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-   -   Severe Braking Problem (https://landroverforums.com/forum/discovery-i-39/severe-braking-problem-43765/)

Chris-bob Sep 16, 2011 11:10 AM

It's definitely a faulty Flux Capacitor...

Danny Lee 97 Disco Sep 16, 2011 01:23 PM

I agree with Tom completely. When I first bought my DI, the small lot I got it from thru in a "free'" warranty. I took it to the local dealer Bobby Rahal (the famed Jaguar race car driver from the 50's). They honored that warranty, telling me the ABS problem was due to a faulty ABS ECU which the warranty covered. They replaced that and within a week the problem was back. When you applied the brake, the system pulsated and you had no brakes at all!

Pulled the ABS fuse and no more faulty ABS actuation. Light is permanently on.

You need to get that dirty fluid out of there, it should be transparent, not black. Those are suspended particles, the darker the fliud, the more particles that are in suspension. Use a turkey baster to suck out the reservoir, drain all the old fluid from the calipers.

On mine, corrosion was a major problem. The rear calipers were so bad they were beyond hope. I bought the ProLine from Rovers North along with their rotor and pad kits which were about 100 bucks per axle for rotors and pads.

If your brake lines to each wheel are bad, replacing them with the braided steel ones for extended lifts will help a lot as they will not ballon like the rubber ones do, giving you much better brake response.

The wheel bearings are located within the hubs which you will be pulling if you do replace the rotors, so it is a good time to address them as well.

Have fun with it.

Spike555 Sep 16, 2011 07:41 PM


Originally Posted by antichrist (Post 268183)
The problem with the D1 ABS is it's an utterly asinine design. It can/will fail without warning and leave with no brakes at all.
I well designed system would only allow failures that result in no ABS, not no brakes.
Personally I consider always having functional brakes more important than occasionally functional ABS.

x1,000

I have not had ABS for almost 4 years and I do not regret that at all, even in the winter with 4ft of fresh snow covering ice.
My wife almost rear ended a school bus because the ABS did its DI funky no you ain't gonna stop on a dry road doing 30mph thing, ABS pump fuse was pulled after I got home and I will not go back.

And using the parking brake to stop you on a Disco is a bad idea, some have shattered (sha dooby) their transfer case doing this.

DiscoBlanco Sep 17, 2011 02:50 PM

*** UPDATE ***

I borrowed my friends oil-sucker-outer and got some bleeder hose. Also enlisted the help of my 17 y/o to do some brake pedal pumping and I bled ALL the brake lines. I went through TWO large bottles of fluid before everything ran clean with no bubbles.

The fluid was a nasty copper/brown color and the right passenger side had a significant amount of air in the line before fluid came out.

Observation --- I took it for a test drive and the pedal is still a little spongy. I got it up to 40 mph and I could NOT lock up the wheels. It would kind of coast to a stop. Perhaps I am used to BMW brakes, but this thing just seems hard to stop for me. Is this normal?

Also upon inspection, the rubber brake lines seem to be in pretty good shape. I also removed the ABS pump fuse. It was that odd looking 40 amp fuse that was bolted down.

Master Cylinder time?

DiscoBlanco Sep 17, 2011 04:53 PM

BLAST!!!!!!!!

I went to sears and picked up a set of bad-ass "Multi Socket" in SAE and Metric in 3/8 drive. It's to darn big to fit into that little slot!!!! I MUST have a 12pt, 8MM socket 1/4 drive and it cannot be found!!!!! Upon further inspection, the job looks more involved that I thought.... It looks like I need to remove the plenum and throttle body to get to the inside drivers side bolts. And wouldnt you know it..... I think these are the ones giving me the most trouble.

Nontheless, I sprayed some "gunk" in there and cleaned it up. I gotta run, but I will post photos of my nasty engine compartment later....

Spike555 Sep 17, 2011 05:06 PM

Yes it MUST be a 12 point 8mm socket.
My Sears had one in stock, however they can order one for you or you can stop a Snap-On truck, he will have one.
No need to mess with the bolts on the inside (top) of the valve covers, they will not leak unless you have a severe sludge problem and oil is pooling in the heads.
Who was that guy? Newton? Gravity and all, everything runs down hill...

Danny Lee 97 Disco Sep 17, 2011 05:28 PM

I was able to get the 3/8 drive 12point deep socket from NAPA to work on mine, it is necked down enough to fit, you just have to be careful aligning it with the bolt head.

I snugged both the inside and outside ones. Use a good light and move some things around a bit and you can get on them.

That Multi-socket looks like a dog-bone to me, I avoid that junk.

The SNAP-ON or Cornwell Truck sounds like the way to go. The SEARS here was worthless.

Danny Lee 97 Disco Sep 17, 2011 05:30 PM

It was that odd looking 40 amp fuse that was bolted down.

I don't think that is the correct fuse is it SPIKE?




lordmorpheus Sep 17, 2011 06:50 PM

I just use the box end of an 8mm combination wrench to snug the outer bolts on mine. No sense looking all over God's green earth for a socket when you are only going to turn the bolt maybe 1/2 - 3/4 turn (if they are VERY loose)...

Spike555 Sep 17, 2011 07:44 PM


Originally Posted by Danny Lee 97 Disco (Post 268442)
It was that odd looking 40 amp fuse that was bolted down.

I don't think that is the correct fuse is it SPIKE?




Yes that is the correct one, depending on the model year, the 1994-1995 model years used that type of fuse, late '96 used a standard type of fuse.
His is a '96 but keep in mind that its the production date not the model year that matters.


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