freeagent Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 the handbrake warning light in my 300Tdi disco has taken to flickering on and off.. for some bizare reason it seams to coincide with me braking... The disco did a bit of deep wading a couple of weekends back and this problem started that weekend... any ideas what to look at? where is the switch that the light is taking a signal from? I'm guessing its just a case of cleaning something, but i'm not sure where to start........ cheers Matt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsie Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 check/top up the brake fluid as this lamp also serves as a low fluid warning Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted April 22, 2007 Author Share Posted April 22, 2007 check/top up the brake fluid as this lamp also serves as a low fluid warningPaul oh, I didn't know that... thanks.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_a Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 could also be a low pad warning light, especially if when you are braking. You might have got some nice abrasive carp in there which has accelerated the pad wear. Sounds like you need to pop the wheels off and check the pads, best to do before filling reservoir since it will go lower with pad wear anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoyodyne Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 could also be a low pad warning light, especially if when you are braking. You might have got some nice abrasive carp in there which has accelerated the pad wear.Sounds like you need to pop the wheels off and check the pads, best to do before filling reservoir since it will go lower with pad wear anyway. Abrasive carp? Some wading!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted April 22, 2007 Author Share Posted April 22, 2007 I don't think its the pads Steve, they were replaced last July, and I don't have a pad-wear warning on my Disco, ie, the pads don't have the wear-wire thing in them.... I'll be a bit concerned if its the fluid aswell, because it must be escaping from somewhere if the level is dropping... But, then again, as the pads wear, the fluid level will drop anyway... Will go and have a look later.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les Henson Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 If your fluid is going down, it's leaking out somewhere. It's quite rare for calipers to leak anyway, and an in-line leak would have very noticeable effect on your brakes, and I would say that you would have definitely noticed it. Normally if a master cylinder leaks it runs down the join between the master cylinder body and servo and strips paint off the servo in the process. This again would be easy to check for. However, if the seal between master cylinder and servo unit is very tight, then any fluid leaking out of the master cylinder will accumulate inside the servo and go unnoticed for some time. With care you can seperate the two without disconnecting the pipework. Just undo the two nuts that holds the master to the servo and carefully pull it away. Any fluid in there will indicate brake fluid loss. If there is fluid in there and you want to make sure that it is brake fluid, then put a miniscule about on your tongue. Brake fluid tastes bitter and makes your tongue feel 'hairy'. I'm not sure if the fluid will effect the rubber diaphragm inside the servo though - if it does, then expect the servo to fail in the future. Les. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orgasmic Farmer Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 My Disco suffers this due to a over zealous gaitor on the handbrake. If you puch it down a bit it goes off. But it also started doing it when going down steep hills and that turned out to be low brake fluid. And just becuase the pads were replaced last July means nothing. I know of landies working on construction sites with deep abrasive mud that were getting through a set of pads once a week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.