The Grass is not GREENER!!

[montrehomme]

Been a while since I've contributed, so I thought I would share one of the worst motoring 'Bargains' stories I've ever experienced!

So, I see an advert for one of the nicest looking 'Freelanders' I've seen, you know the sort of thing, nice alloys, sidesteps, light guards, sports exhausts etc.
Now I love my Fronty, but after talking myself, and my wife into needing TWO 4x4's, we set out to buy, sorry look, at the Freelander.

The internet is a wonderful thing, which, had I googled Freelander Petrol, yes the infamous 'K' series engine, then this story would never have happened.

Anyhow, on viewing, the car was immaculate, needed tyres, was all. There was a receipt for headgasket, cams etc, and more bills than you could read
on first viewing!. It drove well, I bought it, on the understanding that if 'I' bought it, I would drive it, and my wife would drive the Frontera.

I drove it home, a two hour trip, and all was well.

I lavished the car with:- 4 new tyres, new front droplinks, oil change, filters, gearbox and transfer box fluids, new plugs, rotor and cap, and plug leads.

I took it for a Controle Technique, our version of the MOT, and it failed on emmisions

I spent further cash, and fitted a new cat, and Lambda sensor, odd, as there was a receipt for a new cat only the year before!, took it for the controle
and it passed.

Great, I thought, and drove it around for a week, just to see how it went.

It pulled to the right, even after tracking and full geometry check, and either the rear axle or one of the wheel bearings was noisy. Ahh well, it was a
Landrover so what the heck.

Then I googled.

Then I checked the coolant!

Then I panicked!

Then I had a local garage carry out a 'sniff test' all good, phew!, then he pointed out the leak from below the water pump
New pump, new cambelt, alternator belt, aircon belt etc...

Cleverly, after Googling again, I fitted the upgraded thermostat kit, which moves the stat to the front of the engine to avoid the fatal 'hotspot' problem,
all bled and re-filled, job's a good un!.

Checked the coolant three days later, just to put my mind at rest, it DIDN'T, thought, perhaps it had an airlock, so bled and refilled again.

Checked two days later, no coolant

There was no oil in the water, but there was a dreadful smell of coolant from the beautiful twin stainless exhaust I dipped what used to be the oil,
and the fancy new oil was now doing a great impression of Hellmans!

I spoke to the garage that carried out the sniff test, and he said I should try changing the inlet manifold gasket, cheap and easy, so I did.

To cut a rambling story short, it was the dreaded headgasket, and of course no doubt how the last catalyser had died so quickly.

I have now sold the biggest heap of green oval junk for parts, and bought my wife a VW Polo, which she loves, and I am back in my darling 'Phyllis', I shall
not forsake her again, the grass is not always greener!!

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[fogman]

even before i brought my first fronty i joined fog and asked about potential pitfalls of each model i was considering buying, so i guess the lesson learnt is do your homework or as much as you can before even thinking about going to look/ test at a new car. thing is - buying a car is always a bit of a lottey and even the previously highest mechanically maintained car could suddenly turn into a money pit, its just the luck of the draw.

[montrehomme]

Totally agree mate!, this is not the first time I've bought with heart and not head, I was seduced by the look of it, and just figured there are lots of Freelanders about, so how bad could it be?. With a price tag of just €600, I figured I couldn't lose.

My big mistake was not checking out 'Petrol' Freelanders before buying. It seems that the 'K' series has problems, whether its in a Freelander, an MG or a Rover!.

Thankfully, I still doubled my initial outlay for the car, and overall down by around €100 after shelling out on parts. Just enough of a loss to LEARN from my mistake

Having owned in excess of 200 vehicles since learning to drive, this is only the second time I've lost money!, so not feeling too bad on the whole.

I have to say, apart from my old Calibra red top, and Colt Turbo, the Frontera ranks as my favourite ride in all the years of motoring. Hard to put my finger on why exactly, but a combination of strength, appearance, comfort, and dare I say reliability!, I enjoy 'getting into it' every single trip.