I gave our well specced up 2013 XS a basic oil and oil filter service after it sailed through yet another MoT. BUT... EGR came up on the dash and our one man garage guy didnt have the time to put a new one on while he had a Renault on his ramp that had to have the front of car removed to pull engine forward to get at its egr so I bought a new EGR and sent it to a Landrover specialist to fit. He called me to say that the cooler had developed a hole in its diaphram and was leaking dribs of oil but he could get a landrover kit and mend it, so extra bill. BUT... another thing, the jingling that had started when ticking over was the turbo spindle that apparently could carry on like that for a year and with dribs of oil bypassing through or so but I took the decision to get another Turbo so "The Turbo Guy" in Glasgow delivered one the same day. (Garrett say 150,000 miles expectancy and same again for a refurb one) So a 68,800 mile mint freelander needed a lot of labour to sort that lot out plus I had already decided to have the Haldex/Diff properly serviced because at 9 years old I bet it hadn't been done before. All in all the bill was getting towards half the price of doing an X3 timing chain and similar to the price of a Ford Kuga exhaust system. So RRGlasgow made a good job and when I got it back I decided to replace the fuel filter as hadnt been done in the two years I had owned it. I HAVE NEVER CAME ACROSS SUCH A RIDICULOUS DESIGN AND LOCATION FOR A FUEL FILTER! I have serviced and changed fuel filters on Standard engine, Perkins engine, Ford engine ,Leyland engine, JCB engine and others for over 50 years and all of them took about 10 minutes at most. Who designed the layout , the virtually impossible location of an electric plug for large hands, the filling of said filter bit by bit with a syringe. The cheapjack plastic pipes braided and clamped to make it difficult to push back out of the way, the diesel that dribbles out of the pipes and out of the filter when tilting to remove as I had to do all over again when I found that the Mann filter last pipe connector (white) was a slightly too small to get the pipe in. and had to buy another £30 filter, this time a WIX which came with 4 plugs to stick in the pipes while you wrestled with the daft situation and the steel front plate that is of what use?? All in all as can be seen in the pictures , what a carry on and expensive crap design of a filter and fitting. If I wasn't such an now inept old cronie I would have chucked that lot in the bin and made up a user friendly and sensible system! Still, our Freelander is still a minted , well maintained vehicle with not a lot of miles on the clock , and hopefully needs nowt more done for a while!

yes i agree about the fuel filter and the oil filter is just as bad ! i have also worked on many heavy machine / plant engines that by the time you have drained the oil you have swapped out both oil and fuel filters . 2009 FL2 S now gone
2011 FL2 HSE AUTO
2012 FL2 XS AUTO
2000 Kawasaki er 5

The filter design is typically French, and nothing unusual if you're used to working on PSA vehicles.
The metal guard is there to comply with impact legislation, where fuel can't be spilled in a crash of a certain speed.
It's pretty much impossible to make up anything else to fit, as it has a thermostat in the filter to regulate fuel temperature, and it has to accommodate a temperature sensor, and a water sensor too.

It's not that difficult to change, once you've done it a few times, but it's best to get the special pump for priming it though, rather than messing with syringes of potentially contaminated fuel. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

What does it want a thermostat in the filter for? surely not going to turn the fuel off and on like a radiator water, and why o why does it need a water sensor no-one is ever going to try and let the water out of there, just needs a glass bowl with a tap under it , a normal good filter re-routed to somewhere more accesible , dont need to buy a small rugby ball shaped squashy pump for £14.99 with no pipes in its box and the expense of all the tech garbage should not be needed and serves no purpose whatsoever. The modern diesel cars have so much unreliable and cheap and badly thought out plastic parts and wires and connectors disabling attachments that stop the engines working as they should. Sorry Nodge 68 , I think it is nuts! We had tractors doing masses of hours per year ailing virtually nothing if properly serviced . A 1988 110 turbo diesel Landrover we had when new did 82,000 miles in its first 20 months and apart from usual service parts wanted nothing. It was used as our car, our milkround van stopping and starting all round Carlisle every day, also towed the v.large cattle trailer and ran up and down the fields. Modern Landrovers are very expensive yuppy toys now and I cannot imagine many new defenders sitting at cattle auctions with the farmers cattle trailors hitched up. Landrover has not attended to the double cab market and lost out masses of sales, double cabs are on every road and landrover havent got one.

First off, the injection system on modern vehicles is designed to minimise pollution, so fuel delivery quality is absolutely vital, if pollutants are to be kept to an absolute minimum. This requirement has been key to the development and apparent complications of this system.

Fuel delivery thermostat.
The thermostat is there to keep the fuel entering the engine above a minimum temperature, when the engine is at running temperature.
But if the fuel from the tank is below 10°C, then none, or only a partial amount of fuel is returned to the tank, once its been heated by injection system, the rest is recycled back to the injection again. This is designed to maintain fuel supply temperature above 10°C, when the engine is running at operating temperature, regardless of how cold the fuel in the tank is. The sole purpose of this is to eliminate waxing, to maintain good fuel atomization, reducing emissions.
Unfortunately some cheap aftermarket fuel filters don't return much fuel even when the fuel is warm, this has been know to cause performance issues, as hot fuel is less dense than cold fuel.

You have to remember that a modern diesel isn't a 1980s tractor, where fuel economy, refinement and emissions were all secondary to ease of maintenance and longevity.

The injection system on an old diesel was very primitive, and very robust, but you only have to see the crap that comes out the exhaust, to know that it's not good for the environment, which is why modern tractors and other industrial diesel engines are closer to modern diesel cars, whan they were decades ago.

In order for a diesel vehicle to burn fuel cleanly, so get a lower emission taxation class, manufacturer's have had to improve fuel delivery to the engine.
The injectors in these modern diesels use spray nozzles that are so small, they're almost invisible to the naked eye, the injectors in this engine are Bosch Gen 3 which have 7 spray nozzles that are just 143um, or 5.6thou in diameter.
It doesn't take much to work out, that even a tiny particle of dust in the fuel delivered to an injector can block one of these tiny spray nozzles.

This is why all vehicle manufacturers now use some form of high tech filtering system, as dirt simply can't be introduced, or the injectors get blocked, and a blocked injector is effectively scrap. This is why it's vital that the correct procedure is followed to prime the fuel system, as it's just too easy to scrap an injector, or even a HP fuel pump, with a tiny spec of debris that shouldn't have got in the fuel system to start with.

Fuel temperature is needed by the ECM, so it can work out the required fuel pressure, based on the viscosity of the fuel being injected, a cold fuel requiring a higher fuel pressure than a hot fuel.

Water drainage, can't be left to visual inspection these days. In general very few owner / drivers ever lift the bonnet between services. This unfortunately is the way manufacturers have to cover themselves, so fit electronics to warn a driver of water in the filter. This isn't actually a new thing, as diesel road vehicles have had some form of water in fuel working for decades now. This takes the responsibility away from the driver to check the sedimenter for water every few months.

Plastic in the fuel system again isn't new. It's done for cheapness and weight savings, and on a disposable item like the filter, is perfectly acceptable. Ok I agree that fuel pipes could be better, but plastic works just fine, and is easier to handle than metal pipes.
I'm not a fan of quick connections used, but in this respect the Freelander isn't alone, as almost every vehicle now uses some for of quick connection in service items. VW even use quick connections for the boost pipes, which have a habit of popping apart under sustained boost, so in that respect, the Freelander with its worm drive clips is much better.

Unfortunately the only people that can afford to by a new modern LR, don't want to drive something that feels 100 years old. Hence the move from farm equipment to the luxury vehicles they are now.

Like it or not, all modern vehicles are the same, unless you go electric, which we'll all have to have eventually.  Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

Good comprehensive reply from Nodge68 11 GS Bali Blue
07 GS FL2. Usually muddy. Gone
Numerous LRs since 1963

I read Nodge's reply with interest.
Thanks for taking the time to explain, not only how it works, but why it works this way. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Nodge68 wrote:

The filter design is typically French, and nothing unusual if you're used to working on PSA vehicles.
The metal guard is there to comply with impact legislation, where fuel can't be spilled in a crash of a certain speed.
It's pretty much impossible to make up anything else to fit, as it has a thermostat in the filter to regulate fuel temperature, and it has to accommodate a temperature sensor, and a water sensor too.

It's not that difficult to change, once you've done it a few times, but it's best to get the special pump for priming it though, rather than messing with syringes of potentially contaminated fuel.

Fuel filter? That one's easy. Unfortunately next weekend I'm replacing the EGR..... I'm not looking forward to that

If there are any handy hints or "how tos" on here, any pointers gratefully received. Searching hasn't thrown up anything obvious Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

Regarding replacing the egr. If you haven’t come across it already there is section of the firewall that can be easily removed to give you greater access to the back of the engine and egr. If you remove the sound proofing you will find it pretty straightforward to get the panel off. It makes things much easier!

Cheers.

Current list/to do is:

Remove intake pipework
Remove wiper arms
Remove scuttle cover
Remove 5(?) fixings holding blanket on firewall cos Nodge said so
Remove 5(?) fixings holding firewall in place
Remove EGR crossover pipe
Remove clip LR001003 from EGR Cooler / exhaust inlet
Remove coolant pipe from EGR Cooler
Loosen 4 bolts holding EGR to back of engine
Remove 1 nut holding EGR Cooler onto mounting stud on back of engine
Remove 4 bolts holding EGR to back of engine and extract EGR and EGR assembly

Then split the assembly, inspect cooler for leaks (and pray there are none as I haven't bought one )

Rejoin older cooler, new gasket and new EGR

Then do that lot in reverse to put it all back together, plug in the Foxwell and do the on/off/on etc to calibrate the new EGR. Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

Last edited by NoDo$h on 9th Apr 2022 9:41 pm. Edited 2 times in total

It takes about an 1 to 2 hours to remove the EGR on this engine, I've done it twice in 12 months. I didn't remove anything from the fire wall, it's not necessary. A couple of the bolts are difficult to get at, and the studs need to come out too, which really helps.
Otherwise it's pretty straightforward to remove and refit. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

Edited/Updated my list  Current driveway contents:
2021 V60 Cross Country B5
2009 FL2 dog bus and shooting wagon

On Order: 2023 Fisker Ocean Ultra - deposit paid.

Superb rant by the OP.
I used to rant about changing the oil filter in my D1.

Thank God I didn't have a working crystal ball.

Cheers to LR maintenance. MY11 SD4 SE Auto