You found your problem.. Unless you are very mechanically inclined use the replacement master cylinder as suggested by Best.

 

Your fluid goes down in the reservior as the brake pads wear, too. So, it may not have a leak...just the pads are wearing down from normal or abusive driving. It is normal to have to add/check brake fluid during the lifetime of a brake pad. So, with that being said...just keep an eye on the fluid level from here on out, and in the near future...check the conditions of your brake pads and rotors. Also, if you have a nice stiff pedal, no drop after applying (no dropping to the floor while holding pressure for length of time), no seepage below master cylinder and good stopping sensation...l'd say the reservior and master cylinder are probably fine. Yes, they can leak internally, past o-rings...but you usually get a weak pedal or sometimes have to pump the pedal to get a good stiff pedal.

Also, cracks me up that you let your son go rock crawling with a brake fault light going off on dash...must not like the kid much...lol.

Brian.

 

Not rock crawling, rock climbing -- just drove the D2 out to his favorite climbing area.

The pedal does seem to be a little soft and my take a pump or two to stiffen up, but can't check right now as I am out-of-town at the moment.

I recall that if you crack open the abs system,you need to reprogram it (the abs system), but I am guessing that if I just replace the master cylinder, then I'll only need to bleed it the same way as if I had removed a caliper and will not need any regrogramming. Am I right?

 

 

Who would want to climb rocks by hand...when you have a rover available...lol.

Yeah, sounds like you may have a bad master cylinder if brakes are soft and need pumping.

Brian.

 

The RAVE says to bleed in the order RF, LF, RR, LR (page 70-31). Has the collected wisdom of this forum amended that?

 

 

I don't refer to the RAVE every time either, but this is the first time I've ever worked on a vehicle with ABS so I tend to follow others' recommendations when dealing with those systems. I was just wondering if you had any specific reason for doing it in the order that you do. (I would normally go furthest-closest myself but since the RAVE method doesn't go closest-furthest I figured there must be something behind its specific order.)
I just ordered a replacement master cylinder unit based on the recommendations of this forum (particularly this thread) so I will be bleeding in the near future.

 

I agree with Best4X4. I've been a mechanic for forty some years, yes...this makes me older than dirt. But, in all bleeding situations l've read, used or observed...you always start in the farthest bleeder from master cylinder and work to the closest. Why LR does it opposite...l have no clue. However, l have no clue why they have a heater control that has to go back to the lowest setting from the highest (instead of just going back to the next lower setting), or why your fingers have to play "twister" while trying to close all four windows at once, or why you can't decelerate the cruise control, or why they made the drivers compartment for midgets, or why they etc, etc...

Anyhow...

​​​​​​​ Brian.

 

The reason LR is advising it is "if" say you had the WABCO unit out you could get air trapped in all four lines directly at the WABCO unit and it's a "possibility" that you could just push air around inside the system if you don't bleed it from the wheel which has the shortest line to the WABCO unit. This makes sense, but at the same time it doesn't. You don't normally bleed a D2 manually anyways for the best results. With a T4 or equivalent LR scantool (or my backwoods jumper wire/switch at the ABS relay) you'd purge the WABCO unit first, then power bleed each wheel so with that being said air trapped inside the WABCO unit shouldn't happen anyways.

I normally end up doing brake jobs on LR's that haven't seen a brake fluid flush in a very long time so the fluid is brown vs almost clear, so whenever I'm bleeding I push a lot of fluid thru the lines until it runs clear. I've always done RR, LR, RF, LF on a D2 and the pedal comes back nice and firm and the LR stops great. I've also in the past done a single power bleed then take it for a spin, find a hill and enable HDC just for kicks, and then go back and bleed it again, but lately I've just used either my Nanocom or my old faithful backup the wire & switch. I had one D2 that always came back with a nasty pedal. I probably bled it 3-4 times until I tracked it down to a vacuum leak on the booster line at the intake manifold. After I fixed that I had a nice solid pedal.

Whenever I do a MC replacement I think the key is to bleed it above the WABCO unit itself via the two main lines. I've seen some people just slap a MC on, add fluid and then power bleed it or bleed it manually and they always complain about a spongy pedal after bleeding and that to me is introducing a lot of air into the system.