Newbie

[blam]

Hi, another great internet message board I've found...I'm in upstate New York (about 65 miles north of the city). We just picked up a 2003 Freelander for my daughter. Really nice shape with 71,000 miles on it. I decided to change the oil today. I'm pretty mechanically inclined so this was a breeze or so I thought. I guess I should have read the manual first. I didn't realize the LR takes synthetic oil ONLY, thank goodness I caught it after I put only 1 qt of 5w-30 in. So, I drained that out and put some mobil 1 0w-40 in. The manual says 5.5 qts but It seemed low on the dipstick, I have to double check when the vehicle come back home tonight. The service manual also calls for the cam belts to be change at 72,000 miles...what kind of job or cost are we looking at? And if anyone has any other pertainent tips...please feel free to fill me in...thanx, great site!

[79ROVERJP98]

where in Upstate? im in the Binghamton area lol (small world isnt it?)

[XtremeMarine]

My mother has an 02' Freelander with about the same mileage on it. Not a bad job to do the cam belts, and labor was pretty low , hour wise. She only has it serviced at the dealer, so around 100-125 an hour. Still the job, for the 72k service was total , less than 1500.00. And they put rear brakes on at the same time.

Welcome to the board. Enjoy the insanity that Rover ownership will bring you.

[blam]

Thanks for some quick responses...First I'm in Poughkeepsie New York. I just put a couple calls into some "nearby?" dealers about this cam belt replacement or timing belt as I was so corrected by the Service operator in Darien, Ct. I guess because "other" items are replaced and the engine gets pulled...She told me around $3500...holy sh*#! (very labor intensive) So I'm waiting to hear back from Mt. Kisco L.R. and then I'll check local mechanics or is that taboo ? We were offered an extended warranty policy...if that covers timing belt...water pump etc...I'm going for it just in case!

[XtremeMarine]

First of all, if you can get an extended warranty on a Rover, GET IT!!! Even if it doesn't include scheduled maintenance. Some do, some don't - Depends on the policy. Second of all, if you do not get warranty, always take it to an independent instead of the dealer. You'll save bookoo bucks on labor. Try to find a European specialist, and ask around to see if any have techs that were Land Rover trained. This is always a plus when it comes to diagnostic time.
I called my mother to verify, and her 72k was over 1500, but still under 2Grand, so you're getting chewed. Call around for a few quotes. My mom only goes to Land Rover Bedford, in New Hampshire. They've never given her a problem , and the one time I thought she was getting played on the price, I called from Florida, spoke to the Service Manager, and got him to price match. That was on tires. Mom wanted to put on stock tires (for some oddball reason), so she went to the dealer, instead of a local good year store. Well, most tire places sell good year, or can order them, for less than good year sells them for, and over 100.00 less per tire than what LR sells them for. I laid into the guy how she bought the vehicle there, because I set up the deal with the sales manager over the internet from Florida, and how she only got serviced there. I also told them they were going to lose a RRS sale if she ended up being displeased. The sales manager, and service manager called me back, refunded my mother the difference on her credit card, (versus what WalMAart TLE prices), and now instead of LR3's, my mom gets RR HSE for a loaner for life.
So checking around different dealers, and different warranties will always pay off in the end.