Nail biting and worried!

[rob172]

Gave the car a couple of short blasts through the airport tunnels near me on Sat night. Nice noise!

Only problem is now that when accelerating there is a rattly type noise (almost like a pinking type noise, but slightly less tinny?) coming from the top of the engine area :-( I only revved it too 7000 rpm twice in second gear so it's not like I over revved it or anything - fully warmed up as well.

The engine sounds perfectly smooth and fine at constant speeds and slow acceleration. Revving it in neutral produces no unusual noises. Oil pressures and temps are normal.

Could this be a top end engine blow up???? or could it be something simple? Only makes the noise under load? Can they suddenly go out of timing or mixture? Started immediatly after the 2 short blasts.

Thanks.
Worried!

Edited by rob172 on Sunday 4th June 23:47

[hollowlegs]

iv also experienced this, only now and again tho, can't think why it might be but car seems fine and iv continued to thrash right upto 8,000rpm but not a problem touch wood.

[yi8tvr]

hollowlegs said:

iv also experienced this, only now and again tho, can't think why it might be but car seems fine and iv continued to thrash right upto 8,000rpm but not a problem touch wood.

hollowlegs said:

iv continued to thrash right upto 8,000rpm

I will give you till september if your lucky.

[icraigmy]

I'm experiencing this kind of noise also. It spoils the sound of the TVR exhaust because you have this ticking/tapping noise in the background. I thought it was the tappets, but have had these adjusted in my last service 4 wks ago. The noise is still there. This noise has been present ever since I purchased the Tamora last October. Nothing appears to be wrong with the engine, and David Hendry said that they found nothing wrong with the engine in the last service. I would like to know what this noise could be.

[targarama]

Could well be pre-ignition or 'pinking' if it happens at high revs or under load in hot weather.

[whitey]

If it's only doing it at high rpm when hot and its a tinkling noise (what you might think was pinking) metallic sounding, then it could be your exhaust headers expanding and touching. I had this after my first engine rebuild, dealer identfied it, it was going to be corrected by a figure of 8 clamp thingy on the exhaust but alas another engine rebuild was required first and the problem never occured again.

[rob172]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Seems to be doing at all revs when it's under load.

Throughout the whole acceleration period the noise remains the same. I mention pinking as it just seems to act like that kind of symptom, ie. only under load, although not that much of a load, you have to accelerate very gently to avoid the noise.

[icraigmy]

If it is pinking then could it be bad petrol . I always use unleaded petrol from BP garages or Sainsbury garages (on occasions).

[rob172]

Filled up the tank to the brim with Optimax on the same day. Seemed to be running fine before the couple of blasts though?

[_Deejay_]

rob172 said:

Filled up the tank to the brim with Optimax on the same day. Seemed to be running fine before the couple of blasts though?

I had this on my '04 car. I couldn't quite understand why it did it - it seemed worse on Optimax than anything else,

However, Dom @ TVR Power flashed the ECU with the new mappings and it never did it again - just seemed a lot quicker above 4k revs!

D

[hollowlegs]

[quote]I will give you till september if your lucky.
[/quote]

you work for tvr then?

i have only used optimax in my car . it only happens above 6000rpm under full acceleration and it does seem to be just happening at random not often enough to worry me, again theres no pattern of it being on long or short drives on hot or cold days.

Edited by hollowlegs on Monday 5th June 12:40

[targarama]

hollowlegs said:

[quote]I will give you till september if your lucky.

you work for tvr then?

i have only used optimax in my car . it only happens above 6000rpm under full acceleration and it does seem to be just happening at random not often enough to worry me, again theres no pattern of it being on long or short drives on hot or cold days.

Edited by hollowlegs on Monday 5th June 12:40

[/quote]

I think he means revving to 8,000 won't help ensure the engine reaches 30,000 miles without needing a rebuild. Mine has never been about 7,500 (and rarely above 7,250) and still popped its head gasket at 13k miles.

Just because it will rev to 8,000, doesn't mean its a good thing. Therefore I suggest low 7,000s max.

[hollowlegs]

well im sorry but i disagree, of course i dont put it to the limit every time i drive it but now and again do like to take it right up the revs and doubt that it will do much harm, in fact it probably does good to keep the engine stretched, in my opinion if you drive your car upto 7000rpm for 20000 miles then start going above 7000rpm its not going to like it. at least i am confident it will do it regularly without complaint.

there is no evidence to say for or against that it is a good idea to go past 7000 or not, and as the car has a rev limit set at just over 8000 i will continue to use it as intented, if it breaks then i'll get it fixed, but it won't break due to high revs, it will break due to design flaws or wear and tear of components, everyone has there own opinion and that is mine. i do many miles in my car and will continue to get the most from it as putting high miles on the car or pushing it up the revs don't bother me

i do however intend on getting a rebuild done at the end of the year as a precaution and to upgrade the known problems and tuned with cams, finger followers, valves cylinder head work and get mapping etc done as i do plan on keeping the car for some time.

[_Deejay_]

I'm not even going to start the s6 engine debate again.
However, Mr Melling did say the engine should not be revved to that level due to the way in which the production s6 engine was 'designed'.

D

Edited by _DeeJay_ on Tuesday 6th June 00:28

[targarama]

hollowlegs said:

well im sorry but i disagree, of course i dont put it to the limit every time i drive it but now and again do like to take it right up the revs and doubt that it will do much harm, in fact it probably does good to keep the engine stretched, in my opinion if you drive your car upto 7000rpm for 20000 miles then start going above 7000rpm its not going to like it. at least i am confident it will do it regularly without complaint. there is no evidence to say for or against that it is a good idea to go past 7000 or not, and as the car has a rev limit set at just over 8000 i will continue to use it as intented, if it breaks then i'll get it fixed, but it won't break due to high revs, it will break due to design flaws or wear and tear of components, everyone has there own opinion and that is mine. i do many miles in my car and will continue to get the most from it as putting high miles on the car or pushing it up the revs don't bother me i do however intend on getting a rebuild done at the end of the year as a precaution and to upgrade the known problems and tuned with cams, finger followers, valves cylinder head work and get mapping etc done as i do plan on keeping the car for some time.

Not trying to stop you enjoying the car, just trying to warn you that there may be tears before bedtime.

Any Speed Six specialist will tell you 8k is too high to rev it. TVR are daft leaving the limiter up there - they could maybe even save a few engine rebuilds if they 'controlled' the engine a bit more (rev limit, cold running limit, warnings etc.).

Enjoy

[icraigmy]

Does it need to be rev'ed that high because maximum torque is at 5200rpm, so surely you are overstressing the engine needlessly because you are not going to get anymore power over 5200rpm.

[hollowlegs]

fair points but max torque at 5200 doesnt mean change gear at 5200 in every gear and get the same acceleration as letting it go till 7000 does it? the car only seems to rocket once the revs pass 6000 so i assume you only drive your speed six upto 5200rpm craig?

i don't know much about mr melling, who he is or what he does but im sure im not the only one who likes to get the most from the speed six and doubt that high revs alone will damage the engine, there must be other factors causing failure, who can say which exact engines will blow?

which is why i'll use it the way i have, which works fine for me, funny i find it hard to believe all speed six's that blow are due to high revs, being thrashed while cold maybe but not under normal driving at high revs.

would be interesting to see figures of how many speed 6 engines have failed and performed fine, these forums only seem to highlight the failed ones.

Edited by hollowlegs on Monday 5th June 17:05

Edited by hollowlegs on Monday 5th June 17:10

[targarama]

Torque is pretty flat (i.e. the same) for the next 2,000 rpm though. So you do need to rev it to make significant progress

[yi8tvr]

yi8tvr said:

I will give you till september if your lucky.

hollolegs said:

you work for tvr then? i have only used optimax in my car . it only happens above 6000rpm under full acceleration and it does seem to be just happening at random not often enough to worry me, again theres no pattern of it being on long or short drives on hot or cold days.

Edited by hollowlegs on Monday 5th June 12:40

Im sorry Hollolegs if i have upset you but i was refering to the " thrashing to 8k" part of your sentence. I do not work for TVR or am i an engineer but what i do know is most sp6 engine failures are down to the owner in some way or another in your case it will be abuse by thrashing. I see by your threads that you are new to sp6 engined cars and would strongly recomend you sift the archives on pistonheads relating to speed 6 failures. I hope that you do not become a casualty and hedge your bets by reducing your rev band. I believe the sp6 is now a solid unit and as good as any other super car engine but if owners still subscribe to the "thrashing to 8k revs" i am afraid the sp6 stigma will never die.

But only time will tell in your case, lets hope your a lucky one...

Edited by yi8tvr on Monday 5th June 20:58

[hollowlegs]

maybe i used the wrong words in describing my driving style, i don't thrash my car, but once warmed and on longer journeys do love the noise of the engine at high revs, guess the point im trying to make is people shouldn't pussy around with their cars but when the engine is warm and in the right fashion should have a bit of faith in the speed six and enjoy it.

guess im just fed up of reading doom and gloom stories and would like to see more positive stories

in a short time have found myself quite pashionate about the car and in conversations find myself sticking up for tvr when people bring up stories of past. great cars and couldnt see myself buying anything else soon to replace it.