Dodgy brakes

Hi guys, I've not been on 'ere recently because everything has been working, but now I've got a bit of a problem I'd like to share. Everything working is pretty unusual for any Land Rover let alone my 2000, L-series veteran of 153,000 miles. Trouble as they say usually comes in threes. I've been concerned recently that the brakes haven't been up to snuff and require a heavy pedal load. Also I noticed that the discs are wearing unevenly. All this after reconditioning the calipers about 15,000 miles ago, with new fluid, hoses, pads, discs, pistons, seals and dust seals.

I beginning to suspect that the pistons are not moving easily. I did remove the calipers yesterday and applied a G clamp and the pistons did fully retract. Also I checked out rear brakes in case I had a seized piston but they were all good and the hand brake is OK. We all know that freelander brakes are marginal at best but mine are dire and definitely won't pass MoT. I'm coming round to the idea that I should buy new calipers, discs and pads but what if that doesn't cure the problem?

The questions I need answers to are, what else could produce the strange dead feel to the brake pedal and does anyone have any recommendations for new calipers and brake parts? Any advice will be appreciated.

By the way, I said trouble comes in lumps, yesterday the drivers door solenoid stopped working. It will lock on the fob but not unlock. This requires operating the internal handle. I guess it's door card off and stripping out latch mechanism time. Deep joy!

Happyhippo

The calipers are cheap enough to simply change, rather than mess about refurbishing them at home. What make of pads did you use?.
Use reasonable quality discs but more importantly, use good quality pads. I use Delphi exclusively, as the quality is the same as OE. My brakes are far from marginal, easily activating ABS under a decent shove of the pedal. My hand brake locks the rear wheels with a moderate pull on the lever too.

Nodge thanks for your observations. I only refurbed the calipers because I could. I thought the caliper is just a lump of cast iron, how difficult can it be to replace the seals. As it happens the dust seals were difficult to replace but I did it. I suppose the quality of the parts could be an issue.

However I've been thinking that perhaps my problem could lie with the vacuum pump on the front of the alternator. I'm not sure if there is a test I could do but I could assess the strength of suction by using a finger? One thing I noticed was that the failure of the brakes was at first intermittent, sometimes there appeared to be the correct retardation other times there was hardly any.
Wrt the brake pads, I have used green stuff pads which I found to be fairly effective but rather expensive. However I not talking minor differences in braking efficiency, I'm talking dangerous to drive!
Happyhippo

G'day Happy - good to see the old girl is still going good - all be it with current problems.

The brakes in our early Freelanders are starting from a poorer point than the MY01+ cars which had meatier components. However, when they're working well they're fine.

The only time my brakes have performed below par have been when I had a leaking cylinder on the rear (I replaced everything both sides) and when I've had air in the system. The air related problems have always been after replacing components and bleeding the system, I've found that a "good bleed" is not sufficient, it needs a "bloody good bleed" (like putting a couple of bottles of DOT whatever through the system) - and after doing that the brakes a really good.

I have driven another member's pre MY01 car and his brakes were not as effective as mine. He was aware that the brakes were probably not up to standard and driving each others cars confirmed it. He has though replaced most parts and put a lot of effort in, but I think even now he hasn't been able to improve them.

I don't know much about the boost system - how it works and how to check it - does sound like a possible though. Maybe a hose (to a wheel) that's 'gone soft' or something.

btw, I've just started getting the same locking problem on the front passenger door - will always lock, but intermittently will not unlock and when it does, its very lazy. Looks like I'll be raiding the parts car.

The rear passenger door will also sometimes not open. The central locking works fine, it just won't open when you pull the outside handle but will on the inside. When it won't open, sometimes if you push firmly on the top of the door, then it will open. Only been like it for the 8 years I've had the car

Happyhippo said:

I only refurbed the calipers because I could. I thought the caliper is just a lump of cast iron, how difficult can it be to replace the seals. As it happens the dust seals were difficult to replace but I did it. I suppose the quality of the parts could be an issue.

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I've been there and decided it's not worth my time messing with rusty calipers and pistons, never mind getting that dust seal in place. I now just replace them, as it's not much more expensive, and the life is longer when starting with a new caliper.

Happyhippo said:

However I've been thinking that perhaps my problem could lie with the vacuum pump on the front of the alternator. I'm not sure if there is a test I could do but I could assess the strength of suction by using a finger?

Click to expand...

You can use a vacuum gauge to check the vac pump circuit is working correctly. Your looking for about 30 HG vacuum on the vacuum line. Vacuum gauges are pretty cheap on EBay, and are designed for such tests.

I've always thought the brakes on my freelander k series are pretty good, mind you, my other car is a series 3 lwb.

Col

Thanks for your responses guys. I'll look at checking the vacuum circuit. If ever you've coasted with the engine off and no vacuum, that's not quite how the brakes feel but pretty close!

Hold the brake pedal down while you start the engine - the vacuum boost should cause the pedal to creep down.

Thought I'd follow up with the solution to my problem if anyone's interested. The fault was caused by a leak in the vacuum circuit. I had removed the EGR valve some good few thousand mile ago including removing the vacuum pipe. You will know that this fits on a small branch sticking out of the side of the plastic valve in the line between the vacuum pump and the servo. Having removed the EGR vacuum pipe, braking was uneffected at first (like several thousand miles)
I can only assume that the plastic valve is perhaps a one way valve which has now failed in some way. Anyhow it had started to leak away the servo vacuum which is why the performance of my brakes was so much below parr. Having blocked the outlet, servo performance has been restored.

Anyhow on the plus side I've now got a completely checked and fettled braking system and a very powerful right leg!