Grinding noise when accelerating in low gears?
Discussion
phazed said:
Had a chance to check yet?
Yes, and all is fine.But....took took the car out this week, and I have to say, it drove the best ever, I don't know why, but it felt amazing, also no gearbox or other noises at all, gone completely. I'm using it more lately, it doesn't like to be in the garage for too long. I did notice a bit of dampness, behind the dash gauges, and the engine faltered a bit to start with, but after that all was fine. TVR's really are like human beings, good and bad moods.
phazed said:
That doesn’t make sense at all!
No, it doesn't, strange but true! I took it out yesterday, a very small bit of general gearbox/diff noise, but not unlike any other Griff of my vintage/mileage. If it's intermittent, it can't be that serious right now, I'm still going to get it checked out, be on the safe side.
I had this exact issue with my previous Chim 500. Had a few people look at it to no avail.
I wish I had seen the ideas mentioned here about engine mounts - sounds very plausible. But I had convinced myself that it was gearbox based (you’d put money on it if you heard it) and I couldn’t face the hassle and expense of a rebuild that may not be the cure.
In the end I sold the car with the issue unsolved.
To the OP I would say that there was the odd occasion when the issue appeared to have ‘gone away’ like yours did last time out.
But I’m afraid it always came back.
I wish I had seen the ideas mentioned here about engine mounts - sounds very plausible. But I had convinced myself that it was gearbox based (you’d put money on it if you heard it) and I couldn’t face the hassle and expense of a rebuild that may not be the cure.
In the end I sold the car with the issue unsolved.
To the OP I would say that there was the odd occasion when the issue appeared to have ‘gone away’ like yours did last time out.
But I’m afraid it always came back.
Cannot get away from the earlier comment that it didn't make a noise in 4th gear.
As stated, 4th is straight through the box.
I remember a Cerbera (same box) losing all drive on a track day at Snetterton a few years back. I imagine Phazed remembers it too.
The owner, Martin, eventually worked out that he did still have drive, but only had drive in 4th gear.
When he had the box fixed I seem to the diagnosis was faulty lay shaft, which I understand to be the shaft that pulls in the gears that alter the ratios - 4th is 1:1.
To my mind (not that i know much about gearboxes and their oil levels, Phazed is your expert there), this sounds like a similar fault developing, so it may only be a matter of time before it breaks completely.
Presumably in checking the oil level, you squirted some oil in? If you did, you may have temporarily masked the problem, or if lucky, solved it for now. Depends on how short of oil it was. Did you squirt any in, or was it full?
As stated, 4th is straight through the box.
I remember a Cerbera (same box) losing all drive on a track day at Snetterton a few years back. I imagine Phazed remembers it too.
The owner, Martin, eventually worked out that he did still have drive, but only had drive in 4th gear.
When he had the box fixed I seem to the diagnosis was faulty lay shaft, which I understand to be the shaft that pulls in the gears that alter the ratios - 4th is 1:1.
To my mind (not that i know much about gearboxes and their oil levels, Phazed is your expert there), this sounds like a similar fault developing, so it may only be a matter of time before it breaks completely.
Presumably in checking the oil level, you squirted some oil in? If you did, you may have temporarily masked the problem, or if lucky, solved it for now. Depends on how short of oil it was. Did you squirt any in, or was it full?
QBee said:
Cannot get away from the earlier comment that it didn't make a noise in 4th gear.
As stated, 4th is straight through the box.
I remember a Cerbera (same box) losing all drive on a track day at Snetterton a few years back. I imagine Phazed remembers it too.
The owner, Martin, eventually worked out that he did still have drive, but only had drive in 4th gear.
When he had the box fixed I seem to the diagnosis was faulty lay shaft, which I understand to be the shaft that pulls in the gears that alter the ratios - 4th is 1:1.
To my mind (not that i know much about gearboxes and their oil levels, Phazed is your expert there), this sounds like a similar fault developing, so it may only be a matter of time before it breaks completely.
Presumably in checking the oil level, you squirted some oil in? If you did, you may have temporarily masked the problem, or if lucky, solved it for now. Depends on how short of oil it was. Did you squirt any in, or was it full?
I did put some oil in, about half a pint I think? As stated, 4th is straight through the box.
I remember a Cerbera (same box) losing all drive on a track day at Snetterton a few years back. I imagine Phazed remembers it too.
The owner, Martin, eventually worked out that he did still have drive, but only had drive in 4th gear.
When he had the box fixed I seem to the diagnosis was faulty lay shaft, which I understand to be the shaft that pulls in the gears that alter the ratios - 4th is 1:1.
To my mind (not that i know much about gearboxes and their oil levels, Phazed is your expert there), this sounds like a similar fault developing, so it may only be a matter of time before it breaks completely.
Presumably in checking the oil level, you squirted some oil in? If you did, you may have temporarily masked the problem, or if lucky, solved it for now. Depends on how short of oil it was. Did you squirt any in, or was it full?
The car is due a service around about February, there are a few things to get checked out, I'm going to mention the engine mount issue, I'll get Dan Taylor to drive the car and see what he thinks, also the suspension is "really low" he commented on it, and reccomend that it be raised a bit, does anyone think it could be fouling something on acceleration due to this?
Don't think being really low would cause anything to foul. It is only the position of the wishbones that would be different.
Possibly the drive shaft joints could be at an odd angle if it was super low, but when you think how much the suspension moves under normal driving conditions, I would be really surprised if being a bit too low was upsetting the drive shafts.
I would live with it until the service and see what they say.
Possibly the drive shaft joints could be at an odd angle if it was super low, but when you think how much the suspension moves under normal driving conditions, I would be really surprised if being a bit too low was upsetting the drive shafts.
I would live with it until the service and see what they say.
BIG DUNC said:
Don't think being really low would cause anything to foul. It is only the position of the wishbones that would be different.
Possibly the drive shaft joints could be at an odd angle if it was super low, but when you think how much the suspension moves under normal driving conditions, I would be really surprised if being a bit too low was upsetting the drive shafts.
I would live with it until the service and see what they say.
It hasn't done it for the last couple of drives, who knows? Possibly the drive shaft joints could be at an odd angle if it was super low, but when you think how much the suspension moves under normal driving conditions, I would be really surprised if being a bit too low was upsetting the drive shafts.
I would live with it until the service and see what they say.
I'll leave it to the service, as you say.
griff59 said:
I did put some oil in, about half a pint I think?
The car is due a service around about February, there are a few things to get checked out, I'm going to mention the engine mount issue, I'll get Dan Taylor to drive the car and see what he thinks, also the suspension is "really low" he commented on it, and reccomend that it be raised a bit, does anyone think it could be fouling something on acceleration due to this?
Now wishing that Phazed would check back in on this - I don't know how much oil missing would make a difference, but he would. I suspect that you have pinpointed the source of the noise, and have stopped it with the extra oil, but I don't know enough about the layout of the gearbox internals to be sure. I suggest you mention this to Dan Taylor when you book the car in.The car is due a service around about February, there are a few things to get checked out, I'm going to mention the engine mount issue, I'll get Dan Taylor to drive the car and see what he thinks, also the suspension is "really low" he commented on it, and reccomend that it be raised a bit, does anyone think it could be fouling something on acceleration due to this?
In my experience of running a Chimaera at all sort of levels, running height wouldn't affect the gearbox, but having the car too low would mess up the handling somewhat. TVR designed these cars' handling surprisingly well, and my TVR expert, who races them, insisted that mine be run higher than many you see. I can confirm that it handles much better. It also clangs fewer bumps on country roads with the exhaust tray and rear anti-roll bar.
QBee said:
Now wishing that Phazed would check back in on this - I don't know how much oil missing would make a difference, but he would. I suspect that you have pinpointed the source of the noise, and have stopped it with the extra oil, but I don't know enough about the layout of the gearbox internals to be sure. I suggest you mention this to Dan Taylor when you book the car in.
In my experience of running a Chimaera at all sort of levels, running height wouldn't affect the gearbox, but having the car too low would mess up the handling somewhat. TVR designed these cars' handling surprisingly well, and my TVR expert, who races them, insisted that mine be run higher than many you see. I can confirm that it handles much better. It also clangs fewer bumps on country roads with the exhaust tray and rear anti-roll bar.
I took the car to Dan Taylor a while back, he comented on the fact that it did seem a bit lower than most, and that raising it a bit could improve the ride and handling.In my experience of running a Chimaera at all sort of levels, running height wouldn't affect the gearbox, but having the car too low would mess up the handling somewhat. TVR designed these cars' handling surprisingly well, and my TVR expert, who races them, insisted that mine be run higher than many you see. I can confirm that it handles much better. It also clangs fewer bumps on country roads with the exhaust tray and rear anti-roll bar.
I'm definitely going to get him to do this at the next service.
Still no gearbox noises, fingers crossed!
Bumped this thread as I had exactly the same issue. Grinding noise, only under load and seemingly different depending on which gear it was in.
Having resigned myself to a gearbox rebuild, Jon at Purbeck Sports Cars correctly diagnosed...
<dramatic pause>
the hydraulic pipe to the clutch slave cylinder was resting against the gearbox. A quick push on the copper pipe and it is fixed!
Thought it was worth adding in case anyone else has similar.
Having resigned myself to a gearbox rebuild, Jon at Purbeck Sports Cars correctly diagnosed...
<dramatic pause>
the hydraulic pipe to the clutch slave cylinder was resting against the gearbox. A quick push on the copper pipe and it is fixed!
Thought it was worth adding in case anyone else has similar.
ecs0set said:
Bumped this thread as I had exactly the same issue. Grinding noise, only under load and seemingly different depending on which gear it was in.
Having resigned myself to a gearbox rebuild, Jon at Purbeck Sports Cars correctly diagnosed...
<dramatic pause>
the hydraulic pipe to the clutch slave cylinder was resting against the gearbox. A quick push on the copper pipe and it is fixed!
Thought it was worth adding in case anyone else has similar.
Hi, the car is in for head work, and in the process they discovered that one of the belts was rubbing on a jubilee clip making a rubbing/grinding noise, this may or may not be related to my initial grinding noise, I'll know when all is done.Having resigned myself to a gearbox rebuild, Jon at Purbeck Sports Cars correctly diagnosed...
<dramatic pause>
the hydraulic pipe to the clutch slave cylinder was resting against the gearbox. A quick push on the copper pipe and it is fixed!
Thought it was worth adding in case anyone else has similar.
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