Defender 90 2004 TD5 rear brake in efficient MOT Failure

Hi all,

Took my defender 90 county 2.5 station wagon for its MOT at my usual garage and everything was spot on apart from the rear brakes were not performing as well as they should.

Last year i had it tested at the same place and there were no problems.

All the brake components are the same as last year there is lots of life on discs and pads.

Just to let you know since last years MOT i have only covered 900 miles in my defender so lack of use was my first line of thinking and wondering whether pistons had just siezed up a bit with not having much use.

That being said i did give it a good run before i took it in.

Anyway i came home took the pads out of the calipers and worked the pistons in and out getting them going in and out nice and freely.

So i went back and it failed again. after chatting with the tester we thought maybe the brakes just needed a bit of stick. So we gave it another short run but really got the brakes warmed up. He re tested it and we only just managed to scrape a pass. Which is good i guess but im still a bit concerned and wanted to try and improve them.

Dont get me wrong theres no problem braking in the 90 it stops on the spot no problem.

Im now wondering though whether it just needs more time working the pads and discs or whether to look into it further.

I.e the rear brake pressure valve.

Has anyone got any suggestions

Maybe before swapping relatively pricey components like the balance valve (if you have one), just flushing some fresh brake fluid through the system would help. It does tend to deteriorate over time as it absorbs moisture from the air. I dunno if you disconnected the pipes completely when you were playing with the rear brakes (in which case you might have put some fresh in), but a full transfusion sometimes works wonders.

I think ill start by giving it a full fluid renewal.