Had low coolant come up on my dash the other day so just topped it up as you do and thought it was abit odd. Few days later it comes up again so realised there must be a leak somewhere.

Had a look and find its coming out of a small hose just coming from the coolant reservoir to the head, and leaking out of the connection on the engines end all over the alternator also, now I know why my car hasnt started a few times and had the alternator light pop up on the dash randomly once before.

Google into it a bit more and realise there was a service action back in 2009 to replace these hoses.

Quote:

Letter dated Dec. 14, 2009
RE: service Action Q081-Si6 Engine Vent Hose Coolant Leak.
LR2 2008-2010
"Land Rover has identified a concern regarding a coolant leak @ the quick connector joint securing a vent hose to the engine. The coolant leak is a drip; therefore, a vehicle may lose coolant over extended length of time. The loss in coolant could lead to engine overheating issues which in turn could trigger the reduced performance strategy.
Additionally, because of the proximity of the hose to alternator, there is a concern that over time the alternator may not keep the battery fully charged which may affect vehicle starting."

"Contact your LR Retailer for an appointment to have Service Action Q081 completed. The repair process should take no longer than 15 minutes."

All the issues ive had with my car (just to name a few) that could have been fixed by taking a minute to replace a $5.95 hose (Any other country apart from Australia) I live about 45min drive from my closest dealer so I just get the car serviced locally but have had several issues (3 of which all mentioned in the service note above) so I took it into the dealer to try get sorted.

Dealer couldn't find a thing wrong with the car (as all my issues at the time were intermittent) and said its all good, knew it wasn't but what can you do.

I ring up spare parts to realise they want $60 for the hose here (thanks again, Land rover) so decide to speak to the service workshop to find out why im having to pay a over inflated price for a part that costs the dealer next to nothing and should have been replaced long time ago anyway. The service guy I spoke to mentioned hes seen this problem plenty of times before.

Told they cant do anything about it and to ring customer service. Customer service try telling me that just because I read it on the internet doesnt mean it applies to my car, and cars sent to Australia are different build spec and quality to those in the UK. I mentioned it must just be a very slim coincidence that my car just happens to be leaking out of the exact same spot for the service action and has the exact 3 problems listed, what are the odds.

Told by customer service I should ring the dealer and talk to them, it was this point I realised Land rover service are a of monkeys passing the blame like a hot potato and hung up before I abused the guy to vent my frustrations with this worthless company.

Basically because the car is out of warranty even though its an acknowledged common fault im out of luck. They couldn't possibly just offer to replace a $5 hose and 60 seconds work instead I get the run around and get the pleasure of paying $60 for a hose and hoping theres no permanent damage to my alternator also now.

I purchased this freelander2 as I have always liked the look of land rover cars and thought I would see how this car went before I spent alot of money on a more expensive one. Im selling this guy after this financial year and had planned to purchase a new evoque however land rover can suck my before I give them any more of my money.

Of the 8 cars ive owned in my life this is the only one ive ever regretted buying. Im fine with cars having a few issues you cant help that, however when the issues are so trivial and you get nothing but a run around by the company trying to save themselves $5 the regret sinks in. I can put up with a few issues, I cant put up with being treated like a nobody.

you Land Rover, I'll check out my Jeep dealership in a few months - hope my $60 was worth it

This post has been edited by the site administration team
Swearing Removed

Sorry to hear that you are disappointed with your Freelander. Maybe you should research Jeeps before buying out of anger. They don't have that good a reputation.

Looking at the service bulletin, it appears that your car is at least 4 years old. Did you buy it from a Land Rover dealer and does it have a full Land Lover service history?. If you can answer 'yes' to one or both of those questions then you have a valid argument that the item should have been replaced by Land Rover previously. If not then it would be hard to blame Land Rover for someone else's failure to carry this out

Sorry if this isn't the reply you hoped for.

I know 2 that own Jeeps and have never had any issues, even if they did the service and support couldn't possibly be any worse or less competent to that of Land rover.

I purchased it second hand with less than 40,000kms on it with full log book servicing and receipts from new, or are you insinuating that because I didn't purchase this vehicle brand new from a dealer that service actions or technical bulletins/recalls shouldn't apply to me because im the second owner?

If a car obviously has a common fault it should be fixed regardless if its under warranty or not the original owner, especially if its a $5 hose that can cause countless headaches and further problems like it has for me for the past 12 months, check my thread history I still cant figure out why my car stalls on long drives, but I have a funny feeling now its probably the alternator playing up after having coolant leak on it for 2 hours.

The car was serviced at the dealer since new up until when I purchased it, however I live 45mins away from my closest dealer so ive had another workshop ive used for over a decade follow the logbook services for me plus had my car into the dealer previously trying to sort out the issues i've had with it. It doesnt matter what spin you want to try put on it all it boils down to is incompetent dealer workshops (yes, 2) that should have changed the hose long before it started leaking, or is this in your eyes somehow my fault and responsibility also?

Ive had a number of random issues go wrong with the car, im fine with putting life down to bad luck sometimes and had it sorted, but when what should be a well known issue by the dealer is not even looked at your never going to convince me otherwise its somehow not the dealers responsibilty to be able to diagnose the problem I had.

And before you ask "How do you know it wasn't already done" I had it replaced today by my mechanic and is a new design so its never been changed prior, and if it had been changed and was leaking again well theres not much to discuss there anyway.

On the upside the response ive had from members regarding the issues I have had posted up have been great, people more than happy to go into detail and consider options to look at to resolve them. Much better than the pretentious little on the phone at land rover.

Anyway Did the hose fix it? You didn't say

Dont'cha just love a ranting Aussie i agree with him though stupid little hose and they are ripping him off for it,last time mine went in for service at a Land Rover dealer they told me it needed a new rear wiper costing £65 and vat because it had seized,three squirts of WD 40 and it was good as new.

Haha. Look I understand businesses have to make money I run a small business myself, but these companys have no line between throwing a customer a bone (that costs them nothing) and their bottom line.

npinks the hose has fixed the coolant leaking, but only time will tell if and what damage its done to the alternator thats covered in red coolant, and if the leaking coolant was my issue of causing my car to stall on long trips.

Ive also have getting installed tomorrow a new fuel pressure sensor, this is on top of the $1500 fuel pump I had replaced, and the camshaft sensor I had replaced, along with the boot latch and bonnet sensor randomly tripping my alarm along with everything else I havn't even bothered posting on here to my problems with this car.

I wont know if the cars fixed until I take it on my next long trip, but after all this if its still playing up after all the headaches and money ive gone through and a dealer saying nothing but "dunno mate" the car will be going sooner rather than later.

Sounds to me like Dealer apathy is alive and well down under as well as here in the UK! Foraging near Gaydon....
——————————————
MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

good to hear the hose could have fixed it, i agree with your points on dealer costing, even expensive or cheaper parts keep having x% price increases, year after year

Gahh, sounds terrible.

I am all for naming and shaming. Which dealers gave you shonky service? Let the rest of know which ones to dodge!!!

Good luck with it. Coolant on the alternator normally means guaranteed trouble in the future. Hopefully not for you though.

Cheers,
Whytey 1st time FL2 owner. 2007 SE i6 in Tambora Flame.

Any dealer that has a "Land rover" sign on it is the one to avoid whyte. Leave the dealer unless you absolutely have no other choice or under warranty, even then your local kmart tyre and auto probably has a better chance of helping you

Now my engine and alternator is covered in nice red coolant whats the best way to clean it off without damaging anything else - I obviously want to get it off at least the alternator. I wont wash it any more then what I have to or should I avoid water on it at all cost and just try wipe off what I can? I can see alot of it has gone into parts im not going to be able to wipe however.

Mate, I've got a Jeep as well as an FL2 and can say that Jeep dealers are total crap who charge like you wouldn't believe. I try not to go near dealers of any brand. I just take comfort in knowing my services for both cars have cost me under half as much. Each of them has nearly 200,000 kms on the clock.

Well....

I've just had the alternator die on my 3.2L Freelander, also here in Australia.

I pulled it out this afternoon (followed the workshop manual instructions) and I noticed that when I disconnected that line coolant leaked out and directly onto the alternator.

Thought to myself "that's a stupid design" and it was only by luck that I found this thread while searching for some tips on how to remove the pulley from the old unit. I need some special tools, well i'll be having the local dealer "do me a favour" with the pulley since it's an inherent design flaw and was subject to a Service Action years ago.

Needless to say i'm not impressed and will be asking on Monday morning if my car was ever attended to under the Service Action Q081.

I'm pretty jacked off with the whole thing to say the least. $1000 for an alternator, nobody keeps one in stock in Sydney, nobody in this country offers exchange units (you can pick them up for $300 in the US), and then the hours of my time to swap the bloody thing out. My wifes car is off the road for a week. All because some bloody Volvo engineer thought it would be a good idea to bury the alternator under the intake manifold right above a leaky coolant line!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Click image to enlarge

Some rebuild parts here
Might help you
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Alternators-Parts-/61513/i.html

Thanks for looking, but i've already ordered a new one, will be here on Monday. 2008 Freelander 2 HSE Si6 Black/Black - Hers
2009 Jaguar XKR 4.2 S/C Portfolio
2005 Jaguar XJR 4.2 S/C Black/Cranberry
2005 Jaguar X-Type 3.0L AWD - Gone