Burning smell coming thru heat vent

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Frank8

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Ha! Just took it to local indie. On both front brakes the pads were binding. There was a lot of crud and salt and the pads weren’t moving freely. Caught it in time and rotors weren’t damaged.

Frank

Never heard grinding or squealing or any noise whatsoever. The binding must have been intermittent - every once in a while it felt sluggish but I couldn’t be sure.
 

JamesCE

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Ha! Just took it to local indie. On both front brakes the pads were binding. There was a lot of crud and salt and the pads weren’t moving freely. Caught it in time and rotors weren’t damaged.

Frank

Never heard grinding or squealing or any noise whatsoever. The binding must have been intermittent - every once in a while it felt sluggish but I couldn’t be sure.
Did you by chance notice excess brake dust? I think mine maybe in a similar situation. I smell them but particularly on one set of the road. I got two opinions and one said the calipers seem to be sticking and the other didn't find anything wrong. Mind you this was for a state safety inspection. The one who said the calipers were sticking also wanted to give me a $1800 "refurbishment" job. So I can't count on him.
 

Frank8

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I can’t tell about brake dust. I’ve been driving in two inches of salty slush for a while.
But the calipers were sticking. They showed me when they had the wheel off. And yes, I was told this is often asymmetric.
The total bill for cleaning both front brakes, freeing up the calipers, making sure the pistons were moving freely and lubing the points that move was about $200. It took a couple of hours.

I think I’ll go back and have them do the rear brakes also.

Frank

A while ago I noticed a sudden decrease in gas mileage, about 2-3 mpg, and I now wonder if dragging brakes might have been cause.
 

lruny

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We noticed this type of smell on our 2015 LR4 and after dealer initially said they couldnt find anything, we pressed the issue and they found stuck caliper on left rear brake. They said it was due to salty winter conditions and wanted payment for fix. We said , its a Landrover!!!, its supposed to work in these conditions. Dealer replaced under warranty.
 

Frank8

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That’s a very good point. My problem started some time after I drove my unit thru a lot of deep snow and slush.

I wonder how many LRs are being driven with lightly dragging brakes and the owner isn’t aware of it? The whole mechanism looked very susceptible to getting hung up on road crud.
 

Lgibson

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Have you looked under your engine cover lately? Rodents love it there.
 

lruny

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I had the impression from the dealer that this problem occurs regularly. I wonder if there is a TSB on this from LR?
 

Frank8

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I bet it does to some degree. I took my LR4 to the same indie for its annual inspection and I asked them to look at the rear brakes while it was in the shop.

The calipers weren’t releasing fully or moving smoothly in the tracks. Yep, they were rubbing lightly (no burning smell yet). This tells me that maybe the brakes ought be looked at regularly. A good time is when I have the winter wheels swapped for summer and vice-versa so that would be twice a year.

I’m surprised they got this crapped up-I have about 14K on it and virtually all is on-road.
 
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