Replaced my front pads and discs today as one of the pads was down to the metal.

All went pretty smoothly. All the slider pins were seized which I figure caused the uneven wear. Freed them of and replaced them with new pins.

Went out for a test drive, did some light braking, heavier braking then tried emergency stops.

I can't get the ABS to kick in AT ALL. The pedal goes down to the floor but no ABS and no locking up. Just braking but taking longer to come to a stop than I'd like or expect.

When I got home and parked up I noticed some acrid smelling smoke from the driver's side brakes (this is the one that wore down to metal).

I've got no warning lights and I can't remember the last time I needed to stop hard enough for ABS so I don't know when the issue cropped up.

A couple of months ago I I was getting the brake warning light coming on so I replaced the accumulator. That solved the light coming on.

When I replaced it I post a small amount of fluid but the fluid was level with the top of the threads, so I assumed no air would have gotten in.

Bleed the brakes and see how it is after that?

Sounds like you may also have a sticky piston for one caliper to be locking on, how easily did they push in when you put the new pads in? Pedal going to the floor is not right, on a power system like we have the pedal is more pressure sensitive than movement sensitive. Bleeding as per the book would be the first place to start.

All four pistons went in reasonably easily - they certainly weren't the hardest ones I've ever had to wind back.

One was noticeably more difficult than the others though.

While I was in there I noticed the rubber boot on the upper ball joint was split - need to get those swapped at some point!

Fixed the smoking/burning.

Took the caliper back off and pumped thebpedal to push the pistons back out (had to wedge the free moving one still) and wound it back in. Did this a good few times until moved easily.

Went for another test drive and no more smoke! Didn't try an emergency stop and haven't bled the brakes yet.

I'll try an emergency stop later. I'm hoping the lack of pressure was being caused by the sticking piston causing the fluid to overheat.

Given its a dual piston setup I'd suspect the one you have sticking wasn't moving as easily, maybe not at all some of the time. The pistons can be brought as can the seals that go on them, If its started rusting behind the seal then it may be that it just puts enough resistance on the movement to make the other one move without it, in that case the pad would start to skew possibly and then jam.

If you have it off again, I'd consider replacing the seal and possibly the piston (you can't tell what state they are in till they come off, but when i had to deal with mine due to a split outer boot, the chrome finish off the piston was all flaking off, replaced piston and seals and it was fine afterwards, had been slightly seized prior to that). A cap off an aerosol cap with the top cut off helped when reassembling mine (you need to get the outer boot into its locating ridge, and thats the only way we had available to hold it in there while reinserting the piston)

Just had my workshop foreman (I work in a truck dealership) have a quick drive after explaining what happened with them.

He thinks the pads are glazed from their overheating and he'd suggest changing them again. He reckons the pedal feel is fine but there's a lack of bite from the pads and it's not stopping as quickly as it should.

The excessive pedal travel I noted at the weekend is gone, I guess that must have been down to the overheating.

I have the car booked in to be bled by a local Land Rover independent as I'm not confident bleeding them myself. Might change the pads again in the meantime though. The local independent can't fit me until the 27th :(

Hopefully they can pinpoint my coolant leak while they're at it!

Oh, the foreman also suggested trying a different brand of pad.

I put Mintex pads and discs in as I've always used them on my other cars and been happy.

What other brands have you guys had good experience with on P38s?

I'm running Delphi all round (came with the new discs) and no problems with them, plenty of bite and I haven't been able to get them to fade yet (even with a grossly overloaded 3.5 tonne trailer on the back).

I have OMP pads fitted at the moment, but they do like to squeak when cold. Braking is not noticeably better or worse than whatever was in there before under normal driving. Don't know what they'd be like going down a steep hill fully loaded with a trailer on the back. I would hope they would be good considering the brands reputation.