Hi Everyone

I do have a question on brakes for my 99 Disco. While it seems the rotors and brake pads are in top notch shape, the brakes still feel spongy. The brake fluid is also fine. I am wondering if there could be a blockage to the brakes that is causing them not to firm up a bit. I do know that the Disco's brakes on the 2003 are quite improved. If anywone has some thoughts on this, it would be great. I will have my buddy check it out as well but maybe good to get a start here.

Secondly, Ithink one of the ACE lines has a small leak. Its losing fluid very slowly as I already purchased the LR approved fluid for this toping off the well as needed. I will get this checked as well. I red in the Land Rover Internet Site area on the ACE its quite sensitive and to even repalce one of the lines with a two piece vs one piece line you can run int to trouble. Has anyone experienced this and what was the result. Once again, I will check with a LR tech on this but I was curious.

Takeo's link to that site was totally helpful as its a great read. Finally, I saw a posting where one of the tire rods had an exposed rod unattached with a hole it it? I too thought part of the linkage was missing until I read a post on it here mentioning that its for setting the steering linkage to a right vs left hand sided whell. That was a big relief!

Here's to many more postings...Love the car, absolutely love it.

Best
Charlie

 

Hey Charlie,

The only long term fix for your spongy brake pedal is to update your front calipers to 03' calipers. They have been redesigned specifically for this reason. You can bleed them and get the pedal higher. But they will eventually degrade back to spongy. It gets into the engineering of the caliper seals.

As far as your ACE leaks. There are two recalls on this. Do you know if they have been done ? If you want BM me your VIN # and I can check for you.

 

Hey Bait

Well, I just found out I bought a car that had an extended warranty though a non-LR dealer. In fac,t this warranty is non transferable so thats a bummer. Also on the recall, its for a valve cover modulator which is a 30 second job to fix. So, thanks for checking but I think I already have my answer. As the discharge from ACE line is really light my buddy at LR said drive it a bit since the engine has been "cleaned" prior to sale so this may have jarred the line. It may stop with some additional miles put on the car.

Finally, for the brakes, using the 2003 calipers is a great idea. The real issue is they are super expensive to do. I will have him run a disagnostic and bleed the breaks to see if this reduces the sponginess.

Anyhow, thanks again for your help.

Best
Charlie

 

I am glad I'm not the only one who feels the brake pedal drops down too low. I've had my 2001 Discovery SE for about a week and thought it just might be me getting used to the brake pedal travel or nature of the beast. I think that I will ask the local dealer to check it out and possibly bleed the system also.

 

One thing you can do if you don't want to spend the $ on 03' front calipers is to double hit the pedal. Press the brake pedal partially then release. Then press again. You will notice the pedal is much firmer on the second application. Try it you will see what I mean. If you get into the habit of doing this, you will get A firmer pedal.

The reason is in the design of the caliper. Don't want to bore you with the details.

 

Hey Bait

I will try your idea on the double hit of the brakes to raise the pedal.

Hey Jupiter, let me know if you bring it in to the shop. I am curious what is all about.

I think I will have the brake fluid changed as well since the LR has 57 K. I am sure it was not changed as I bought it used several weeks ago.

Thanks
Charlie