Hey guys,
I've got a 2001 Discovery II. Has had good brakes, all new about a year ago or so.
Out of the blue last week, my brakes just felt super spongy and weak.
My e-brake light had flipped on for no apparent reason about a month or so prior to this, and I wasn't sure why, but e-brake still worked fine, and brakes were fine.
Then last week, just this one day, it was like the firmness and stopping power was almost gone.
Pumping them would sort of build some pressure in the pedal for a second, but then when it came to actually stopping at a stop sign or something, it would just squish back down and I'd really have to push the pedal down like twice as far as normal, and the stopping power was terrible.
I checked the brake fluid, it was a bit low, so I topped it off with some Dot 4, and the e-brake light went off in the dash, but the brakes were still squishy and lousy.
Today, I was driving and tried to stop at a stop, going about 15mph, and the brakes just sort of locked up and literally wouldn't really stop the vehicle - it just sort of skidded a little, and felt like maybe the pads or calipers just weren't getting any grip at all. It was like 2 out of 10 on a scale of 1-10 stopping power. Typically it's been like a solid 8.5 or 9 all the time.

I've read that maybe I need to bleed the brakes, or replace the master cylinder seal?

Any advice? I really can't afford to take it in someplace and have them charge me a fortune - but I'm obviously parking it until I can get it resolved.

Thanks for any help! Much appreciated.

 

Bleed the brakes first.
If the fluid was low, you likely have a leak.
There are several ways to bleed Disco brakes.
Mechanically, it's about the same as any vehicle, but a couples ways to get around needing an ob2 code reader for the abs.
If you have no fluid leaks, then possibly a vacuum leak, or a failing brake booster.

 

Hey Sixpack577, Thanks! I will hunt for leaks, then do some research on the ob2 reader thing you mention, and give it a shot.

 

If you're at a stop light, does your pedal slowly drop to the floor? Did you recently do a panic stop which activated the ABS? The drop in fluid could be from the latter finally being used causing the system to move fluid into places where there may not have been fluid before. That happens when the brakes were improperly bled.

I would try to re bleed, but if you're experiencing the symptoms of my first question, then you'll need to replace the master cylinder.

 

Hey Twix,
Thanks a lot.
This is helpful.
I tried bleeding them last night based on sixpack577's recommendations, and it actually really helped.
Now - I get better breaking - but they're still a bit squishy -- but then if I pump them even just once, they're back to normal and super solid breaking again.
If I break really slowly and just sort of keep slowly pushing the pedal, it'll still slowly drain down pretty far down -- but then it still grabs and breaks reasonably well --- were as the other day, it was just not even hardly breaking at all, and the vehicle would just sort of keep moving / skidding.

So it sounds like maybe I still have some bubbles in there that need to be bled better, right? The fact that I'm getting super great breaking power when I pump them once quickly seems like maybe there's hope that I won't have to do some major repair or master cylinder job...

Thanks for your help!

 

It may be the master cylinder then.
If it is, don't worry.
They aren't expensive or hard to replace.
2 nuts and washers and 2 brake lines to disconnect.
Bench bleed and install the new one, and bleed all 4 calipers. You also need to trigger the abs when bleeding the brakes.

 

I replaced brake pads and master cylinder on my '96 Disco to no avail. Then I read on another thread to disable the 40 amp ABS fuse and, viola, fixed.

Thanks for helping a clueless Yank, you limey gear-heads!