The Rover-Landers of BC

Hello,

So my new project rover, started fixing it up and took it out on our logging road network attached to our house (fortunately we live a mile off the nearest paved road) and the Rover was doing great. Came back to the house and noticed that the brake got very very soft. Putting foot to the floor and barely able to get it to stop. Had our mechanic look at it and he claimed that he didn't have the right testing tools. Initially thought it was the "master command"(?) but said he "tested it by bypassing" and the brakes got hard and instead he now thinks it is the "abs system" but isn't sure. Any ideas on where to start looking?

An ABS by failure itself will not cause the pedal to go to the floor, the Master cylinder is the mostly likely culprit.

Start very simple :

Check your brake fluid - do you have any and is it topped up
If it is good then get in start up your truck and step on the brake
If it goes to the floor or is mushy feeling pump the brake pedal - does it firm up ? if not you need to go to a good brake shop.
If it does hold it there at least 2 minutes if it fades it is probably a failing master cylinder - same thing go to a good brake shop

These are the simple tests you can do without pulling tires and crawling underneath, my suggestion is to take your to a brake shop not your mechanic. I am going to be a little rough on him these trucks braking system is nothing special, the problem you described has a few very simple causes. Inside of a hour he should have been able to tell you the exact problem. There are only really 4: Master Cylinder, Bad Calipers /Drum actuators, bad brake lines or a leak somewhere in one of the lines. A bad ABS modulator will always throw an ABS code and light up ABS light on your dash.

A leaking ABS valve can cause the pedal to go to the floor.

Red90 - thanks I was unaware the D1's had such a glaring safety issue with the ABS modulator.

steven_eck if you go the link below you can read through the D1 ABS modulator issue

https://landroverforums.com/forum/disc ... use-46619/

Reading through that it appears there is a fuse under the hood you can pull to see if you have this problem, and some luck has been had with completely bleeding the system to remove all old fluid to correct it.