The anticipation is killing me....

[dazee]

Car was returned last night after 3 weeks away for some work to be done - most of the time being waiting for parts to ship that needed replacing. Tune resistor was not bad, was missing completely! Garage says was running rich but now is spot on and goes well.

Will get the insurance back on it tonight and be able to drive again. Will be first time since removing the pre-cats, fitting ACT induction, exhaust and running correct fuel map. Looking forward to this. Sun is out and just a few hours left at work before that drive....

[dazee]

Darn, insurance guy will be coming tomorrow with the paperwork, so still no driving tonight. I did however pop out to the garage and let it run for a while doing some checks and found a new issue

Engine ran for a while, fans kicked in normally but temperature gauge did not move at all. Looks completely dead. Plugged in rovergauge and ecu is showing the temperature with no issue at all - all in the green. So assume the sender and ecu fan control is just fine, but the gauge itself is dead? Any other possible causes?

[NZ fan]

the gauge runs off a single wire sender on the inlet manifold where as the ecu gets its readings from a two wire sender. they are both near the thermostat if memory serves. might be worth checking to see if the wire has come off the single wire sender. also the temp gauge dosen't go through the ecu so i think you are safe to ground the wire and see if the gauge goes all the way to hot [ign. on of course] someone please correct me if i am wrong. good luck and have a good blast tomorrow.

[over_the_hill]

As NZ Fan has noted the dash gauge runs off a single wire sender that looks like this



Just the connector end and brass nut bit are visible.

Pull the connector off (if it's already off there is your problem) and just touch it on a metal part of the engine and the dash gauge should shoot to max. If not then you either have a gauge problem or the cable is likely faulty.

[dazee]

Thanks guys. Now I see it and the spade connector is completely off it. Looks like I'll be looking to buy a really long snipe nose pliers tomorrow to reach it and reconnect. I see no way for me to get my mits down in there to reconnect it. Relieved it's nothing broken just disconnected.

In looking though have found a few more areas on the engine to clean up the years of dirt and leaks.

[Alun450]

If I'm right Daz you can reach it from underneath, I'm the same mate, bursting to drive it yet really want to do a good job rather than chuck it together because I'm impatient, so hard to resist my childish side.

[dazee]

At this time Alun I just think there is too much in the way for me to get at it from any angle. Will have another go at it tomorrow before heading out to buy a long snipe nose. It's just so close!!!


Not keen on the oily look around there, so also want to try and get that cleaned up so I know if there was an old issue or anything to be concerned about now.

Similar look on the rear of the engine.



Now to show my ignorance..... This may be what is getting fixed for the slight oil leak I have. They just did the front crank shaft seal and next will be the real seal once the part arrives. Does that make sense? Anything to be concerned about in those pictures?

[Alun450]

Well my ignorance will lead us both down the garden path, the sender I'm looking at is on the o/s I've taken a pic through r/ h wheel arch, you can see the engine mount bracket to your left and the diagonal cross brace on chassis in the bottom right.
I can reach it with my hand, are we even talking the same one!

[dazee]

Hey I thought I was in the right place when I was looking at the swirl pot But I read the advice again and it said on the inlet manifold so this is where I've been searching. My pictures are for the gap between the distributer and plenum base. Kinda thought it was the right place as I could see an unplugged wire.

Hopefully someone will be along shortly and educate us both. I really need to get to know this engine better...

[Alun450]

Me also, I'll get a nice drawing of said engine and all can be understood. To think I've pulled half of it apart and can't even answer the question, pathetic.
Oil, pressure relief valve, blocked breathers, did for my engine, blew oil out from every seal just about, nothing much wrong with engine but re built it anyway. Mad!
Read up on breather problems just to be aware Daz.

[over_the_hill]

dazee said:

Hey I thought I was in the right place when I was looking at the swirl pot But I read the advice again and it said on the inlet manifold so this is where I've been searching. My pictures are for the gap between the distributer and plenum base. Kinda thought it was the right place as I could see an unplugged wire.

Hopefully someone will be along shortly and educate us both. I really need to get to know this engine better...

The one between the dizzy and plenum is the sender for the dash gauge.

It is tight - can't remember how I got the spade connector on and off. I could get my hand/arm in straight, but as soon as I was holding something - the cable - my hand shape changed slightly so couldn't get through.

[over_the_hill]

This image has appeared in a few threads on the subject of temp senders - Not the clearest but shows most of the bits



The goldy brown connector in the centre is to the ECU (I think)

The spark plug looking thing just to the right of the goldy brown block is the not used Rover sender

The TVR sender can be seen to the left of the goldy brown block

The dizzy would be to the left and the plenum to the right - this is looking down from the passenger side

[dazee]

Expanded my toolkit with a few more items now, and one of them managed to reach into the gap and was able to get it reconnected - absolute luck as was then working blindly to get it on. Temp gauge now working and been for a shirt drive. Temp holds around 85 and going to take it easy until the car and I trust each other again.

[domV8]

dazee said:

...been for a shirt drive.

Easy, fella - you'll be heading off to the Griff Growl soon at this rate

[dazee]

Lol. iPad + chunky fingers = bad spelling.

[jojackson4]

The one al is pointing at is the idiot oil light on the dash ( the one that go's out when it's running )
And the one that's a tt to get on is the tvr temp gauge sender

[dazee]

About 3 hours driving this morning to give it a real check out. Still taking it easy. Mixed driving with slow town roads and faster coastal roads. Slow traffic was holding between 85-90 degrees although never actually hitting 90. Once up to speed was about 10 degrees cooler. Air temp today is a little north of 25. So I think cooling is doing good, but will take some time to trust again - anyone else suffer this paranoia after experiencing an overheat?

With the ACT cherry bombs and precats removed, it really is a nice v8 burble around 2500 rpm upwards. I'd go as far to say supercar intoxicating

I think though there may be a small leak on the exhaust in the engine bay. So once cooled down will check the manifold bolts and y bolt clamps. Pretty happy at the moment.

[Colin RedGriff]

dazee said:

At this time Alun I just think there is too much in the way for me to get at it from any angle. Will have another go at it tomorrow before heading out to buy a long snipe nose. It's just so close!!!


Not keen on the oily look around there, so also want to try and get that cleaned up so I know if there was an old issue or anything to be concerned about now.

Similar look on the rear of the engine.



Now to show my ignorance..... This may be what is getting fixed for the slight oil leak I have. They just did the front crank shaft seal and next will be the real seal once the part arrives. Does that make sense? Anything to be concerned about in those pictures?

Those oily bits look like the front and rear seals for the valley gasket (intake manifold), they are a common source for oil leaks. Fairly straightforward to replace but needs a bit of care when fitting to achieve an oil tight seal.