anyway, the only parts that would probably have been changed on the first year service would have been the oil and filter and those parts would have no effect on the running of it, surely? It's not as if you did what the previous owner of fredastaires FL did - run it for 36,000 miles until it ran out of oil and totally the engine although you could have been heading that way by the sound of it! Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.

[quote="fredastaire"If you take the header tank cap off what colour is the antifreeze? It should be pinkish.
If it is green then you could have incorrect antifreeze [/quote]

Strange you should say that as I bought a new MINI last year, all alloy engine factory filled with blue coolant.
So pink is not necessarily incorrect, just maybe what LR dont use?
I used to use Bluecol antifreeze on my all aluminium engines as this was said to be the best and that was blue from the word go.

The allowance on the extended warranty, is 500 miles or one month past due service time. I expect new vehicle warranty will be similar. You need to get the dealer onside, get the motor serviced and ask nicely for help, would be my tactics.
Not sure there is a coolant leak, it gets obviously pretty warm round the injector area, and i have seen some strange colours left by evaporating fuels in places like that. Bright blue, being probably most common, but green as well. It depends a lot on the fuel's additive package, and of course, it smokes and smells as the more aromatic parts burn off. Hard to see, but i can't spot any staining round the pipe union, so the injector could be oozing round the body.

How do you spend around £30k plus on a car then forget to service it?
I would tell them you have just come back from 5 months in Spain etc and ask to book it in straight away and also get the warranty issues sorted.

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

Looks like a diesel leak from the spill rail on No4 injector, they have had a bad batch of DW 12 engines from fords yours would seem to be from (just) before when the factory was having this problem. You could try disconnecting the spill pipes and reconnecting them and see if it stops leaking, if not you will need a new set of spill pipes it's a easy DIY job to change

Last edited by rst1991 on 9th Apr 2013 11:49 am. Edited 1 time in total