Help me diagnose a brake issue.

Morning all,

I dont drive my defender much, and was hoping someone has experiacned this issue before and can advise the best place to start before i begin replacing everything.

Car is a 200tdi Defender 90, 1992 used for offroading.

The issue is with the brakes and partiularly the pedal.

When I push the brake pedal,it goes down quite far before it bites, when it bites its firm and linear (so i dont think its air).

Whilst pushing the brake, if i quickly lift off and re-apply, the biting point of the brakes is about an inch further up the pedal, and the braking force per my leg power is increased slightly. Still good feel and linear.

So were do we think the issue is? Vacuum pump or master cylinder?


One test i have not yet done is to evacuate the booster then start the engine with my foot on the pedal and see if the pedal moves. I guess this would show it if was the vacuum pump or not...?

try and adjust or replace rear brake shoes first,

Interesting. so perhaps the shoes are recoiling to far making too much pedal movement to push them out. Good thinking. I shall check this first.