Issues over the weekend

[WhyTwo]

Was out in the Cerb on Sat, covered about 30 miles, and had a few issues, I wondered if anyone could offer any input.

It began with a slight vibration from under the car when moving slowly in traffic. I put this down to perhaps a loose exhaust bracket and thought no more of it.

I then noticed a smell of oil when about 4 or 5 miles from home. I was sat behind a fuel lorry carrying oil so again dismissed it. However when I got home I popped the bonnet to take a look and could definitely smell oil. Quick look around the engine bay and underneath and I couldn't see anything. Looked in the garage and noticed a spot of oil on the ground. Perhaps the size of 10p. Very black and thicker than engine oil, not really what I would expect from engine oil. It was on the drivers side about level with the front wheel. Could it be from the steering rack?

I then started the car to move it onto the drive and the engine seemed very 'rattly' and began to whine. Not at all normal. I moved it the few feet onto the drive and pressed the red stop button. The engine shut off but was still cranking and trying to turn over. I pressed the black button and it fired up. Pressed red and the engine shut off but was still trying to crank/turn over. By this time a little smoke was coming from under the bonnet and I was panicking! I tried everything to shut it off until finally the only thing I could do was disconnect the battery.

I'm terrified to try and start the car. I've left a message with Str8six, but wondered if anyone has any idea. Whatever it is I think it could be pretty serious!

[spongy]

Check wires sir sounds like you have a short at some point,or a fault in car with wires to the starter/stop buttons.was the smoke engine smoke or electrical smoke...you can tell by the smell normally.Check the starter while your there and the cables to it as these can play up;)

[tvrgit]

I suspect the "rattly whine" is the starter motor continuing to turn over after you've released the "start" button, probably due to a short circuit as the last poster said. It could be a short in the woring to the starter itself, or it could be an internal insulation breakdown within the motor or solenoid.

Check carefully along the thick wire that goes from the battery to the starter motor. Look for any nicks or melted bits, or maybe for any broken cable ties that have allowed it to drop down onto something hot.

Check the connections on the staarter motor - if there is an oil leak and it's coated the starter and solenoid, it could be short circuiting through that.

[WhyTwo]

Thanks guys. Will have a proper look around this eve to see if the starter or wires running to the battery could be the culprit.

In the panic to shut the engine off I didn't notice the smell but am not convinced it was electrical/plastic as I'm sure that would've stood out. I'm beginning to think the oil leak has something to do with this and it could've been excess oil burning off a hot engine.

Could this perhaps be the steering rack?

[tvrgit]

Could be the rack - have a look up from underneath, check the gaiters at both ends of the rack, and particularly check the input shaft (from the steering column) - there is a pinion seal there where which is prone to leaking (mine is!) and it doesn't take long to soak that end of the rack.

You could take off the panel in front of the engine and check the two hose connectors into the top of the pinion housing as well - although they might not leak until under pressure, and you can't get pressure till you start the engine, and you can't do that till you connect the battery and you can't do that till you find the elctrical problem!

The skull bone's connected to the... brick wall bone...

[gifdy]

Have you got a meter Stu ? Give us a shout if you need a hand

[Tanguero]

tvrgit said:

Check the connections on the staarter motor - if there is an oil leak and it's coated the starter and solenoid, it could be short circuiting through that.

oil doesn't conduct electricity...

[WhyTwo]

gifdy said:

Have you got a meter Stu ? Give us a shout if you need a hand

Hey Kenny.

No I don't. Any and all help gratefully accepted.

We were out/away Sat pm and most of Sunday so really only began to think about it last night. If you have time to pop over for a quick look anytime end of this week or the w/e it would be great

[Nickccc]

I doubt it's power steering fluid as that will be red. I would be looking at the clip on cover that goes onto the starter motor, if it has slipped forward it can make contact with the starter terminals, also check wiring as has been mentioned. The oil could be from the bottom of the right hand side airbox or from the return pipes from the oil cooler, I wouldn't start it before you find the problem.

[gifdy]

WhyTwo said:

gifdy said:

Have you got a meter Stu ? Give us a shout if you need a hand

Hey Kenny.

No I don't. Any and all help gratefully accepted.

We were out/away Sat pm and most of Sunday so really only began to think about it last night. If you have time to pop over for a quick look anytime end of this week or the w/e it would be great

If it's not sorted by Fri, I'll pop over after work or Sat morning.

[tvrgit]

Tanguero said:

oil doesn't conduct electricity...

I thought that as I typed it, but then I thought just the general oil and st that accumulates in it can cause arcing.

[SimonKD]

Nickccc said:

I would be looking at the clip on cover that goes onto the starter motor, if it has slipped forward it can make contact with the starter terminals

This is exactly what I would check first cus I've had it happen to mine in the past.

Regards
Simon

[WhyTwo]

Thanks for all the input guys. Hopefully be able to take a look towards the end of the week. It sounds like it could be a relatively simple fix, fingers crossed! All sorts of nightmare scenarios went through my mind but based on what's been said above I'm feeling a lot better.

I also think I've got a number of little unconnected issues rather than one big problem It just so happens none of them were there last weekend when it was running like a dream, and they all appeared on Saturday!

Don't you just love TVR's!

[spongy]

Our little gems do have a habit of doing this when they feel the urdge.You can spend all day fixing a problem--feel happy--run car and hey presto another little niggle shows up--but do we love em OH YES.When i bought mine there was a couple of things to dolol its now in a million pieces and my to do board has gone from A4 to the whole wall

[Tanguero]

I would check the thin signal wire that goes to the starter solenoid, if that has burnt through and is brushing against a live 12v (around the big fuse area maybe?) then the starter will turn continuously. Alternatively its possible that the switch part of the solenoid its self has shorted internally. The starter running all the time will certainly heat up the wiring enough to melt insulation eventualy.

[Demondad]

Hi Stu, sure does sound scary. The smell and noise of the starter does seem similar to when mine went bandit with connections and solenoid failure. The oil (hopefully!) is something else. Just let me know if you need a hand holding a torch or anything.

[WhyTwo]

Silly question. What side is the starter motor on? Very narrow garage means I can only get to one side or the other, not both, when it's jacked up/on stands

Hoping it's drivers side or I'm going to have a challenge pushing it in and out to move it in the garage

[SimonKD]

Passenger Side, sorry........

Regards
Simon

[WhyTwo]

^^ I suspected it would be! Oh well here goes a bit of fun pushing the car in and out of the garage to reposition it and with no power steering. Nervous about connecting up the battery and certainly don't want to start it until I've found the problem

[supersix]

I'd guess the oil smell is down to the starter being permanently engaged, getting very hot and burning off the years of dirt and oil coating on it Find and fix your starter wiring issue and then see if you've got any other problems... Could it also be a stuck solenoid?