I have a 95 Disco I with ~135k on her. The Anti-Lock light is constantly on and the breaks seem to function properly and I have no complaints. However, from time to time when starting the vehicle that same light will not be on; in these instances the breaks are terrible, very soft when applying pressure and accompanied by a deep gurgle type sound as the pedal descends to the floor. You almost have to stand on the pedal to get the truck slowed. If I simply stop, kill the ignition, and start again, the anti-lock light will usually come on and there will be no further trouble at all. Looking for advice as how to best handle this. New Rover man so I am a little in the dark. Thanks

 

You have a bad abs sensor.

 

To make sure, you should have a mechanic with a good scanner read and verify the actual problem, don't guess.

 

On DI's the ABS light is supposed to come on when you start the truck and then shut off when you hit 5 mph and stay off until the next time you start the truck.
You have a fault that you need looked at before you crash and die.
Flush the brake fluid and have the master cylinder looked at, it might be going bad. But you need to get this looked at.
When the ABS pump goes bad I say just pull the fuse and dont have ABS, its to expensive to repair. But you have something else going on.

 

Okay, I'm still a little new here, so I am trying to learn members' personalities and when they are sarcastic or serious. Not that I want to, but is that true about pulling the fuse for the ABS and simply just not having ABS anymore? If so, does that cause the four-wheel drive system to not function properly, since the computer uses the brakes to simulate traction when needed on a slipping wheel?

 

Ok, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but do you know how a 4x4 works? The ABS has nothing to do with the drive line on a LR. It does on all wheel drive cars, but not full time four wheel drives. By disabling the ABS the only thing that it will do is disable the ABS.
Now because you have a DII it will also disable your HDC and TC. But the four wheel drive will still work as it was designed to.
Simply put the transfer case sends power to the front and rear axle at all times.Because of pyshics the power goes to the wheel with the least resistance. So a wheel in the air will just spin. What the TC does is by using the wheel speed senors for the ABS senses that one wheel is spinning faster then the other on the same axle so it applies the brake to the spinning wheel. By stopping that wheel from spinning physics takes over and the power transfers to the other wheel because it has the least resistance.
Does that make sense?
Without ABS your 4x4 will work as normal. I have a DI (which didnt come with TC) with no ABSbecause I pulled the fuse.
I have yet to get stuck. Although I do have the CDL.
Even without CDL or TC you still have the most capable 4x4 in the world.