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Has my Disco got ABS ?


Philj

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Hi,

The brakes, steering and suspension on my disco(1992 200tdi) are in a terrible state, and I plan to start working in them next weekend. I am hoping to replace the front discs, pads, bearings, springs, dampers and possibly the ball joints.

Anyway, just to remind myself how bad it all looks, I have just been underneath it. I noticed that there was an electrical connector dangling by the rear drivers side brake caliper (not plugged in). So, I gave it a squirt of wd40 and snapped it back in again. On closer inspection, I also have these connectors on the rear passenger side, front drivers side - but not on the front passengers side :huh: (from what I can see). Can I anyone tell me what these are for ?

Also, while I am asking questions:-

I have some 'backlash' - if that is the correct word, that seems to be coming from the front transmission. I can twist the front prop shaft about 1/8 of turn by hand - the rear prop is solid. Where is this slack likely to be coming from ? The diffs, halfshalfs or hubs ?

And finaly, while inspecting the steering damper, I noticed a 'disc' shaped item to the drivers side of the damper - what is that ?

I will be buying the Haynes manual next week I think!

Thanks,

Phil

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If the connector plugs into wires coming from the brake pads it's for a brake wear warning light. ABS sensors are in the swivel, aimed at the CV.

There'd also be an ABS block sat under the bonnet, if you have ABS.

I have some 'backlash' - if that is the correct word, that seems to be coming from the front transmission. I can twist the front prop shaft about 1/8 of turn by hand - the rear prop is solid. Where is this slack likely to be coming from ? The diffs, halfshalfs or hubs ?

I'm guessing the handbrake is on, which works on the back prop and axle ....

1/8 of a turn sounds normal. play can come from any of those areas, though remember wear after the diff is going to feel like its 3.54 times worse if you're feeling it through the prop.

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Thanks.

I have just checked in my owners manual - there is a light associated with this. It is supposes to come on asa bulb check when the ignition is in position II and the hand brake is on. Mine doesn't - it is either blown or a previous owner has removed it!

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Most likely it was removed/unplugged because it rarely worked properly - my old 200 had the same and it was "rather prone to false alarms" and then "not rather prone to actually telling you when the ruddy pads were worn out" if I recall correctly...

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I will be buying the Haynes manual next week I think!

Here is the download URL for the Disco I 300Tdi/V8 manual

http://www.filecrunch.com/file/~li7wja

and here is the manual for your engine - inside the 1990 Defender 200Tdi supplement

http://www.filecrunch.com/file/~py1ew9

You will need a decent printer though, preferably to print double-sided.

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ABS sux. It scares the hell out of me off road all the time, literally making a loose dirt/gravel bit feel like ice. I don't care what they say, I don't need it. So equipped I'm stuck with it right? And, Yes it has not only activated a couple thousand times when I don't need it but it clearly has the block under the bonnet with about 50 lines going in/out of it....

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ABS sux. It scares the hell out of me off road all the time, literally making a loose dirt/gravel bit feel like ice. I don't care what they say, I don't need it. So equipped I'm stuck with it right? And, Yes it has not only activated a couple thousand times when I don't need it but it clearly has the block under the bonnet with about 50 lines going in/out of it....

I totally disagree and find ABS very usefull onroad, with almost no interference offroad, but this could be because my 2005 TD5 automatically disengages the ABS below 5mph.

If you want to get rid of it, you can just pull the appropriate fuse, your brakes will operate normally, just a little annoying light on the dash to ignore.

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I'm the original owner of this 96 V8i I am referring to and honestly in 110K miles (mostly road conditions obviously) I cannot remember a single ABS moment that was beneficial to the situation, NOT ONE. I can recall many when applying the brakes in a turn lane and encountering a hole or bump I get about 10 feet of no brakes/ice feel. I am dead serious that this is a wrong interpretation of a situation by the system and an engagement of the ABS that makes for a very scary moment. If I lived in a northern clime with snow etc, I'm sure I would have experienced some positive situations, but Arizona only gets rain and I definitely don't need it. I normally drive cars and somewhat fast 'on road' and have become very accustomed to being very observant and can't imagine being any more serious everytime I drive than I'd need to be at a track event. Looking ahead as far as possible is likely what's prevented ABS engagements in the Disco or in any of my cars. I have had hard brake moments with one of my BBK (big brake kit) cars but it wasn't an event that warranted the engagement or helped the situation, it only briefly pulsed from my over exuberance at pretty high speed. I know it functions.....

You are likely right, in the Disco the ABS may disengage below 5mph as you referred to, as the symptoms I recall were all related to speeds probably above 10-15mph or so, moving along a road and missing a well disguised turn and stabbing the brakes gave me a very successful (but still unneeded) ABS ops check.

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The ABS on later Series 2 Discoverys is much better but it is still scary in some slippery off road situations, mine is a 2002 Discovery 2.

I had ABS on my 1996MY Discovery and it was horrid in all situations but on loose gravel roads it could be terrifying and the vehicle would take 2-3 times the distance to stop on "marbles" as it would skitter across the top rather than digging in and slowing rapidly, as would be the case without it.

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Please realise ABS has come on a long way in the 27/8yrs it has been in production. I agree the older systems are probably not great and the offroad side is probably even worse but don't write the systems off as a whole.

If you drove the more modern versions, you would see a big difference I expect.

Potholes/manhole covers are always a difficult item to tune around as the wheel will start to lock quickly as they are a very slippery surface. The important thing is how quickly the system recovers and notices the 'improved grip' of the wheel that has now moved back onto tarmac/concrete and can therefore now have higher brake pressure applied.

It is the slow recognition and reapplication of brake pressure that causes the feel of underbraking and therefore longer stopping distances.

Gravel will also always cause issues as again the system only recognises the fact the wheels start to lock at low pressures. As a driver, we can see it is maybe just a loose surface and therefore, a locked wheel could dig down under this layer and find better grip but unfortunately, the ABS can't see that.

The terrain Response system on the new Land Rovers do allow the guys to now tune the system (not just ABS but TCS, DSC, HDC etc) in slightly different ways for the different modes to try and improve the performance on all the different terrains you can choose from but again there are limitations. Just watch the traction system working with wheels in the air in rock crawl then see it in the other modes. You should see quite difference in the amount of spin up/locking etc of the wheels.

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