Ignition warning on and sudden failing of rev counter

[ssavill]

All,

Weird problem just hit - ignition warning light wont go out when the engine is running, and the rev counter is sitting there at zero, with the "odd" blip up to 1000 rpm and then back down again.

Any thoughts / ideas?

Cheers,

Stuart.

[Extra 300 Driver]

Big Fuse!

Do a search, its a Cerbera Classic fault and not expensve.

[ssavill]

i doubt it - if the main fuse had blown, the engine would not run, and nothing else would work.


everything else is fine, car drives, engine starts etc - just ignition warning light stays on and rev counter zeros constantly.

cheers,

stuart.

[BLUETHUNDER]

That how the big fuse starts when its about to go.Could only be a hairline crack or a lot of bad corrosion.But what you have is the start of big fuse failure.You are showing all the classic symptoms.

[GreenV8S]

ssavill said:

i doubt it - if the main fuse had blown, the engine would not run, and nothing else would work.

Assumption, or something you know from experience?

I would check the battery voltage immediately. From the symptoms I suspect the fusible link has blown. This would isolate the alternator from the battery, leaving you running from the battery. As that runs down you will get more and more problems until eventually the engine stops.

[touching cloth]

Deffo sounds like big fuse and yes you can definitely run for a while without it passing any charge at all to the battery (quite a way in fact if your battery has full charge, i hobbled along in Germany simply by swapping battery over with someone else and his car then recharged mine ) - It will eventually drain that and then you will go no further. Haywire electrics, particularly erratic or dead revcounter are definite indicators in my experience.

[kojak]

I would also check the big fuse too.

[Extra 300 Driver]

ssavill said:

i doubt it - if the main fuse had blown, the engine would not run, and nothing else would work.


everything else is fine, car drives, engine starts etc - just ignition warning light stays on and rev counter zeros constantly.

cheers,

stuart.

Fine, breakdown see if I care!

[ssavill]

Cheers guys - stand corrected - the charge fuse / big fuse it is.... Thankyou for the advice

[ssavill]

Extra 300 - sorry to doubt you mate... just when i think i have seen most cerbera faults, posted on here and got answers - another rears its head - thanks for the inital response - you were spot on! 8-)

Cheers,

Stuart.

[julian64]

Extra 300 is not often wrong.

[Extra 300 Driver]

julian64 said:

Extra 300 is not often wrong.

But I do reserve the right to talk total cack, just o keep you on your toes!

I would get another Cerbera, but I have just spent all my money on new house, bugger

[RUSSELLM]

ssavill said:

i have seen most cerbera faults, posted on here and got answers - another rears its head

In that case, have a look at your chassis whilst you've got your head stuck down there

[Extra 300 Driver]

ssavill said:

Extra 300 - sorry to doubt you mate... just when i think i have seen most cerbera faults, posted on here and got answers - another rears its head - thanks for the inital response - you were spot on! 8-)

Cheers,

Stuart.

I only know because I long to return to a Cerb and I spend too much tme on here! I have also had most things go wrong with my old Cerbera, and sorted them out myself. It was a good car went she went.

[RUSSELLM]

Out of interest, where's the fuse supposed to be on the 4.5 ?

I've swapped one on a 4.2.

Is it supposed to be in the same location ?

[julian64]

same place. Think of the most difficult place on the engine to reach and you'll be close

[RUSSELLM]

Thanks Julian . I'll have a harder "peer".

Or get some springs for my eyeballs. I've got a 125a solid fuse from TVR Power, to go in.

I've got the battery light on for the first ten minutes of each journey.

[optimax sniffer]

Could be the alternator starting to go. When mine went the speedo and rev counter didn't match like they normally do. I was doing a steady 80 on the sat nav with the rev counter saying 1500 rpm and the speedo reporting 60mph. The car basically ended up running off the battery...

[RUSSELLM]

You could be right, the cold start voltage to the battery is dire, but I'm hoping it's down to a crack in the fuse. I'll try that first, on account of it being the easier/cheaper job