Well that day has arrived… we recently had a PTU exchange after it failed without warning reversing out of a parking space in the town square.

We knew replacing the PTU was a gamble, as doing so in pure cost vs market value terms nearly wrote the car off- and the gearbox seemed fine after a subsequent road test.

750 miles later, the gearbox is now slipping at gear changes under acceleration (mostly) … plus, we have to do a mini three-point turn reversing off our sloping drive, and it doesn’t find gears straight away when doing so. This seems fine once the car has been moving, it functioned perfectly reversing into the very same town square car park space afterwards (about 2 miles away from our driveway).

We got a ‘free’ recon exchange engine 50k miles ago due to unreal incompetence by a different Indy who paid up through the courts, partly why we didn’t hesitate to get the PTU fixed, so now we have a proper dilemma with this one…

We got the local Indy’s advice and took a chance on a fluid (and filter?) exchange fixing the problem, but it’s a minor improvement only - so here we go…

A trip to Midland Transmissions for £3.5 to £4k for a straight swap-out box, or if we’re really lucky, about half for dropping it out and a possible repair rather than exchange. (Austen Bell Engineering don’t do auto box repairs and recommended these guys- who are excellent over the phone, so happy to do that)

or

Scrap it and buy another Freelander.

We’re probably too fussy for our own good… but the Freelander is a great all-rounder, and we prefer light coloured interiors and silver- type colour (all three in our ‘fleet’ have this combo) - and neither of us have ever taken to the Disco Sport that replaced Freelander - so having been online and researched our options and what’s out there as a possibly replacement and at what cost, we’re going the Midland Transmissions option.

At face value it’ll end up being more of a financial write-off and a bit of ‘Trigger’s Broom’, but the car is otherwise too good to scrap and should outlast the 2030 milestone looming… and buying another decent condition FL2 with lower mileage will cost at least the same as the two big bills will have done, though without knowing what trouble might still be in the post… we’ve done 140k miles of its 166k over twelve years on ours now, so perhaps not such financial madness after all - it was actually an easy decision to make.

Also great testament to the car overall… yes, we’ve been unfortunate as normally these boxes outlive the rest of the car, but overall, we’re happy staying put with this one. Lexus RX450H - 500 mile a week commuter- I just couldn’t trust in a newer RRS or DS for that….
2009 Freelander 2 HSE... 155K miles, we’ve done 135k of those, has done brilliantly on the commute and staying firmly put as car two in the household
2002 Jaguar XK8 Coupe... fun, fast, ours for 12 years and owes us nothing - so staying with us too…

Buy a MY13 or later. It's a different beast, at least test drive one before committing to repairs. It will keep you going for 4 years more than the MY09. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

You have a replacement engine and a new ptu. A new gearbox and you will have most of the mechanicals replaced apart from rear diff and haldex. (and suspension, but that's a case of replace when required).
The car that you know and clearly love should be good for many more miles. Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

Double post Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

Last edited by Bobupndown on 23rd Apr 2023 8:49 am. Edited 1 time in total

All else being a wash, I'd stick with the car I know (assuming I like it to begin with).

"Better the devil you know"

Gearbox costs try Driver Transmissisions in Brum for an alternative quote

Lightwater wrote:

Buy a MY13 or later. It's a different beast, at least test drive one before committing to repairs. It will keep you going for 4 years more than the MY09.

Bobupndown wrote:

You have a replacement engine and a new ptu. A new gearbox and you will have most of the mechanicals replaced apart from rear diff and haldex. (and suspension, but that's a case of replace when required).
The car that you know and clearly love should be good for many more miles.

A big decision to make, as said it just leaves the rear end to do i the future,
my big concern is How good is the body and sub frames,
It's a hard choice when the dam thing has become part of the family..  DAVE.
I.A.M. F1rst Driver.
Gone 2003 Discovery TD5 Auto,
Gone 1986 Defender 90 Station Wagon
Gone 1984 Range Rover 3.5 Vogue Manual.
Gone 1970 Series 11A/3 SWB 3.5 V8 Hybrid
Gone 1964 Series 11A LWB Van
Gone 1966 Series 11A SWB Van
Gone 1964 Series 11A LWB Station Wagon,

Well, we’re all sorted - and not the outcome we had expected.

We travelled very early one morning a week or so ago the 47 miles each way to Midland Transmissions as recommended by Austin Bell at Bell Engineering. We left the FL2 there and travelled back home- and put the kettle on.

Before it had boiled, Midland were on the phone- car ready for collection…

It turns out that the Indy that first diagnosed the trouble had carried out the Flush and replenished the fluids, using the correct quantity for a manual FL2 gearbox - ours is an auto. Midland had then topped up the fluid to the correct level, road-tested the car, re-ran the diagnostics - nothing showing on the gearbox at all - and the juddering and slipping was gone. They provided me with print-outs of both diagnostic runs as well…

They felt that something still wasn’t right, there remained a lumpiness about the engine running. They had run a full diagnostic at the start, picked up nothing on the gearbox but had picked up some engine codes they felt may be impeding the smooth engine running, possibly aggravating the gearbox performance, in particular around the Turbo or actuator which would cause some of the gearbox symptoms - but quickly stated that as a transmission specialist (and they have a really good set up there), this was an issue for a Land Rover main dealer or diagnostics engine specialist to fix.

So, we trekked back to Kettering and I drove the Freelander back home - they were right, the car was running a little bit rough for sure, but no other issues with the gearbox.

I found an Independent Engine Diagnostics Indy more local to me and ran it in there a few days ago - one hour labour later and the fault codes were all cleared and so far, the car is running perfectly once again. There were a few faults they dealt with, the main one was indeed a sticking actuator, which they fixed.

We are of course delighted with this outcome - under four hundred quid in diagnostics and mechanical bills, plus the two trips in two cars to Kettering and back in fuel, rather than the £3K or so for an exchange gearbox... or a bigger loss in scrapping/replacing the car.

And here we were, needlessly considering possible scrapping vs exchange gearbox on economic grounds, all based on duff information from an Indy who clearly went at the fault with blinkers on, and even then didn’t manage to properly replenish the gearbox.

Needless to say, after looking after our cars for some years, that particular Indy is now very aware of their incompetence on this one, and will never see a vehicle from us again.

It certainly pays to look around and get recommendations for people who know what they are doing… I’ll have trouble trusting any Indy’s not recommended to me after this experience… particularly those who are more general mechanics rather than specialists.

MANY thanks to Austin Bell for the original recommendation over the phone, and to Midland Transmissions and to JLS in Milton Keynes, both of who gave great service and ARE recommended as knowing what they are doing. Lexus RX450H - 500 mile a week commuter- I just couldn’t trust in a newer RRS or DS for that….
2009 Freelander 2 HSE... 155K miles, we’ve done 135k of those, has done brilliantly on the commute and staying firmly put as car two in the household
2002 Jaguar XK8 Coupe... fun, fast, ours for 12 years and owes us nothing - so staying with us too…

Deafender wrote:

Bobupndown wrote:

You have a replacement engine and a new ptu. A new gearbox and you will have most of the mechanicals replaced apart from rear diff and haldex. (and suspension, but that's a case of replace when required).
The car that you know and clearly love should be good for many more miles.

That’s exactly where our heads are at - and it’s been an easy choice as well. I actually had the Haldex fluids done a year ago on the Indy’s advice, and the exchange engine has been getting oil/filter changes every 5k miles or so, so there’s been less temptation to scrap it and change even without the financial write-off consideration…

It's a Freelander, it's worth much more than scrap value if it's in otherwise perfect condition.

If you want to cut your losses, then sell it as spares or repairs, where you'll get around ½ it's market value, maybe more to a keen buyer, who is happy to put a £300 second hand box in it.  2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Soon to be sold.
Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate on order.
Gone. 2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE.

Fantastic result, here's to many more happy miles! 🙌 Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)

Wow result, it just shows, never take things as said.
You can now carry on enjoying it.  DAVE.
I.A.M. F1rst Driver.
Gone 2003 Discovery TD5 Auto,
Gone 1986 Defender 90 Station Wagon
Gone 1984 Range Rover 3.5 Vogue Manual.
Gone 1970 Series 11A/3 SWB 3.5 V8 Hybrid
Gone 1964 Series 11A LWB Van
Gone 1966 Series 11A SWB Van
Gone 1964 Series 11A LWB Station Wagon,

@Deafender - great result - good reminder to always check the simple things first.  Jules

Great you got it sorted  2014 Freelander 2 TD4 Manual Dynamic
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover
1956/7 88" Series One Land Rover - undergoing restoration