You are very welcome. I still have my FL2 and the power steering has not let me down since. Had it for 13 years so far, the most reliable car I have ever had so I can't bear to part with it. - 2007(57) XS Auto, Rimini Red, Alpaca Leather.
- GCS Hawke - Sports, BRG, Vulcan 2.1 inj'. My toy - built it myself in 2001.

I've just bought a 2014 Freelander 2 SD with just 33,000km (20,600 miles) on the clock. Possibly the lowest miles Freelander 2 in Australia. I bought it sight unseen and had it shipped from Canberra to Perth (via Sidney). On my first drive, I was surprised how heavy the steering was. I had the tracking checked but it was to specification. A couple of mechanics told me the steering effort was normal but I still have a 2013 Freelander 2 so it was easy to compare the effort required.

I got hold of all the service records and found the steering rack had been replaced by a LR main dealer service workshop only 3000km ago due to oil leaks. So I removed the reservoir with its integral filter and back-flushed it with white spirit, which dislodged lots of black debris. Then I cut open the reservoir and saw lots of debris still clogging the filter.

So looks like the LR technician changed the rack but didn't flush the system of the debris caused by the seals failing on the original rack.

I have fitted a replacement reservoir which has reduced the steering effort. I'll get the seller to pay for LR to do a full flush and another new reservoir. I thought the pictures may be of interest to others.


The debris removed by back flushing:


Debris remaining imbedded in the filter gauze after back flushing

Interesting pics.

Luckily the reservoir/filter is not expensive and easily obtainable. I changed mine recently when I did a PAS fluid flush at 60K miles. Jules