Loss of electrical power
Discussion
Hello everyone,
Hopefully you very knowledgeable lot can offer a TVR newbie some advice
Having very recently acquired my first TVR (Chim 4.3) I've also encountered my first problem.
Driving down the motorway at a reasonable speed ;-) suddenly the engine stuttered, the speedo went haywire and was flicking all lover the place and strangely when indicating the speedo would twitch to the beat of the indicators.
Getting home I shut it down, left it for a while then tried restarting, turned the key and nothing, not a thing, no power at all.
Eventually I got it running by starting it from the jump start connection under the bonnet.
I checked the battery, fine
Fuses in the main box, fine
Battery connections etc, fine
It seems to me that a connection has failed somewhere, does this sound familiar?
Any ideas where the live feed from the battery goes?, seems to go somewhere behind the dash.
Any weak areas that I should be checking?
Also is there a master/maxi fuse anywhere?
Thanks in advance
Rich D
Hopefully you very knowledgeable lot can offer a TVR newbie some advice
Having very recently acquired my first TVR (Chim 4.3) I've also encountered my first problem.
Driving down the motorway at a reasonable speed ;-) suddenly the engine stuttered, the speedo went haywire and was flicking all lover the place and strangely when indicating the speedo would twitch to the beat of the indicators.
Getting home I shut it down, left it for a while then tried restarting, turned the key and nothing, not a thing, no power at all.
Eventually I got it running by starting it from the jump start connection under the bonnet.
I checked the battery, fine
Fuses in the main box, fine
Battery connections etc, fine
It seems to me that a connection has failed somewhere, does this sound familiar?
Any ideas where the live feed from the battery goes?, seems to go somewhere behind the dash.
Any weak areas that I should be checking?
Also is there a master/maxi fuse anywhere?
Thanks in advance
Rich D
Richard86 said:
Also is there a master/maxi fuse anywhere?
Yes there can be 2 100amp fuses, one feeding to the fusebox somewhere (mine does to have this one but have heard of it before), and the other from the alternator feed, located beside the starter motor.One thing though, it could also be a earthing problem, the main earth from engine to chassis is from the chassis angle section (to outrigger) behind the drivers wheel to the block.
430's didn't have any 100A fuses when they left the factory.
I'd check all the main earths and battery terminals.
Positive battery goes behind dash, over bell housing down to starter. Brown cables then go to alternator, then more brown from alt over engine, back through dash & down to the fusebox ( hell of a long way round when fusebox is inches from the battery eh?
)
Clean all the earths, under transmission tunnel (add a remote earth to dash whilst you're there - instead of having the dash 'bunch' hidden away), under fans, engine bay (ahead of starter to alt bracket), possibly boot under tank.
Providing you don't have a leaky wiper motor area, the fusebox under battery arrangement in the 430 era cars does actually seem to have an advantage in keeping the fusebox drier (so less corrosion).
I'd check all the main earths and battery terminals.
Positive battery goes behind dash, over bell housing down to starter. Brown cables then go to alternator, then more brown from alt over engine, back through dash & down to the fusebox ( hell of a long way round when fusebox is inches from the battery eh?
)Clean all the earths, under transmission tunnel (add a remote earth to dash whilst you're there - instead of having the dash 'bunch' hidden away), under fans, engine bay (ahead of starter to alt bracket), possibly boot under tank.
Providing you don't have a leaky wiper motor area, the fusebox under battery arrangement in the 430 era cars does actually seem to have an advantage in keeping the fusebox drier (so less corrosion).
Richard86 said:
..just a snapped of terminal on the supply from battery to solenoid...
I for one can't visualize what you are describing?Solenoid is on the starter, with bolt on main cable + spade terminal to actuate the starter. Bolt on would cut all power as you described (terminal would have FA effect except when you tried to start the car) but if it broke don't just patch it together, a wandering main battery cable could end up writing off your car very quickly?
As far as I can see the large red cable from the battery bolts onto the back of the solenoid via a spade connector, it was this spade connector that was broken. The cable from the jump start point connects to the same terminal via a spade connector, this terminal is fine, that's why it would only start via the jump start point.
Agreed it could have been very nasty if it came into contact with the chassis but I have fitted a new spade connector now, crimped soldered and with heat shrink as per the original, although the new ones slightly larger and hopefully tougher.
The connections do come precariously close to the chassis, maybe it would be best to apply some insulation to the chassis in the area in case it were to come loose again
Also do you think it would be wise to fit a maxifuse?, I don't like the idea of the main supply not being fused.
What rating of fuse is used on the other models?
Richard
Agreed it could have been very nasty if it came into contact with the chassis but I have fitted a new spade connector now, crimped soldered and with heat shrink as per the original, although the new ones slightly larger and hopefully tougher.
The connections do come precariously close to the chassis, maybe it would be best to apply some insulation to the chassis in the area in case it were to come loose again
Also do you think it would be wise to fit a maxifuse?, I don't like the idea of the main supply not being fused.
What rating of fuse is used on the other models?
Richard
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