On to a new issue.

We were in the process of finally trying to get the Rover registered in Oregon, and had a dragging brake issue in the rear. My wife drove the Rover for a few miles to make sure the temp stayed in range, and it did (good thing). She noticed the brakes were dragging in the rear, and seemed like the passenger side. As soon as she pulled in the driveway we had the three amigos come on.

The next week I replaced the rear rotors since they were toast, and the rear pads since there wasn't anything left on them. I also pulled the ABS sensors out, cleaned them off, and put them back in. Today we attempted to take it for another short drive, and couldn't get over 5 mph. When we gave it gas the TC light came on, and we couldn't go anywhere. I'll also add that when we started the Rover tonight the 3 amigos were gone, and I had no stored codes either. The brake fluid level is good, but I'm thinking I did something when I removed the rear ABS sensors. Any help would be greatly appreciated as we're trying to get this thing to the DMV this week!

Thanks,
Mike

 

I would check your rear wheel bearings.

Personally I would take off rear wheels, brakes, rotor, and even lift rear end off ground to where I can spin wheel bearings by hand & feel them without having any drag of brakes to verify they spinning silky smooth.

 

I would check whether the brake calipers are sticking. It is also possible that you didn't reinstall the ABS wheel speed sensors securely enough, but from the sound of things you're locking up at least one of the rear wheels.

 

Wheels bearings are fine.

I heard dragging on the passenger side before the brakes were done, and again after. I also noticed the passenger caliper took a bit more pressure to compress at first, and think that might be the culprit. This thing sat for nearly 2 years so I wouldn't be surprised is a caliper was stuck. I'm going to pull the ABS sensors tonight, and put them back in to see if they seat a little better.

Mike

 

Would have thought that if you were just had brakes apart you would have already been able to establish if piston was frozen, or guide pins seized...

 

Yeah, You don't mention if you pulled and inspected the caliper pins or the piston O rings. A stuck pin would do this.

 

I had mentioned in post 4 about the passenger side caliper. It was difficult to compress unlike the driver side caliper. The piston definitely wasn't frozen, but didn't want to move at first. The guide pins on both sides were moving just fine. I also pull them out, cleaned them, and reinstalled them with new grease on them. I know people can usually compress the pistons with a large pair a channel locks, but I used a c-clamp for this. It took bit to get them moving, and felt like there was some resistance. Definitely think I would have struggled trying to use a pair of channel locks.

I did not pull the caliper apart. I only pulled the guide pins, cleaned them up, and put them back in with new grease on them. But, they weren't seized before I cleaned them, and moved freely.

Mike

 

I did a bit more looking at calipers, and compressing the pistons. From what I'm seeing, the pistons should be moving quite a bit easier than how mine are moving. Like I said, I'm not surprised by this since this sat for almost 2 years in the Midwest before being shipped to us in the PNW where it's sat for an additional 8 months. I'm going to poke around at them tonight, and compare them the front or even our 4runner for comparison. I may just go ahead and order new caliper since they're on sale from Rovers North for a great price.

Mike

 

I put on the new calipers today, and bled through about a quart of fluid. We have brakes again, and no dragging. The three amigos came back along with the e-brake light, and code P1590.

At least we can drive it to get licensed tomorrow.

Mike

 

1590 is just a rough road code that you get when you have an ABS fault. Do you have something that can read ABS codes?