Hi

Sorry I have yet another question. You can tell I am novice to all this

I bought my Freelander a couple of weeks ago 57 plate (2008) and I had found the gears a lot more clunky than my Merc A class - I thought it was due to my driving such a different style car and it was just something I needed to adjust too. To be safe, I took it to my local Land rover garage today, who were lovely and took me out for a test drive. They said the gears were thankfully normal, although the mechanic said the clutch was a little heavy. He said it was not showing any signs of any problems and the heavyness was likely normal for the mileage (67,000).

I have a three month warranty with the garage I bought the car from. Can anyone let me know if heavy clutch is a sign of problems. I have searched on the Internet but have found lots of conflicting advice. I have tried putting the engine into gear at 2nd and 3rd and it stalls immediately as I let off the clutch. I have read things about clutch slippage but I'll be honest I really don't understand what this means. The car seems to be driving very well but although I drive the typical 12,000 miles a year I am not very experienced with understanding the mechanics.

Thanks for any advice

Ella

Hello and welcome to Freel2.

Clunky gears are quite usual. FL's built after sometime after yours had an improved gear linkage mechanism.
To make gear changes more smooth just requires a little grease. There is a linkage/cable underbonnet and also in the car under the gear lever surround. It takes only a few minutes to grease both.
Ask your garage to do this.

Yes, there are instances of slipping clutch, this generally happens in high gear at around 2000 rpm. Then floor the throttle. If the revs rise with no increase in road speed then the clutch/flywheel assembly need replacing. A heavy clutch is not normally indicative of a slipping clutch. Maybe you just got used to the Merc clutch which was lighter?
You say you put the car in 2nd and 3rd gear and it stalled. Was this from stationary?
If so I'm not surprised. In order to set off in 2nd, the car needs either a lot of revs or the clutch has to be let out very very slowly. Use 1st gear from a standstill

Hope you continue to enjoy the car  Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Hi Pegleg

Thanks for your advice

I'll try the high gear and see what happens when I floor the throttle although, I think from driving it is ok from what you say.

I wouldn't normally start off in 2nd or 3rd I probably didn't make it very clear in my original post - it's just that a web article suggested I try this and apparently if the car didn't stall immediately after letting out the clutch then it could be a sign of problems. Not sure how much truth there was in it. It stalled at any rate

I'm going back to my garage on Thursday to get the hand brake tightened so I will ask if they can look at greasing it.

thanks again

Ella

Hi,
FL2 handbrake is a common problem.
There is a small pivot between the handbrake shoes that can either seize or not move freely enough. It only moves a few mm, but is paramount for a good handbrake. Simple handbrake adjustment is only often a short term solution.
I'd suggest that you ask the garage (in a nice way) to replace the handbrake shoes with Original Equipment which comes complete with the pivot
It's possible that they may try charge you for this as a 'wear and tear item' not covered by warranty.
So 'be nice and act dumb' so to speak and hope they show some goodwill. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Thanks - that's helpful. I thought it just needed standard tightening. I had mine done on the Merc a few times but it was normally just a tweak at the service. It is certainly useful to know when I chat to the garage on Thursday.

It started to roll back a little a few times when I was at traffic lights when I apply it at normal operation.
Apparently it passed the service and MOT fine, but I have needed to use two hands to take it off if I tighten it properly. Not very cool

Ella

It's what this forum is for, to help folks.
Lets us know how go on Thursday  Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Thanks Pegleg