Low brake pedal on Disco 11

[Casey_leonard]

Hi All
Have a low brake pedal on my 99 Disco 11 V8 with 4 wheel disc's.
Brake pads are around 80% good and the rotors were replaced 10.000K ago. I can pump the pedal up with just the one pump. The pedal doesn't sink with pressure or anything like that. Everything appears to be work OK except for the low pedal. Can't see any adjustments and no mention of caliper piston adjustment in the manual. It does have ABS, Any idea's?

Casey

[Rovernaut]

Not sure if the D11 had an eccentric bolt the the pedal pivots on, but if it had it might just need turnind to raise the pedal.

[MJ]

Hi Casey,

I reckon you are suffering from too much play in your wheel bearings. This causes the rotors to knock the pistons out when lateral forces are exerted by cornering or offroading.

Jack up each wheel, hand top and bottom and rock to check for play; should not be noticeable.

cheers

Mark

[Casey_leonard]

Thanks all
Just got back from a trip so will have a look over the next couple of days.

Cheers

Casey

[RangingRover]

Series 2's do not have preload adjustable wheel bearings, they are a sealed unit which from memory is pressed in.

There is no adjustment on the calipers, as they are semi-floating type caliper.

All series 2's have ABS, to my knowledge....

It is quite common for series 2's to have a lousy pedal until you pump it once on first startup - I'm assuming this is what you mean?

If you want to fix that, I would guess that the only real way is to replace the abs modulator, which will likely sting you over $2,000 - and that may not 100% fix it - it could be the seals in the calipers retracting the pistons further than normal over a period of sitting (the seals are supposed to retract the pistons on pedal release, its part of how a caliper works).

If you mean you continually get a low pedal while driving, thats a bit odd. Are there any lights on in your dash? Any abs fault code in a series 2 will bring up the ABS, Traction Control and usually Hill Descent lights, all at the same time - due to the systems all being a part of the abs. If it keeps going down while you are driving though, it could be an issue with the master cylinder. If theres an issue with the ABS modulator (the big unit on the LH side of your engine bay), it will normally throw the aforementioned lights up on the dash.

If the pedal only drops after being parked for a while, I wouldn't worry, its not really unusual at all. If it continually drops, even while driving, get it checked out.

[Slunnie]

I would worry as the pedal shouldn't do it. Touch wood I've not had such problems, though it can chatter offroad and become hard. I know LR did modify it somehow when the IIa was released with revised calipers I think it was to improve the feel. Pad wear is irrelevant in the pedal position as the caliper float as previously stated. It may be worth checking the run out in the rotors though.

[Casey_leonard]

Thanks all
Checked for wheel bearing adjustment but as RangingRover said there isn't any. Didn't check for an eccentric bolt as yet but will get some one a little younger and more adgile than me to check it out.
The brake pedal is low all the time unless it is pumped up regardless as to weather I am driving along or parked. It only takes one pump to bring it up but reverts back to a low pedal after that..
The brakes work OK (stop the vehicle) weather they ar pumped up or not.
We have 2 Ser 1 disco's in the family as well as my Ser11 and they have around an inch free play where mine has around 3 inches. As mentioned before the brakes still work OK and also still have plenty of room under pedal before hitting the floor but just doesn't feel right with that amount of play.
Was hoping another Ser11 owner was going to tell me that there's is the same. Maybe I should have them checked out even though they are stopping OK.
Thanks
Casey

[Slunnie]

It may also be worth checking the rubber brake lines for any damage. All 4 corners.

[Casey_leonard]

Ah brake lines, never though of them buggers, will check em out.

Thanks
Casey

[justinC]

Casey,

I have encountered this problem also, on numerous disco2's, and it is inherent with some and not all. It seems mostly to affect the early xa and ya chassis numbers, 1999 to early 2000. I haven't any 2001 onwards customers with a poor brake pedal issue at all.

JC

[Casey_leonard]

Thanks JC
This is what I was hoping to hear, I also suspect it is inherant but as we are planning an extended trip towing an off road van I wanted to make sure.
The brake pads and rotors were replaced 10,000 K's ago and are in excellent condtion. I will get the local brake people to replace the fluid and give it check over before I go.
If they find anything I will post it here for future reference.
Thanks to all,

Casey.