Land Rover Freelander (1997 - 2006) - 03 1.8 petrol - Headgasket Headaches

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Fri 14 Dec 2007 15:47
03 1.8 petrol - Headgasket Headaches - Tazzy
Hi,,, i bought a Masai Mara 2003 1.8 Free lander 56546 miles, my problem is this i bought the car 5 months ago from a secondhand dealership, before buying the Freelander my husband and i asked about Headgasket problems ect with Land Rover, the dealers response was that it wasn't to big a deal and that he would put a fluid into the engine which was effective in preventing this happening,,, however a month after my 3month warranty ran out i have no car, im told the Headgasket has gone and it would be cheaper to just replace the whole engine,,,, i feel done, have i a leg to stand on??? within the first 3months of warranty i had to take the car back because of the TC and HDC light kept going on when i braked, i was advised it was a loose connection,,,,, any ideas would be appreciated, so what you all think do i have a leg to stand on here??

Edited by Pugugly {P} on 14/12/2007 at 16:17

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Fri 14 Dec 2007 16:20
Headgasket Headaches - Screwloose
Tazzy

Nothing can prevent the gasket failing, as it fails from the combustion chamber side. The only relevant liquid that can be added to the coolant is one that will temporarily mask an already failed gasket.....

The law may yet save you here. See:-

www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=43
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Fri 14 Dec 2007 20:27
Headgasket Headaches - Aprilia
To be honest I wouldn't run one of these if I was given it for free - life's just too short to be messing with them, they are junk.

The 'fluid' is probably some sort of potion such as 'Radweld' which is a sealing agent designed to bung up leaks in the cooling system. Its not a long-term cure for a failed head gasket.

The car is sufficiently recent and of low enough mileage that I think you stand an very high chance of redress under the Sale of Goods Act 2003.
I would get on the case right away. Get something in writing from the garage that discovered the blown head gasket and then write a carefully worded letter to your supplying dealer, asking for the car to be fixed or a refund, with defined time for them to respond by. Send it Special Delivery (not Recorded).
I would either try to recover a percentage of the price paid and hand the vehicle back to them - or let them get it fixed and sell it directly.
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Fri 14 Dec 2007 21:23
Headgasket Headaches - Tazzy
Thanks for the reply guys,, hmmmm Radweld seems to be coming up quite a bit, however it was through mouth rather than on paper he stated he would put this fluid into the engine,, so we are going to see what he says and hopefully he will have a bit of compassion and help with the costs if not fix it himself,,, if we knew what we knew now we certainly would have given this hunk of junk a wide birth!!!!!!!!!!!
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