Coolant Leaking problems of the 2003 Land Rover Freelander

Coolant has been leaking into the engine ever since I purchased about 18 months ago. Landrover finally acknowledge the problem but now there is not enough funds on my extended warranty to cover a new engine. For the past 18 months my vehicle has been at the dealership at least half the time. It just seems like a big cover up.

Well I have had several problems with the landrover. Its a horrible car, I have already replaced the engine twice, along with a faulty brake light that was later recalled. This summer, my car began to smoke and overheat I immediately took it to the shop I was told there had been a crack and the coolant was leaking into my engine. They fixed the vehicle, a week later the crack came back but this time my sixteen year old daughter was driving and it began to smoke leaving her stranded on the freeway. I again took it to the shop and it was fixed they replaced the pipe and fixed the crack. 2 days later the same thing happened she was again stranded on the freeway, and it was taken back to the shop. We were told by our mechanic that I now needed to replace my engine for the third time and it was a complete lemon. I called landrover and they were very rude, and said they could do nothing. I began to read reviews about the vehicle and this apparently has happened to about 85 % of the vehicles. Please recall this car so people know the dangers of this vehicle , and me and the rest of the landrover owners can get justice!.

Poor mechanical design on 2003 Freelander Land Rover with 75,000 miles leading to numerous mechanical failures. Low mileage (40,000 to 70,000) failure of vehicle components including: brakes (twice), fuel pump, and water pump. Over $5,000 in repairs. Engine now leaking coolant indicating head gasket and eventual engine failure.

I am the original owner of a 2003 Land Rover Freelander. I have always followed all of the factory service maintenance intervals and have all of the service records for this well-maintained vehicle. Although the vehicle has only 63,000 miles on it, I recently had to take it in twice for service at the Land Rover of fort lauderdale dealership where I purchased it in December, 2004. I was shocked to learn from my service advisor, jesse robinson, that the vehicle needed a "head gasket and possibly a new engine. " he explained to me that coolant was leaking into the engine's cylinders, and that it was only a matter of time before the engine would stop working and be worthless. He told me that changing the head gasket would not solve the problem anyway, that it is the result of a severe engineering flaw that the Land Rover corporation has been aware of for several years. It seems that the engine block, while made of aluminum, has cylinder sleeves that are made of steel. Since metals expand with heat and different metals have major differences in their metallurgic properties, what eventually happens is that the sleeves disjoin from the engine block and begin to slip and slide in place, something no engine should do regardless of the mileage on it. Once the sleeves move, they bend and soon after break the head gasket, which allows coolant to enter the cylinders, which causes the engine to run very erratically until it stops running altogether. Changing the head gasket, therefore, doesn't fix the problem, and even replacing the engine isn't possible. The manufacturer that once built and supplied them for Land Rover went out of business, and what few engines are available are only released to those who bought the factory extended warranty. I have since discovered that there are thousands of very similar cases out there, that anyone with the 2002 to 2005 model experiences the same problems once their vehicles reach 40,000 to 70,000 miles (please see edmunds. Com).

The contact owns a 2003 Land Rover Freelander. While driving approximately 30 mph, the vehicle began overheating. There was no fire or smoke, but the temperature gauge indicated that the vehicle was hot. The contact took the vehicle to a Toyota dealer, but they could not find any failure or a leak. The contact had to continuously place coolant in the vehicle to prevent it from overheating. Six months after the failure began, the engine shut off while driving 5 mph in the driveway. The vehicle was towed to the dealer and they stated that there was engine damage, which could have possibly been the water pump leaking coolant due to overheating. The only solution would be to replace the entire engine. The failure mileage was 62,000 and current mileage was 65,000.

Head gasket and engine problem. Car started off having coolant leak and progressively got worse and is now inoperable. It has been inoperable since September 2008. There are a number of forums that describe this same issue so it is well known within the lr organization. I do not have $3500 to replace my engine nor cover the additional $3k for labor to have it installed. Since lr knowingly manufactured this defective engine (made out of aluminum and iron cast which are not compatible), they should be liable for replacing this engine.

Own a 2003 Land Rover Freelander se, vehicle looses coolant into engine then over heats. Had head gaskets replaced at a cost of $1,700. 00. Vehicle still leaking coolant into engine. I did some investigation into this matter found a chat room on edmunds. Com it seems it is a common problem with this vehicle, the cause of the coolant leak is a poor design of the engine. It seems that the cylinder sleeve shifts inside the engine and the coolant burns internally. Land rover is well aware of this issue but does not want to replace engine.

Service engine soon light illuminated 1. 08/07/06-internal failure of intake chamber, linkage motor no good replaced upper intake chamber 2. 10/26/07-fuel pump leaking from gasket, cylinder 3 misfires replaced gasket, replaced cylinder 3 coil and spark plug 3. 02/29/08-topped off coolant.