That is a little unfair, in that 90% of K series are fine. It's just that a 10% failure rate is dreadful and when they do fail they *really* fail!
The actual problem is water loss. They have a very small coolant capacity and the slightest loss leaves hotspots. The result is either the head gasket fails causing more coolant loss or the liners slip and.... bang!
Many of the failures can be traced to poor servicing. It is vital that the coolant system is bled properly. However, proving poor servicing is not easy. It might also have something to do with the original assembly of the engine since some fail at very low mileage while others happily carry on forever. Ours was at 47,000 miles and never had any problem at all. Others, like in this case, fail much sooner.
The engine is actually a very clever overall design, but it has flaws that should never have got through to production. There are areas that simply don't have enough margin for error.
Talk to Land Rover. They accept there is a 'design fault' and if you push, will replace the engine under warranty so long as you have a full LR service history. DO NOT take no as an answer from your local dealer. You are lucky it's in a Freelander and not an MGF.... MG Rover are still denying there is any problem.
Additional - Despite my defence of the K series (well partial defence, anyway!) we have just traded ours in for a TD4 :lol:
More additional!!
Previous threads:
http://forums.mud-club.com/viewtopic.php?t=10544http://forums.mud-club.com/viewtopic.php?t=4365http://forums.mud-club.com/viewtopic.php?t=2329
