Long story short my FL2 failed mot on steering arm ball joints........BIL did them for me (just the ball joints/not full arms) which then passed the mot but felt harsh on the front. I assumed the badly worn nsf joint was masking a worn/bent shocker so replaced both of these a week later. All was well, the car riding well over bumps, back to a nice supple ride then a week after fitment I felt a bang whilst driving at low speed, like I had driven over a heavy piece of wood perhaps, after which I experienced a harsh ride, vibration on overrun and a metallic noise on opening/closing throttle....the weird thing was the engine sounds louder than normal especially at start up!? Took the car to an independant who found the only problem to be a worn nsf drive shaft. He put it on a gig/rig to check alignment and found the tracking to be 'miles out' which has been sorted ready for the fitting of the drive shaft tomorrow, (the car has been with them since last week).

It's been playing on my mind though........what could of caused this 'bang' and why is the engine noisier, especially when starting? it's as if all the sound insulation has gone. anyone have any ideas as I'm sat here thinking the worse!

I was only saying to somebody the other day how good the car has been but I admit to feeling a bit worried now as I can't seem to find out anything on the 'net that relates to this

Dunk, have you checked the steering Column boot, this allows lots of noise into the car interior ?
Have you had a windscreen fitted recently ? I have seen em fitted with a strip of sealer missing along the bottom of the screen allowing lots of noise in,
Anti roll bar links often cause a real clonk !
Not quite sure why the tracking should be so far out and a new drive shaft would fix it !
Heavey clonking and tracking out could point to excessive wear in a lower ball joint Jaguar x-type sport gone
Jaguar x-type 2.2d sport one of my best cars ever sadly gone
Freelander 2 GS auto 2008 most unreliable ever ! gladly gone
Freelander 2 GS manual 2013 only time will tell !

Dunk

please see comments above but also go to this thread

http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic16971.html

read the last few comments about the PTU between Alex & myself ,and all the drive going through the NSF drive shaft ! if yours has a fault this could explain the rapid wear of just one drive shaft ! Just a possibility
Hope this helps Jaguar x-type sport gone
Jaguar x-type 2.2d sport one of my best cars ever sadly gone
Freelander 2 GS auto 2008 most unreliable ever ! gladly gone
Freelander 2 GS manual 2013 only time will tell !

Unnecessary quote removed

That's a great help OG...........will check this out, collected the car earlier and the guys could not find anything fundamentally wrong and were at a loss to explain the 'bang' and increased engine/starter noise. It does drive ok now (albeit with added cabin noise) definitely no torque steer but they said the tracking was out by some margin. It seems to of stemmed from a heavy impact last year as I was forced onto a verge and hit a rock...shortly after that the drive shaft problem arose and then the worn ball joint that side and lastly the shocker. It seems that one thing has triggered another, and putting things right has made things go wrong! if that makes sense. I do appreciate the effort and will try and have a look tomorrow at your suggestions. Is the PTU an expensive fix if faulty do you know?

Also is there an easy way to check the transfer box? all I have at home is a trolly jack!

Drove the car 30 miles or so today and it's not good.......gearbox feels/sounds loose/sloppy although goes into gear and changes ok and I have a metallic spinning noise whether in drive or on the overun, if the throttle is lifted there is a 'clink' sort of noise as if slack in the transmission is being taken up, same noise when you reapply power. Car picks up well and pulls properly, no torque steer.

Seems like there are various things amiss but outwardly nothing wrong!?

Could this relate to a clutch/dual mass fly wheel problem do you think? would this cause the loudness when staring up perhaps?

Open to suggestions here before I throw hundreds of pounds at it getting the garage to investigate a problem they don't seem familiar with....

After going to 5 garages, two of them LR 'specialists' I took the car to Gloucester Road Gearbox's fearing the worse......on initial test drive the tech' thought it might be a shaft within the transfer box but would like to have it in for a few hours more to investigate further. Picked it up earlier today after therm having it for two hours and they have found the prop shaft to be worn or components within the prop I should say. Also there were two bolts missing from one of the brackets?! these were replaced but they don't specialise in props so I will have to take it elsewhere. Shame really as these guys have been incredibly helpful and diagnosed the problem without charge. I might even take 'em in a case of beer for their troubles.

Incidentally OG, the steering column boot had been found to be adrift by one of the other garages and was refitted, it did seem a little quieter afterwards.

This clink on applying power/changing gear is the slack being taken up by the worn prop' it seems....I have had a drive shaft fitted that was slighly worn but thinking on it didn't make much/if any difference! the choppy ride was down to the tracking being out by so much incidentally OG which they put right but fitted a drive shaft I don't really think I needed

Hopefully once this prop is sorted things will improve.....

This damn problem labours on..........had the prop' looked at and although showing some signs of wear it doesn't appear to be the root of the problem. In desperation I took it to Bristol Transmissions today and within 1/2 mile of test driving the car the tech was absolutely 100% sure it was the pinion bearing worn in the gearbox, thus causing this 'clink' on applying/releasing power. Could this also make the starter motor sound loud

When I took the car back yesterday to the LR independant who replaced the drive shaft, he test drove it again, put it up on the ramp and spun up the wheels etc and all they could find was the rear prop bearing worn and a small amount of play in the front...thought the metallic type feel/sound to the gearbox was down to the linkage and suggested to start off by replacing prop/gear linkage then see how it is.....I did say I was reluctant to drive it and his response was to 'drive the arse off of it until whatever it is goes'

I have to say I have just about had enough now and would quite happily push the car over a cliff I am waiting on BT coming back to me with a price for the pinion bearings.

Watching this thread with interest.... although I do not think it is the same problem I am getting ideas...

T Terran



'The' Car For The Modern Day UK Roads ( ie all the pot holes )

'A Freelander that leaks oil is just marking its territory' - Wise words

Now a member of the FL2 'Silly Bill' Club

Had two prices for this to be rectified now (awaiting further quotes).....going back to GRG tomorrow to try and ensure this is what the problem really is as their initial thoughts were propshaft related, (I think I would prefer for them to do the work if they can pin it down). It's like I might have two problems churning away at once possibly......prop' and pinion bearings but need to get the most serious problem sorted first which would be the gearbox pinion, before it goes south.

Either way it's going to be expensive to put right. I just hope if I book it in it will return to how it was before all the problems started.

Well..............'Catastrophic' would cover it I guess.

Been advised today after a full strip down that a Gearbox mounting bolt(?) had snapped...which almost certainly accounts for the 'bang' I heard, the main shaft in gearbox has partially stripped and the transfer box splined shaft is 70% worn. To make matters worse, although expected, the DMF is worn so would be daft not to replace this and the clutch.

Prop' did need doing but obviously didn't improve things. Can't understand how the bolt sheared and is a little worrying but still......all being repaired/replaced so should be back on the road and hopefully back to normal by mid next week. Cost including VAT and me sourcing a S/H transfer box is £1548.

All done and back to normal..........nice to have it back even though I'd had enough of the thing last week Still unsure as to why/how the problem occurred so I'll just have to drive it in the hope it doesn't happen again.

As an aside, if anyone needs a Transfer Box and looking to save money if out of warranty I can recommend Equicar nr Wolverhampton as they bought a large number of new units from LR that had been left outside causing the case to corrode a little....nothing wrong with them, new but at a much reduced cost because of this.

This alone saved me over £420 on what the final repair bill could of been so worth an 80 mile drive to collect....the garage mentioned they had another FL2 in just this week needing a new transfer box (70k miles) so this might be of use to somebody, sometime.