Car died for half a second....thoughts?
Discussion
Saturday morning, driving to the start of the Peak Distruct run. Engine warm, about 10 miles into the cross counttry journey I was pulling away from a roundabout, changed to 2nd, couple of seconds later there was a jolting cough as if the entire engine had stopped for half a second, which threw me forwards, then the car carried on as normal.
10 miles later, same thing, same gear, same sort of speed/revs, again as accelerating.
Then did a further 130 miles of mixed driving, including several stops, no issues other than overheating in traffic, which I diagnosed as one fan with a dodgy contact below the rad.
Any thoughts where to start looking....or if I even need to?
Ps, it was similar to the cough well known by track-dayers, when you are down to 1/4 tank of fuel and enter a long left hander, ie g-force induced fuel starvation.
10 miles later, same thing, same gear, same sort of speed/revs, again as accelerating.
Then did a further 130 miles of mixed driving, including several stops, no issues other than overheating in traffic, which I diagnosed as one fan with a dodgy contact below the rad.
Any thoughts where to start looking....or if I even need to?
Ps, it was similar to the cough well known by track-dayers, when you are down to 1/4 tank of fuel and enter a long left hander, ie g-force induced fuel starvation.
Could be anything, not an easy one to diagnose. I had the same issue on mine, turned out to be the earth wire in the loom to the ECU. I only know this is the earth shorted out and caused the car to die completely in the end and the intermittent issue never returned once the loom was repaired.
Not wishing to worry you as my example is pretty much worse case.
It would be worth checking the engine earth strap, I know FFG had an issue on his car where it kept momentarily cutting out, really not ideal if you are in the middle of an overtake. After many months of troubleshooting it turned out the be the engine earth strap.
Not wishing to worry you as my example is pretty much worse case.
It would be worth checking the engine earth strap, I know FFG had an issue on his car where it kept momentarily cutting out, really not ideal if you are in the middle of an overtake. After many months of troubleshooting it turned out the be the engine earth strap.
Hi Qbee, sorry to hear you have problems.
I have had something similar, but like so many have said it could a lot of things. I'm new to this TVR thing, but that's another story.
Anyway back to the question.
I checked the throttle pot with a multi meter, cleaned up the contacts on the plug. Then I checked the connections on the large ECU plug. (unscrewed the cover) I found that one of the grounds (pin 14) had almost broken loose
. It took a while to get the connector out of the plug, then I lengthed the cable and re crimped the connector. This helped a lot.
I have had something similar, but like so many have said it could a lot of things. I'm new to this TVR thing, but that's another story.
Anyway back to the question.
I checked the throttle pot with a multi meter, cleaned up the contacts on the plug. Then I checked the connections on the large ECU plug. (unscrewed the cover) I found that one of the grounds (pin 14) had almost broken loose
. It took a while to get the connector out of the plug, then I lengthed the cable and re crimped the connector. This helped a lot. Thanks guys. I am reading all your suggestions and the next dry sunny day I am at home I will work through them all. Keep 'em coming please.
Attack date will probably be this Friday, as I have Daz (SiliconeKid35hp to you lot) booked to be at mine, plumbing in a new bath for Erin Dawes (to whom I am related by marriage). Shower man myself.
It will be helpful to be told in his bluff North Notts accent how I could do it cheaper, a different way, or whatever, while my head is deep in the passenger side footwell and my arse is in the air.....
It will make a change from my normal view of him working.....now where did I park that bike?
Attack date will probably be this Friday, as I have Daz (SiliconeKid35hp to you lot) booked to be at mine, plumbing in a new bath for Erin Dawes (to whom I am related by marriage). Shower man myself.
It will be helpful to be told in his bluff North Notts accent how I could do it cheaper, a different way, or whatever, while my head is deep in the passenger side footwell and my arse is in the air.....
It will make a change from my normal view of him working.....now where did I park that bike?
Another person with an on-going intermittent like yours. I have used RoverGauge on mine and in my case it is caused by the throttle pot reading impossibly too low momentarily. Yet to fully diagnose but looks like a wiring fault. Was well worth getting hold of as it has allowed me to log data when driving to allow me to identify this.
Good luck...
P.S. this is on a Griff 500
P.P.S. when idling it seems to make no difference that the TPS reads wrong so suspect it is trying to enter idle when driving, hence total loss of power.
Good luck...
P.S. this is on a Griff 500
P.P.S. when idling it seems to make no difference that the TPS reads wrong so suspect it is trying to enter idle when driving, hence total loss of power.
Edited by Rob_the_Sparky on Monday 23 May 12:49
Try and note the rev counter if it happens again- if you loose the trigger from the ignition amp the rev counter will drop to zero immediately, even if the engine is still turning. There have been odd cases of the wires to the distributor trigger head fracturing, but its only apparent under certain loads when the vacuum advance moves the trigger head position.
my guess is loose connection in that bundle of wires by the ecu. mine did this within the first week of owning it leaving me stranded, luckily the missus' dad is a AA man so he came to rescue me. down by the ecu in the loom that tvr ever so neatly stuffed in there theres a black long connector block, when I flexed the connector the fuel pump would cut out, replaced connector and problem disappeared.
I say start car leave it running then give the ecu loom a shake. if it cuts out while doing that you know the problem is around there.
I say start car leave it running then give the ecu loom a shake. if it cuts out while doing that you know the problem is around there.
That sounds exactly like the symptoms I had with mine last year.
It was indeed the 'long black thing' in the footwell wiring otherwise known as the 80 amp fuse.
I'd checked that damn thing so many times with meter and all appeared well.
Only when fuse was removed and all the oxidisation on the back face revealed was it obvious.
Clean up all the contacts, new fuse and not missed a beat since.
It was indeed the 'long black thing' in the footwell wiring otherwise known as the 80 amp fuse.
I'd checked that damn thing so many times with meter and all appeared well.
Only when fuse was removed and all the oxidisation on the back face revealed was it obvious.
Clean up all the contacts, new fuse and not missed a beat since.
So many moans and groans about the delights of the ecu area of our p+J, I'm so glad I took the plunge and ripped the lot out and replaced it all with the canems system,I ended up with half a black bin bag of rubbish wiring,crappy connections bits and bobs of relays etc etc etc, it's happy days when I look and see no battery in the way( relocated to the boot) and I nice tidy footwell without lumps of loom dropping down ready to catch fire on top of the battery.....one of the best mods I have ever done
Rich
Rich
I bought mine on ijgnition and fuel as supply only and installed myself,I think lloyds installed price was around 1900 but I'm pretty sure the correct price is on their web site that would also include a dyno session which is a def for final tuning.
Ok you still have the fuse box which I relocated on mine but it does get rid of a lot of the rats nest under the footwell and tidies the engine loom......brings it up to decent standards and makes future fault finding/alterations that much easier, plus the biggest advantage......totally smooth linear driving
Rich
Ok you still have the fuse box which I relocated on mine but it does get rid of a lot of the rats nest under the footwell and tidies the engine loom......brings it up to decent standards and makes future fault finding/alterations that much easier, plus the biggest advantage......totally smooth linear driving
Rich
Hi Qbee, have you made any progress on this yet?
While trying to trace my total cutout problem i have connected lights to the coil and fuel pump to see what happens, today i just happened to glance at the lights just as it hiccuped, i saw the fuel pump light come back on at the same time, but i didnt see it go off, does anyone know how long the pump would have to be off before you feel it?, is it likely to misfire rather than a quick on / off?
While trying to trace my total cutout problem i have connected lights to the coil and fuel pump to see what happens, today i just happened to glance at the lights just as it hiccuped, i saw the fuel pump light come back on at the same time, but i didnt see it go off, does anyone know how long the pump would have to be off before you feel it?, is it likely to misfire rather than a quick on / off?
Hi chaps I have also been doing a bit of diagnosis on my cutting out problem. I connected ecu mate, took the car out to a bit of quiet road and switched off the fuel pump... felt exactly like the cutting out issue, switched it back on again and hey presto away it went. So it's definitely a fuel issue, I could make it cough by switching the pump off and on quickly too. I was chatting to an auto electrician mate and he says there is a connector on the loom in the footwell which can get damp and corrode. I will have a delve at the weekend and report back. I shall also try your light idea too Paul. My other suspect is a broken wire in the loom somewhere. I shall find the problem though. First check will be all the wires that affect the ECU such as ignition feed, power to the ECU and the like. All part of the joys of TVR ownership I suppose.
Phlibble
PhlibbleHi nicb134, i am also considering a broken cable somewhere in the loom by the ECU, all my connectors look good, but everytime i mess about with those cables my problems change between hiccup, misfire or cutout, it could all be based on the same thing, i will keep on light on the coil as i havent seen a full cutout situation yet but i will move the other to the pump coil rather than the relay output as it is now, maybe i will set up my phone to record the lights so i can see the results better
paul
paul
The footwell area is often wet on my car - I will have a look at supporting the rats nest off the floor.
My battery was moved to the boot some time ago, so my wiring and ECU sit at floor level now. Good place to start my checking. Think i will send a grandson in, as he will fit down there. Good old Victorian values
My battery was moved to the boot some time ago, so my wiring and ECU sit at floor level now. Good place to start my checking. Think i will send a grandson in, as he will fit down there. Good old Victorian values
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