Thread: Disco 3 handbrake screech

Garry, I didn't do it myself, because not having seen it done before I wasn't sure how hard I needed to pull. I did try, but figured if I was doing it wrong, I'd break something, so I preferred to have someone else do it. Didn't cost me anything, and he knew what he was doing..

Originally Posted by gghaggis

I've followed the sagas of these EPB failures closely over the years - mainly because I've never had one. In 3 vehicles over the past 7 years, never had a screamer.

The only thing that I can (anecdotally) think of is that I've never used the auto-disengage function - ie I always manually release the brake before driving off. Old habit I guess. However, most of the other owners I speak to (well actually all of them afaik) use the auto-release. I wonder if it stresses the mechanism, or at least contributes to a slippage of the adjustment?

Cheers,

Gordon

How do you manually release? Is there a shortcut to pulling the cable?

Originally Posted by Sadie

I've got my D3 at the dealers at the moment, as the park brake locked on over the weekend and I had to call out roadside assistance to have it manually released. They've told me that the 'module' (actuator?) needs replacing at a cost of about $2400. Has anyone had this job done as a warranty job? The dealer wasn't sure whether it'd be covered or not...

Hi Sadie, I was lucky to just get out of this one! My D3 rear brakes were heavily worn and I was advised that if I did not get the discs done, the park brake actuator would be damaged and would need to be replaced and would not be under warranty. Its a preventative maintenance cost well worth doing to avoid the actuator replacement. Sorry............
When it comes to releasing the park brake via the cable in the consol, I recommend everyone who drives outside of suburbia needs to have this emergency techinique practiced before you need it. It requires lots of force and is not easy but definately is the only correct way to do it. The service manager at the dealer here in Geelong told me to avoid using the auto release and to manually release the brake using the silver lever as much as possible, he advised avoid the auto release as it does cause some wear and tear prior to it auto releasing. My previous D3 got screetchy park brakes quite early on, and I used the auto release all of the time, my D4 has passed the same klm's that the D3 had with park brake issues, so far no issues at all, use auto release rarely now, the D4 emergency release is similar but not the same.

had it happen two weeks ago and was mean to post here so far it just made a screeching noise but did not actually lock the break so no manual release necessary but will need to look in to the manual release and practice that a bit

Because of these issues I no longer use my park brake except when parking on steep slopes.

400HPONGAS put up a good post somewhere on the design problems of the EPB actuator.

These people in the UK http://www.kmotors.co.uk/index.php/discovery-3 will supply and fit an actuator for about $1100 so the price you got from the local dealer is a bit over the top so I would be shopping around or get the part from the UK and do it yourself.

Garry

I dont use mine in the bush.....just in case.

Brett.....

Originally Posted by Dingo Charlie

How do you manually release? Is there a shortcut to pulling the cable?

Dingo Charlie, I'm pretty sure that when gghaggis said it's better to manually release the brake he meant push the button before driving off, rather than just driving off and having it auto-release.Pulling the cable is only necessary when the brake decides to lock itself on.

The dealer informed me yesterday that he has ordered the relevant parts, and it should be fixed this week. All under warranty!!! Theyre also replacing a few steering related parts too, also under warranty. I will post up specifics when I know what they are.

So I had my Park Brake Module replaced a couple of weeks ago. On the weekend we were driving to a friends place, towing my camper trailer, and after about 15kms, I noticed a strong vibration, which I thought was a flat tyre. On inspection, however, there was smoke coming from one of the rear wheels, and a very strong brake smell. We tried limping a bit further, but the vibration got worse, so I had the car towed home and back to the dealer yesterday.

Apparently the brake module needed 'recalibrating' as it was out quite a bit.

Does anyone know what this might involve (in basic terms) and should I be worried about it happening again? I have a big trip planned in October and will be pretty unimpressed if this happens again..

Thanks.