Hey everyone,

This forum helped to solve one issue with my LR3 a few years ago and I'm hoping it can do so again..

So for the past 3-ish years I've been battling an intermittent vibration at highway speeds (70+ mph) that starts in the rear. Sounds like I'm going over rumble strips, and the vibration isn't in the steering wheel. Starts pretty low but escalates quickly. When I brake during these episodes, there is dramatic vibration through the pedal similar to badly warped rotors.

First time it happened I pulled off the side of the road thinking I blew a tire, but everything was fine. Got back on the highway - no vibration. This pattern has repeated itself intermittently many, many times since, each time resolved by coming to a complete stop. Every shop I have described the issue to has had no clue as to what could be causing it.

Last year the vibration started at a much lower speed and no amount of coming to a complete stop would eliminate it. By the time I got home, my rear passenger wheel was smoking. The next morning, I limped it into the service shop where they had no idea what happened but chalked it up to a locked caliper, and did a full replacement of the rear brakes (calipers, rotors, pads). This was the second "locked caliper" brake job, the first from a different shop.

Afterwards, I still had intermittent issues but went long periods with none (months). Past few days I have again been unable to shake the shimmy and my internet sleuthing has turned up that this is a recurring problem with the emergency parking brake. I've discovered TSB-00079 but haven't found a place to view it in full, but I'm suspecting that the shop that took me for a ride last year didn't do the proper bedding procedure on the new shoes.

This time I thankfully have a very reputable shop that services my LR3, but I need help on the permanent fix for this issue. From the threads I've found around various forums, I've seen the fix be to anywhere from doing the embedding procedure exactly as detailed in TSB-00079 to replacing the EPB actuator and assembly.

I don't have any noise specifically from the back normally (I do have a slight whine from underneath) and no screeching when engaging the EPB.

Any information or expertise in this area is much, much appreciated. I love my LR3 but this has been a costly mystery. I was so relieved to find other people describe my symptoms exactly but the responses vary wildly on the fix.

 

The service bulletin isn't very helpful in that it only states that noises, evidence of heat and a few EPB fault codes may be caused by failing or improperly adjusted park brake shoes. It doesn't give the instructions on how to adjust them, for that you need to reference service information.
But your symptoms do sound like they may be adjusted too tight. I suspect they are dragging and getting hot, and when hot, expand and drag even more giving you the smoke, noise and vibration. When slowing, they cool and slightly contract starting the cycle over again. Just a guess though, hard to diagnose this stuff over the internet.

 

I had this same problem. I replaced the EPB shoes on both sides and properly adjusted them, and have had zero issues since. If you are going to DIY, do a google search for Bodsy's Brake Bible, it told me everything I needed to know.

 

I had vibrations caused by the parking brake, but in my case it was because the shoe's braking compound had parted company from the shoes on one side.

As the previous poster above said Bodsy's Brake Bible is a 'must read'.

 

Thanks all for the replies. I don't have the tools or space to do them myself, but I wanted to grab as much information as possible to give to my mechanic. I will definitely link them the Bible with the embedding procedure in it. They deal with a number of Rovers there but I can't imagine they've come across this specific issue before. Thank you LR Techniker for letting me know the TSB doesn't exactly address this issue.

I'll be taking her in tomorrow to have the damage assessed. I just hope it's not as bad as I am fearing.

 

Yeah, the bulletin just points you in the direction that you were already headed.

 

Well my mechanic was able to replicate it ("don't know how you're driving this thing") and says I have a bit of glazing on the pads and the rotors are somewhat blue from all the heat this is causing. However, he's going to take everything off, clean it up, and install it again, this time using the correct adjustment and embedding procedures and we'll see how it goes.

If it does happen again, we'll replace pads and rotors, still with the correct adjustment/embedding, but he won't charge me labor a second time if that happens. He knows I was charged an arm and a leg for this last year and is trying to salvage what he can.

Fingers crossed.

 

Well it's not good. The mechanic took everything off, then re-installed using techbook procedures and it's still occurring. The only guesstimate he has to remedy it is to replace the EPB module which will be $1500, and that's just the cost for the part.

Has anyone else had this resolve this type of issue? I've seen other threads on other forums say this was part of the fix, and others that said even with the EPB module replaced, it still recurred. It's an '06 with 175,000 miles on it, and $1500 is on top of the $550 I spent a few weeks ago on a leaking hose from the heater coil which apparently is only accessible through the console.

All advice welcome!

 

If you think it is the Park Brake, try unplugging the EPB and then drive it. If it continues, I would leave it unplugged, but loosen the brake shoes and drive it again, just to make sure the shoes aren't dragging.
If unplugging it does make it go away, before replacing it, I would check it for software updates (can't remember if this chassis has a re-programmable EPB) and at least re-calibrate it (requires diagnostic tool).

 

I relayed this to my mechanic but he said it won't start with the EPB unplugged.

And now the issue is occurring at even lower speeds, 30-50 mph and my rear left has shredded the pad on the latest test drive.

I am beyond frustrated. It seems the EPB software update is dealer-only (his 3rd party software guy couldn't get access to it) and I don't know if the software update I have is the most recent or not. I'm loathe to take it to the LR dealership that is closest to this shop because the one issue I took it to them for, they failed to diagnose, quoted me $6000 in other repairs, and stamped "Do not drive" on their write-up. That was 100,000 miles ago, and the original question I got assistance with from this very forum (which was bang on, btw).