The brakes on our Freelander failed on Wednesday.

It was only sheer luck my wife was going slowly nobody was injured, she had the kids with her and was very shaken.

It looks like one of the front flexible hoses had come out of its mounting bracket and ended up rubbing on the inside of the wheel which had cut into the hose and all the fluid had leaked out.

Has anyone come across this before? The car had only recently been serviced and had a brake safety check and the hoses/ brake pipes had been marked as being in good condition.

Wife now saying she doesn't want to drive it anymore.

Waiting on Landrover to comment.

EDIT: Sorry meant to post this in the technical section, mods please move if possible

Last edited by Thehorse on 18th Sep 2015 4:22 pm. Edited 1 time in total

If the flexi had came out of mounting then I'd be speaking to the last garage working at brakes as likely they caused the issue 2014 SE Loire Blue SD4 Auto (MY15)
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The FL has a typical diagonally-split dual circuit braking system, so a fluid leak at one wheel should still leave braking working on the opposite front wheel and the rear wheel diagonally opposite that. The brakes would doubtless feel heavier, and total stopping capacity would be reduced, but the car should still brake and stop. Total brake failure should in principle require more than just a fluid leak at one wheel.

Most vehicles have the brake hoses clipped back at one place or another especially at the front were turning forces apply so could happen to virtually any if clips come undone,break,or have not been fitted correctly so tell your wife it's not a particular problem with the freely and when fixed will just be a one off.

I hope so, but it doesn't look particularly secure to me, just a rubber grommet pushed into a slot - see picture.

Also ref the dual circuit brakes, I'd always assumed if you lose the fluid from one half you'd have 50% braking force. In this case the pedal went straight to the floor with no resistance, the reservoir looked totally empty as far as I could see and I'd estimate it was more like 5% braking force. She had to pull the handbrake on to stop.

A lot of other manufacturers use that style of push fit gromet, they are suprisingly a very tight fit, id have a guess that its been left adrift or not fitted correctly when maintenance was last done on that side of your freelander im afraid

Looks like whoever serviced it is responsible.

Was it a Landrover dealer?

Iain

Thehorse wrote:

Also ref the dual circuit brakes, I'd always assumed if you lose the fluid from one half you'd have 50% braking force. In this case the pedal went straight to the floor with no resistance, the reservoir looked totally empty as far as I could see and I'd estimate it was more like 5% braking force. She had to pull the handbrake on to stop.

Quote:

The brake master cylinder is a tandem design that supplies pressure to 2 independent (primary and secondary) hydraulic circuits. Each circuit is connected between the calipers of diagonally opposing front and rear wheels to provide a fail safe brake system.

A reservoir is mounted on top of the master cylinder and retains sufficient volume of hydraulic fluid to allow for normal system use, and to compensate for the replenishment of the system as the brake linings wear. The reservoir is internally divided to provide an independent supply of fluid to each brake circuit, and prevents a single fluid leak from disabling both primary and secondary brake circuits. If a failure occurs in one brake hydraulic circuit the remaining circuit will still operate effectively, although brake pedal travel and vehicle braking distances will increase.

I've also had a front brake issue only on mine the calliper and carrier came off while towing our caravan on the M5 last Friday.It locked the front wheel up solid and I had to be dragged onto the hard shoulder.The recovery driver said mine was the second fl2 in 3 weeks that he had recovered with the same issue only the other one hadn't locked the wheel up.



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It was a LR dealer that serviced it but to be fair they have been very helpful and fixed it at no cost.

The only thing I can think of is the rubber grommet must have perished to some degree and become loose.

I did a bit of googling and found another FL2 owner reporting total brake failure when one caliper went and was equally puzzled why the dual circuit hadn't provided some braking effect.

EDIT: Paul1966 - That is bad! Did they work out how the caliper came off?

Looks like the top carrier bolt came out which allowed the calliper to drop forward and when I braked it locked the wheel.

A friend who has a 2009 FL2 had the same problem with a front brake hose but discovered it by chance before it had worn completely through so no drama. It was new to him, bought from and "prepared" by a LR dealer who fixed it as a warranty issue. Mate was not over impressed it has to be said!

Quote:

A friend who has a 2009 FL2 had the same problem

The above problems look to me like poor workmanship problems caused by garages rather than a manufacturing defect by LR. Admittedly, the hoses should have been picked up during routine maintenance/inspection/mot testing. Many cars use that method of securing the hose to the suspension strut and they are not easy to remove so I very much doubt if they fell out naturally. I have had a bolt come out of a calliper on a car I owned years ago (Ford Corsair!) but I did ignore the increasing 'clonking' noise coming from the wheel each time I braked for some time before the inevitable happened! Luckily for me it was the bottom bolt that came out and not the top.

I would have thought a garage wouldn't need to unclip the hoses for routine stuff like changing pads and brake fluid. Maybe for disks but there is no mention of new disks on previous services. Also it would either be clipped in or not I don't think it would be easy to only half push it in. Still think it should be fixed a bit more securely given the consequences if it comes undone.