A40 and other family cars - Freelander grot busting

14,174 · May 17

23 minutes ago, N Dentressangle said:

Yep, I replaced one of those not so long ago on something - Series LR I think.

I was dubious of the quality of the new one at the time, but it doesn't look like the originals can be rebuilt. Shame: presumably just a clean of all the contacts inside would fix most of them.

Be nice to get hold off an original with the button. Would be a real boon to be able to work the starter from under the bonnet for various reasons. Although i understand thats pretty much why you cant get them anymore.

14,174 · Sunday at 15:33

Occured to me that ive more on than properly old cars, do most of the work myself and never post about it.

Stood out in the sun today and gave this a mega indepth wash followed by a polish and wax. All by hand with rags as i like the misery. 6 years ive had this now and ill never part with it.

Will be parting with this soon though. Had it 5 years, been an exceptional car. Did a quick disc and pad job on it after work on friday. For sale soon once ive serviced it and put 12 months test on it.

Because of this. As correctly predicted by both @Mally and the number plate its stopping. Bought at a ridiculously low price, it was intended to be sold on at a high profit. Till the wife and kids intervened, fell in love and it ousted the Z4. Ive put a belt, tensioner and waterpump on it, full service, new dampers drop links and topmounts on the back. Oh and a diff. It was fucked which apparently they all do. I bought a recon but uprated one from Bell Engineering. Which deals with the issue of the nose bearing being undersized from new. So im a good bit of money into it but miles under what it wouldve cost to buy on the open market. Not my cup of tea (hate autos) but proving a good car and a nice place to be.

Had the morning in work yesterday to put a new sub loom and latch microswitch in the boot lid, new gas struts and a cabin filter. Cleans up well too.

In other news, im finally having a week off work for the first time this year. And the weathers mint. So this will be out all week as an everyday car. Cant wait!

Thanks for reading.

7,717 · Sunday at 16:04

Flippin' jealous of your fleet man.

14,174 · Sunday at 16:25

20 minutes ago, worldofceri said:

Flippin' jealous of your fleet man.

Ta Ceri. Its a testament to years of poor financial planning and an inability to sell owt 🤣

3,173 · 2026-05-25T08:22:30Z

It's the A40 that grabs my attention every time. Mind you that Fiesta could tickle my fancy as well.

Good to see you enjoying 'em all sir.

14,174 · 2026-05-26T15:48:11Z

Just in case anyone is in the slightest bit arsed (😆) ive had a day on Freelander underside duties. They can rot like buggery almost sight unseen. So up in the air, wheels, arch liners and sill trims off.

Apart from the closing ends of the back arches (which i could see anyway) and removing 20 kilos of soil and gravel (its obviously the first time the arch liners have been out) the car is absolutely mint underneath. I had give it a poke before i took it on but its a relief anyway!

The arches got buzzed back to bare metal, masked and hit with rust convertor and then given 2 coats of rustoleum hardhat primer then 2 rattle can coats of good quality but generic RAL gloss black. And theyve come up great. Solid as a rock under the scabby paint. With the car being black anyhow (had to be one advantage of black cars) the paint has matched nicely too.

Ive had all the plugs out of the cills and box sections and drowned everything in cavity wax using a telescopic nozzle. Shit ton of black wax oil everywhere to finish. Now some look down on waxoil but its never let me down in 28 years of owning cars so balls to ya 🙃

Some photos below. Cheers all.