Was driving home from a ski trip today, and a little ways in the brakes felt a bit spongy. If I jabbed them, they were OK. When I came to a stop though and had my foot on the brake, it would sink down lower. A short time later, the brake light came on so I knew I was losing fluid somewhere, but not at a fast rate. I stopped, and inspected the reservoir, each caliper and the lines as best I could. We had 7" of snow there last night, so it was a slushy mess. I could tell it wasn't from the reservoir or calipers at least. I had another 200 miles home, so picked up fluid at the store and topped it off. Another 150 miles later, the light came on again (was in lots of stop and go traffic). Topped it off again.
Just got home, and looked under. I did a bunch of long hard stops just before my house to try and see any fresh fluid. It looks like the leak is on the driver's side rear wheel. It doesn't appear to be on the caliper, but somewhere maybe 6-12" in from there. There is fluid on the exhaust pipe and the general area in front of the spare.
Any thoughts? I'm hoping there is a usual suspect here, but didn't see much in the search. I might just have it flatbedded to the dealer, but would like to hear from all of you first. I'm a DIY type guy, but also don't want to mess too much with a delicate system like the brakes on this rig. Thanks in advance for any ideas or things to look for.

 

It might be difficult to figure out exactly where it's coming from because that stuff can probably shoot out with quite some force if the leak is big enough. Really though, the system is mostly comprised of hard pipe that takes the fluid from the reservoir and ABS controller under the hood to the rear of the vehicle. From there, it changes over to flexible hose for the last couple of feet so that the caliper and move with the wheel/suspension.

If I were you, I would check all along the flexible pipe at each rear wheel. I would focus on the point where it connects to the hard pipe and the caliper, but I would definitely look all along the rubber. I would also check the bleed valve at each caliper. Those can also go bad. Interestingly enough, LR is the only company I've ever seen that recommends replacing your brake hoses at regular intervals.

 

I dropped it off at the dealer today. With a big storm possible the end of the week I wanted it looked at. I'm thinking it was a hole in the flexible hose somehow of the connection. I didn't see anything on the caliper at all. I'm actually thinking this is related to another issue. Every so often, after warming up highway trips, I would get a vibration between like 70 and 80 MPH. It would last a few minutes, then go away and not come back during that trip. I figured out it wasn't driveline related, tires, etc. I'm thinking it was possibly something with the rear brake on that side. I never saw anything to prove it, but figured maybe it was a pad or something odd like that dragging. I'm thinking now that maybe if that was the case, the heat build up could have caused an issue... boiled the fluid, etc.
It is in the capable hands of the LR dealership now... which I don't like to do but my neighbor is a tech there and I know it is in good hands.

 

There's a hard/hard pipe joint on the control arm, then there would be another hard/flex joint at the pivot point, then a flex/hard joint again on the chassis. Sounds like one of those is your leak point. It shouldn't be too hard to diagnose, but if you're working in the driveway in the snow I can understand why you took it to the dealer. Hopefully it won't cost too much to sort.

 

I do have a garage, but still laying on my back on the cold cement having brake fluid drip down on my face wasn't all that pleasant of a thought! Honestly, this week it was just a time issue. No time to mess with it, and with a big snowstorm looming I wanted to get the truck sorted ASAP. Hopefully will have to get to the slopes Friday and Saturday :-) We will see how it goes. Knowing folks there helps out... and get to drive a brand new Discovery Sport while it is being worked on.

 

The biggest problem I have with dealerships is not the cost (although it's usually astronomical). The biggest problem is that I never want to pick my car up and hear the laundry list of other crap that they think is wrong it. If I fixed even half the stuff that they suggest usually, it would be more economical to buy a new car every few years. :P

 

So just an update... as they said this is fairly unusual... the brake line rotted and got a hole in it. Sounds like a pain to change... dropping some heat shields and exhaust a bit. But, they make a kit for it so at least they don't have to replace it all the way to the front of the truck.

 

Is this one of the brake lines that were supposed to be changed in year 8 per the scheduled maintenance? If so, LR's estimate for needed-change-date was pretty good.

 

You mean, the flexible rubber hose rotted out on the back ? There are four flex hoses there , two for each wheel.

 

No, from what I understand it is the hard lines. They are replacing both rear brake lines, and the exhaust needs to be dropped and some heat shields and stuff need to come off. When I inspected, I didn't see any issues with the flexible lines.