Hi all,
I have searched as much as I can and just can't seem to find anything that is exactly the same so am hoping someone can help me cause I am close to replacing my car. I love my car and have spent ages setting it up the way I like (driving lights, rear fridge slide, dual battery and am 90% of the way through making a rear twin swing arm spare wheel carrier that bolts to where tow bar mounts) so would rather fix it...just can't find issue. Sorry for the long post, just trying to be as descriptive as possible.

Car: 2008 Freelander 2 2.2Diesel TD4 Automatic. 102,000km. Oil and filter changed every 6000km, all servicing up to date.

I'm in Sydney Australia so warm summer and just coming into winter, car always garaged so no freezing issues etc.

Symptoms:
For about 6months when I start the car it drops the revs to about 600rpm and then goes to 900 then 750 then settles at 800. It does this most of the time but not every time. It idles steady after the first 5 seconds.

Since I cleaned everything (see below) I have noticed that when I get to cruising speed and I back off and the engine speed is 1500rpm that there is this vibration that I feel through the accelerator pedal. Sometimes it does it and only I feel it, sometimes it doesn't do it and sometimes passengers can feel/hear it. Hard to explain but almost like rubbing your hand over a balloon. When I accelerate it goes away, if revs not 1500 I don't feel it. I have since got it to do it while in 'Park'. It is definitely engine speed related not road speed related. The above problem is the one I really am wanting to solve.

When I put into 'Drive' or 'Reverse' the engine seems to shake a bit on engagement (revs drop a little but recovers quick). There are no clunks.

Background/Stuff done: I have pulled the plastic intake manifold off, intercooler and piping off and cleaned it all, I have a new throttle body, just changed the fuel filter and glow plugs. Everything was checked and double checked when put back together. I have had a look at the engine mounts top and bottom and they seem ok. I tried to move engine and put in drive and accelerated with foot on brake and couldn't see any excessive movement although I cant get to gearbox mount easily with the way my car is set up at the moment. I changed the fluid in the gearbox (well 3litres of it). I have put a catch can in to catch the oil (2yrs ago) as I was finding oil in the intake tube although from what I have seen this appears to be normal.
Hwy fuel economy is excellent and pulls as hard as ever.

Thank you in advance for any help, much appreciated.

LaraLandy wrote:

.... setting it up the way I like .... dual battery ....
....
For about 6months when I start the car it drops the revs to about 600rpm and then goes to 900 then 750 then settles at 800. It idles steady after the first 5 seconds.

At 1500rpm my fl2 also vibrates most in 5th gear. It seems at this engine speed the vibrating frequencies are more in tune with other physical aspects of the fl2 hence the pronounced vibration. The vibration is much less either above or below 1500 rpm.

My batteries are set up with a voltage dependent relay so they are not connected together until the starting battery reaches 13.2Volts and switches off once it drops below 12.7V. Starting battery is only 1yr old and reading 12.6V when I checked in the morning before starting.
Its easy to disconnect so will give it a go.

I'm also going to disconnect my oil catch can.

If I'm good enough I can get it to constantly vibrate but needs smooth straight road with slight incline and about 5% throttle. Usually felt as I back off the accelerator slowly though.

paxman wrote:

At 1500rpm my fl2 also vibrates most in 5th gear. It seems at this engine speed the vibrating frequencies are more in tune with other physical aspects of the fl2 hence the pronounced vibration. The vibration is much less either above or below 1500 rpm.

" ... light throttle and a slight increase in load .... a resonance at around 1500rpm. ... my bet is on exhaust resonance ..."

Interesting comments there, I had exactly the same symptoms with the Discovery 3 that I had prior to my FL2.

I had the D3 for nearly 6 years and it always had this "vibration" under exactly the same conditions as above, like yourself, I eventually came to the same conclusion, the condition never went away or got any worse over the years and I simply came to ignore it.

There were quite a number of threads running on the Disco3.co.uk site appearing to relate to it, the problem here is that different people perceive something like this and more importantly, describe it in different ways so you can't always be sure we're talking about the same thing. Some posts were suggesting it could be related to the torque converter, others to the aircon pump and a few other culprits, I remain convinced about the exhaust resonance though.

Has anyone fitted a non-standard exhaust to a FL2 who could help rule this out? 2009 Freelander 2 TD4 HSE Auto - Stornoway Grey - Hers (His, really)
2002 Audi S8 4.2 Quattro - Ming Blue - Definitely His

Update.
Put a couple of multimeters on both batteries and started car. The voltage rises so fast that the second battery gets connected almost instantaneously. I have disconnected it for now and the revs on start up are much smoother. Thanks Alex.

I also disconnected my oil catch can but haven't had a chance to really drive her since. Will keep you all posted if it changes anything (I'm wondering if the PCV valve is chattering under some conditions?? that the catch can may make worse).

Update.
Changed timing and serpentine belt and all tensioners and idler pulleys (fun job getting main pulley bolt out).

After car ran really badly (see my other post for details) and sorted out the problem (see below) the strange vibration stopped.
Car was still hunting on start up even with second battery disconnected (thought problem was solved but came back).

Long story short did some research on other issues I was having and looked at fuel filter. Saw bubbles in the lines. Filter was only 200km old. Further investigation showed I damaged an oring whilst priming. Car runs so much better now, no stuttering, juddering, nothing. I still had my old filter and checked oring and noticed a small nick in it too.
Be careful not to damage, they are very soft and nick easily. Check your lines as may be a cheap fix for some issues.
I hope this helps someone.

paxman wrote:

At 1500rpm my fl2 also vibrates most in 5th gear. It seems at this engine speed the vibrating frequencies are more in tune with other physical aspects of the fl2 hence the pronounced vibration. The vibration is much less either above or below 1500 rpm.

You may want to check to see this is fitted or hasn't fallen off, it's designed to cancel vibration/resonance in the exhaust system, seems affective, I don't seem to get any real vibration/resonance at any engine speed.

 MY15
Tyre Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
Surround Camera System
InControl Apps soon to be replaced with CarPlay (WIP)
Meridian Premium Surround Sound
Digital Audio Broadcast
Timed Climate
Cruise ECO Data
Follow Me Home Reverse
Extra Features Menu
Picture In Motion
4x4i screen (WIP)
Digital Broadcast TV
Meridian Rear Media with WIFI
Factory Powered Tailgate
Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM)
Reverse Cross Traffic Alert (RCTA)
Electrochromatic Wing Mirrors (WIP)

LaraLandy wrote:

..... (driving lights, rear fridge slide, dual battery and am 90% of the way through making a rear twin swing arm spare wheel carrier that bolts to where tow bar mounts)....

Hi Quicksilva,
I made a stainless bracket and fibreglass airbox. The battery sits in the airbox with a k&n RU3190 pod on top of it. Then I made an aluminium mount for the MAF and moulded it into the pipe that i connect the pod to the intake pipe. The box is a bit rougher than I'd like but has worked for 4years (I had meant to make a better new box...).

I run a Fullriver HC44 battery and redarc voltage dependent solenoid (although considering a CTEK D250S and relay to switch between the 2). Was the biggest battery I could fit in the engine bay which as you know is TIGHT.

The spare wheel carrier isn't on the car at the moment but should be going up soon, the reverse on the trailer plug doesn't work for some reason so going to bypass and run a relay off the cars reverse light. I'm hoping to get the carrier onto the car in the next couple of weeks. If all goes well I'll take a few pics, if not....I never made a carrier.

Just a couple of pics I had on my phone (few works in progress). Driving lights and its mounting bar. K&N air filter with battery mounted on its side underneath. Bits of the tyre carrier in progress (blue pipes next to car).

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

 2008 xs
Snorkel
raised axle/gearbox breathers
Mantec tank guard
Cb radio
Blanked EGR
Sump guard
Scratches
Snolkle

Thanks LaraLandy,

I never thought about putting the second battery where the air filter is located. Mine is just in the boot with a simple relay to connect it when the car is switched on. I want to upgrade this soon for a redarc or similar, that way I can connect my solar panels as well.

I'll upload some more pictures showing the battery & fridge soon, these are from a drive we down near Tenterfield last weekend.

Now for some photos

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Quicksilva, if you aren't going to run something like a winch, I'd recommend the Ctek D250s (redarc have a similar product that is a full charger). Not the cheapest solution but it is a full battery charger, can switch between solar and alternator automatically and will even maintain the main battery once the aux battery is charged. I have installed one of these on another car and it works good (much smarter than just a relay and can boost voltage higher than input if needed).
Nice pics, I need to go on holidays.....