Hi All.

Picked up our new Freelander 2 31st March and within 3 weeks low coolent warning had come on.

Refilled and within 500 miles we were back to minimum so rung dealer who 'blew' through the system and refilled. It then went from max to minimum in 250 miles!

In reality it is losing 1 litre of water / coolant every 250 miles. My fear was that it was going into the engine as there was no external sign of a leak so filled the oil to dead on max and subsequently no movement in the oil level and no sign of water.

Freelander has now been in the garage for two weeks and they can't find the problem. Dealer advised that they are now stripping down the engine and replacing parts until they can find the leak. Rung them today and they are awaiting instructions from Landrover technical support as to proceed! I am getting seriously worried and thinking of asking for my money back or a replacement.

Any ideas and has anyone else had any problems like this? We love the car but this is being marred by what is going on.

A very worried owner!

Hey Jonno,

you should get in touch with Carlfraz (a forum member) who I believe is in the process of getting his car replaced due to recurring faults...

Where r u Carlfraz???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Thanks Company ...... I'll try and contact him to ascertain the process he followed and how it was all dealt with.

Hoorah!!! 'Va va voompf' as if by magic, the Freelander Angel appears Don't be put off by my care free sarcasm!!!

Hi Jonno!! Do not panic my friend Yes you have invested plenty hard earned cash in the car....its safe .

The warranty is there to protect you should you get a fault. Yes its a pain in the a£*e but your dealer should provide a courtesy car whilst your precious motor is in their care, if they don't let me know !!. Let your dealer try to fix it...keep a written log/ diary of the top ups you are doing, times the car goes to the dealer, ask the dealer what they have done and ask for a print out of the report too. DO NOT TRUST THE DEALER TO HAVE FIXED IT. Keep an eye on your problems to ensure they are not repeated. I would 'reasonably expect the dealer to have three attempts to rectify the problem......if after three attempts they have failed, advise them in writting you are not satisfied, detail the dates of the problems and dates they have had the car in their care to repair, and advise them they "...can have one final attempt at repair. If this final attempt to repair fails, you will excercise your right for a 'buy back'", if that is what you want, "and to have the car replaced with new".

THESE ARE YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE 'SALE OF GOODS ACT 1979 REVISED'

So do not get stressed, do not shout and get angry, be patient, be reasonable and get even.....slowly, slowly catch the monkey . If you do not want another car...simple just ask for your money back and advise a period of time in which you want the cheque or BACS payment to occur, I suggest seven days as reasonable.

If I were you, get the loan/courtesy car, if the dealer is a good one like mine (MARSHALLS OF BEDFORD) they will even lend you the sales demo motor to keep you happy whilst yours is in A&E!! I'm not saying Marshalls of Bedford volunteered the replacement/ buy back policy for me, they did not!! Their service dept did, and possibly still does, need a good kick up the arse, as from a customers point of view, you do feel isolated, but that is what this forum is for....to help each other in times of need.

Let them do the repairs, these cars are mechanno kits after all, so should be fixable..if not, just get them to replace it. Do not let them bully you, do not let them pull the wool over your eyes........


Keep me posted my friend, and send me pm's if necc. I want us all to be happy with the motors we love

Carlfraz I hope that you have a very good lawyer standing by you, many forum members are going for a replacement after your case!
Btw, maybe you have a way, some upgrade method for a free RR Sport upgrade as I am very annoyed by this small hair in my windscreen?

I think that a RRSport will be the last thing I get if LR get a run on replacement cars

Carlfraz,

Many thanks for going to such trouble.

Rest assured when talking to them I have been polite, calm and understanding at all times and my relationship with them remains a good one. What you have provided me with is a very good escalation process to follow if things aren't sorted and as you suggested I have a record from day one of the water loss and refills I have had to make.

They do accept that there is a leak and when I spoke to them they were in the process of replacing two parts within the coolant system which are basically the only places that water could be leaking from that aren't visible.

The good news is that they are confident the water isn't getting in the engine.

I'll keep you informed as they hope to have it all fixed and ready forcollection tomorrow assuming the leak stops after testing.

Jonno

No probs Jonno I can only apologise if I get a bit emotional when hearing people heads on brick walls as it is not fair that some customers are walking away thinking its their own fault, or feel guilty for troubling the dealer . The shoe on the other foot is that the dealers too are probably just as frustrated they cannot fix the cars for us although some dealers seem to show more sympathy than others it would appear!!!!

As you say keep us informed to progress

Great news... after 2 weeks they found the problem.

Basically the connector that goes into the Freelander 2 s heating system for warming the cabin is double skinned to protect it from external knocks and to insulate it.

When they took the connect apart and undid the protecting sleeve there was dried residue inside it and on starting the engine a small amount of water / coolant started to emerge from a faulty seal.

I'm so relieved it was a simple problem and that we were basically just very unlucky.

Our baby is now back with us and performing like a dream ... we absolutely love this car.

Thanks again for all your words of support during the dark days when our baby was receiving treatment and we feared that something major was wrong and that water could have been getting into the engine.

Jonno

Jonno,

Glad your FL2 is back in rude health , thanks for the update.

CD

Guys,

Apologies for not keeping you informed.

Car has now been in to try and find the water leak on three seperate occasions. (Now in on a 4th stint with the problem never having been fixed) They had apparently found the problem and I was due to pick it up yesterday. They took it for a 100 mile drive and lo and behold, the coolant tank is below minimum again. (Indeed over time they have putover 600 miles on the clock having to test it!)

Since buying the car 31st March it has been in the garage for just under 5 weeks constituting more than 25% or one in four days of my ownership.

They have tried to fix / find the water leak on 3 separate occasions and failed.

My fear is that if pressurising the system and testing it continuously cannot enable them to find the leak there is only one place the water is going .... in the engine!

I wrote to Land Rover HO earlier this week and spoke with them on the phone yesterday stating that I felt that this week would be their last opportunity before I handed back the keys or they provided me with a replacement. The very helpful girl gasped when she read all the notes on the car and when I mentioned my rights re refund / replacement she commented that yes we had followed protocol in giving them sufficient opportunity to put this right.

The dealer is due to call me Monday and I intend to give them this week to fix the problem but to put them on notice that if it is not sorted a week today we will to enforce our rights and insist that they replace the vehicle with a brand new one or give us back our money. Rest assured we have a fanstasic relationship with everyone at the dealership and have remained calm and collected at all times but think it is now time for resolution.

Thoughts and opinions please.

Agree with you completely, and even if they do fix it I would take issue with the 600 miles they've clocked up on it.

These issues can happen and unfortunately not every car can be 100% which is no consolation to you, but at least you are keeping level headed about it.

I've had my LR2 for a little over a week now and I checked the fluids yesterday, noting that both the windshield washer fluid and coolant were low; the latter was between MIN and MAX, though closer to MIN. So I topped up the windshield washer fluid and tried finding the Texaco antifreeze they recommend in the manual without success. Today after reading your post, I went back to check both fluids out and saw that the coolant was now at the MIN line, and the windshield washer fluid was low again. I'm hoping this isn't a widespread issue, but now I need to find the antifreeze ASAP and see if it continues to fall. Anybody else have a similar experience?

Just to confirm, my problem relates purely to engine coolant!

How long did it take for the coolant to drop from the MAX to the MIN level?