Mods, yell at me if I missed it, I searched for days and didn't find anything.

For the second time in 13 years of ownership of my LR3 the right rear EPB locked up recently. The first time it happened I simply blamed the dealership, of which they took care of (no idea what the fix was). That was years ago, been fine before and since then. Keep in mind I now have 155K on it, so new rotors and pads each time. This time I did the brakes, new rotors and pads. Everything is simple, but I researched the crap out of this for the rears because of the EPB. Followed every procedure I could find, yet like the first time this happened years ago, its fine for 500 miles, then recently at highway speeds it seems to lockup. Not enough to create an accident, just what starts as a mild vibration that turns into a severe vibration within 60 seconds. If you wait longer you will have so much smoke out of the wheel that you will wish you had a fire extinguisher, as I wish I had the first time. Turned out fine, but in the moment...

So first time around I simply assumed the mechanic made a mistake, which is why I did a ton of research when I replaced them. Logic tells me that failure to properly adjust them at install should produce negative results soon after. Nothing logical explains only the right rear, but it's now happened twice. However, and like before, this around 500 miles after install. I'm not kind to my Rover, but I do take incredible care of it as some of you know based on previous posts by me.

Super frustrated, with a wife that used to daily drive this, and now she won't touch it. I've been the daily driver for the past 2 years, so I can't blame her.

 

Jack it up and check for wheel movement. Grip at the 12 and 6 position. If you get a little movement watch the upper control arm where it meets the frame to make sure its not the upper bushings. A failing hub bearing can cause weird stuff with the brakes in the back.

 

After all your research, did you follow Bodsy's Brake Bible?

 

That's exactly what I followed. I even checked again this last weekend, everything checks out. I've been carrying a high end infrared thermometer and taking measurements, both back brakes are consistent. I found some info on another forum from years ago about this issue, just seems rare. Today has been busy, but I'm friends with the dealership, both owner and the service team, I'll quiz them tomorrow. It's like a ghost decides to engage the right rear, which defies any and all logic.

 

So you did the bed in procedure too then?

 

Yes. What's odd is that without doing anything I can remove the rotor. The left side is always fine, zero brake dust because, well, one doesn't normally use the EPB unless sitting still, the right side on the other hand... When I stopped on this trip and let the brakes cool down, they were fine afterwards. I had zero tools with me in the moment, so I debated leaving the LR3 at the Denver airport and renting a car to return home. I have AAA and USAA, so towing is a non issue, sort of, as they both only cover so many miles.

So if some are a little bored and like a story I'll give it:

First time this happened I was quick to blame the mechanic at the dealership. I bought this LR3 new, and if memory is at all accurate it was brake job #3. I've always replaced rotors when pads worn down, cost be damned. With the Range Rover, Jaguar, and LR3 in the garage, I didn't blink at the cost, I simply paid the bill. My dealership spoils me, they will pick up my car, deliver it to the airport, pretty much anything I want. Nevertheless I assumed the tech did something wrong that time, and I was wrong. Now that I followed every detailed procedure and had the same thing happen I probably need to apologize to him for what I accused him of years ago.

I was around 500 miles after new brakes, had driven to Aspen and back, all was good. Again, I'm not kind, and I will not confirm or deny that my LR3 severely exceeds the speed limit. I did figure out that the LR3 lowers a little when you get above a certain speed, but that I don't think is relevant. I will say the LR3 is stable at higher speeds, and I will leave it at that.

So back to the brake issue. Logic dictates that if the tech or myself screwed up, driving a few hundred miles it should show signs of a sticking brake, in this case the EPB. How its fine afterwards with nothing done by me is a mystery I can't solve.

Both times involved trips to an airport, but the LR3 is my car to take to the airport and I fly more than I care to mention. My LR3 is sort of my best friend and I refuse to let it go now, if there is a fix, I'll pay it.

 

Well just keep in the back of your mind that the EPB is always active. It keeps a certain tension on the cables at all times and its monitored. I read about its operation in the manuals. Why is always "active", no clue. Seems like an odd design. You could have a faulty EPB motor module or this instances could be a one-off Rover fluke. I have a good electrical system but once and a while I get some weird random electrical "fault" that pops up.

 

The research made me numb, so much so that I'm taking a nice bike ride in the morning with my son and a weekend in Keystone as my mind is going crazy as to the cause. I'm insisting we take the LR3 this weekend, my wife isn't so thrilled... After the bike ride I'll run it up to Denver and back and see if it's fine tomorrow. Maybe keep the bike attached, just in case.

 

You can always disable it and see what happens. And you can manually disengage it too if it acts up.

 

Darn EPB did this again last night, thankfully I was within a few miles of home. Between events, I completely redid everything as shown, and had 1,500 trouble free miles that I put on the LR3. Intentionally have not once used the EPB during this time. Since this is only the 3rd time this has happened since new, the only common thing is that it happens at highway speed (75-85 mph). That doesn't matter in my opinion, as it doesn't explain all the highway time between events.

Back to last night: It disengaged after I pulled over, and at this point I just wanted to get home. A smoking brake is a problem on the highway at 2 am, so given past experience and with it no longer engaged I decided to continue home the last few miles.