I'm trying to replace the rear brakes and rotors on my 2011 Range Rover Sport. I've got everything disconnected besides having to poke around in that little hole in the rotors to disconnect the parking brake. The instructions I'm following say I need to rotate the hole to about 11 o'clock in order to do that. Well the rotors won't budge, so I figure it's because the car is still in park (I should have put it in neutral to start with but messed up there). So get in and need to put my foot on the brake to get the car started so I can change to neutral. Put it in neutral, stop the car, and the parking brake automatically comes on. So I press the brakes again plus the parking brake release and hear a clank sound. The piston fell out of the brake caliper and leaked a small puddle of brake fluid on the ground. And the rotor still won't turn either.

1. What the heck do I need to do so that I can get the rotor to turn? It seems like when I put it in neutral, the parking brake turns on whenever I stop the car (I can't work on this while the car is running). And leaving it in park, I can only move the rotor a maybe 1/8 turn either way.

2. Any tips on how to fix the piston that fell out?

I've done a few brake jobs in my life but this is the first time I've done a Range Rover. Was going really smooth until that rotor wouldn't turn and then everything went to heck. In hind sight I shouldn't have touched the brakes but I also didn't know how to get it into neutral or disable the parking brake without doing so.

 

I have never had that problem and I just did the brakes on a 12' sport recently.

you need a diagnostic tool that will allow you to put the parking brake in service mode, we use Autologic. Although I did t need to when I did the brakes it seams there is some preference turned on in your settings that engages the brake when engine is turned off.

As for the piston, however you get it back in, you will then need to bleed the brakes.

good luck

 

I might just end up taking it somewhere. I don't have the diagnostic tool to do that and I also discovered that my jack isn't big enough to lift both rear wheels at once, can only do one at a time (I was thinking because it wasn't a solid axle that I could turn the rear wheels independent of each other but that appears not to be the case). Now that I'm getting into having to rent tools, I might just save the hassle and take it someplace instead

 

If you unbolt the rear driveshaft from either the differential or the transfer case then you should be able to turn the wheels independently.
You could also pick up some axle stands from Harbor Freight for not much money. Very handy if you plan on doing any work on your truck in the future -- shouldn't really rely solely on a jack.

 

Different parking brake set up so that won't work on the newer trucks

 

I thought the OP was disconnecting the parking brake.

 

He's trying but needs to rotate the wheels to do it