Help needed, new Cerbera owner!

[Byker28i]

WelshSausage said:

Juddder said:

Just a bit of help but if it is throttle pots or could be I did quite an extensive compatible parts for them here

Easy thing to swap out if needs be too

Thanks, I've found that, it's very useful! Where are the throttle pots on the engine? I had a quick look yesterday but couldn't see them.

On the end of the throttle bodies. See that white keyslot top right...


Where the two cab;es and plugs are

[WelshSausage]

Cheers, I didn't look from the front end, they look easy enough.

I've had to order a cable for the ecu because the local computer shop didn't have any and neither did Maplins, so I'll have to wait to find out what the ecu says.

Fingers crossed there's something obvious and easy to fix

[ukkid35]

WelshSausage said:

Fingers crossed there's something obvious and easy to fix

It's a Cerb with deferred maintenance

If you're feeling lucky just buy a lottery ticket

[QBee]

Your nearest TVR specialist is probably TorqueRVT in Middlewich, Cheshire

http://www.torquervt.co.uk/

[so called]

QBee said:

Your nearest TVR specialist is probably TorqueRVT in Middlewich, Cheshire

http://www.torquervt.co.uk/

My Cerb is with Ian in Middlewich now.

[Bollycerb]

He's a fantastic mechanic and very very experienced in TVRs. He may spend a "while" sorting out allcomers, so be prepared for distractions.... And dont book yourself anywhere that evening as there will be plenty of adjustments needed before your car leaves the premises. It will run like a dream though !!

[QBee]

That’s how almost all the best TVR guys are.
Never stop talking, loads of people popping in, really know and love their TVRs.
Get three of them together and you might as well come back two weeks on Friday, as they will have just about stopped talking for long enough by then for you to get four words in.
But by heck they get your car working well.

[1485]

WelshSausage said:

ukkid35 said:

Joolz of Kits & Classics in Chesterfield could be only 80 miles away

That would be my first choice

This was going to be my next question, is there a TVR specialist nearby? North Wales seems to be a bit of a black hole where performance classics are concerned. I would consider taking it to a specialist to sort the engine out if it's not going to be an easy and obvious fix, all the other issues I can take one by one.

As far as throttle pots being hard to find, I have read that they are the same as the mg zr's so shouldn't be that rare, in fact I've seen them on ebay for £22.

As a related issue, what are peoples thoughts on driving it with the MIL light on and running rough? It's just such a hoot driving it to work it's hard to leave it on the drive!

Firstly plug it in on a lap top and see what the ecu is telling you, the MIL is there for a reason, there IS a fault, the MIL will light even if a sensor is not plugged in ie the air sensor on the airbox so laptop is the first instance. the throttle pots were Ford and are readily available still white or blue, however i dont think the Tpots are your problem as the cerbera had a little trick up its sleeve, if a Tpot failed on one of the banks it would automatically default to the good Tpot to adjust and resolve the situation, throw up a MIL light until the situation was resolved and i have not known 2 Tpots fail at the same time. When the car is running are both or one cats(catalytic converters) glowing? from what you say its sounding more like a lambda problem to me.As for driving with the MIL on , me personally NO.

[Byker28i]

1485 said:

Firstly plug it in on a lap top and see what the ecu is telling you, the MIL is there for a reason, there IS a fault, the MIL will light even if a sensor is not plugged in ie the air sensor on the airbox so laptop is the first instance. the throttle pots were Ford and are readily available still white or blue, however i dont think the Tpots are your problem as the cerbera had a little trick up its sleeve, if a Tpot failed on one of the banks it would automatically default to the good Tpot to adjust and resolve the situation, throw up a MIL light until the situation was resolved and i have not known 2 Tpots fail at the same time. When the car is running are both or one cats(catalytic converters) glowing? from what you say its sounding more like a lambda problem to me.As for driving with the MIL on , me personally NO.

however i dont think the Tpots are your problem as the cerbera had a little trick up its sleeve, if a Tpot failed on one of the banks it would automatically default to the good Tpot to adjust and resolve the situation


This is wrong, sorry. You can disconnect a throttle pot and the ECU will use the single to run both banks, but with a faulty throttle pot it will take it's reading. I had a throttle pot go giving me full throttle on that bank from 1/3 throttle position. I had to quickly stop driving and disconnect the faulty one.

[1485]

Byker28i said:

1485 said:

Firstly plug it in on a lap top and see what the ecu is telling you, the MIL is there for a reason, there IS a fault, the MIL will light even if a sensor is not plugged in ie the air sensor on the airbox so laptop is the first instance. the throttle pots were Ford and are readily available still white or blue, however i dont think the Tpots are your problem as the cerbera had a little trick up its sleeve, if a Tpot failed on one of the banks it would automatically default to the good Tpot to adjust and resolve the situation, throw up a MIL light until the situation was resolved and i have not known 2 Tpots fail at the same time. When the car is running are both or one cats(catalytic converters) glowing? from what you say its sounding more like a lambda problem to me.As for driving with the MIL on , me personally NO.

however i dont think the Tpots are your problem as the cerbera had a little trick up its sleeve, if a Tpot failed on one of the banks it would automatically default to the good Tpot to adjust and resolve the situation


This is wrong, sorry. You can disconnect a throttle pot and the ECU will use the single to run both banks, but with a faulty throttle pot it will take it's reading. I had a throttle pot go giving me full throttle on that bank from 1/3 throttle position. I had to quickly stop driving and disconnect the faulty one.

so you have basically confirmed what i have said then, that a throttle pot CAN go down and the ecu will use the good pot to adjust!!!! So when your Tpot went when you were driving did you have the computer plugged in or was it a guess that the Tpot was at fault ?and was it trial and error to find which one was at full throttle from 1/3 position?

[WelshSausage]

I had to order a cable for the ECU off t'internet, which arrived yesterday but I got the wrong one So I'm now waiting for an adapter to arrive so I can plug the laptop in.

I had read somewhere previously about the engine using readings from one throttle pot if the other was disconnected so the other day I took off the plug to one side and tried it. The engine ran the same as it was before, cut out after a while and wouldn't start. I tried both throttle pots this way and the results were the same so I'm thinking probably not them.

I have been assured that before delivery the car was running A ok, and seeing as the same thing has happened after putting fuel in, I don't think the first instance was fuel related.

I'm not driving it now until it's sorted, mainly because I don't want to get stranded again! It may well end up at Torque RVT soon for a 12k service, but I'd like to get the bugger running first.

As an extra bonus, while I was messing with the t. pots the other day, the drivers door window has decided that it no longer wants to auto lower when the door opens. Yay TVR!

[Byker28i]

1485 said:

Byker28i said:

1485 said:

Firstly plug it in on a lap top and see what the ecu is telling you, the MIL is there for a reason, there IS a fault, the MIL will light even if a sensor is not plugged in ie the air sensor on the airbox so laptop is the first instance. the throttle pots were Ford and are readily available still white or blue, however i dont think the Tpots are your problem as the cerbera had a little trick up its sleeve, if a Tpot failed on one of the banks it would automatically default to the good Tpot to adjust and resolve the situation, throw up a MIL light until the situation was resolved and i have not known 2 Tpots fail at the same time. When the car is running are both or one cats(catalytic converters) glowing? from what you say its sounding more like a lambda problem to me.As for driving with the MIL on , me personally NO.

however i dont think the Tpots are your problem as the cerbera had a little trick up its sleeve, if a Tpot failed on one of the banks it would automatically default to the good Tpot to adjust and resolve the situation


This is wrong, sorry. You can disconnect a throttle pot and the ECU will use the single to run both banks, but with a faulty throttle pot it will take it's reading. I had a throttle pot go giving me full throttle on that bank from 1/3 throttle position. I had to quickly stop driving and disconnect the faulty one.

so you have basically confirmed what i have said then, that a throttle pot CAN go down and the ecu will use the good pot to adjust!!!! So when your Tpot went when you were driving did you have the computer plugged in or was it a guess that the Tpot was at fault ?and was it trial and error to find which one was at full throttle from 1/3 position?

You said: if a Tpot failed on one of the banks it would automatically default to the good Tpot to adjust and resolve the situation.

It doesn't automatically do this, you have to disconnect the faulty one. It doesn't know which the faulty one is.

I have RS-AJP on my phone and the usb to serial adaptor always in the car. It's easy then to trouble shoot, or if abroad with normal unleaded, reset the adaptives. I also have an old XP laptop with serial port which is kept at home.

[Byker28i]

WelshSausage said:

As an extra bonus, while I was messing with the t. pots the other day, the drivers door window has decided that it no longer wants to auto lower when the door opens. Yay TVR!

What were you doing at the time? did you disconnect the battery?
If you're doing anything electrical, have the boot open just in case a fuse goes...

Drivers door can be something simple like a dirty connection on the magnetic detector connector. At the rear bottom of the drivers door is a metal plate with what looks like a bolt connected. It's held in by two self tapping screws.

Undo these, take the plate off and if yours is anything like mine, you've around 2 foot of loose cable, two wires joined with two separate plugs. You don't need to remove the inner door panel to do this.
Disconnect these and clean the connections, then with the plate connected but not screwed in, move it to the door frame where it would almost touch. There's a magnet there which is what detects when the door is opened and closed.

I've had one of those detectors go before, good news is it's only a few pounds, but I bet it's a dirty connector. I had to do all my door connectors last weekend and it's only been off the road for 6 months.

[WelshSausage]

Byker28i said:

What were you doing at the time? did you disconnect the battery?
All I was doing was putting the window up with the door closed, because previously I've had the window open then closed/ locked the door and it's stayed down.
If you're doing anything electrical, have the boot open just in case a fuse goes...
Will certainly do that in future, thanks!

Drivers door can be something simple like a dirty connection on the magnetic detector connector. At the rear bottom of the drivers door is a metal plate with what looks like a bolt connected. It's held in by two self tapping screws.

Undo these, take the plate off and if yours is anything like mine, you've around 2 foot of loose cable, two wires joined with two separate plugs. You don't need to remove the inner door panel to do this.
Disconnect these and clean the connections, then with the plate connected but not screwed in, move it to the door frame where it would almost touch. There's a magnet there which is what detects when the door is opened and closed.

I've had one of those detectors go before, good news is it's only a few pounds, but I bet it's a dirty connector. I had to do all my door connectors last weekend and it's only been off the road for 6 months.
I'll give this a go once I have some time spare, again thanks

[SmokinV8]

WelshSausage said:

Malam said:

P688NNE? Wondered what it was doing parked up in the BP

You didn't happen to fill up at that station did you? I have had issues with fuel from that place before..

That's the one. It was on the naughty step to have a think about how it's behaving! I only put about £20 in at the BP as I want to put VPower in it so it's not the fuel. Plus it was running rough before anyway.

Where abouts in North Wales are you? Any help would be appreciated

I've just downloaded the software for reading the ECU that EvoOlli provided and I'm getting a cable tomorrow so will try and get the laptop connected and hopefully shed some light on things.

Ahh wondered where my old Cerb had ended up, I sold it locally to me here in Swindon.