If I was you I would find a nice steep wet grass hill and start to drive up
Your front wheels should spin then the rears should kick in 2008 xs
Snorkel
raised axle/gearbox breathers
Mantec tank guard
Cb radio
Blanked EGR
Sump guard
Scratches
Snolkle

When on the lift I'd use GGS or M&R rather than sand. Sand mode increases throttle response, not necessarily what you want when up on a lift, whilst GGS and M&R decrease throttle response.

if you can make front wheels spin with a quick setoff, then somethings not right. If its haldex related it will almost certainly give you "traction reduced" error on dash. If not then good chance its front transfer box to gearbox spline stripped. Check to see with car in gear or park on a auto you can freely turn prop shaft. www.bellengineering.co.uk

Update:

Jacked car up on two jack stands to rear and two jacks to front. Selected GGS and slowly accelerated - only the two front wheel spun. Put it into sand setting and same thing happened

Following previous advice I also checked to see could I turn the propshaft whilst it was on ground and in gear. It turned freely in my hand.

Is this leading to a propshaft or tranferbox issue?

Thanks for info so far.

Geoff

Update:

Jacked car up on two jack stands to rear and two jacks to front. Selected GGS and slowly accelerated - only the two front wheel spun. Put it into sand setting and same thing happened

Following previous advice I also checked to see could I turn the propshaft whilst it was on ground and in gear. It turned freely in my hand.

Is this leading to a propshaft or tranferbox issue?

Thanks for info so far.

Geoff

Nothing to do with propshaft, it only does what it told to do. A bit like most men.

An issue I can see with this sort of test is that there is no load for Haldex to be told to cut in, so can the Haldex free wheel when not under real time load ?.

The test that Austen mentions seems to be cut and dry. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Did you look at prop while it was in gear and driving?? Shounds very much like stripped transfer box spline. Is it manual or auto?? I only ask as it seems more common on manuals. 99 times out of 100 it's the transfer box spline, and you will also need to change the sleeve between the gearbox and transfer box as that will be stripped or badly worn. I've seen it twice when it's actually the gearbox spline that's stripped, which is a :censored: as it means an entire gearbox replacement, and they are much more expensive.

We supply recon transfer boxes for £480+vat. The sleeves are £100, from Landrover , you can't buy those from anywhere else cheaper. I charge £225 for labour and oils to change a transfer box.

Just be aware that the spline wear on a lot of these boxes, and alot of people selling these including rebuilt ones from Landrover (at silly money) have splines that have already picked up. All our stuff if good, we won't sell units with worn splines.

This is turning into to such an issue that this will be the thing that kills Freelander 2's (like the IRD on the FL2) due to the cost to replace, especially as they become more and more rare. We are currently getting tooling set up to remanufacture the splines to protect us in the future, but at present I just a have a very large pile of units with ruined splines waiting for this to be setup. I obviously have a lot of good ones too, so if you require a unit give me a call in. www.bellengineering.co.uk

No I was on my own so I was relying on the reflection off the window of the house!

Lol!! Free movement of front prop points to the transfer box though. Get a helper just to makesure.

Just noticed where you are, if you have a local garage happy to fit it I ship to Ireland all the time. www.bellengineering.co.uk

Thanks Austen i'll be bringing it over to local specialist to confirm your diagnosis. I'll come back to you then

Thanks for all the responses guys

Interesting synopsis on the final death of the FL2 Austen.

Is there a causal link one wonders be it bad original engineering or a certain type of usages or even the extended service periods.

Anyone up to speed as to any changes in the DS and that hairdressers car they make to overcome premature drive spline failure ? FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

I'd say it's down to 3 things.
1. The hardening process doesn't seem to have been done correctly on a lot of these units.
2. The sleeve should of been sacrificial, but it was made harder than the transferbox
3. It's a water trap, and corrosion seems to play a big part. www.bellengineering.co.uk

Interesting to understand all this.

1 - So this could be just as lucky as owning one with it case hardened correctly.
2 - Yes a basic principal, make a sacrificial part that is easy to get at and cheap to replace.
3 - I find more interesting Austen in respect of can we owners do anything about this ? If it is moisture in the transfer box syringing out the oil on a regular basis than at the specified 150,000 miles may help then.

I will email my PHD friend who is head of Forensic Engineering at a University on his thoughts of how to clear moisture (he gets asked by JLR sometimes to trouble shoot).

 FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Sent him this - he may be too busy of course.

Your mate Chris at JLR may be interested but any thoughts to give some feedbackl ?

The transfer box is small and has no drain plug, Land Rover say change the oil at 150,000 miles. I have had mine syringed out at less than a third of that, fine but how would you see the best way to clear excessive moisture as well ? Warm with a blow torch may be OK if you own a ramp and bottles (with the filler plug and most oil out). At a change oil point once syringed could you throw in a tablet of something that would not destroy any oil seals and blast out moisture ? Or shove in a item like a big pipe cleaner soaked in a item that would attract moisture ?

Water Trap may be more than just the small Transfer Box (as in the splined sleeve area as well). Some sort of throw or bleed/lubrication hole engineered from new in would have cured some of that I bet.

No rush.

Regards BC
 FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

The splined area is actually outside the transferbox and gearbox, so no oil. Water gets in between the joint and fills the cavity. There is a machined way to let it drain but it either blocks our just doesn't work, it may even allow the water in there if you go into deep water.

There isn't really anything you can do to stop it unfortunately. www.bellengineering.co.uk