Land Rover LR3 EPB (Electronic Parking Brake) Light - Possible to Eliminate?

[soflorovers]

Hello all. For those not familiar, the LR3/RRS/LR4 have been known to suffer from EPB failure. My truck currently has a flashing EPB failure light and it drives me absolutely mad to the point where I've placed a business card in front of the speedometer to block the light. I really don't want to change out the actuator as I've heard it's a PITA and the parts are relatively expensive. Given the somewhat budget nature of this build (It has 172k miles and has been beat to ******* - I'm never going to achieve perfection or even close to that), I was wondering if anyone has experience with eliminating the EPB altogether and clearing the flashing red light. I do have a GAP tool however, I have yet to transfer over the licence and haven't been able to explore all the capabilities. Has anyone successfully removed the EPB system/cleared the lights without replacing the actuator? There are old threads covering this all over the internet, but I have yet to find one where someone breaks down the procedure or states if its actually possible. Most threads on this specific topic/method seem to go cold without updates.

Before everyone tells me that I shouldn't deactivate it, it's worth noting that I live in Florida (Completely flat and without annual inspection) and this is primarily an off-road/trail rig which will not see much duty outside of weekend trips, so a functioning parking brake isn't really an issue for me.

 

[Victory_Overland]

If you have an IID Tool or actually I think you can do it from the dash menu; turn off the automatic brake activation in Park feature. then try and clear your codes with IID Tool and you should be good. Don't touch the brake switch until plan to fix it otherwise it might get stuck again.

My actuator failed and it wouldn't release so I had to pull the manual cable release under the center console to get the brake to release. Then I forgot about it and when I put the truck in park it actuated the actuator again and locked it again; horrible noise! lol. I manually released it, cleared the faults and then turned off the automatic feature and I've been good ever since with no e-brake.

Can't remember the exact order but that's what I did; I have a new actuator but just haven't got to it as I hear its a PITA as well to change....lol

 

[soflorovers]

If you have an IID Tool or actually I think you can do it from the dash menu; turn off the automatic brake activation in Park feature. then try and clear your codes with IID Tool and you should be good. Don't touch the brake switch until plan to fix it otherwise it might get stuck again.

My actuator failed and it wouldn't release so I had to pull the manual cable release under the center console to get the brake to release. Then I forgot about it and when I put the truck in park it actuated the actuator again and locked it again; horrible noise! lol. I manually released it, cleared the faults and then turned off the automatic feature and I've been good ever since with no e-brake.

Can't remember the exact order but that's what I did; I have a new actuator but just haven't got to it as I hear its a PITA as well to change....lol

Thanks for this. I know the previous owner removed the pads and the majority of the parking brake assembly already, so I'm not sure if I'll need to pull the release. I'll give it a shot via the GAP tool and see if a simple code clear resolves the issue.

 

[A.J.M]

Why not fix it?

Most likely it’s never been cleaned and adjusted correctly hence it failed.
Refit shoes and missing bits and get it set up correctly and it will be fine.

my epb is 15 years old, stripped, cleaned and adjusted annually and works perfectly fine.

 

[Victory_Overland]

I'm definitely fixing mine, just haven't had time at the moment but it is surely on the priority list.

The fix I did was merely to keep it from automatically locking up again until fixed.

 

[soflorovers]

Why not fix it?

Most likely it’s never been cleaned and adjusted correctly hence it failed.
Refit shoes and missing bits and get it set up correctly and it will be fine.

my epb is 15 years old, stripped, cleaned and adjusted annually and works perfectly fine.

I probably will eventually wind up fixing it, but I'd like to at least turn off the flashing light. The problem is that it's constantly blinking and is super distracting when driving at night. Furthermore, as I stated before, I live in the flattest part of the country. I've never used the parking brake on a car in Florida except for those with manual transmissions. I simply have no use for it and the funds can be diverted elsewhere into areas that this truck desperately needs (New sway bar end links, new front wheel bearings, a new wheel spacer, etc... the list goes on) before I even consider fixing a feature that I will never use.

 

[Al Blue4.6l]

Why not fix it?

Most likely it’s never been cleaned and adjusted correctly hence it failed.
Refit shoes and missing bits and get it set up correctly and it will be fine.

my epb is 15 years old, stripped, cleaned and adjusted annually and works perfectly fine.

I thought the nightmare was accessing the EPB module. You access it annually?

 

[A.J.M]

Nope. I adjust the shoes at the back wheel area.
If they are set correctly then you never need to touch the module in anything other than failure of the module. I’ve seen the internal gears break a couple of times but tbh, that’s a 0.00001% failure.

bodsy brake bible is best guide for it.

rather curiously, my adjustment is different for each side. The left takes a couple of clicks more than the right side to hold equally. Despite it having new shoes a couple of years ago and bedded in correctly.

I also use it at every red light, etc so it’s always in use daily as lack of use is a big factor in the shoes sticking and causing the screech.

 

[Blaise]

Have you adjusted it? Like the others said, that cured my issues.

 

[JackW]

One of the best things about the D5 is the integrated parking brake actuators on the rear calipers instead of the tunnel mounted unit of the LR3/4. I wonder if the D5 calipers can be mounted on an earlier truck?