Freelanders need a little more care and attention than many modern day vehicles, but if you give it that little extra love it should reward you well by keeping away what could potentially be very costly repair bills.

So here are our top 7 tips for looking after your Freelander:

  1. Check your water regularly. This tip is particularly important with the petrol Freelanders but is certainly worth doing with any Freelander. Check your water level preferably once a week and before you go on any long journey and you will find you can soon tell if your Freelander is using more water than usual and get the problem seen to before it does serious damage to your engine.
  2. Change your viscous coupling unit (VCU) every 70,000 miles. This tip will save you thousands on having to replace other parts of the drive train because they got damage by running your viscous coupling unit (VCU) beyond its useable life. Don’t wait for any symptoms, by that time it could be too late, just bite the bullet and make sure you change that viscous coupling unit (VCU) every 70,000 miles.
  3. Service your Freelander regularly. I know this is important for any vehicle but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be reiterating it as one of the most important tips for looking after your Freelander. And don’t just give it a simple oil change service, the diesel model in particular has some very important filters that need to be changed regularly – if you don’t change these you could ruin your whole engine!
  4. Use the red coolant – no other colour! The red coolant’s composition is right for the Freelander engines, don’t put any other coolant in there thinking they are all the same.
  5. For the 1.8 litre petrol Freelander make sure it is fitted with a multi-layer head gasket, preferably the modified / uprated ones. If your Freelander still has the old single layer gasket fitted then don’t wait for it to blow – change it NOW, it’ll be much cheaper that way.
  6. Check your oil regularly. Again a tip that should be obvious for any driver but it is amazing how often we don’t follow it! Don’t just check the level of the oil, take the cap off and check there is no water getting into it (if this is the case your oil would look creamy, and you would often get this creamy residue on the inside of the filler cap.)
  7. Check for any oil leaks on the IRD unit (transfer box) and the rear differential. I know, especially in the winter, we don’t really want to get down on the ground and look underneath our cars, but it is certainly worth doing it every once in a while. Have a quick look at the IRD unit (transfer box) connected to the front of your prop shaft, and the rear differential connected to the rear of your prop shaft, and make sure there are no leaks.

Most of these tips will take up less than five minutes once a week on your Freelander, but they could save you thousands in unexpected repair bills!

As Featured On EzineArticles