Hey Guys,

Just noticed an issue with hard braking on the 03 XKR. I thought the brakes were great and stopping nicely but yesterday I went to brake from a high speed and the pedal went to the floor with very weak power. During normal braking the pedal is firm and the car stops nicely but I notice if I push down hard on the pedal it is somewhat normal for the first half and then it just keeps dropping.

At first I thought there was an internal malfunction with the master cylinder but after some reading I’m thinking I might be lucky and perhaps it is air in the lines. The thing is why would it have very responsive and solid braking at first if there was air in the lines? Fluid is topped off, no leaks, and I’m going to try a vacuum brake bleed later today.

Figured I would see if anyone has encountered this before and if you had any suggestions.

Thanks!
Corey

 

If I remember correctly a bad caliper will do this too! Look at the rotors. When this happened to me, inside half of 1 rotor was getting rusty - caliper pressure no longer wiped it clean!

Hope its that ez 4u

 

Just a little update here. I have narrowed down the issue to the front passenger side. Drove in to work this AM and noticed that the brake fluid was down slightly. I checked the calipers through the wheels and also the wheels to see if there was any evidence of brake fluid and low and behold there was fluid inside the passenger front rim. I am hoping it is just a brake line and it would make a little sense since I just redid the front struts and the line could have failed even though I was pretty careful with it. Will keep everyone posted on what I find and thankfully it looks like it is not a master cylinder or brake booster issue but I sure hope it is not a caliper since the Brembo calipers, if you can find one, are pretty pricey!

Thanks!

 

If it is indeed a faulty Brembo caliper, I would call some of the locally-owned and well-respected brake shops in your area and ask if they can refurbish them for you....

 

Good luck in your investigation. FWIW, the banjo bolt could have come loose, it is only held by the torque and the friction of these 2 copper washers. There is no positive engagement anywhere. If you need a new line, the rock place offers a cheaper Centric alternative that works just fine. If the caliper was somehow dropped, the bottom U pipe can be re-made from straight tubing, a flaring tool and a bending tool from the part store. There is always an off chance one of the piston seals failed. I believe there are rebuild kits for that as well. Very unlikely you would need a caliper body.

PS: I have the banjo bolt and Centric line part# if you need them.

PPS: You already know I am sure, but brake fluid works "great" as a paint stripper. Make sure you wash this off quickly.

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I am going to head home early from work to try to sort this out. Hopefully it is just a loose banjo bolt. Good to know that Rock has Centric lines. Hopefully it is as simple as the line coming loose or just replacing the line. Will get back to you guys soon with what I can find out. Also, thanks for the reminder on the brake fluid. I just checked again and thankfully there is no fluid on the outside of the wheels or on the fender paint.

In checking it out I was able to determine that the fluid is either coming from the line or the fitting. Thankfully, looks like it is not a caliper. I did just redo the struts so I am wondering if I routed the brake line improperly upon reassembly. Does anyone know how it should be routed in relation to the strut tower? Right now it is going behind it and it does look like it is in an area where it could get chaffed or pinched as the suspension moves.

 

For the routing, check the workshop manual. It is pretty specific as to the angle of the line in relation to the caliper. There might be other hints and schematics to better help you. This is brake-related, off-the-cuff answers are probably not the way to go. Might as well get the right answer from Jaguar.

From memory, the workshop manuals are referred to in the stickies with links to online lockers, best access from home.

 

Hey just wanted to provide an update. I can confirm that the brake line is broken at the fitting that goes into the caliper. I would imagine that this somehow happened while doing the suspension work. I did hang the caliper but I am sure that all of the movement must've weakened the brake hose. Ordered a new one from Rock per fmertz's suggestion and hopefully all will be well. I scoured the workshop manuals and found references to the routing but could not find the actual routing in the manuals. It seems like it goes behind the strut and there really is not anything to support the hose so I believe I have done it properly and the angle that the line was positioned in relation to the caliper was correct, it is supposed to be around 20 degrees per the workshop manual.

 

Just wanted to share the routing operation mentioned in the manual for the brake lines. They said to reference operation 70.55.24. Not sure where that could be found but that should illustrate how you are to route the brake hoses.

 

The reference is to JTIS (Jaguar Technical Information System). My copy gives Brembo Caliper removal/refit as 70.55.02 but this could have been superseded. Here's the only diagram showing brake hose routing:





From that banjo orientation relative to the caliper, the hose goes in a gentle curve to the pipe union behind the wheelarch liner.

Graham

 

Thanks for sharing Graham. It sure does look like the hose goes in front of the strut in that picture which I believe is not how I had routed it.

 

This is my 2005 XK8 with Brembo brakes. The hose clearly passes in front of the strut.






Graham

 

That confirms it for sure I went out and replaced the one and re routed the other. Thank you very much for the pics.