Advice Needed

[pdavison]

Rights guys & girls, I need a little advice before my wallet becomes unnecessarily light.

My speed 6 was misfiring and I've taken it to APM and the diagnosis is that it needs the head doing as the the valves are shot (technical term).

The car was done at TVR Blackpool in May 2002, full top end rebuild with everything that goes with it but it would appear that the problem has arisen again.

I've only had the car since December so I'm trying to get my head around what I can try to claw back financially.

I have a WH Warrantee but I understand that they do not pay out for this kind of work and they won't come and look at the car until the engine is stripped down.

Any advice on how best to deal with this and what costs anyone has had for this work would be much appreciated.

[arcbeer]

TVR must guarantee their work for some period of time. No idea how long but may be worth phoning the factory and asking.

I'd ask WH about the warranty. I've heard they can be, shall we say, difficult but this sounds like a perfectly reasonable claim to me given the rebuild in 2002.

[apprentice]

From our experience Andys diagnosis will invariably be correct and as his labour charge is very fair.... I'd get him to open he up, confirm the extent of works required and then approach WH.

Good Luck!

[pdavison]

apprentice said:

From our experience Andys diagnosis will invariably be correct and as his labour charge is very fair.... I'd get him to open he up, confirm the extent of works required and then approach WH. Good Luck!

Totally trust Andy's diagnosis and work, it's the money side of things I wanted to explore!

TVR only guarantee work for 6 months on this work unfortunately.

[Plotloss]

Rebuild warranty is 6 months...

Crack it, get WHA in, if they wont do anything (they should) then perhaps speak to the factory as a last resort...

[apprentice]

pdavison said:

apprentice said: From our experience Andys diagnosis will invariably be correct and as his labour charge is very fair.... I'd get him to open he up, confirm the extent of works required and then approach WH. Good Luck! Totally trust Andy's diagnosis and work, it's the money side of things I wanted to explore!

You're gonna need to invest in the first stage to ascertain your total liabity.

[Buster4.2]

If you don't get any joy then Trading Standards are definately worth a shot.

They will give you free advice and contrary to popular belief the consumer has pretty extensive rights outside of warranty if goods haven't lasted a reasonable time (as this engine rebuild clearly hasn't).

Given the history with the Speed 6, you shouldn't have a problem of proving lack of fitness for purpose - engines should be expected to last a reasonable time.

Obviously explore other routes first. Surprised if Factory would want -ve publicity.

Good luck

>> Edited by Buster4.2 on Wednesday 18th February 15:22

[darreni]

Speak to Paul Giddings in engine build, he will do everything possible to help you & will reduce the costs where he can. Top guy.
Darren

[weatherboard]

PDAVISION

Sorry to hear the bad news about the head, was at APM only an hour ago and saw it there. It may be a bit poorly but she sure looked pretty in the Pearlescent paint and spiders.

I have not had much experience so far but would suggest the factory should help if it has already been fixed once at the factory.

Let us know what happens

Best of luck

Jon

[kojak69]

Paul.

Email kevin63...he's had 3 engines go on his sp6. He might be able to give you some advice. I've spoken to him, so he's half expecting an email from you..thats if you want to. He mansged to get all three done under warranty.

Good luck.

[pdavison]

weatherboard said:

PDAVISION Sorry to hear the bad news about the head, was at APM only an hour ago and saw it there. It may be a bit poorly but she sure looked pretty in the Pearlescent paint and spiders. I have not had much experience so far but would suggest the factory should help if it has already been fixed once at the factory. Let us know what happens Best of luck Jon

Cheers Weatherboard ... I suppose if it still looks good standing still it can't all be bad !

Thanks kojak, I'll drop him a line.

[j_s_g]

One other thing to check on this is WH's stance over broken/going to break... Those kind of companies don't like paying out for preventative fixes - only for actual "the engine's strewn across the M25" faults. If it is driveable (albeit a bit grumpily), you might have to put it up on a couple of bricks, set it running, and try to coax it into breaking.

[joospeed]

I always advise people with SP6 engines to bypass the indies and go to dealers for any engine servicing / work at all. By doing that you ensure maximum co-operation from the factory, they seem to put more faith in 19 year old john at the dealer than time-served independants in their 30s and 40s!! .. go figure ..

However if you go dealer route for all engine stuff you're in the best position, if the factory get uptight about your engine they can just turn around and say that if it's been to an indie they won't give you any goodwill at all. Admittedly that's a rare occurance and TVR are wanting the flagship SP6 engine to appear as good as possible, hence heavily discounted rebuilds or free rebuilds if you're in the dealer serviced group.

A call to TVR Power would be a good first move and see if they can help you out.

Don't know how it will affect it, but I'd have kept quiet about having your car at an indie, if the car's still in one piece take it up to Power ...

Good luck

[kevin63]

Sorry to here the bad news, will send you a email when i get more time soon with as much detail that i can give you i have recived yours.

[gazzab]

joospeed said:

I always advise people with SP6 engines to bypass the indies and go to dealers for any engine servicing / work at all. By doing that you ensure maximum co-operation from the factory, they seem to put more faith in 19 year old john at the dealer than time-served independants in their 30s and 40s!! .. go figure ..

I am sure (in fact I know !) that some indies do indeed have a good relationship with the factory. So I would ignore that advice if I was you.
Some indies have grown up with TVR, have spent many years servicing all forms of TVR and in particular the AJP engine. In my experience some of the dealers are in fact the ones with the poor relations with the factory (albeit I think those dealers have gone!). I am sure that some indies do indeed have poor relations with the factory but I guess that is the power of the web for you!

[APMAUTO]

joospeed said:

I always advise people with SP6 engines to bypass the indies and go to dealers for any engine servicing / work at all. By doing that you ensure maximum co-operation from the factory, they seem to put more faith in 19 year old john at the dealer than time-served independants in their 30s and 40s!! .. go figure .. However if you go dealer route for all engine stuff you're in the best position, if the factory get uptight about your engine they can just turn around and say that if it's been to an indie they won't give you any goodwill at all. Admittedly that's a rare occurance and TVR are wanting the flagship SP6 engine to appear as good as possible, hence heavily discounted rebuilds or free rebuilds if you're in the dealer serviced group. A call to TVR Power would be a good first move and see if they can help you out. Don't know how it will affect it, but I'd have kept quiet about having your car at an indie, if the car's still in one piece take it up to Power ... Good luck

having worked on the speed six cars since they appeared and collected the first tuscan for the dealer i was working for from blackpool i worked on them for 2yrs at the dealer and did nothing else! hence a lot of contact with tvr have not had a negative response from tvr for any reasonable requests so far!

message for jools: we should get in contact regarding chips can you do one for a nitrous cerbera thats switchable ie nitrous/non nitrous

regards andy

[joospeed]

Hi Andy .. is this for a certain purple beast ??
I need to speak to Paul about Campbell's nitroused car, assuming he need to retard the ignition as one would with a pressure charge engine .. will let you know what happens

best wishes .. Joo

[APMAUTO]

no its not the cerbie your thinking of, have been looking for a nos system that will work on the cerbera for a while have now found a new system that is perfect for it but as you say need some way of retarding the timing did think about the r/rose ecu but need to have more adjustment than 3 degrees to put big power into it let me know if you come up with anything jools
cheers andy

[joospeed]

will call paul today, pick his brains about what can be done .. .. mail me your fone number for later okies?

cheerz ..

Joo

[apprentice]

gazzab said:

joospeed said: I always advise people with SP6 engines to bypass the indies and go to dealers for any engine servicing / work at all. By doing that you ensure maximum co-operation from the factory, they seem to put more faith in 19 year old john at the dealer than time-served independants in their 30s and 40s!! .. go figure .. I am sure (in fact I know !) that some indies do indeed have a good relationship with the factory. So I would ignore that advice if I was you. Some indies have grown up with TVR, have spent many years servicing all forms of TVR and in particular the AJP engine. In my experience some of the dealers are in fact the ones with the poor relations with the factory (albeit I think those dealers have gone!). I am sure that some indies do indeed have poor relations with the factory but I guess that is the power of the web for you!

Have to disagree in this instance Julian and agree with gazzab. However I am always encouraged by two respected Indies sharing their depth of knowledge - can only be good for the wider TVR community.

Take it from me that Andy at APM Automotive is perceived - by the boys at Blackpool who are in the habit of getting their hands oily - as a top bloke!