Yesterdays jobs were to fit the front bumper extensions and the front mudflaps, nothing too complicated.





Today were are fitting the new steering wheel, the Audio Connectivity Module and the GPS.

First job, steering wheel. You need a special tool to release the airbag from wheel, these are £20 plus shipping from the UK.



Or you can make your own from an old wooden coathanger, for free!



Airbag is out without much fuss.

New wheel on the left, old wheel on the right



The new one has perforated leather, it's not exactly in the OEM style, better I think.

Funny thing with the colours, I was thinking "why is the new one so light???" but when I turned over the old one, there were a couple of spots where hands/fingers had not been working the leather, and it was the same lighter colour. Old steering wheel was disgusting, lots of dirt/sweat on the back of it. New wheel makes it feel like a brand new car...



Just a pity that the top of the airbag has started to curl up a little...

Nav is in & all working



BUT

Bit of a mix up with the Audio Connectivity Module, it's the one for a Discovery 3 / Range Rover Sport 2006-2010 but turns out it doesn't fit the Freelander 2.

So i'll have to flog it off & try to get my hands on the Freelander 2 kit.

 

That really sucks, though the wife is probably enjoying all this new found "free" time you have.

Pinion give out?

 

Guessing it's the pinion, or one of the bearings has collapsed, it's making a hell of a whirring/wizzing sound, no clunking though...and no play in the pinion when my guy dropped the tailshaft for a quick check...

Won't be able to get the diff out for a couple more weeks, but I picked up a 2nd hand diff off ebay for $300 delivered to Oz from the US ($210 + $90 for delivery with Fedex & it arrived within a week, i don't know how they did that)

So my guy is pulling apart the "new" diff to check the ring & pinion, if they are OK will take the Quaife out of the old diff and re-assemble with new bearings, seals, crush tube & nut. Got all the parts now it's just a matter of him finding the time.

I am reluctant to do the job at home (haven't got a proper jack, stands, puller, etc) so I need to wait...

 

The alarm on this thing had been going off randomly, I guessed it was a door switch, the boot switch or the bonnet switch.

Confirmed as bonnet switch when the wife hit a pothole on Parramatta Road and "Bonnet Open" flashed up on the dash.

It's a hell of a job to change the switch (not to mention $$$'s), as it's a single piece included with the bonnet catch on the drivers side.

Paperclip does a pretty good job too....



That's the end of that then...

 

Marvelous inventions those paper clips!
I'm given to understand they even hold a bunch of papers together if properly applied.
(';')

 

I've since found out that it's not such a big job to get to the switch, just need to pop the headlight out (which takes all of a minute) and as I want to change the park light bulbs, I was going to do it anyway. There is a spring in the switch which loses its shape after while, so I reckon just bending the spring ought to solve it.

Rear spoiler arrived yesterday, looks a lot better with it fitted I think.









But....the bloody thing doesn't fit properly, theres a few mm gap on the inside edge where it goes onto the tailgate, and the double-sided tape isn't in contact with the surface. Not sure how this could be fixed since I bought it from a well know Land Rover tuner in the UK and it was supplied pre-painted...will have to get in touch with them...not happy....

Some interesting developments in regards to the brake upgrade....

A guy in Romania who runs a Land Rover workshop found out that the front calipers/discs from the 2008 Volvo S80 are a direct bolt-on to the Freelander 2.
The 2nd gen S80 uses 316mm discs same as the Freelander, but the calipers are much bigger.

He also tried some of the big calipers from the XC90 (that uses 336mm discs) and guess what, also a direct bolt-on.
Only problem is the hub bore of the XC90 is not the same as the FL2, even though the PCD is, he made up some spacer rings to get the 336mm XC90 discs to work on the smaller hub bore. Apparently the braking is much improved over the original setup...

But this opens up another possibility. There's a company in the states that does Wilwood 4-piston kits for Volvo's, and they have a kit for the 2008 S80.
Volvo S80 Big Brake Kit - Sport Gen II 2007-2011 but it's huge with 355mm discs. Overkill for what I need....



I wrote him an email asking if he could do the same kit for 336mm discs (so I can use the stock 336mm XC70 disc) but I got no reply yet...

Oh, and I may have won a set of genuine Evoque 20's off ebay for a few hundred $'s, came off a brand new car with delivery miles only...

 

Its coming along nicely,Looks good. I looked at a Freelander when they first came out in 1997 before we got the Jeep,at the time only manual was available in Australia so that killed the idea as my wife can't drive a manual. But have never taken any notice of them since.
Nice looking car,well done.

 

Spoiler does enhance the look of the car!
(';')

 

I've never had so much drama with a light bulb before....

One of the park lights in the headlights went out, no worries I thought, good time to change them for some white LEDs to match the Xenon main beams.

Go down to Supercheap, got some cheap white w5w's, they don't work, burn dull with the ignition off, go out completely with the ignition on. Try them in the footwell sockets, they work fine....

Bought some canbus compatible w5w's of eBay, set of four for $10, this should work. Nope, they just flicker for a bit & trip out the breaker. Put them in the map lights & the puddle lights in the doors, they work fine...

Hop on the Freelander forum to see what other people have used, and there is one supplier in the UK who everybody bought from and they've worked so I bought some.

2 weeks later they turn up in the post, so I put them in, and they work. Yay...



But now I've got half the interior lights as cool white LED and the rest as yellowish halogens, so back to Supercheap for some LED festoons... which also work. So now it's all LED...

I should have just put in a standard bulb & that would have been the end of it....

 

Decided against putting the 4-pots on the front, a lot of messing around and extra cost, although the bling factor would be off the chart, just not worth it.

But I will be upgrading the fronts...just bent my credit card to the tune of $1200

Brand new Volvo XC90 calipers for the front, aftermarket without the Volvo logo.

Centric / StopTech High Carbon Rotors all round
125.39044 336x28 fronts for various Volvo's (S80, XC70, etc.)
125.22018 302x20 rears (stock Freelander2 size)

EBC Redstuff Ceramic Pads (low dust!!!!)
DP31690C XC90 ones for the front
DP31933C Volvo S80 for the rear (same pad as the Freelander2)

And a new set of Centric handbrake shoes 111.09370

Only thing that needs sorting is the front dust shields, apparently they need some "massaging" to fit the bigger front discs in...

 

Looking good Cameron, some nice touches!

 

Brake parts arrived during the week while I was away, bit of an eye opener as to the size of the front rotors and calipers compared to stock











Still only single piston on the front but easily double the size of the little stock calipers, I was scratching my head as to why there was an extra box, and then I realized that each caliper had its own box they are that big...

Also have a set of Goodridge braided hoses to go on.

Now to find some time to fit them...

 

I painted the steel parts of the calipers with an aluminium coloured semi-ceramic paint, looks a lot better than that gold finish. Had to bake them in the oven at 200°C for an hour...



Came up pretty good I think.



The cheap aftermarket calipers didn't come with the anti-rattle springs, so I had to order some from the local Volvo dealer.

I knew that the rotors were worn, but I was pretty annoyed when I got them off and took some measurements.

Front
New thickness 30mm
Min. thickness 28mm
Act. thickness 26.8mm

Rear
New thickness 20mm
Min. thickness 18mm
Act. thîckness 16.5mm

Not happy. We've only done 10'000kms since we bought this thing...

Anyway, it's sorted now & I really like the way it stops, very progressive, no sudden jolt if you move your foot onto the pedal, and the harder you press the faster it stops. The brakes feel very similar to the Jag now.

Fronts before



And after



Rears after, but still to put on the braided line



Braided line



Should be the last set of brakes ever to go on this thing...I just hope the brake dust is better, or i'm gonna go nuts...

 

SUPERB!

Lookin good Cameron, fingers crossed on the dust, but I'm sure you'll be fine

 

Cheers Jim,

Pads have bedded in now and i'm really impressed. The brakes are better than I ever expected, really nice pedal feel and it pulls up like a car with good brakes, not a 4WD. Very happy.

Dust output is a fraction of what it was before, 2 weeks of commuting & the wheels still look good. Couldn't ask for more.

Had a duh! moment today, I always wondered why there was no sport mode for the auto, I just assumed that because it's a 4WD there was auto, or manual mode when you move the lever over & shift yourself. Well turns out that if you move the lever over and don't play with the gears, that's the sport mode.

Even says so on the dash



I've been belting 'round town today driving like a complete %&*# with it in sport mode, it's really obnoxious, wakes this thing up, it holds gears and kicks down like, a car. I'm kind of shocked. Was grinning like an idiot chopping people at traffic lights...LOL

 

Ticked another little job off, both remotes had stopped working, so I had to replace the batteries, which is a bit more involved than it sounds...

The Land Rover remotes are IP68 so they don't get damaged if you drop them in mud/water/etc, I guess the marketing term is ruggedized. They have a rechargeable lithium battery in them & the housing is completely sealed with glue.

The battery gets charged via induction while the fob is in the slot as you're driving around. Naturally the batteries don't last forever & eventually they won't charge, and you can't lock/unlock the vehicle.

Land Rover think that you should buy a whole new fob for $xxx and then pay them extra to program it.

Ah, no...

The battery is a Panasonic VL-2330/HFN which cost about $5 each from Farnell...got two delivered for $24 (delivery costs more than the batteries )

Replacement procedure:

- carefully prize the fob open along the glued joint, takes considerable force to break the glued seal
- desolder the old battery
- solder in new battery
- check functionality
- re-glue the fob housing back together

rinse & repeat...

My phone with the good camera died, so sorry for the pic quality...

 

Had my first unplanned major expense with this thing. Alternator died at 129'000kms.

The Volvo engineers who designed the engine, in their unquestionable wisdom, mounted the alternator between the block and the intake manifold. It's driven off the crank via a gearbox, no belt. Directly above the alternator is a coolant bleed hose, which can drip coolant directly onto the back of the alternator where the voltage regulator is...

Getting access to the alternator requires removing the intake manifold, which is a heap of fun...



And then, you need a special tool to remove the pulley off the old alternator, and mount it on the new one...

In the US you can buy exchange alternators for about $300, but nobody rebuilts them here so I had to buy a new one. The local dealer gave me a bit of a discount which made it close enough to the cost of buying a new one from the UK, and they got it to me next working day. So hats off to them.

I stopped by the dealers workshop and got their guys to swap the pulley over for me, gave them a carton of Carlsberg for their trouble, puts me in credit for when I need the next favour.

All back together now, along with a new hose and a sponge strategically located below the hose connection, will periodically check up to see if there is any leakage.

I suspect that the alternator had been replaced once before, since there was a hole punched in the dust seal of the pulley, pretty sure they didn't do that at the factory.

Reading up it seems that the 3.2L Volvo's also have some alternator problems, seems to be the nature of the engine...

 

It always pays to be in credit in our beer economy. I always arrive at my mechanics place with a cold 6 pack of Crown Lager, especially when I want to do more than just pick his brain. Some days I need access to a hoist even if it is just to get a good look and what I need to do at home and get some professional pointers while it is up there.
Sounds like a nightmare replacing that alternator.

 

This picture only tells half the story.



You also have to remove the lower section of the front bumper as well as the engine undertray, to get access from the bottom.

To be honest now that i've done it once, I could probably knock an hour or two off the job, not that I ever want to do it again...

 

If you keep as long as I kept my old Jeep you will forget the shortcuts before next time the job needs doing.
On the third water pump(after I sold it) I remembered the quick way and save a couple of hours.