Changed my front pads along with rear discs and pads at the weekend. Since I had wound the pistons back in I pumped the brakes a few times to push the pistons back in place up to the pads. I noticed something I had not before, if I pump the brakes say 5 times quickly the brake pedal goes hard and it's hard to stop the car (engine running). Now if I drive up and down the road and brake accelerate brake etc all works normally. My thinking is that when I pump the brakes quickly 5 times in a row the pedal is probably going hard because the vacuum has been exhausted. However with the engine running I had expected the vacuum to build back up with my foot still on the pedal and it to sink / go soft again, I does not happen. Wondered if others found the same, or if I maybe have a servo / vacuum problem.

When you wound the pistons in did you check the brake fluid level? A friend of mine forgot and it pushed the level so far up it was leaking out of the reservoir ! Previously..
Vogue SE TD6
Defender 90 2.4
Defender 110 TD5
Vogue 3.5 EFI

Yep, have to say I've done that too in the past..... But this time no, fluid levels all good. May have to go over the the in laws an try out his Range Rover brakes to see if they do the same thing (could do with a weekend if not fixing cars).

Pretty sure my old Freelander did the same, if I pumped the brakes while stationary they got progressively harder and harder until the pedal wouldn't move - never noticed if this affected braking or not tho.

I get the same on my 11MY TDV8. I thought there was something wrong (and maybe there is!) but it goes away once the engine has started and the car is moving again. With the car stationary and engine stopped, pumping the brake pedal 3 or 4 times the movement reduces to a solid pedal. Start the engine, no change, start to move the car and the pedal softenes and returns to normal operation. Until it does the brakes hardly work so I guess it must be something connected with the servo, as suggested earlier 4.4 TDV8 Vogue Baltic Blue MY11

Ahh yes I remember now - mine was (almost) the same as Baron - Pumping the brakes with the engine off made them progressively less and less travel until it wouldn't move - then starting the engine with foot on brake pedal within 1 second of engine going the pedal returned to normal.

Don't worry guys. This is completely normal.

It happens because of the way the servo (assistance) works, it requires a vacuum to create the assistance.

The vacuum is created by a vacuum pump that is powered by the engine (usually on the back of the alternator).

There is a small amount of vacuum excess when the engine is off so you still get servo assisted brakes 4-5 depressions after switching the engine off.

When depressing the brake peddle it uses quite a lot of vacuum (read more that the pump creates instantly) so even with the engine running if you stamp on the brakes several times in rapid succession the pedal will feel harder each time. If you give it a min to "recover" it will go back to normal.

Also if you stamp on the brakes with the engine running the pedal will tend to creep down slightly with most servo assisted systems

Yep - all sorted and thanks for the replies. I checked out the servo by pumping the brake until vacumme exhausted, then left foot on pedal and after a few seconds the pedal goes down again as pressure builds up - so all good, just something I have never noticed before.

In fact, this is an easy test for power brakes when looking at a new (used) car that my Dad taught me.

Get in, pump the brakes until the pedal goes hard, then start the car WHILE LEAVING YOUR FOOT ON THE BRAKE PEDAL. The pedal should immediately soften up when the engine starts and vacuum is generated. If this happens, the power brakes are working normally. If it doesn't, something's wrong somewhere.