Newb from mid Wales

Morning folks .
I am a first time buyer of a frontera & also I've never owned a 4x4 before either so everything is new to me .
Recently purchased a Fronty sport 3dr 2.2 16v on a V (99) plate in black . Has a long mot on it and it was only purchased while my t5 is off the road .
My only experience of driving anything near a 4x4 is an old dog of a Land Rover that he about half a turns worth of play in the steering and rattled like a right bag of xxxx! Fortunately that was many years ago !
So , here I have a frontera , generally the body work is in remarkable condition , interior has the same treatment and very few battle scars at all , no untoward scratches , dents or anything else that signifies its previous live has been hard.

The previous owners only used it seasonally to get them through the winter months of mid Wales bit given out mild winter lately they have decided to sell and make some space for their new caravan , so now I have it .

It's seen 112k , runs a little rattly on start but then that soon goes after a few moments .
All electrics work that I can see , though the standard stereo leaves much to be desired as well as I think a possible filing display for it as I'm unable to see any information on radio station / cd track etc .

Both sunroofs seem to work and open / close fine , the huge back door seems to have been disconnected from the swing arm at the bottom for reasons unknown , interior seating & plastics all look sound and unblemished .

I bought it with MOT till the end of October with no advisories on last years mot which for me helped swing the sale .

It seems to run ok , clearly doesn't have the same performance out of the 2.2 as to what I'm used to on my t5 but I guess it's all geared down on the Fronty .

Specification says 134bhp so remarkable low , fuel consumption seems a little dire @ 25-29 to the gallon , meh .

So , here we are , never had one before and don't know what to expect .

I will however mention that I had my first repair to it yesterday , 2 days after purchase .
A very small hairline crack was venting water along the top of the radiator and as a result spewed water out under pressure after sitting in town for a few min .
This inevitably failed after every shop / car parts store was closed yesterday so myself and a mate he to get creative and plastic weld the crack closed , plenty of plastic weld and I think we have fixed the problem , albeit for the short term anyway . After a quick test drive last night coming on for 10 pm and finally getting heating back inside and no leaks I think it will hold for the short term .
Something tells me that might not quite be the last of problems this vehicle may throw at us during my ownership but for what I paid its to be expected .

So people , I turned to this site and hope that maybe some of you could give me a little insight into the frontys ,
Firstly : how the hell do I know if the 4 wheel drive is working right ? I have pressed a button on the dash , green light comes on and the sound of relays or solinoids move and I think engages 4 wheel drive , I've selected high and low to test movement and been able to disable 4 wheel drive by pressing button and green light goes out after few moments .

Upon turning in 4 wheel drive mode it feels as though the front Tyres grapple for grip on full lock , is his normal ?

Any recommendations for replacement Tyres too , semi off road types .
Where could I get a bull bar from or a roof light bar .
Are there any meets or groups that take these little trucks up to some hills for a little green Laning ?
Is there anyone that I could take it to to give it a full run down and let me know what it's like in terms of underside condition etc .

It was a cheap motor and because of where I work it was bought to be used to get me in and out of situations that my t5 would never be able to do .

So there we have it , a new member here , but I have been a member on other forums before now .
Hope to hear from you guys soon & all the best .

Hope

Last edited by Andsvaux174 on Sun May 08, 2016 10:06 am, edited 1 time in total.

Upon a review I have found these little issues :
1- one hell of a dodgy fuel gauge , reads full then reads empty then reads half , to say it's erratic is an understatement ,
2- the keys I had with it don't open the spare wheel caddy :-(

3- no display for CD player / radio
4- odometer display dark so barely readable mileage etc
5- slight squeekbox coming from front drivers corner ( maybe suspension ?)
6- remote central locking doesn't work , I'm guessing a flat battery in transponder as no red led lights up when pressing button .
7- rear 3rd brake light inoperative & missing red lens cover
I'll happily transfer these above faults to the appropriate location in this sight but put them here as part of this post :-)

And finally I am rather particular when it comes to vehicle detailing . However I have never yet detailed something like this :-)

, I normally work on my own show car and get a bit carried away with cleaning it to the point my friends joke I have ocd , now to point out that I don't ! I just like something that's clean and tidy and looks nice . This frontera is somewhat bigger than my show car and obviously isn't meant to be clean given its practical potential but I wonder if any one has actually really detailed their frontera here ?
I may have a muse over I and see what potential it could have.......

Does anyone know where it's possible to buy a wood veneer dash kit for these ?, and I think to muscle it up a little bit could do with a nudge bar , snorkel , spots , roof bar , chrome pack , hids, led side lights , etc etc so if anyone has any of these I'd be interested .

Anyway , apologies for the horendiously long post bit thought it give a full run down on my first frontera .

Hi and welcome to the world of FOG.
Starting with the radiator. They have been known to split on their own but quite often due to excess pressure due to head gasget failure. Either way get the rad replaced with an u damaged one quick or you WILL be repairing the HG....it's the bug bear on the 2.2 and at your mileage it's long over due. Also check that the rubber pipe in the expansion pipe goes almost to the bottom of the bottle and must be below the coolant surface as a minimum. Check the condition and fit of the pipe in the expansion tank, it must be a snug fit to the cap and not loose. Check the pipe from the expansion pipe to the rad is also in good condition or it will suck air into the system. If it's all in good condition then you shouldn't remove the rad cap only the expansion bottle cap to top up.
Check when the cam belt was done.....or better still replace it and do not forget the two guide pulleys. There are loads of guides on here to take you through the process, it's not difficult.
The 4x4 system must only be used off road or on slippery surfaces as the Fronty is only part time 4x4, they do not have a centre diff. The light should flash then go solid when engaged and flash then go out when it disengaged .
You fuel consumption is not bad at all for a 2.2 petrol......lots of people would be happy with that.
A lot of them rattle when cold and a search on GM engines points to piston slap. Not a lot you can do about it and it doesn't seem to cause many problems as long as it goes away as it warms up. Mines done it all its life in my hands.
So welcome and good luck with your truck. Sort out the problems and she'll reward you well, but neglect her and she will bite.
I've had my 2.2 over 6 years and done over 70,000 miles now and I bought mine with a duff HG . Mileage now reads 154,000 and has been very reliable :dance:

Hello ghost hunter ,
Thanks for your post .

Righty oh , I think given the possible issues I would be better off taking it to a garage to have it all replaced , I'd rather that then muck around replacing the head gasket to be fair .
It surely wouldn't be that expensive to have the rad replaced etc and save the HG ?

its highly probable that the hg has been change in its past, mine when i had it went at 55k at 10 plus years old. i think what ghostbuster is saying is its critical to have the cooling system on the 2.2 petrol working as it should

As for a rad im sure theyre approx £200 new at least they were when i researched them during my 2.2 ownership.... however 1 of the admin staff does as part of his business sell 2nd fronty parts so its worth asking gregster if he has 1 hanging about or indeed any of the parts youve listed in your post above ... the link for him below -
viewtopic.php?f=26&t=56207&start=540

for reference the 2.2 runs at 85 degrees ish but that will rise to approx 100 degrees if standing in traffic for any length of time ( being a ford man most of my life i found that quite unusual at first but soon got used to it) just before that point the twin electric fans should of cut in and will in a few minutes lower the temp back down to 85 degrees. the fans are twin speed and in my ownership mine only worked at the higher speed if the temp rose above 100 degrees.... that was when the hg failed and the coolant level was low.

Hi and welcome
when my old 2.2 heated up a little too much and boiled over, I changed the thermostat (this was found to be jammed shut) and gave the cooling system a thorough blast through with a cleaner and the heater matrix had extra attention - this seamed to do the trick.
The dim dash lights - I take it that the dimmer switch is wound up??? the clocks come out quite easy after pulling the surround off and undoing a couple of screws so you can change the bulbs fairly easy, I think from memory they are just standard 5w sidelight capsule bulbs in a holder .
as far as detailing -know all about that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My classic car gets that ocd treatment - wheels off after each outing and polishing the backs etc then up into the air and scrub the underside etc. etc. The fronty gets the same treatment now ive washed, sanded, wirebrushed, drimmeled, treated, primed and painted everything underneath ( nearly 6 months of night after night after work come wind, rain, shine) but WOW it looks amaizing now! - yes everything under there was attacked, new pipes, tank dropped and new sender and pump, fuel filter renewed and painted red, exhaust replaced and painted heatproof silver, some weight thing on the exhaust replaced and painted heatproof gold , many brackets removed and also painted gold, gearbox painted aluminium silver etc, etc, nearly every bolt that came off was replaced with stainless steel ----- so OCD ?? depends how far you go !! and I haven't even got started on what ive done in the engine bay and everywhere else on the truck! I certainly wont see any profit if I sold it but being a show car owner yourself you should know its not done for that. Anyway, tinkering on the motor sure beats watching the tripe that's on the box just lately!
So enjoy the experience and perhaps tackle each job at a time and reap the rewards.

Well a new Rad has been ordered & on its way :-)

Should help resolve the issue and prevent further potential damage .
Thus far the weather is impeding progress .
I will get back in here when time allows and update .

Oh to have a garage :-(

which are few and far between .

as for the laning,, where abouts in mid wales are you buddy????

Well I managed to find a 2nd hand rad with free postage for £50 ,
Came 2 days later and was a surprisingly easy replacement .
Took me about half hour .
Bleeding however took a little longer , but now it runs nice and is holding temp.
Fans rarely kick in ( we haven't had considerable heat to test it )

So far everything's fine :-)

Still need to locate the fuel sender and get it checked out .