I finally did my first DIY oil change! Bought some Rotella T6 and a good K&N oil filter. It wasnt too bad. Also cleaned out the K&N air filter. My 08 is a happy girl!

 

Today I had JC's British fix my parking brake. After hitting a pot hole my parking brake decided to activate at 80 mph. VERY SCARY! But its fixed now and happy.

 

Did you hit the pothole WHILE GOING 80 MPH? I hope not...

 

The parking brake activating at 80 mph is interesting.

I would think the rear pair of brake drums may have warmed up a bit and the shoes, well, they now should have gone for a walk.

In theory, one can safely activate the parking brake at speed as it is supposed to be a final solution should one find the four disc brakes have failed.

Yes, final solution - I would like to hear more, particularly about the state of the shoes and perhaps ones "intimates".

I will let others test the theory and will not be something I do to my 3 today.

 

Thankfully I didnt hit the pothole at 80. it was probably about 30mph but it was a monster pothole. Here is the short story of this horrible pothole odyssey.

I hit the surface street giant pot hole at about 30 mph 3 blocks from the house. It blew the tire but I made it home. Went to change tire to the full size spare but the factory kit had the wrong size wrench so no go on changing the tire. Im moving and all of my tools were 400 miles away. AAA comes and changes the tire to the spare.

It didnt occur to me to have the spare balanced before driving the 400 miles to get my stuff including my tools. The 400 mile drive includes traversing the continental divide and Vail Pass. So after a few hours of driving with unbalanced tire my Rover was not happy. Well coming down the pass at 80 mph the parking brake decides to activate. What made it scary was only one side engaged! It immediately and unexpectedly took me from the lane I was in, across the other lane, and into the shoulder before I could regain control. No amount of Jimmy Buffet on Sirius was able to slow my heart rate!

After I got the courage to SLOWLY continue the drive i could hear a horrible rattle coming from the wheel and Rover came up with parking brake fault. Um ya the worst parking brake fault ever!!!

So I took Rover to JC's for help. Best we could figure out was between monster pot hole and unbalanced spare the parking brake drum was horribly out of alighment and rubbing. Add that to hours of mountain driving and it became super heated, momentarily activate, and then the pad ripped off in the assembly.

The whole thing is beyond my mechanical ability to fix. Haha pretty much beyond my ability to understand too. I just did my first DIY oil change and which felt pretty good so that should give you an idea of my mechanical ability haha

I still love my Rover but we hit a bit of a pot hole in our relationship!

 

I've tested the EPB at about 40 MPH. It works a charm, but it's not something I'd do often...

 

Now that you are an expert on the brakes, you might find the link below of value.

http://www.disco3.co.uk/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=4184


Download the latest version; v1.6a. As of when I last looked, there has been over 9,500 views/downloads of this free 36 page pdf related to the brake systems.

The black art part is probably towards the end, (page 27/36 and following), re the electronic parking brake.

Rather than perhaps black art stuff, it may better be called leading edge, or maybe bleeding); also the set and unset procedure applies when doing just a normal rear pad change.

If you ignore the set unset procedure, then a few miles downthe road, the squealing will almost assuredly start.

The good news is the fronts are more normal, but the rears, not so!

In total, for the vehicle, you actually have three pair of brake assemblies to deal with: (1), the front pair of rotors, and pads, (2), the rear pair of rotors and pads, and then (3), the parking brake pair of drums and shoes – yes, drums and shoes sitting behind/inside the rear rotors.

That is why you can use the parking brake as a “dynamic” system to safely slow the vehicle from highway speeds. The owner’s handbook explains the procedureas below.

Dynamic operation: In an emergency, the park brake can be applied dynamically: i.e.with the vehicle travelling at more than 3 km/h (2 mph).

Pulling up on the lever and holding it upgives a gradual reduction in speed. Thebrake warning indicator will illuminate accompanied by a harsh sound and “Caution! Parkbrake applied” appears on the message screen.

The stop lamps also will illuminate. Releasing or depressing the lever will cancel the parkbrake application.

 

Yeah!...it's pretty effing cool even if it can be problematic at times. I doubt that any of the vehicles now sporting electronic "E-brakes" work quite like the LR3's EPB does...

 

It can actually happen, as it did to me ...doing 70 MPH , EPB jammed on me near Allentown PA,going down to New Orleans, on interstate 78. It was snowing back then and all of the sudden, loud grinding sound, sort of like a diff collapsing inside ...that kind of sound....I wrote about it ...long time a go.Anyway...what I did to my LR3 yesterday,hmmm....I have successfully replaced front lower and upper control arms, Inner and outer tie rods and front air struts.
Not to bad for being a pastry chef (from College), builder (for living ) and amateur /adventurer
mechanic, that learns ,how to fix his own car/LR3 from forums, Youtube and Google.
I deserve a good beer, for sure....
Now, when do I start with rear of the vehicle...probably next weekend, I guess..Cheers

 

That is pretty much what it sounded like! Crazy.

Today I managed to clean the mass air flow sensor and the throttle body. Throttle body was very dirty and clearly had never been cleaned. Considering my lack of mechanical skill I was very pleased with getting those done myself.

I was going to try and change the power steering fluid but I was stymied by the clips holding the plastic cover on. I couldnt get any of them to budge. I finally broke one off and decided I should wait on that DIY project for a bit.