Thread: All p38 owners up to mid 1999 please read.

Hey Jeff, money received today. I'll post your kit first thing tomorrow express mail. Please let me know when it arrives. Don't forget I'm only to happy to provide online help if needed. Thanks again and please post your findings and results.
Regards Russell.

OK folks, well I bought the kit from Russell in November and it has taken me until this weekend to around to doing the repair.

I got my mechanic to remove the modulator and I picked it up yesterday thinking I will have all weekend to do the strip down and rebuild.

My mechanic had an old modulator that had totally failed, and he gave it to me as well.

The procedure is quite straight forward and Russell's instructions are great. Once you start to pull it apart, one thing becomes VERY CLEAR. The plastic spring retaining discs are a joke. Mine were still in tact but when I looked in the failed modulator the 2 discs had shattered and there were fragments everywhere. NASTY.

As soon as I started manipulating mine to get them off, they also crumbled like a biscuit. With 2.8 tons of Range Rover on the move, It is scary to think these things are the crucial link.

Apparently if your accumulator starts to go, and you end up pumping the brakes more, the added pressure on these parts often causes them to fail.

Anyway, I am not quite finished yet, but I am over the hump. Thanks to Russell for taking calls and answering questions along the way.

I will certainly be a lot more comfortable now, knowing those plastic bits have been replaced.


Cheers
Dave

I've had my kit for ages. I had better get around to doing it. I have a spare modulator.

I took some pictures to demonstrate what happens.

Obviously there is a real weak point around where the small circular holes are. Unfortunately, this is also exactly where the spring is pushing. When this breaks the spring has nothing at all holding it in place.

When I opened the dead modulator, all of those plastic fragments were floating around inside it, and who knows where else. The other notable fact was that the shaft where the sprins are mounted was bent, obviously a sign of frantic brake pushing to no avail.

Hope this helps illustrate the issue.

Dave

This picture shows the context of the discs.

All of these components are housed in an internal cylinder inside the modulator.

The springs provide the resistance against the pedal when braking.

The plastic discs retain the springs which control the resistance.

Are the same wabco modulators used in TD5 Defenders? I'm sure I saw a Wabco there somewhere? (Ie would these kits apply?)

Originally Posted by HSE30

Hello gents,

Recently I had a vehicle bought to me with no brakes!!I removed the brake modulator and started to strip the unit down. What I found was quite scary. An internal component made of plastic had failed, this rendered the car with zero brakes. I have been told by LR and Wabco that no parts are available and the units are unserviceable. This is rubbish!!!!!I have a Range Rover Dianostic business equiped with faultmate MV system(thanks Hardy)and have engineered stainless steel components to replace the plastic parts. A new modulator is around $6000.00aus plus fitting and more than likely an ABS pump at $2500.00aus. I was quoted $9500.00aus by LR to complete the above.
As we all know many older P38's can now be purchased for 12 to $15000.00. Spending $10000.00aus to fix your brake problem would for most be out of the question.
I have now fixed 5 of these problems in the past 3 months, all had th exact same internal failure. If your pedal feels at all strange or you have had intermittent warning lights please do something about it. The 5 that I have fixed all by luck avoided an accident. I believe that age is the contributing factor not klm's. All the cars have been 95/96 HSE's with varied klm's.A second hand unit is only a short term fix as they also have the same plastic component up to mid 99 when all the BMW bosch changes happened.
If you would like to discuss this with me please e-mail me at rx007.car@bigpond.com

Regards
Russell Botha

Quite a few of you are contacting me via e-mail for repair kits, thank you for showing interest. Please attach your results after the re-build to help others that may be having issues but are not sure. I'm only too happy to help with any questions relating to modulator symptoms or failure.
Regards Russell.

Originally Posted by HSE30

Please attach your results after the re-build to help others that may be having issues but are not sure.

Will do Russell. It might be a few weeks before I get time to tackle mine though.