Just had the shock of having to replace the rear differential. It's the failure of a major part, and I'm sure it should not all be down to me. The garage says mine is the 4th in 12 months they have replaced, and the web seems to show it's a major problem. Does anyone know LS's position on this?

Yes, contact Ryan at customer relations found on the home page, I sure he will be able to help.

When is a shock a shock though, a few years back if the whole car lasted 10 years you were doing extremely well, but now folk seem to think they should go on forever fault free?
The original LR2s are now 10 years old and could have 200000 on the clock? How long should the manufacturers be expected to cover repair costs for? Ive never noticed in the handbook anything about covered for the life of the car?
Just saying.

Freelander 2's were a significant step forward in styling and reliability (over FL1's), they still appear to have some issues, but all cars have failures.

When I used to work in automotive, covering Ford/LR the baseline for component reliability was 10 yrs or 150k, excluding obvious wearable consumables.

Has the diff had oil changes over the years? did it run dry/low oil? was it preventable? what mileage is you car?


Hope you get her up and running soon

Last edited by Rimini HSE on 30th Jan 2016 9:21 am. Edited 1 time in total

I've been driving on/off road for over 50 years covering a fair few hundreds of thousands miles.
Some of the cars have had mega miles on them, others less so. In all those miles and cars I've neverhad a diff go. 👍
Pick up my first Freelander tomorrow, so from what I've read things may be about to change 😟

Surely a shock is a shock if something unexpected happens and costs a lot , like a major part failure in a vehicle you bought assuming was fit for purpose for a reasonable amount of time. Ours has done just over 100k. And yes, a manufacturer should be responsible for major component failure for the expected life of the vehicle, as fairly frequent national press stories show. Consumer legislation specifically deals with this, whether the handbook describes reasonable life or not.

Thanks RichP for suggesting Ryan. Will do.

If it makes you feel any better I run a Range Rover 4.2sc...............fingers crossed........touch wood...........etc

Landiroamer wrote:

How long should the manufacturers be expected to cover repair costs for?

I think the suggested fluid change interval on the diff is 150k miles (might be wrong?) but you would expect them to at least last that long, or what is the point of having this interval change. Depends on driving, etc. Knowing about potential issues it is up to the individual whether they stick to the recommendations or do the changes more frequent. IMHO if you buy a second hand car not knowing how it has been looked after and used coupled with the potential issues, does it not make sense to check everything out? As a previous post, I don't think you can just buy a car and expect it to be OK indefinitely, there will always be exceptions, but as there is a known potential issue with the diffs, etc. I think it is only right that LR provide assistance when things go wrong.

What is annoying Land Rover have known for many years that there was a major fault design with the diff & instead of recalling all Freelander 2's they just berried there heads in the sand & sold many many thousands more FL2 without addressing the problem That gives me full confidence in Land Rover for future purchases (NOT)

Given the number of folk (including myself) who have experienced diff and drive train problems as early as 30k miles or less I would say that this is a design issue rather than a reliability issue. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

A diff or gearbox or engine or steering rack etc should be reasonably expected to last the life of the vehicle - which I guess as an average is around 10 years / 150,000. I don't suppose many vehicles last beyond that time, being scrapped for one reason or another. For example, I see hardly any Freelander 1s around any more.

I pointed this out to Landrover customer services when my rear diff was whining and they immediately agreed to cover 75% of the repair cost without quibble. I'm sure if I'd pushed them they would have gone further but I thought it was a fair offer given that I had not maintained a full LR service history (not that a LR service would have even given the diff a second glance as it supposedly doesn't need attention until the 150k mile service). 2010 Freelander 2 HSE Auto Santorini Black / Ebony Leather

Muckboots wrote:

What is annoying Land Rover have known for many years that there was a major fault design with the diff & instead of recalling all Freelander 2's they just berried there heads in the sand & sold many many thousands more FL2 without addressing the problem That gives me full confidence in Land Rover for future purchases (NOT)

Always makes me laugh.

LR might have known? what had probably happened in the background was LR arguing with Haldex and the manufacturer of the diff bearing, trying to find where the problem lay. This is a game no one will win, we are 'taught' never to accept responsibility or blame, never admit 'you're in the wrong' LR, obviously, should shoulder some of the blame ... but so should the manufacturer of the failing components, no one ever will, until the 'fault' becomes significant enough for someone to take notice it will not be resolved.

Your wiper blades judder across the screen and its crap LR wipers. They don't make them, why blame LR?

If the manufacturers of the failing components cannot agree to a fix, or agree that there is a fault, then how can LR recall the cars?
I would really like to know how many failures there have been as a percentage of vehicles sold, I have asked this before, in reality I bet it's quite small, that said, the problem should be addressed and LR, in many cases, they have offered to reduce the cost as a goodwill measure and gone a long way to easing the pain.

Who has the latest car to have a failure? With LR producing a Freelander, when in production, every 60 seconds they would have a large number of potential problems go out of the doors before it was caught.

Quote:

pab wrote;
Perhaps we need a process where failures are independently monitored, and manufacturers can be made to repair or replace for free components which show high failure rates.

taztastic wrote:

Your wiper blades judder across the screen and its crap LR wipers. They don't make them, why blame LR?