New owner,bit of Speed 6 advice needed urgently

[Walter Sobchak]

I picked up a beautiful mk1 Tuscan yesterday,it was a bit of a scary drive home when it started snowing! But just had a question.
Could someone tell me what revs to go up to for how long until it's warmed up?,the pod LCD has missing lines so it's hard to read the oil temp especially when cold as the LCD gets better when the car has been driven for a while.I'm going to get the pod done when I get it serviced but until then it would be handy to know what revs to keep under for what amount of time.

[NCE 61]

Advice from TVR was as follows:-

"FROM COLD

When starting, please be careful not to let it rev straight up so please make sure that you do not give it anything more than a tiny bit of throttle while cranking it over and then lift off as soon as it catches.

Then try to avoid more than 3,000 rpm until the oil (not water) temperature has exceeded 40 Deg.C, 4,000 rpm until 60 Deg.C and 7,000 rpm until 80 Deg.C. If it climbs above 110 Deg.C, please keep the revs below 5,000 rpm until the oil temperature returns to normal."

HTH

[Walter Sobchak]

I read that in the owners manual, my main problem is I can't make out the oil temp until the car has been in use for a while due to the LCD, If I keep revs under 3000 for the first 15 mins or so of driving should that be ok?.

[Walter Sobchak]

I read that in the owners manual, my main problem is I can't make out the oil temp until the car has been in use for a while due to the LCD, If I keep revs under 3000 for the first 15 mins or so of driving should that be ok?.

[so called]

I think mine is getting near to temp after 15 to 20 minutes.
I would drive gently at first and start building up after the 15 minutes.

[Walter Sobchak]

I think I will have to be gentle all day with this weather!,thanks for the advice I'm grateful.

[s6boy]

Have you tried cycling through the screens to the dedicated Water and Oil Temperature screen? Could be you missing lines will fall in a different place and allow you to read it.

[Gazzab]

I think in winter it can take 10 miles of driving before oil temp is ok for more revs, even then you wont want to give it full beans (regardless of grip levels).

[nawarne]

After picking my car up from James A last Friday, the oil temp' struggled to get above 60 degC whilst driving under clear road conditions.

I understand that the oil cooler really needs a thermostatically controlled by-pass. Correct me if I'm wrong!!

Nick

[Jasper Gilder]

I drove to Birmingham in my Sag on Tuesday - temperature outside was 5 degrees C and the oil took 65 miles to get to temperature - which it would have done in no time had I stopped in a service area for five mins to let the tank warm up.

I work on the basis that if the engine temp is over 70 and the oil over 50 you're OK except for hitting stratospheric revs, which you don't want to do in the cold anyway as there's much less grip.

So if you pass me doing 65 on the motorway - I'm not being Captain Slow - just warming things up properly

[BluTusc]

Hi Walter - welcome to TVR Tuscan Heaven.

As I'm sure you're aware, the Sp6 needs to be well looked after, and my recommendation would be to spend £200 and get a new pod fitted so that oil temp / pressure & water temp, and other settings can be viewed easily. that way you'll at least have the peace of mind that all engine parameters are within normal limits, before caning it!!!

Cheers,

Simon

[Don1]

I would also add that in cold weather, then my Sag never actually reads above 40, even on a long run (unless it stands still). Just be sensible.

[C O Jones]

nawarne said:

After picking my car up from James A last Friday, the oil temp' struggled to get above 60 degC whilst driving under clear road conditions.

I understand that the oil cooler really needs a thermostatically controlled by-pass. Correct me if I'm wrong!!

Nick

My 390SE (1985) came with an oil cooler but without a thermostat fitted (no oil temp read-out), I fitted an oil temp gauge and found that it virtually never got out of the blue in normal driving si I fitted a thermostat asap. This overcooling almost certainly led to the premature failure of the diff/oil-pump drive within the warranty period.

Russ

[JR]

Don1 said:

I would also add that in cold weather, then my Sag never actually reads above 40, even on a long run (unless it stands still). Just be sensible.

C O Jones said:

nawarne said:

After picking my car up from James A last Friday, the oil temp' struggled to get above 60 degC whilst driving under clear road conditions.

I understand that the oil cooler really needs a thermostatically controlled by-pass. Correct me if I'm wrong!!

Nick

My 390SE (1985) came with an oil cooler but without a thermostat fitted (no oil temp read-out), I fitted an oil temp gauge and found that it virtually never got out of the blue in normal driving si I fitted a thermostat asap. This overcooling almost certainly led to the premature failure of the diff/oil-pump drive within the warranty period.

Russ

Wrap part of the rad/oil cooler with something in cold weather so that the engine works at the correct temp. One of my cars has a roller blind in front of the rad adjustable from the inside.

[grahamw48]

C O Jones said:

nawarne said:

After picking my car up from James A last Friday, the oil temp' struggled to get above 60 degC whilst driving under clear road conditions.

I understand that the oil cooler really needs a thermostatically controlled by-pass. Correct me if I'm wrong!!

Nick

My 390SE (1985) came with an oil cooler but without a thermostat fitted (no oil temp read-out), I fitted an oil temp gauge and found that it virtually never got out of the blue in normal driving si I fitted a thermostat asap. This overcooling almost certainly led to the premature failure of the diff/oil-pump drive within the warranty period.

Russ

Do you mean DIZZY/oil pump drive ?...diff is at the back.

Back when I wer a lad, a piece of cardboard blanking off half the rad was the way we'd get a car to warm up quickly in winter.

[KillerJim]

Would another method of reading oil temperature be to look at the oil pressure at idle (900rpm)?

I find that I run 20psi when warm (60c+), if I see it above 20psi then she's still "cold" (50c oil is about 24psi for me)