Good Day All,

Ive just purchased a 1998 Discovery with 200,000 miles. It does stop but the pedal goes to the floor. I was told by the person that I purchased the vehicle from that it needed a brake booster. I thought that the pedal would be harder if the booster was out. The brake fluid is not leaking. Or, it did not leak in the 5 miles that it took me to get home and after sitting for two days. There is vacuum at the booster hose. The ABS light is on. I have a P1193 Vac code. Sorry if im not explaining things well. I usually work on aircooled vw's. All help and Ideas are appreciated.

 

Have you bled the brakes yet??

 

First of all, an 1193 is a oxygen sensor heater circuit open downstream.
As for the brakes, two things can be causing this, your old rubber brake lines are balloning out and old fluid, I would change both the hoses and do a full bleed.

 

Yup, start with a full brake fluid change.

 

Ill inspect the brake lines and let you guys know if that works. Then maybe ill need more advise. I've put some pictures below. $850 doesn't seem like a ad deal. There are a bunch of problems but I think the cars worth $850 in parts. I hope I can get it up to speed.

 

All four brake hoses look fine. No ballooning of any sort. Should I do a complete fluid change first and a hose change if that doesn't work? Or, should I change all the hoses and do a full fluid change? Thanks again.

 

Does the pedal go to the floor with the engine off? Does it go to the floor as soon as you start driving with cold brakes, or does it go to the floor after driving for a while? Once the pedal goes to the floor, if you pump the brakes will it bring the pedal back up? It's highly unlikely a fluid flush will correct your problem.

 

The brake hoses don't visibly balloon. What happens is that over the years the rubber swells internally (making the ID smaller). When you apply the brakes, instead of operating the caliper pistons the pressure just compresses the flex line inside and makes the ID larger again. Let off the brakes and it goes back.

And easy way to help isolate the problem is to clamp off the flex lines. Use needle nose molegrips (vice-grips) with bits of steel pipe slipped over the nose. Clamp one on each flex line (so you'll need 4) and test your pedal. If it's hard, then the MC is good. If it's mushy still, then you have a problem upstream of the flex lines, most likely lots of air in the system, or a bad MC.

It would be a good idea to do a complete brake system flush.

 

So it looks like almost everyone agrees on the flush so I'll try that and clamping the brake hoses. If the Master cylinder were bad wouldn't there be a leak of some sort?

 

No master cylinders dont always leak when they go bad, they can leak or not build/hold PSI.
LR recommends a complete brake fuild change every 24 months or 24,000 miles, whichever is sooner.
I am betting that your truck has the original brake fluid.
It is a cheap place for you to start, 3 qts of DOT 4 brake fluid.