very common on the 1.6 and 1.8. They are not a land rover make engine.They were sourced from MG/Rover motor co from 97-late -98. They are the k series engine and they are very prone to head gasket failure.They were installed in the MG roadster and the Freelander. To my knowledge they are the most unreliable engine Land Rover has ever had. Once it's fixed...sell it off.Even with the new head gasket replacement from the factory they will fail again in 30k or less.At least thats we see here in the UK.
I am not a bif fan of the freelander but it is a very trustworthy truck from about 99 on as BMW decided that they would throw their own in house Land Rover petrol power plants in.They also put the bullet proof Td4 in there for europe.
Land Rover tried something entirely new to them with the make of the freelander and got it wrong woth the Engine as when they initialy designed it they didnt have a Land Rover powerplant avail to put in yet.So to get it from the mock up and motor show stage the sourced an engine supplier close to home to get it on the markets and chose Rover Motor Co as they were close and had a ton of 1.6 k series sitting about for an abandoned project for a car called the Rover Muara which was a crash test failure project and needed to sell them off. Once the orders came and Rover M.C sold through the engines Land Rover sub contracted the engine builds from Rover M.C. A BIG MISTAKE! As R.M.C was on the verge of chapter 12.The engines were cheap but the build quality was very poor.
Get another Land Rover and you will see the difference! Buy a later moder Freelander or a Disco and see the reliability. Good Luck and don't let the earlier Freelander make tarnish your Land Rover ownership. I know it's hardly the same but I believe the ethos still applies...I own a Land Rover that is 30 years old with 690K on the clock and the engine has never been out or apart for a teardown.! Great truck. My Discovery had almost 200k on it when I sold it.My Rangge Rover currently has 130k on the clock with no big issues.
Chin up...sell it on asap regardless how much your wife likes it and treat her to a newer Landy with minimal suues. Good Luck
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 Missing you Dime.You were taken from us too early my Brother.
82' series III 109 safari prepared 2.25 pet.WILL NEVER GET RID OF!!!!!!
91'Range Rover classic 3.9L V8! I LOVE IT!!
98' Land Rover Discovery with a MOD wolf 300 tdi(sold)
97' Defender 90 300 tdi (sold)
97' Range Rover 4.6L V8(sold)
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