Saturday morning I woke up to find a flat rear passenger tire on my disco. Yesterday I broke out the high lift and the wheel chalks to fix the leak. That was quickly accomplished with a plug kit and some air.

Then I went to put the wheel back on and noticed there was a fair amount of play. This told me two things:

1. my ebrake definitely doesn't work
2. I might have a problem with the rear diff

So my question for everyone is, is it normal to have play with the ebrake off?

Possibly related to this; when I was wheeling a couple weeks I noticed that a light in the shape of a drivetrain flashing on the dash when the CDL was locked, both high and low. It doesn't come on when unlocked. Is that a problem and can it be related?

Thanks!

 

The drive train light means the cdl is locked, it stays on solid, if its blinking I don't know what that means. Even if the ebrake works you could still have play in the rear diff.

 

When you have the rear wheel jacked up off the ground, the only way to keep the wheel from turning is to set the PARKING BRAKE. There is no E Brake on a Discovery. It is a parking brake. It locks the driveshaft.

You have an open differential as all Discoveries do. It is normal for a wheel that is off the ground to move with the type of differntials that we have. Without the CDL locked, the wheel with the least reiitance is going to move, that being the one that is off the ground.

Look at the tech section and go to the UTube videos that explain "How A Open Diff Works"

As far as the CDL light Flashing: the CDL light is controlled by the CDL Switch inside the center diff. When the center diff is locked (CDL engaged) the yoke inside the center diff that actually locks it also depresses a plunger on said switch which applies the ground and lights the dash indicator lamp.

If it was flashing, either it was not fully engaged or you have an issue in that circuit. I had to replace that switch in mine as well as free up a corroded linkage by basically rebuilding it. That is how I learned so much about the CDL function and how it all works.

Time to do some searching and some reading.

 

As always, you're a wealth of knowledge, Danny.

First, I know it's a parking brake, I've just always called it an e-brake, wrong though it may be.

Your explanation makes total sense, and had I thought through better I probably would have deduced it. I'm paranoid about the repair of my Disco so I'm in the habit of expecting the worst. Like with the CDL light...

It makes total sense that the switch is probably out of skew, and that really puts my mind at ease. I was afraid it meant something catastrophic. I'll pull it out on Sunday if I can find the time and take a look see.

Thanks again!

 

I prefer to call my parking brake an oh **** brake

 

I know most people are accustomed to calling it an E-Brake. I remember one idiot who was relying upon it when he scrwed up his front brake.

Myself, I would rather take my chances without brakes than use it in an emergency.

I was merely pointing out that our Discoveries are quite different than the things that most of us are familar with. I recall the first time I had my back wheel jacked off the ground and was puzzled as to why it turned so freely. Then I learned what "OPEN DIFFERENTIAL" means. Just trying to be helpful as I age gracefully.