Warning - Battery Charge Point

[rpa.janwell]

For information: on arrival at a motor show in NE Scotland last Sunday morning, one of the bolts in the battery tray of a Tuscan had worn through the housing on the charging point causing it to short out.

Result, lots of smoke, plenty of heat, and what could best be described as a potentially serious "Near Miss".
Plenty of fire extinguishers etc on hand, wheel removed and battery compartment opened, problem sorted.

Worth having a look, check for any wear. This was on an early Tuscan.

[Big Al.]

Worthy of a sticky

Glad alls OK now.

[andyoleary]

Thanks for the heads-up Richard, I'll take a look on mine this weekend,

Andy

[stepr1]

That's how mine went up... Not fun... good job it was on the drive and not in the garage. Mine was a 2000 W reg.

[glaisdale101]

i've just bought a tuscan which had had the same problem but worse it cracked the screen with the heat .Does any one know were I could get a front screen as I've tried every were

[eburacum]

Try giving Douglas Valley breakers in Wigan a bell, they also have a web site, you may be in luck as they usually put a complete windscreen to on side.

[shortlad]

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this but thought I would share the info connected with my near miss.

Near miss was the Anderson connector had cracked and was shorting the battery so the car could have gone up in flames.

From what I could see it looks like TVR (I'm assuming mine was as it came out of the factory) used to thread the hole in the connector to attach it to the chasis as it's difficult to get to with a nut and bolt. Also the hole in the standard connector is quite small. The guy that fixed mine thinks this threading has weakened the connector casing causing the problem. He replaced mine without touching the hole in the connector with a thinner nut and bolt.

www.car-doc.co.uk

These guys fixed mine and they're mobile. They're setting up a nationwide team of mobile auto electricians so if they're not in your area now they will be in the near future.

[Fimbo]

how much did they charge Phil?

[shortlad]

Fimbo said:

how much did they charge Phil?

I had the connector and cable (well Mal the Herts RO did) so I only paid for the labour. I think it was about £95.

Connectors are on eBay for abot £6 and you need some cable. All bits should be available on eBay and think I found one of the TVR supply companys sells it as a jump start connection kit.

The whole job should cost about £110 parts and labour if you make the part up yourself.

[Fimbo]

cheers. i've not been able to get along to the last couple of meets - a real shame, particularly the last meet with all those Lambo's, as my son, despite being brought up on TVR's, absolutely loves them.

[BATS666]

The workshop at TVR Power burnt down in August due to a shorting battery terminal and jump lead socket on a Tuscan. I had mine replaced as it was badly corroded. Worth a look for all owners.
BATS

[Basil Brush]

Another one to add to the list, as I woke up on Tuesday morning to the sound of my Tuscan's alarm and smoke pouring out of the bonnet. The battery was on fire and it's made a mess of the inside of the battery compartment but luckily my neighbour came out with a powder extinguisher so it didn't get too far.

The fire crew couldn't believe the messing about to get the battery out and the bonnet off.

[PetrolHeadPete]

is there enough evidence left to see where it started
main theory seems to be the bolt through
the Anderson connector
I've altered mine to use smaller bolt and I glued
a nut on the back to ease reassembly
The original bolt is too big and breaks through
the plastic getting horribly close to the + terminal

[Basil Brush]

PetrolHeadPete said:

is there enough evidence left to see where it started
main theory seems to be the bolt through
the Anderson connector
I've altered mine to use smaller bolt and I glued
a nut on the back to ease reassembly
The original bolt is too big and breaks through
the plastic getting horribly close to the + terminal

Not sure tbh but it looks like it may well have been from the socket. The cable is pretty fried at that end, but the battery has melted all over everything so difficult to tell.

[Whitey]

Sorry to hear that Basil Brush. Have you had the anderson connector checked over in the past at all? Insurance job or did you get to it in time?

[PetrolHeadPete]

Nasty
Hope you can get her patched up

[Basil Brush]

Whitey said:

Sorry to hear that Basil Brush. Have you had the anderson connector checked over in the past at all? Insurance job or did you get to it in time?

I had a new one put on a couple of services back.

It's going to be an insurance job as, although there is nothing visible from outside, it's made a mess of the inner panels around the battery box and taken a lot of the coating off the chassis rails.

[Whitey]

Basil Brush, how's it all going?

[Basil Brush]

The Tuscan is still at Drivestyle HC in Harrogate getting sorted out. I didn´t get it looked at until a couple of weeks ago as I was boarding in the 3 valleys, which did a very good job of taking my mind off it. No word on extent of damage yet but I think it´s damaged the heater boxes, scuttle etc so may be a bit more involved than I thought.

Oh and just to make matters better, some scrotes stole the wheels off my GF´s Ka yesterday, so now we´ve not got a car at all. Just what I needed.

[Jim Green]

Basil : Really sorry to hear this............ Hope it's sorted very soon.

As for the scumbags that stole the KA's wheels. What the hell is this country coming too.

PS : I received the shocker this morning. Have left a message here : http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Edited by Jim Green on Friday 13th March 12:43