HELP no brakes!!

Ok, so I am at the end of my tether with my braking problems on a 2003 face lift Freelander TD4. It has the remote brake fluid reservoir.

I will try and give as much info as possible as I have tried a few things already so please bear with me.

The symptoms are as follows:

On initial braking there is some (but not as much positive feel as before) braking there and if you really stamp on the brakes the ABS will kick in. However if you attempt to brake in quick succession the pedal becomes hard and braking gradually reduces as if the engine is off.

I have tried pumping the brakes hard with the engine off and keeping my foot on the brakes while i start the engine and the pedal sinks down as the vacuum kicks in.

I have replaced the brake servo with a second hand item and there has been no change.

The brakes have been fully bled at a garage where they diagnosed that the vacuum pump was at fault.

I have tried a brand new vacuum pump at great expense and there is no difference at all.

The garage informed me that the one way valve was working fine and that there were no vacuum leaks present although i am taking that with a pinch of salt.

So I'm still stuck with a car that my wife won't drive and no more ideas of what it could be.

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

I wonder if your master cylinder is faulty?

My experience of a master cylinder failing results in a loss of fluid which in this case I dont seem to have.

Master cylinders can also fail when the fluid passes the seals and allows the fluid back into the reservoir, there will be no obvious external leaks. As you have a split braking system there will be two sets of seals in the master cylinder, you will probably still get partial braking if one set of seals has failed but you will also get far more pedal travel.

kryton said:

My experience of a master cylinder failing results in a loss of fluid which in this case I dont seem to have.

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I have had a master cylnder fail completely with no leaking of fluid

Hi, I have the same problem, first press ok, second press if quick is solid with no brakes, just wondered if you had resolved your issue? Cheers

deangermouse said:

Hi, I have the same problem, first press ok, second press if quick is solid with no brakes, just wondered if you had resolved your issue? Cheers

Click to expand...

Sounds like a servo issue to me.

have you looked at the vacuum pipe the one that goes over the gearbox it rubs on the gearbox and then you will have hard brakes and it took me to stand on my old freelander to stop it going down hill, I recall it is 5mm tube and then the brakes are back to normal