Thread: 7 nights in Alice Springs - EPB Failure

I just got back from a 2 week camping trip in the NT but unfortunately I spent 7 of those days in Alice Springs after an Electric Park Brake failure.

We stopped in to Alice Springs on the way up to get my mates Disco 4 battery replaced as we had to jump start him on the first few cold mornings of the trip out of Melbourne. The guys at Sutton Motors were very helpful and got a new battery fitted the mornng after we arrived. So onwards we went. We spent the rest of the morning driving some of the Gary Junction Road and on towards Haasts Bluff. These were quite corrugated roads so we all aired down for this section. We had a late lunch stop about 5 km from the bitumen on Namatjira Drive. I most likely used my EPB when we stopped for lunch as I am in the habit of always engaging it but the EPB light went out as usual when we took off after lunch.

We then drove on to Redbank Gorge, a distance of about 25 km, in search of a camping spot for the night. On the way into Redbank Gorge I heard a rattling sound a bit like an exhaust rattle. I stopped at the gorge car park and took a good look under the car but found nothing. It later turned out that the noise I heard was a Jerry can on the roof that was a moving in its mount and needed tightening. That noise was not related in any way to what was to follow. Having found nothing I kept on driving out on the Redbank Gorge road towards Glenn Helen. I had only gone about 5 km on the bitumen when the vehicle (a 2014 Disco 4) started to vibrate. I knew something was wrong now and pulled up straight away or within a few hundred metres when it was safe to get off the road.

Getting out of the car I saw lots of smoke from the right rear wheel. Nothing from the rear left. I measured the temperature of both wheels just to confirm that the problem was only on one side. At this point I knew this was a park brake jammed on but I was not sure whether this was due to a failed wheel bearing or an EPB failure of some sort. Being on just one wheel confused me a little. I called Land Rover Assist on the Satphone and they sent out a flatbed which arrived about 2 hours later.

As a side note this issue had occurred sometime after I left Redbank Gorge where I had my head under the car on both sides and would have smelt burning brake material for sure. So I am certain this was not the result of the EPB failing to disengage after the lunch stop. The problem appears to be that the actuator decided to engage itself and only on one wheel probably on the way out of Redbank Gorge. There were also no warning signs at any stage. No indications on the dash of a problem and no fault codes left in the system. That also made me wonder if this was a wheel bearing failure.

The car was delivered to Sutton Motors the following day and they disassembled the rear end and confirmed that the RHS EPB only had engaged. Parts were ordered and arrived the next day but due to a weekend in the middle and the need to fit me in with other work I was put up in a motel for 6 days with a RAV4 replacement car.

I have still not worked out how the EPB can engage only one wheel. So if anyone has any ideas I would like to hear from you.

The lesson anyway is that if you get a shuddering or vibration through the vehicle stop immediately and check the rear wheels for heat (I always carry an infrared heat gun for this). Then if you have one or two hot brake drums and you are in a remote area use the manual EPB release cable and then check that both wheels are free to turn. I would have done this but I was not aware that the symptom of a locked EPB was a vehicle vibration (I guess this happens as the brake shoes are grabbing and then releasing the drum).

I am glad I still had a month of warranty left because this was quite an expensive repair job. The EPB actuator alone was around $1,500

Thanks to Shane, Karun and Tom at Sutton motors for getting me back on the road. I highly recommend Sutton's even if you just need a service during a long trip. They are a very helpful bunch.

Anyway just posting this up to make others aware and if anyone can explain the failure mechanism that allows just one wheel to be locked on please post it up.

Originally Posted by kenl

As someone who never ever uses the park brake I wonder if I should simply remove the shoes?

You will likely find it will then error. Even when you're not using it, according to the manual, it pre-loads itself to a specific force when you're stopped in first or reverse and gets itself up close and personal with the drum. I guess the idea is so if you engage it whilst driving it's as quick as it can be. Without shoes this would cause it to drive out and error.

I'd read the manual before doing this.