Brakes sometimes stop working, ABS not working, but ABS dashboard light is off.
 

Hi!

I have several problems whith the brakes in my 94 Disco 3.9

My brakes work most of the time, but they start failing when I go to a road where I need to use the breakes more often than a plain/flat road. I live in Guatemala, and we have a lot of hills here, so.. we need to use brakes more often. The roads are not so heavy, the problem does not happen only in offroad conditions, and for example, I had problems with my brakes in the Disco in roads where I have never had a break heating problem with my other car, a Mazda Protege.

I have worked around this problem shifting gears to 3, 2, or 1, depending on the downhill angle and speed, and sometimes I had to use low range. I do this in order to prevent brake heating, and have brakes available if I really need to stop the car. I think it is not a normal situation.

This weekend, ABS stopped working. I went offroad, started testing the brakes, and noticed that only the front driver side wheel locks when I press hard the brakes. I did not felt the ABS working in the pedal, and also I did not hear the ABS system working when I was braking. The ABS light in the dash panel is not turned on.

Is it possible that only 1 of all the wheel is braking and that is causing a brake overheating? Anyone had a similar problem? Anyone has an advice?

Thanks!!!

RE: Brakes sometimes stop working, ABS not working, but ABS dashboard light is off.
 

Yes it is possible that you have a frozen brake caliper.
It is also possible that your ABS modulator went out.
Pull the fuse to the ABS and see what happens.
If there is no change then replace the fuse and look for a bad brake caliper(s)

RE: Brakes sometimes stop working, ABS not working, but ABS dashboard light is off.
 

Check and/or replace the brake fluid too.