Common Problems

[Nashy]

Raceboy - Nice car.

Is that a Leven grill? I have one of the older front ends too and was thinking doing the same. How often do you knock the number plate off? Any head-on pics?

[raceboy]

The grill is home-made so to speak, made in my last job, laser cut surround with a stainless mesh tackwelded to the back, slots in the same way as the original, with matching mesh under the bonnet vents
No problems with the number plate, screwed on with 2 big self tappers and it's never moved

ps
Is it just me or is the picture in the last post not working

>> Edited by raceboy on Friday 5th July 10:15

[lrussell5]

I can see it

[flasher]

quote:
Don't want to get you worried Flasher, but

Now check my profile

Run that by me again Raceboy, I don't get it?

[raceboy]

I'm presuming you can see the picture, I can't for some reason
Does the engine bay look familar in any way, if not go and open your bonnet

[dougie]

Lance,
You mention you changed the headlight bulbs, did you get the 60/55 or the 55 watt & were they easy to fit ? Any reason you didn't go for the "blue" vision ?
Rgds ... D

[lrussell5]

hi dougie
The Tamora needs the 60/55W bulb since it only has one light unit for dipped and main beam. Went for Philips Vision Plus based on an Auto Express magazine test report - beat all the other Xenon replacement bulbs by miles. The blue effect replacement bulbs aren't actually xenon at all, offer no more light than standard and last only half as long (it says this on the box if you read closely!). I've fitted vision plus to all my cars now, they're so good. www.bestcarbulbs.com charge 18euros delivery so worth buying a few spares in one hit

[lrussell5]

...yeah dead easy to fit. Remove the front wheel and access is behind a plastic panel held in by 6 self-tapping screws. I dabbed some rust proofer on the screw heads after re-assembly in case

[dans]

I have now heard of two engines dying and having to go back for a rebuild, are there any more?

[joospeed]

do you know how the engines died ..

[dans]

No, In don't just that they have had a coupe of dead ones returned, which was against what I had been told about the tamora up to now. I know they are still having issues with the Tuscan, there are some pretty shoddy stories still coming out there - best not on PH though, just wondered if anybody lese had heard of dying tamoras...

[lrussell5]

mine feels unburstable mechanically. Took a major high-temp thrashing yesterday, revelled in it.

[nubbin]

I second that Lance - mine feels unburstable, too. What sort of water temps. were you getting on the road - did your fans kick in?

[frostie]

nubbin,

I saw 100 - 105 constant for about 2 hours coming back from Goodwood yesterday due to a huge jam. Fans were pretty much on constant but it seemed to cope. The temp warning cuts in at 110 I think, as this has happened once.

Mark

>> Edited by frostie on Monday 15th July 13:15

[lrussell5]

didnt have the screen set to figures but on teh bar chart was one block from maximum, basically at any speed below 30mph. Fans were kicking in at this point, seemed to hold the temp there nicely despite a 30min traffic jam.
Incidentally saw a lot of Tuscans with the smaller font front number plates, the owners seem to think they're legal. Since they can only aid cooling I'm thinking of getting one but I'm a little concerned because the plate provides some protection to the exposed rads behind. Is it sensible to change to a smaller one?

[scottster]

Gotta say, going back to the stuff at the start of this thread, that I had most of these 'same' problems on an early Griff (and my mate had them on his newer Griff 500). I fell for the old 'get one with a few miles on it - that way the problems sorted by someone else' line - total cr*p. The problems, in my experience of course, only get temporarily fixed and never go away.

£40k is far too much to spend and accept these problems. TVR need a strong letter, signed by as many TVR owners as possible, to request that they no longer take the p155 out of enthusiasts who 'accept' far too much by loving the things the cars do well.

They could get a balance of quality and performance if they only cared about quality. How many dealers have said "We used to have some quality problems but now they're gone"? Hmmmm, heard it all before.

[lrussell5]

you have a point but to be fair (and legally appropriate) we've got to give the dealers a fair chance at permanently fixing them. Of course if they cant or the problems keep reappearing the factory will be getting some form of correspondance for sure. But I aint at that stage yet.
ps...the list is now longer!!

[scottster]

Lance,

Out of curiosity what 'waste of money German sports cars' did you own and are you reconsidering your opinion now (only judging by you extensive list of problems etc). Not starting a TVR vs Porker argument or any of that crap, just curious.

Reason I asked was that I did the same thing, had Porsches, wanted something more outragious so bought a Griff, owned it for two months, went back to Porsches, end of story........

Dave

[lrussell5]

Been fortunate to have had two 911's and an M3 amoungst other things. The 964 was quite fun but the 996 was SO boring, the M3 was just a dog (see comments in my profile). For a proper fun sports car I'll be sticking with TVRs for the foreseeable future despite the niggles. Quite simply nothing makes me smile as much at any speed! Having said that they're fairly tiresome as everyday cars, hence my BMW for the commute and bad weather. If I could only have one car though I'd be forced into a Boxster

[plotloss]

I experienced a similar list of little niggles, not even as bit as some of the Tamora issues, with my new Chim. On the whole though I certaintly think that the TVR is worth putting up with the niggles for.

Over recent weeks I have lost the 'oooh, I have a TVR' type buzz that was there initially but this morning the sun was shining but not too hot, I got the roof down, stuck some tunes in the wireless and started my daily drive and there really is nothing like it. I'm more than willing to put up with a few hand made issues to get a feeling like this of a morning, it almost makes coming to work a joy!

Matt.