So did you also flush the whole system (all four wheels) with 2 quarts of DOT 4 brake fluid?

 

Sounds like what I went through with my '97. I had a very slow leak in the front caliper, the plating was coming off the pistons. Bleeding the system would give me decent brakes for a couple weeks, less if it was really cold. I rebuilt all the calipers with new seals and pistons, the cost for the parts was about $100. It got substantially worse after pushing the pistons in to replace the brake pads, the step where the plating was missing off the pistons cut the seals.

I know for a fact it was not related to ABS on my truck, I threw my ABS unit in a dumpster a long time ago and replumbed the lines. I still have excellent brakes to this day.

Take a real good look at the calipers, for any sign of leakage around the pistons.

 

Thanks for the reply Savanna buzz.
I don't have access to any pressure bleeding equipment and have to bleed in the good old fashion way of having someone pump the brakes and bleed each individual wheel separately.
Nor have I been able to buy 4 dot brake fluid in Australia but each time the problem re-occurs and I bleed the brakes, there is always a little air in the far passengers side rear caliper although there is definately no fluid leaking anywhere on the vehicle.

I know it stands to reason that if air can get in, fluid must be able to get out but it's just not happening!

 

Tyanks for the reply. It's something that never occurred to me but I posted elsewhere that there is no escaping fluid at all.

 

My 95 disco (no ABS) has developed a similar problem.

So far I have:

Replaced both front discs.
Replaced front brake hoses
Bled gallons of brake fluid into the environment
Checked booster with vac gage (15 inches at idle)

Pedal is pretty firm now.

But i cant lock up wheels on bitumen, which i reckon should happen

regards
OZ

 

I have no idea what bitumen is.

 

Hi OZ.
Can you let us know if it['s fixed the problem because I did similar things and also replaced the master cylinder all to no avail.
(Mine does have ABS)

When I bleed the brakes as I've done countless times, all is well for a few days and gradually worsens until it reverts back to the way it was.
The only thing I havent done is addressed the PBS pump but if yours doesn't have PBS it seems unlikely that the pump could be the problem.

The strange part is that although there's hardly any pedal, the brakes work fine when travelling over around 10klms an hours but when going slowly say down a driveway, although the pedal is hard, the brakes just don't work.
Kel

 

asphalt

 

So you went through all the effort to replace the Master Cylinder, but you couldn't take 30 seconds to pull the ABS fuse? I don't get it.

Pull the ABS fuse and report back.

 

Guess they don't want to reply...shame because it could help someone else