As I am in the early stages of looking for a replacement for my FL2 when the extended warranty ends I have been looking around the various forums for common problems on various cars. One thing that seems to be common across a lot of 4WD cars is the use of the Haldex system and how often it appears in forums with problems. I have a view that LR owners are more likely to get spanners out and talk about problems than a lot of other marques. In other words Haldex problems may be more common on non LRs than people realise.

Interestingly though, on some vehicles there is a service item to replace the Haldex oil and filter at various intervals eg around 40k miles whilst others (eg LR) are silent on this point. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Yes, there has been a lot of discussion here on Haldex sevicing .

Google yourself VW Golf Haldex Failure and you'll see it's not just the Freelander that has a bad rep...

Although VW seems to sweep the faults under the rug more readily...

Haldex also found in Volvo's, and Lamborghini's too off the top of my head. 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

I think 40K miles is about time to get new oil to the haldex. My MY13 had "gearbox fault-traction reduced" at 45K and was fitted with new pump + oil under warranty hopefully it's good to go for another 40K.

VAG Group, Ford, Vauxhall, Volvo, Mazda all use Haldex, and in a lot of cases, the Haldex is pretty identical.

The reason that VAG group cars have a service plan for the Haldex is because of the use of the vehicle. Cars are used at higher speeds, not just high, but harder through the gears. The haldex unit works much harder on cars than 4x4's like the LR Range.

My Haldex unit on my Passat needs servicing I think every 20,000 miles. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

The reason that VAG group cars have a service plan for the Haldex is because of the use of the vehicle. Cars are used at higher speeds, not just high, but harder through the gears. The haldex unit works much harder on cars than 4x4's like the LR Range.

Not sure I can get my head around that as a Landy often pulls a heavy trailer/van at high speed (legal ) FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Just found this on a Mercedes forum

The A, B and CLA Classes use a Haldex-type system, which is a 100% front torque default, with some of the power being transferable to the rear if the front wheels start to slip. Haldex systems have undersized drivetrain components on the axle that normally gets zero drive - they are not designed for full time use.

Interesting last sentence, so is this the source of the Freelander2 rear diff problem I wonder? 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Yorky Bob wrote:

The reason that VAG group cars have a service plan for the Haldex is because of the use of the vehicle. Cars are used at higher speeds, not just high, but harder through the gears. The haldex unit works much harder on cars than 4x4's like the LR Range.

Not sure I can get my head around that as a Landy often pulls a heavy trailer/van at high speed (legal )

dorsetfreelander wrote:

Just found this on a Mercedes forum

The A, B and CLA Classes use a Haldex-type system, which is a 100% front torque default, with some of the power being transferable to the rear if the front wheels start to slip. Haldex systems have undersized drivetrain components on the axle that normally gets zero drive - they are not designed for full time use.

Interesting last sentence, so is this the source of the Freelander2 rear diff problem I wonder?

I suspect what "dorsetfreelander" is suggesting is that the rear axle was designed with a similar philosophy to the VAG one namely it was not expected to be doing much work as most of our FL2s are not used much off road

Exactly, I once heard a story that the FL2 had been designed by the Ford engineers primarily as a FWD unit as they were used to designing light commercial vans and that the rear diff was an add on to get the 4WD required but thinking that it's only for road use and wouldn't be carrying too much weight. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

OK but why is mine still working?
178k miles, of which about half are on full mud tyres, apart from the last 12 months off-road every week if not every day, tow a caravan (France and Spain this year), loaded boot up to 400kg on several occasions (250kg is more normal), towed much heavier vehicles off-road.

All of which suggest that the Haldex and rear diff can cope.
The number of failed units at mileages a fraction of mine would suggest sub-standard components or variable build quality.

Anyway if it fails in the near future it serves me right after the first sentence. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

The reason your car is still going strong is simply statistics
Some cars will fail before they get to the showroom and some will never fail, however the vast majority will fail in the middle.
My diff failed at 42000 miles so I suspect mine was somewhere in the middle.
Just be grateful

As I have always said, when you take the amount of Freelanders builds to the amount that have had failures, then the bad cars are a small minority.

As for me, 9 years of 2 FL2's and no issues. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

Well after having had four FL2s in the family and three with big problems we must just be unlucky and before you put it down to driving style we had three FL1s with no probs and with 25 years of company cars driven 30+k miles/year I never experienced the issues I have had with FL2s. I have had Landrovers since 1999 but I feel that for a variety of reasons (including I don't want a DS or an Evoque) I will be getting something else when my extended warranty runs out. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE