Land Rover Freelander 2 with mileage: almost always rotten arches and a lot of little things about electrics
Throughout the second half of the 2000s and the beginning of the 10s, Freelander 2 worked as an “entrance ticket” to the world of Land Rover. He worked honestly, having not only a characteristic appearance, but also good off-road capabilities. It was the latter circumstance that, in a certain sense, played a cruel joke on buyers in the secondary market. Due to poorly designed body protection against dirt, most Freels, especially those aged 10+, will have problems with corrosion.
Technics
The car is based on the Ford EUCD platform and is based on components from Ford, PSA and Volvo – for the second generation Freelander, elements of other brands available for this platform were used. But the Freelander has nothing in common with the rest of the Land Rover models, except that some electronic components are similar to those used in later models.
In his “relatives” he has Ford Mondeo and S-Max / Galaxy, and at the same time almost all Volvo models from 2006 to 2018. The common platform means very similar suspensions, drivetrains, electronics, and motors and gearboxes.
So, the 3.2 engine is from Volvo, the diesel engines of the DW12 series are the development of Peugeot-Citroen, and the 2.0T engine is the Ford Ecoboost. Aisin automatic transmissions were used on both Volvo and Ford, M66 manual gearboxes were also from Ford stocks. There is also a commonality with the D8 platform on which the Range Rover Evoque was made, since it is an evolutionary product of the EUCD, and many elements in it are compatible with older versions.
By design, the Freelander 2 is a typical crossover. The body is offered only in a five-door version, although vans were also offered for England and Denmark (due to the peculiarities of taxation), which we have almost no chance of meeting. The body is all-steel, except that the hood is aluminum. The design is seriously reinforced for the possibility of permanent off-road operation, so the weight of the car is very high by the standards of the class.
The location of the power unit is transverse, in-line, and an in-line six-cylinder engine can be placed under the hood. Front-wheel drive with a full plug-in through the Haldex clutch in almost all versions, except for the rare Ed4, which is content with only the front.
Suspensions are MacPherson struts front and rear, which is generally atypical for this platform, usually there is a multi-link suspension at the back, but LR did not suit her working moves.
In terms of electronics, the machine is quite advanced, the degree of integration of elements is completely modern. Twice during the release of the model it was seriously upgraded: in 2010 with restyling, and then in 2013.
Timeline
October 2006 The model is presented to the public. The base engine is a 2.2-liter diesel DW12 in versions of 150, 160 and 190 hp, as well as a 3.2 petrol engine with 233 hp. All engines are available with a 6-speed automatic transmission, the diesel engine can also be equipped with “mechanics”. All versions of the car are all-wheel drive.
May 2007 Sales started in Germany and the USA.
May 2009 Minor design changes. New versions of automatic transmissions with support for start-stop systems, a new rear axle drive clutch, now it's Haldex IV.
August 2010 Model restyling. Small changes in appearance: new optics, bumpers, grille. New salon, new multimedia system. Diesel engines have been updated to comply with Euro-5 standards.
November 2010 The eD4 version is presented – with front-wheel drive, only with a manual gearbox and a 2.2 diesel.
November 2012 3.2 six-cylinder engine replaced by 2.0 four-cylinder supercharged engine 241 hp
October 2013 Small restyling, cosmetic changes to the exterior and interior. New interior wiring, unified with Evoque.
November 2014. Removal from production.
Body
External panels
The good appearance of most Frilovs is the merit of high-quality painting and galvanizing of the panels. Unlike many other LRs, as already mentioned, there are no aluminum elements here, only the hood is made of winged metal, and the outer door panels, roof, fenders are all steel. But, unfortunately, a good color is not a panacea for corrosion in conditions of an abundance of dust, moisture, salt, and an acidic environment.
The edges of the body panels are the most vulnerable – this is where the Freelander has visible rust. First of all, pay attention to the edges of the arches. The original “protection” in the form of a rubber molding with reinforcement saves the edge well from chips and dents in a dry climate. But it collects moisture, and over time, the steel reinforcement in the rubber also rusts, bursting it, making the landing on the edge loose. As a result, the arches of the front and rear fenders begin to rust almost in the first place. Under the rubber, the process is hardly noticeable, but eventually it will come out. And the “successful” cars are divided into those for which the problem is not yet noticeable, and those where everything has already been fixed by cleaning and installing more successful arch protection.
Things are worse only with partially open inner edges of the rear arch in the place where they are also covered from above by the edge of the door. They are located at the junction of the inner locker and the sill lining, they are clamped on the outside by the door seal, and the joint “looks” just inside the arch and is partially covered by the seal, which accumulates moisture and sometimes flies off by itself. Even with the seal installed, part of the metal is open, and sandblasting destroys the paintwork. Many owners prefer to remove this “protection” of the arches altogether, replacing it with a layer of bituminous mastic. Without it, the edge ends up being whole.
Hood
50 647 conventional units
In general, dirt under the lockers is another typical problem of the car, and an incredible amount of wet earth accumulates in the rear and front arches. Especially for those who go off-road. Of course, this does not contribute to the normal safety of the body. And often the problem is clearly visible from the outside with the door open – the threshold rusts, rust climbs up from under the plastic lining along the arch. There, just the mud pocket of the arch merges with the mud pocket inside the plastic door sill.
Unfortunately, body problems are not limited to arches. On the back door, first of all, the area under the “visor” of the license plate niche rusts – it is not fixed very well, paint chips happen even on cars of recent years, and over time they bloom. At the bottom, the door also rusts along the rolling, but much later and less often.
The side doors hold up well, the bottom is covered with plastic successfully, there is almost no corrosion under it, and the threshold is not visible – it is hidden under the door. But around the openings of the door handles, swelling is sometimes noticeable: the plastic trim of the handle is hard, but slightly movable and scratches the paintwork.
A little corrosion can sometimes be found on the leading edge of the roof and at the railing attachment points. Sometimes the windshield frame suffers: the glass is changed often, and damage to the paintwork during work is a common thing, over time, the frame gets one or two problem areas. Otherwise, the car usually looks smart from the outside, the paintwork retains its shine and color.
Bottom
From below, all the problems with the arches look much worse. If you remove the lockers (and shake out a ton of dirt), then with a good probability you will see a very unpleasant sight. Even garage storage cars and from regions that are very prosperous in terms of corrosion (for example, from Samara) have many point foci of corrosion and paintwork violations inside – this is in addition to the rusty edge of the arch.
For dorestovy cars from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and even periodically leaving for primers without regular flushing of the body from below, corrosion will already look terrible, capturing the area around the mud pocket at the junction of the threshold and the arch in front and almost the entire niche under the rear lights. And at the same time – the wiring gland for parking sensors, the seam of the arch and the spar, the area above the adsorber in the right arch and the symmetrically located niche in the left, especially since there are still drain plugs rusting along the edge. The “glass” of the suspension in the upper part (I remind you that MacPherson is behind), especially at the junction of the inner arch and the side panel of the body, also blooms.
There is a lot of rust even in cars after restyling, and only the thickness of the metal saves the car. Almost everywhere so far it does without perforation, only around the plugs welding may be needed.
In the front arches, the situation is better, but the “glasses” of the suspension also rust from the inside. On the right is the preheater exhaust (it is often found in the configuration), and it is also usually rusty. The seams inside the front arch are usually more intact – the effect is higher temperature, which means less moisture.
The bottom suffers again mainly in the rear. The bottom panels, the area around the gas tank, the side surfaces of the spars, the cross beam above the rear suspension subframe, the body beam in front of the attachment points of the rear suspension trailing arm – all this is most likely already rusty. Floors and longitudinal spars are more fortunate – they are covered with plastic and rarely rot. But the thresholds under the overlays are often already full of holes.
Almost all cars from cold regions (especially from St. Petersburg) have similar problems. The difference is only in the degree of damage: somewhere you can get by with cleaning and anticorrosive, somewhere you need to remove the subframes and the fuel tank with sandblasting of all surfaces, and somewhere you already have to cook thresholds and do something with corrosion inside the rear spars.
Unfortunately, the Freelander 2 is the kind of car that you will have to go to the lift to make the right choice. And you can't get by with a phone and a selfie stick – it’s too dirty. You need to inspect the body very deeply and carefully. Removal of lockers with flushing arches is highly desirable.
Inspecting the body floors for moisture is a must as this is a Land Rover (albeit a small one), so the chances of it being driven off-road and drowned in rivers are pretty high. The body itself is not prone to leaks, and wet floors in the front occasionally occur due to clogged air conditioning drainage and moisture entering the fan air intake – if the frill is not assembled correctly after repair, water from the windshield flows there.
At the passenger's feet on the left, you can bend the carpet and check if the drainage is clogged and if moisture has accumulated there (it is better to prepare a rag or a glass, 100-200 ml of water can drain from the air conditioner case).
The trunk is mostly dry, if there is no perforation of the arches. The upper brake light is leaking, but basically all the moisture remains inside the tailgate and only flows a little onto the trunk curtain. And yet it would be better to seal the trunk – the body will be more intact. Well, if it’s wet there, then there will definitely be problems with the electrician – the all-wheel drive clutch control unit is located right next to the spare wheel niche.
It is unlikely that it will be possible to look under the side trims of the trunk to control the state of the seams of the “glasses” of the rear suspension, since everything is assembled to last. In the engine compartment, problems are rare, unless the car has been in a serious accident. The seams themselves do not rot, even the glasses in the places of support hold well. Attention should be paid only to the over-engine niche – the drain from it is not very successful, it is deep, and several liters of water can splash there, and next to it are the “brains” of the motor, and diesel engines also have a glow plug control unit.
Body equipment
The car, as already mentioned, is made quite strong, but there are enough typical problems. For example, the LR emblems on the outside fly off, especially the side ones. The paint peels off on the grille and on the side “gills”.
The door locks have unsuccessful motors – here, oddly enough, the Chinese counterparts turn out to be more reliable than the original. The bulkhead is not too difficult, you can remove the lock yourself, but in the case of the rear doors it is very troublesome. The button at the rear door lock fails, and there is no reliable “analogue” solution here.
The rear “janitor” is rather weak, breaks the gears and turns sour, well, or in the reverse order. The soundproofing mats of the engine shield and hood are falling apart and losing their appearance. And on 3.2 engines, the mat falls on the exhaust manifold, which can lead to a fire.
The headlights are always lensed, both halogen and xenon, but the lenses are unsuccessful in any case – they burn out early, and in most cars the headlights simply do not shine (according to statistics, halogen headlight lenses “leave” faster, other things being equal). It’s good that you don’t need to remove the glass to replace the lens – the hatch is very large, so installing a new module is relatively simple.
A very strange headlight washer system, with separate pumps and valves for each headlight, and even controlled by electronics, which sometimes also contributes to system failures.
Fog lights are a consumable, and it is recommended to change them to LED modules from a well-known French manufacturer: they almost do not flow and are not even afraid of fords.
There are a lot of cars with a standard Webasto heater, and it is pretty fragile here. Most of the failures are related to the operation of its electronics. By the way, you can check the performance of the system without a special scanner even in the summer. It is enough to attach a bag with something frozen to the temperature sensor under the left rear-view mirror and wait until the temperature on the dashboard drops below 2 degrees Celsius, and then start the engine. The system will definitely turn on if it is working, and display a diagnostic message on the dashboard.
| Detail | original price | The price of the original | Price of non-original 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Body parts | |||
| Headlight xenon | 108 021 | Not available | |
| Headlight halogen | 88 917 | Hella 81 156 | Not available |
| Windshield | 27 855 | FYG 11 024 | AGC 12 431 |
| Front wing | 35 464 | WEEK 26 568 | Flash 45 509 |
| Front bumper | 83 144 / 35 151 (cover) | Not available | Not available |
| Hood | 50 647 | Not available | Not available |
Salon
The British know how to make salons, this cannot be taken away. Inside, the Freelander is cozy, the choice of materials is not bad, and there are no particular problems with wear resistance. If the deflectors were also made well, and their handles would not fall out, then the feeling of quality would skyrocket.
On dorestyle, the plastic on many panels gets dirty very quickly, and after restyling, the texture was slightly corrected, and scratches began to appear less often. The mats are almost not fixed, only the driver's one has regular mounts, the rest crawl on the floor.
Seats with good wear resistance, even upholstered combinations with fabric in the center and leather on the bolsters. In whole-leather, the material is more delicate – over time, without maintenance, it cracks, but if you regularly lubricate the skin, they are conditionally eternal. Unless the texture of the material is erased, the armrests sag, and the sidewall is crushed against plastic.
The seats have essentially one minus – a passenger seat without a microlift, and the height was chosen unsuccessfully, although here you can put a skid with an elevator from the “Englishwoman” (where the steering wheel is on the right). And for some reason, they rarely put heated rear seats – just a given that is difficult to explain.
The steering wheel, by the 200th run, loses the texture of the finishing material, but it still looks good, if you don’t get it dirty or scratch it. Worn steering wheels appear with runs over 300 and the absence of normal care. Of the specific troubles, one can note an almost obligatory breakage of the spring in the button of the automatic transmission selector handle, dirt in the ventilation deflectors, flying deflector control knobs and scratches in the air ducts.
The small display of the multimedia system of stock versions looks strange. You can put something in return only with a frame, or you will have to choose a Chinese analogue. It is difficult to install a multimedia system from restyling, where large displays were more common, and at the same time stability and functionality are better. It is necessary to introduce a fair amount of wiring with the new MOST bus to connect all the components of the system, as well as a new amplifier. But such operations are carried out, since it does not have a strong connection to on-board systems, and what it does have has already been hacked by enthusiasts of the model.
The dashboard is quite reliable, besides, smart heads introduced Russification, displayed service data in the on-board computer, made manuals for upgrading the backlight (very traumatic for the panel). At the same time, the craftsmen figured out how to install digital panels from restyling instead of native ones or, say, completely digital and just tidy with a large display from the “older” Range Rover L322.
The ceiling does not sag, door locks suffer only because of the electric motors mentioned above. Everything else is done well, if any breakdowns occur, it is due to rough handling.
The climate is quite stable. Occasionally there are problems with the calibration of the shutters. This procedure is performed strangely: on a muffled car, you need to hold down the recirculation and Econ buttons and turn on the ignition. In theory, a calibration should be performed, but often it can only be done with a scanner.
The fan is not a model of reliability, but this only applies to dorestyle. It changes quite easily.
The air conditioner in the car often fails: the kondeya compressor located at the bottom of the motor corrodes the clutch. Basically, the contacts in the connector rot, less often the wiring. Sometimes dirt gets into the clutch, it does not turn off or makes noise.
The hoses for the heater in the version with the 3.2 engine did not last very long, after the first 6-7 years of operation they started to leak. These hoses have plastic fittings on both sides, so when replacing, you also need to change the o-rings. Savings and the use of analogues in this case exacerbates the problem. On diesel vehicles, this occurs, but much less frequently.
Electrician
For a fairly recent car, Freelander has a lot of electrical problems. They are approximately the same for all machines on the EUCD platform: first of all, poor sealing of the connectors fails, they rot wherever there is moisture. Even the engine control unit on the engine shield sometimes suffers from rotting pins in the connector, and the wiring from the glow plug control unit suffers at the same time. The reason lies in the location of these blocks – straight up with connectors under the windshield, and in a humid climate, water pours from above constantly.
On diesels, DPKV regularly rots, and also because of its location: it stands low and is vulnerable to water. Clicking relays on the right in the passenger compartment fuse box – not a problem, but unpleasant. Well, at least on the Freelander, water does not go into the block through the washer wire, like on the Jaguar.
Parktronics are not very reliable, besides, they do not tolerate dirt – the system gives false positives. The wiring of the motor shield and the passenger compartment rots in places where mechanical damage due to the fault of the user is excluded. At the same time, the power supply circuits of the blocks are quite complex, it is not always easy to understand why there is no connection with the blocks or why the car does not start.
Wiring to foglights and taillights, as well as to the Haldex clutch control unit, often fails due to corrosion in the connectors on cars of the first years of production, and the hood open sensor suffers from it. The throttle on machines with a 3.2 engine also suffers from corrosion.
The “snail” of the steering wheel with a sensor for turning it is a consumable that serves about 80-120 thousand kilometers, and it is not cheap, more than 17 thousand conventional units. Without a snail, all-wheel drive and the Terrain Response system do not really work. If the electrician has a desire, by the way, the part is completely repaired.
There are a lot of problems with the operation of the alarm, its antenna, as well as with the control of the Webasto heater. Moreover, for a normal connection to the heater control unit, a kit from a Chinese clone of the Mangoose cord and a proprietary SDD scanner is not inexpensive enough, you have to make a kit from a KKL cable from Volkswagen and a cigarette lighter to work with proprietary Webasto Thermo Test software. The Telestart interface unit for remote heating control is extremely unreliable, its antennas die and key fobs fall off.
Freelander has an overrunning clutch in the generator drive, which, with runs of 80+, begins to slip a little. Sometimes with a characteristic crack, sometimes you can find out about its breakdown only when the battery is already hooked. A new battery lives for 4 years at best, in most cases the problem is regular undercharging and frequent operation of the heater.
Subtotal
Freelander 2 will almost certainly have a set of problems with sills and rear arches that need to be solved without delay, so as not to then engage in large-scale welding work… or not to “throw off” an already rotten car to a not too attentive buyer who is tempted by the front appearance (outside is usually everything is fine). The main thing here is that you yourself do not become such a buyer. The electrician, most likely, will also regularly demand money, but nothing can be done about it – such is the design. In the next part, we will study the motors, transmission and chassis.
