Member Since: 13 Jan 2013
Location: Kent
Posts: 799
Did a bit of servicing.
Vehicle is a 2007 with 40k on the clock.
Thought I would chip in with my diy service experience (sorry don't have many pictures). I changed:
Pollen Filter
Air Filter
Oil \ Oil Filter
Diesel Filter
Coolant
Auxiliary Belt
Timing \ Cam Belt.
Starter Motor Solenoids
Glow Plugs
Intake Manifold
During the summer my IID tool gave a Glow Plug error, so I wanted to change those. That meant removing the intake manifold which would give me a chance to examine if all the swirls flaps were still there and how gunked up things might be, I subsequently ended up replacing the Inlet Manifold with a non-swirl flap version.
I also ended up permanently removing the solid EGR pipe that runs across the top of the engine. I had previously blanked the EGR front engine side, but I needed to remove the EGR pipe because it gets in the way. It's such a faff (this is a word I l used a lot) getting the other end disconnected I decided I wasn't going to go through the hassle of trying to refit it. Straight after I removed it I went onto eBay and bought another blanking plate for the back end.
Intake Manifold
Bit of a faff getting this of because of all the clips \ brackets \ pipes etc. One removed it actually didn't look toooo bad. The swirl flaps were all in place, I have the plastic types, but they were fairly heavily gunked up. I decided that I would try and replace the manifold with the non-swirl flap type if I could get my hands on one rather than diy the swirl flap and arm removal. New ones are about £230, but there were several 2nd hand ones available, the number you need to search for is 9659449480 for the non-swirl flap version, the one I got was advertised as fitting a Ford Galaxy Mk3 \ Ford Mondeo Mk4 2010-2014 2.2. The breakers were not to far away in the next county so I offered them £50 if I picked it myself which they accepted. I don't know how the ford was running when it met its end but this thing was gunked up, it was 3mm deep in some places.
Click image to enlarge
To facilitate the cleaning I needed to remove the metal egr intake from the manifold. For some unknown reason someone decided to attach it using security torx bolts. Never mind I have a set of security torx bits and a set of security torx sockets, neither of which fitted, so they must have also decided to use non-standard security torx bolts. The good thing is they came off with a set of mole grips and I also happened to have some phillips screw headed self tappers of the same size for replacement.
I had a very mucky afternoon cleaning out the manifold with flat bladed screw drivers, rags and flexible brushes, I still have dirty hands from it a week later. The new manifold meant that the manifold vacuum actuator was now redundant. I traced the vacuum pipe to the metal block it attaches to and pulled the pipe off of the nozzle. I happened to have a rubber blanking plug that was a tight push fit so that was the vacuum pipe eliminated. Once cleaned up, a new set of rubber seals for it, the egr intake from my vehicle cleaned, along with the delicate looking wire sensor, it was ready to be fitted once I'd finished the other jobs.
Glow Plugs
I have read horror stories on the Discovery forums about the difficulties of the glow plugs coming out, plug snapping and the heads having to be removed from the engine, so I didn't know how this was going to go. First obstacle was I didn't have a long reach 8mm socket. Halfords advertised one on their website so I nipped down to my local store and bought one. Unfortunately the body may be long but the internals are shallow, it didn't reach much further than my standard 8mm socket. I spent the rest of Sunday afternoon driving around DIY stores, Machine Mart etc trying to find one but no one stocked them. I had to resort to eBay with special delivery to get one quick. When it arrived on the Tuesday it fitted and all 4 glow plugs came out really easily. No idea why they are so easy on the Freelander and difficult on the Discovery ?
Timing Belt
I read up on what other forum users had done with this, watched the YouTube videos, I also have the Haynes manual. Haynes Manuals really aren't what they used to be, pretty crap, but better than nothing. I referred to both Youtube videos frequently whilst doing this.
I was in two minds about doing the belts on my car because of the low mileage, but because they are rubber and the car is now 10 years old etc etc, I thought I should do them. As I was only changing the belts purely because of their age I decided not to change the pulleys \ tensioners or waterpump. Once removed, the belts looked like they were in perfect condition, infact they looked like they would have lasted another 10 years. The pulleys also felt solid.
So the kit I bought for this was:
Gates Multi V Drive Belt - 6PK1745 - £15.47
Gates Timing Belt - 5633XS - £16.32
Sealey Diesel Engine Setting/Locking Kit - Belt Drive VSE6126 - £28.43
Unfortunately the above still does not provide you with everything you need. With the starter motor removed (a faff) the locking plate can be bolted into place (faff) using two of the bolts that held the starter motor in place. What isn't included, I suppose because its a universal kit, is a set of nuts for the bolts. I didn't happen to have any nuts that would fit the starter bolts but I did happen to have the front of the car removed including the front crash beam, the nuts that held that in place just happened to fit, so I was able to use those.
The other thing you need are two bolts for extracting the crankshaft sensor ring, I happened to have a set of varying sized bolts, nuts and washers that I bought from Halfords many years ago and that had some bolts that happened to fit and were long enough.
You also need two other things for the locking plate, it's tempting to fit it and assume its ok, but you really need to check that locking plate has slotted into one of the flywheel groves, and not just resting on top of a tooth as it frequently did with me, and for that you need a torch and a mirror. I do wonder how important the locking plate is, the pin that goes through the flywheel looks pretty substantial and looks like it would take a lot to bend it, but I guess it must be possible.
The torch also comes in handy when putting the second locking pin in place. The camshaft pin is the first to go in, then the 2nd pin slides in down by the starter motor. Its tempting to assume the 2nd pin has simply slid into place, it feels like it has, but if you check with the torch you will invariably see it misses the hole in the plate its supposed to slot into. With the camshaft pin in place, you need to press the 2nd locking pin up against the plate and then reach down to the ratchet and socket on the accessory belt flywheel used to rotate the engine, and rock it back and forth until the 2nd pin slots home.
One thing I did struggle with was getting the new Timing Belt on. The Tensioning Pulley has an arrow shaped bit of metal on it which you use for alignment when setting the tension, an allen key inserted into the tension wheel adjusts the pulley tension and moves the arrow (a useful demo is given in the YouTube video). Pulling the arrow around clockwise also slackens the tension (moves the pulley wheel out of the way), it's natural position is to spring around anti-clockwise adding tension. In the end I realised that even with the pulley wheel adjusted for the most amount of slack I wasn't able to pull the arrow around enough to get the pulley wheel moved out of the way enough. If I had bought a new Tensioner pulley, it would have arrived in the full slack position with a pin holding it in place as shown:
I had to remove the Tensioning Pulley from the vehicle, put it in a vice, pull the arrow around fully and lock it into place with a small allen key. Fitted back on like this I was then able to get the belt on easily, when the allen key was removed the wheel sprang back out putting a small amount of tension on the belt. I then used the allen key to set the initial tension and align the arrow.
Initial tension is the operative word. It may be tempting (as the guy in the video seemed to) that once you have refitted the crankshaft sensor ring, camshaft pulley wheel and removed the locking plate and timing pins, that your finished at this point, but you really need to recheck the tension. This means rotating the engine 10 times (knackering) and then put the locking pins and plate back in place (torch \ mirror). I was also removing the accessory pulley flywheel and crankshaft sensor ring again but it looks like just slackening this is ok. Re-checking the Tensioning Pulley Arrow showed it was now aligned to the right of where it should be indicating the belt was too slack so I had to re-tension it, and once more, refit the crankshaft sensor ring, the flywheel pulley, remove the locking pins and plates and rotate the engine 10 more times, again refit the locking pins and plates (more torch \ mirror), remove the flywheel and crankshaft sensor ring and re-check the tension alignment again. Mine was aligned right again but only just this time. So I re-tensioned once more, refitted the crankshaft sensor ring and pulley wheel, this time adding loctite to the flywheel bolt and doing the extra (approximate) 80 degree turn after torquing it, and finally remove the locking pins and plates for the last time.
Starter Motor Solenoids.
As the starter motor was off and the solenoid is apparently a weak area on these I bought a solenoid repair kit. One tip here, take photos before you remove bits, I did and I needed them. Apart from a build of dust mine looked ok I think.
One of the arms just separates out into its constituent pieces quite easily but I found the other arm locked together with its plate. I could see splines on the arm which grip the plate. Into the vice and a tap with the hammer had the arm free of the plate. That's the same way I put the new plate on the arm, tap with a hammer in the vice. Out of curiosity I also removed the long bolts that run down the sides of the starter motor, removing one end revealed a bearing, the bearing balls were visible with patches of very dry looking grey grease on them. I cleaned the old stuff off and packed some moly grease into the bearing.
Diesel Filter
As well as removing the diesel filter at the start and blocking off the pipes I had to remove the heavy cast looking block the filter sits in and also the substantial alloy looking block that it bolts too. I don't know why they need blocks of that size and weight to hold a diesel filter ? In the forum there are several methods people use to prime a new diesel filter. Mine is another variation, I use the small ball hand pump I bought on eBay with some clear piping I happen to have of the right size. Using a connector cut from a previous filter I attach the pump inline with the Red filter connector. Positioned here, to my mind, this pulls diesel out of the tank, into the filter, through the pump, back to the filter, through the hand pump, and back out to the tank. This means any air bubbles you pull out go back to the tank to and you don't need an air bleed valve. I just use the pump until no more air bubbles exit the pump, at which stage the pump can no longer inflate. I'm not sure if doing it this ways also fills the tubes to the injectors but on the two occasions I have used this method the car fired up straight away.
Coolant
Because of the age it was also time to drain the coolant. One drain point is the radiator, as you look at the rad form the front of the car it's located on the bottom right at the back. A half twist of this valve gets it draining. The other drain point is the engine block. In the Cam Belt video the guy on there couldn't find it, but if he had cranked his head round to the left (like looking at the back of the engine) he would have seen it. There isn't much room for tools in there, I got an Allen Key on it easy enough but couldn't budge it. I then used a ring spanner on the allen key for leverage but 10 years of non-movement had it firmly fixed and I had to give up on that method as the allen key was bending to the point it was going to snap. I swapped the ring spanner for a jack handle which slid further down the allen key, and then felt the inevitable rounding of key in the bolt head. Normally in this situation I would try and shock it off with a punch and a hammer but there is no real amount of room to swing a hammer and not enough bolt head material to be able to punch into. So that was staying, someone else will have to get that off and then I can properly drain the coolant.
First Start up.
To my surprise she actually started immediately with no bangs or clunks and ran absolutely fine. A recheck and top up of the oil level, and a squeeze of the top hose and top up the coolant a bit more and then took it for a short spin. Repeated the oil check and once cooled down a bit topped the coolant up again.
Results.
Well I wouldn't say I enjoyed it, my body aches, my hands are cut and still dirty but I guess I saved a heap of money doing this myself, cost was £413 including any tools I had to buy and the replacement intake manifold. It might be placebo but the car does feel a lot better to drive. I finished it on a Saturday and had to drive to Oxford and back on Sunday, a round trip of 235 miles for me, the car averaged 36-37mpg on that trip, my long term average mpg is 31 and my previous best is 33.6 so it certainly seems to have been beneficial. Only down side is I had to use the horn at one point and it just made a bit of a fart sound, so looks like I will have to take the front end off again to get to the horns which are buried in the front crash beam.
Next jobs are transmission and haldex fluid changes. No rush though....
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.
2nd Oct 2017 10:29 pm
DonkUK
Member Since: 28 Aug 2013
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 21
Great write up, very informative - Thank you
2nd Oct 2017 10:46 pm
bxzx16v
Member Since: 11 Jul 2013
Location: Sunny Sheffield
Posts: 629
Thanks for taking the time to write it up .
Mark2009 FL2 TD4 SE (Sadly gone)
2007 FL2 TD4 GS (The wifes , gone after 8 great years)
2012 FL2 SD4 SPORT LE(Gone and missing it)
2015 DISCOVERY SPORT 2.2SD4 HSE (Now gone)
2014 Ford Bmax 1.0 ecoboost ( Gone but what next )
2014 Ford Focus 2.0tdci Zetec S (Gone,but what a car)
2020 Ford Fiesta ActiveX 1.0 Ecoboost
2024 Skoda Kodiaq 1.5 Tsi SEL
3rd Oct 2017 4:53 am
Steve D
Member Since: 19 Jan 2013
Location: Essexshire
Posts: 4109
What a faff!
Seriously, well done. Good write-up. Past: FL2 TD4 HSE Auto
Evoque SD4 Dynamic Lux Auto
Present: Audi A3 S Line.
3rd Oct 2017 5:56 am
busboy1303
Member Since: 14 Aug 2017
Location: Stockport
Posts: 28
Epic write up! Thank you for that
A 2007 car with only 40k on the clock? Where’s it been all this time? Mine’s just clicked over 130k!
And so you recon changing the manifold to a non-flap version might be a worthwhile job with no detriment to performance?
3rd Oct 2017 6:34 am
tenet
Member Since: 23 Jul 2009
Location: cotswolds
Posts: 1081
MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.
MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings
3rd Oct 2017 7:38 am
ronp
Member Since: 15 Jun 2009
Location: 🌲Galloway🌲
Posts: 1477
Superb, reckon this should be a 'sticky' FL2 now gone and have a couple of items left for sale:-
Brodit active iPhone holder + Brodit dash clip,
Bluetooth Music Streaming Module.
3rd Oct 2017 7:52 am
Yorky Bob
Member Since: 28 Apr 2015
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 4561
As a non flap person I can avoid some of that FAFF thankfully. A great write up. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current
3rd Oct 2017 8:20 am
Flyfisher
Member Since: 25 Aug 2017
Location: Staffordshire
Posts: 33
Brilliant write up and kudos for doing all the work yourself.
I thought mine my 07 with 60k miles was low but 40k 😮 that’s amazing
3rd Oct 2017 3:44 pm
a100ian
Member Since: 02 Oct 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 168
Brilliant
3rd Oct 2017 4:54 pm
a100ian
Member Since: 02 Oct 2016
Location: UK
Posts: 168
Brilliant
3rd Oct 2017 4:54 pm
shiggsy
Member Since: 13 Jan 2013
Location: Kent
Posts: 799
Thanks for the positive comments, wasn't expecting that, didn't think it was that good
The mileage was low on it when I bought it, 25k in 5 years, and because my main commute vehicle is my motorbike, even in winter, I don't put many miles on it. (I have owned a couple of bikes that have gone round the clock though (100k plus).
Here's a shot of my old belts. The new aux belt had an anodised back, the old one was smooth, which was just as well because it would have been difficult to tell them apart otherwise.
With regard to swirl flap vs non swirl flap, as I understand it the flaps only have an effect at low revs so I don't think I'd regard it as a performance mod, it was mostly done because I didn't want the flaps coming off and going into the pistons as seems to have happened with other people. The risk of that happening was reduced because I had already blanked the EGR so the hot gasses wouldn't be having any effect detrimental effect on them any more, but time may have played a part.
Hung like Einstein, smart as a horse.
3rd Oct 2017 6:08 pm
Dave47
Member Since: 31 Aug 2014
Location: Margate Kent
Posts: 1333
Great write up Shiggsy
I agree with changing the belts, as you said low mileage but still ten years old.
DaveDAVE.
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2nd Oct 2017 10:29 pm
