Bah, breakdown.

[parrot of doom]

Coming home from Silverstone on the M6 tonight, driving along at 70mph, the car suddenly starts losing speed, accelerator doing nothing. Dip the clutch and try and rev it, clanking noises coming from under the car, so I coast to a halt and it stalls. Refuses to start up again, although it turns over.

AA man tows me to services, another AA man checks things out, fuel getting to engine fine, fuel pump ok, throttle cable fine, engine wants to fire up but failing to burst into life, electrics all fine, oil pressure fine (gauge and yellow light fine after a few seconds of turning over). Plenty of sparks going to the correct places.

The only thing I can mention is that over the last few days, I've noticed that when the car is warmed up, at low revs pulling out of 1st and 2nd gear and letting the clutch out, a faint 'clatter' from the underside of the car. I was actually going to record it tomorrow and ask you guy's opinions, but hey its too late now I suspect that something has decided to break between the engine and rear wheels, hopefully something not too expensive

Mystery. Left it outside my local garage overnight, and got a lift home, left the keys with a mate.

I can't fault the AA, superb service they upgraded me on the spot (paid via CC) after the mechanic begged on my behalf, and the AA man took me on a flatbed to the garage, and waited for my mate to arrive. Superb service, highly recommended.

>> Edited by parrot of doom on Thursday 21st July 00:42

[parrot of doom]

[parrot of doom]

Oh, another thing, today the engine was hunting a fair bit while idling, and idling a bit higher than normal sometimes, although never more than 2k.

[ntel]

Sorry to hear that POD. Blocked CAT possibly?

[dodgyviper]

Ouch POD

Bad news, very sorry to hear.

Keep us updated mate and hope its not a biggy.


edit:

Why would it be between the engine and the wheels if the engine itself won't fire up?
(Had this myself and got it restarted by removing the fuel pump relay and cranking the engine, then reattaching and all fine.)

If the electrics all check out could it be fuel starvation - blocked line? An erratic supply could explain your hunting prob.

Other thought is the ECU on its way out.

However - none of this explains the clanking noises you're getting. Worried for you, I am.



>> Edited by dodgyviper on Thursday 21st July 09:40

[parrot of doom]

Hopefully it won't be a massive bill, it didn't sound catastrophic (ie no horrid whirring noises, no lockup, no bits in the road, no spills, engine sounded fine).

If its less than a grand I'll be disappointed but not too worried, I budgeted for these things

All I can think is that its something somewhere around the clutch/engine, but that could be literally anything. I'll probably find out later today once its been looked at.

[d10 ldo]

Hi, i had the same problem only a few weeks ago, Embarrasing or what! Have you put 95 RON unleaded in the car? If so don't just stick to super unleaded. The problem turned out to be a dirty STEPPER MOTOR, once cleaned the car worked fine! Hope that this is the same problem you have, only a 10 min job to do, check the south Wales TVRCC, for further details on how to clean it, if you don't know how to?

[parrot of doom]

Never less than 97, in fact only 20 miles previous I'd filled up with Optimax (and yes, I checked the receipt!)

Mechanic has it now, I'm just waiting for the phone call.

[Hughesie2]

Sounds like an inmtermittent ignition failure to me, just had a similar problem - when the Coil gets hot (mine was Vhot a Vmax) it degrades the spark - cool it down and its fine - hot and you get the problem again...

Mine would also make a noise/clatter when hot as well

Good luck though fella...

[schueymcfee]

You've got fuel, electrics and the engine turns over.

Can't see it being anything between the engine and wheels.

Could it be a snapped cam?

Either way, sorry to hear it.

[parrot of doom]

Hughesie2 said:

Sounds like an inmtermittent ignition failure to me, just had a similar problem - when the Coil gets hot (mine was Vhot a Vmax) it degrades the spark - cool it down and its fine - hot and you get the problem again...

Thats interesting, as the fella from the AA did say the sparks to the plugs were strong, but to the distributor cap they were quite weak? My knowledge of these things is poor.

Hopefully its what you say!

When the mechanic was trying to start the engine (now very cold), you could smell the fuel after a minute or so, and you could see and hear the engine juuuuuusssst wanting to fire up, wobbling on its mounts slightly, but just not having the impetus to start up.



*crosses fingers for cheap repair*

>> Edited by parrot of doom on Thursday 21st July 12:37

[Nick_Chim]

Good luck PoD - hope it's nothing serious. You've got me slightly worried though - mine is also making an occasional clunk/clatter in 1st & 2nd when taking up or disconnecting drive.

Textbook positioning on hard shoulder by the way - as far away from Lane 1 as poss - so many muppets stop on HS too close to the white line.

[parrot of doom]

Nick, if its the same sound as mine I suggest you get it looked over immediately, as mine went pretty much with no warning.

That sort of clattering - if I may elaborate, the clattering I was hearing was in time with the engine.

ie, the 'tub tub tub tub' of the exhausts/engine, plus the clatter, made a 'tlacker tlacker tlacker tlacker' sound...if you get me. Is this what pinking sounds like?

Thinking back, I could hear it very very faintly on the motorway at 50/60mph, it was probably just masked by tyre noise. Add to that the regular hunting at idle all day, and the occasional 2000rpm base idle speed, hmmmm?

I've not heard from the garage yet, phoned up early afternoon but the lady said 'no news is good news'. I'm taking that to mean that no huge important bits have fallen off it.

So, once again, does the sound I described sound anything like 'pinking'? I've never heard what pinking sounds like.

>> Edited by parrot of doom on Thursday 21st July 18:22

[Nick_Chim]

Ah, different clunk/clatter me'thinks
Mine is one-off just after the drive is disconnected or reconnected, rather than tracking with the engine revs.

Merv at Autotune in Hinkley had it up on the ramps earlier this week to investigate; it seems to be coming from the gearbox and he suggested it was probably a standard 'TVR clunk' and only to worry if it got worse. Think I might get check the GB oil level though. (apologies for the thread hijack - but any thoughts from the resident Gurus appreciated - otherwise I'll revert to blissful ignorance until something breaks!)

My 1989 1.0 Metro (ah, the A-series engine) used to pink - IIRC relatively high frequency clatter tracking with the engine revs, but I'm guessing the TVR will have a slightly different characteristic!!!

[soufriere]

Hi POD, had a similar sequence of events with mine. loss of power, stalling, clunking noise. Turned out that the vacuum advance had lost a bolt and was loose, then fell off completely. Fitted back, roaring again. The clunking worried me too and sounded like something sinister as did the petrol smell and excessive fuel use. Hope you sort the problem soon and inexpensively.

[parrot of doom]

Phew, panic over (almost).

Engine isn't getting any fuel. Fuel pump fine, fuel filter fine, injectors fine, Ian at Northwich is trying to get hold of a 'fuel regulator', and we think the clattering noise was the engine pinking.

I'm getting him to change my dodgy starter motor at the same time, so total bill shouldn't be more than £300!

...and there was me having nightmares about pistons heading skywards, gearbox cogs embedding into tarmac, clutch plates scything through the seats.....

[dodgyviper]

Bloody Hell, I was right.

Theres a first.

Good news POD

[r.mojo]

POD,

good news about the chim - have been following your postings with interest.

Incidentally, nice that you turned the hard shoulder time into a kodak moment - you could sell the snap to the AA for their marketing team and see if you can cover some of the £300 for the fix

[parrot of doom]

I could also mention how they were 30 minutes late, but I won't

[Hughesie2]

parrot of doom said:

I could also mention how they were 30 minutes late, but I won't

Think yourself lucky, i was WAITING 5 hours on Sunday !!