I had a faulty master cylinder installed in my 1998 Disco. I drove off the garage driveway and my brakes locked while trying to drive. Didn't realize what was happening, had driven about 1/2 mile, turned around and drove back. After the mechanic inspected it, he said the master cylinder wasn't releasing pressure and it locked up. He installed a new one but as a result, the calipers overheated and leaked and the brakes had to be replaced because they were soaked.
After two weeks of it being in the shop, I am now told the ABS doesn't work and the light stays on. Mechanic thinks its a coincidence, I do not.
Thoughts?

 

Has he test driven it? The ABS light stays on till the truck drives about a hundred yards.

 

He says the light goes on after he has been driving awhile and does not turn off.

 

A lot of people pull the fuse for the ABS pump under the hood. Apparently ABS failure is not uncommon on these trucks.

 

Your ABS sensors are covered in brake fluid.
You cant use a after market master cylinder on these trucks, for whatever reason a non Land Rover master cylinder will do this each and everytime.
It is probably a coincidence.
The ABS on these trucks sucks and is very problematic.
Go to the DI tech section and there is a way to check the ABS fault codes as well as clear them.
If the wheel sensors got knocked out of place or are to covered in dust/oil/whatever they will send a fault code.
Also did he replace the rotors by chance?

 

I have a 98 too, and all the ABS components are functional. Still, the ABS works quite a bit different than any other ABS system I have or have used. We have ice on the roads for the last several weeks so it's not hard to try it out at all. The best way I can describe it is that on the Land Rover, the ABS works at all about 60 or 70% of the time. The other times the wheels just lock up and slide without there really being any reason for ABS not to work. When the pump does actuate, it doesn't really prevent lock. Instead, the wheels lock up and the ABS pump sort of pulses the brakes off for a moment maybe once a second but only down to a low speed at which point the wheels just lock up and slide. It's not really enough to add a lot of steering input. Oh, and on dry pavement, good luck. The brakes just aren't powerful enough to lock anything.

 

You need to just pull the ABS pump fuse from under the hood binvanna and be done with it.

 

Yeah, I did that and compared the results. I don't get the amusement of the pump coming on occasionally and at the oddest times that don't make any sense like coming to a slow stop at a stop sign with dry pavement.

I did a lot of braking in the snow to compare the performance with and without. Just subjectively. I didn't bother to measure anything. Since the ABS doesn't really prevent wheel lock up it doesn't do horribly worse than non-ABS. The main difference is just whether I hear the pump going and whether the wheels occasionally make little quarter-turns on and off. If I do like an avoidance maneuver while standing on the brakes, the ABS should help. Alas, you better be thinking and driving for yourself, 'cause the Land Rover is clueless.

To be helpful to others, I hope the OP recognizes the value of working ABS on a D1 is only these little amusements and that you pay the mechanic accordingly.