P38 brake modulator failure '95 to mid '99

[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.
This has been posted on other sites to allow owners to be aware of this fault and repair the unit before it fails.

Regards
Russell Botha

[Rovin4life]

no offense but are you willing to guarantee beyond a shadow of a doubt that your parts will work and wont fail in the future.

you dont fuck with brakes,

[HSE30]

Originally Posted by Rovin4life

no offense but are you willing to guarantee beyond a shadow of a doubt that your parts will work and wont fail in the future.

you dont fuck with brakes,

I know that my repair is sound. This repair is not a modification it's simply removing a defective component and replacing with a part that will not fail in the same manor.

The abs/tc modulator in the late classics has s/s locating washers. Then the P38 came along with a similar system but plastic locating washers, these units ran for five years. Then the Bosch update happened around mid '99. The locating washers changed from plastic to s/s.

My kit simply repairs the older P38 modulators with components that I produce, similar in spec to what is found in the later modulators.

I have personally stripped 15 of these units that have been deemed faulty, and they have all failed the same way. Currently I have five HSE's on the road with the repair kit installed. The first was done about 8 months ago and all are working beautifully.
I know what your saying about brakes, but go tell the manufacturer about there liability of these cars with no brakes. Personally I have been called out three times where cars are stranded on the side of the road with no brakes. Luckily no accidents yet!!!!

Regards Russell.

[HSE30]

Interesting read from RR.net. The first completed repair by an owner of a P38.Using my kit and instructions.





Rich46 wrote:

Yes, it's all done, I just didn't get time to write about it until today

It took me the best part of ten hours from draining the system to bleeding back up, with a few interuptions along the way.
Job went very well, following the instructions to the line, and all parts came to pieces quite well. I was being extra carefull in the dismantling as I was conscious that to damage any part could mean game-over and potentially a new modulator at £1800ish!
The pins holding the assembly at the rear were quite tight to punch out, but with care and a little WD40 they gave in.
My little plastic filter was also very tight but working it gently with my fingers as Russell recommends, it too slowly eased off.
Now for the main components, the plastic washers. Mine initially appeared to be both fully intact. However, when I came to remove the first one nearest the collet, I discovered it had actually got a crack through it from the outer edge to the centre. Both washers were also extremely brittle and took no effort to break off the shaft with finger pressure only.
So on with the new s/s washers, new o-rings and carefully all back together. I choose to fit the reservoir tank to the unit prior to fitting back to the car and managed to line the bolts at the rear back up ok. I bled the system through about three times as I couldn't seem to shift some air which was causing the abs pump to make the clicking sound mentioned in the bleed instructions in RAVE. All sorted now and pedal nice and firm.
So I am now very happy that I have this upgrade done and feel much safer now that I know I haven't got two flimsy plastic washers assisting in bringing my truck to a stanstill!

Many thanks again to Russell for this excellent kit and for the super fast replies to all PMs

Thanks Richard for the feed back, It great to hear that you have averted a brake failure. This is exactly why I went public with this issue, Richards HSE was showing no symptoms of failure but was just moments away. Please, this is a very cost affective repair to ensure safety.
Thanks again Richard your the first to complete the repair.

regards Russell Botha.

[HSE30]

Qick update, another kit purchaser has finished the repair to a modulator. He found the exact same culprit. These plastic components are going to fail eventually in most if not all pre bosch update brake modulators. The kit and the inconvenience of doing the job is a small price to pay for safety.

Regards Russell.