Land Rover Repair: 03 Freelander, land rover dealership, freelanders

Question
Hi John...I recently purchased an 03, 5-dr, SE with 70K miles. It ran great for the first three months and now a few little things have happened which I chalked-up to normal wear via the mileage. BUT, 2 days ago I was driving on the interstate and I felt a surge at 60 mph and my "check engine" light came on. The vehicle would run but the rpm's wanted to run hi. When I stopped at a light..she would only move forward slowly but the gears seemed to be changing...and then there was this strange rumbling coming from the engine. I got it to the Land rover dealership and they told me today that they had to take off the top portion of the engine to get to the belts...sounded to them as possibly a timing/drive belt...but couldn't be sure until they opened her up. Just that alone would be 9 shop hrs at $104/hr...ouch! Have you ever heard of anything like this happening? The service mgr suggested that I sell it if they can repair it..he advised that it is not a reliable vehicle. Your thoughts??

Thanks John

Answer
It sounds like you have some kind of problem in the timing belt housing.  The dealer is right in terms of how much time it takes, and you could be looking at a 2-3,000 total bill.

Those Freelanders are kind of marginal in my opinion, too.  They break a lot, they cost a lot to fix, and the don't have the appeal of their bigger brothers.