T350C 100 amp fuse woes - how to move the car?

[sebhaque]

I lost all power yesterday in my T350 while coming home. The speedo/rev counter gauges went a bit crazy, then stopped working, the radio soon silenced itself and the car was running quite rough and lacking in power. When I pulled into a side road it died entirely. The AA attended and diagnosed the battery wasn't getting any charge - since I was 130 miles from home, they recovered me back. I rang TVRSSW and it's booked in for next week.

I've now got to get the car 57 miles from Bristol to TVRSSW. I did a bit of research and while the symptoms point pretty squarely to the 100 amp fuse, my car's still in warranty and so it's probably worth asking Colin/Phil to also give the car a quick once-over to make sure nothing else is going to grenade itself in the next few months.

My question is - what's the best way of getting the car down there? I'm hesitant to charge the battery up and drive it down in case it dies on the way - towing is an option but it's a bit of a way to go, and I'm not sure if TVRs like being towed as such?

I don't mind paying to get it recovered there but I just thought I'd ask. I suppose a follow-up question would be if anybody in the SW knows of a decent recovery company that won't charge the earth? I'm an AA member but the guy who recovered the car back home seemed to think the AA wouldn't recover it again to a place of repair. Thoughts appreciated.

The joys of TVR ownership - I've only had it for 3 weeks!

[Zippee]

If you have some spanners you can check/replace the fuse yourself, theres 2 - one under the airbox and the other I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be able to point to
It may also be the alternator (happened to me a few years ago) and I had to have that replaced rather than the much cheaper fuse...

[TAM747]

3 fuses: battery-box, close to the starter and passenger footwell.

replace all 3 with 125A "midi" (size), means 40x10mm

earth-cables should also be checked, at the battery behind, passenger footwell, engine mount (under airbox) and front under the oiltank (here i'm not sure)

heres the fuse (left) and earth (17nut) in passengers ..

Edited by TAM747 on Tuesday 23 June 20:27

[QBee]

I have had both the 100 amp fuse and the alternator fail on my Chimaera at different times.

For what it's worth, the 100 amp fuse gave the symptoms you list. The alternator failing made the ignition light come on gradually, but the car ran fine, no funny dials, no rough running, and survived the last hour of a track day and 50 miles home.

Changing the fuse yourself is easy, so long as you can find the fuse you just need a small socket set. On the Chimaera the fuse is directly below the alternator, on the chassis rail under the car, ie between alternator and starter. The cable then goes from starter to battery. I don't know where it is on a Speed Six, but that airbox location sounds familiar.

[QBee]

Re- reading, close to the starter sounds right.

[QBee]

QBee said:

Re- reading, close to the starter sounds right.

A mobile mechanic might change it for you, or the AA if you have home start.....

[GazzaM100]

My alternator belt snapped giving exactly the same symptoms, and it happened in Bristol 45 mins after buying it lol

[SteveSPG]

if you've a full battery, and no alternator working, I'm sure you can do 100 miles or so, but a faulty alternator in itself won't cause it to run bad unless it is getting very low on charge.

I've done over 100 miles with a broken alt drive belt, fingers crossed, and a spare battery in the footwell just in case, and the first sign of an issue (apart from low volt read on dash) was hazards lights coming on randomly - which may have been the immobiliser sensing the battery disconnected, but i don't really know