F-RAM Warning and POD / Dash Lights Staying On

[JockyWilson]

Hi, I'm in France long-term with the Tamora and during my trip to get my Control Technique (French MOT) the dash shows the following warning:

CODE 247 F-RAM FAILED

Then the car wouldn't start at all (I've a feeling the mechanic I left it with overnight to align the lights for the MOT might have had the lights on without the engine running and drained the battery as it's been running fine).

So, jump started it via the anderson connector and got the F-RAM message again. Also got an oil temp warning "OIL TEMP 206 deg C"! Took it home after passing the MOT and noticed the dash lights were much dimmer than usual. F-RAM message appears on successive starts.

Came back in dense fog with fog lights on and when I turned the engine off the fog lights stay on. I tried restarting a couple of times but could not get the fog lights to go off at all so removed fuse 21. However the other issue is that the POD / dash display now does not turn off at all when I take the key out of the ignition. Is there a fuse for this? I take it the fog light issue and the POD / dash staying on are definitely related to the F-RAM warning?

I've just read some previous posts on the F-RAM warning; where exactly is the battery and what makes it easy to damage the ECU on trying to replace it?

I'd appreciate any help / advice on whether the root cause of it all is the dash POD battery and where it's located / how to change it...

I've also got issues with overheating recently but I don't believe the overheating is related to the problems above so will save this for another post...

Funny thing is it still passed the French MOT!

Cheers,
Allan

[bartesque]

dash pod staying on can be due to a dodgy alternator there is an extra diode fitted to the standard alternator

I am not an auto electrician but I was told that if i needed to jump start the Tamora I should put the lights on main beam to reduce the power surge sounds to me liek you may have fried somethng but hopefully somebody with more knowledge will come along shortly

[VARLEYHYD]

F ram is pod battery dead due to run down battery pos due to worn ignition relay
Should not case other issues though of dim pod

Check Earths 1st

Sounds like relays need replacing on ignition circuit too

Quick fix to dash lights/ ignition remaing on; press brakes or right indicator with key out usually works.

G

[Laser Sag]

Had the same problem a while ago with Fram failure and dash lights staying on, removed fuses for Dash ECU and the dash left out for a minute replaced and all has been fine since, apparantly it resets the dash after it has had a voltage problem.

[shep1001]

JockyWilson said:

Hi, I'm in France long-term with the Tamora and during my trip to get my Control Technique (French MOT) the dash shows the following warning:

CODE 247 F-RAM FAILED

Then the car wouldn't start at all (I've a feeling the mechanic I left it with overnight to align the lights for the MOT might have had the lights on without the engine running and drained the battery as it's been running fine).

So, jump started it via the anderson connector and got the F-RAM message again. Also got an oil temp warning "OIL TEMP 206 deg C"! Took it home after passing the MOT and noticed the dash lights were much dimmer than usual. F-RAM message appears on successive starts.

Came back in dense fog with fog lights on and when I turned the engine off the fog lights stay on. I tried restarting a couple of times but could not get the fog lights to go off at all so removed fuse 21. However the other issue is that the POD / dash display now does not turn off at all when I take the key out of the ignition. Is there a fuse for this? I take it the fog light issue and the POD / dash staying on are definitely related to the F-RAM warning?

I've just read some previous posts on the F-RAM warning; where exactly is the battery and what makes it easy to damage the ECU on trying to replace it?

I'd appreciate any help / advice on whether the root cause of it all is the dash POD battery and where it's located / how to change it...

I've also got issues with overheating recently but I don't believe the overheating is related to the problems above so will save this for another post...

Funny thing is it still passed the French MOT!

Cheers,
Allan

Mine flashes all sorts of weirdness for oil/water temp when starting from cold if the outside temp is very low (my car is kept outside). I believe this is because the sensor(s) are out of range until they read 0deg. Have you tried checking the settings in the POD menu for the dash LED's? you can vary the brightness for none/side/dipped beam.

Overheating, if the fans work as they should could be an air lock and or the system is no longer pressurised caused by a leak somewhere in the system including the rad cap as you have mentioned.

I replaced the ignition relay on my Tam when it refused to shut down having removed the key. This cured the problem.

Regarding the battery for the ECU. Its a small coin cell type thing. Dasg ECU's are expensive to repair if you damage it, if you can wait I would pay somebody else to change it so if it goes tits up its their issue to resolve not yours.

Shep

[JockyWilson]

VARLEYHYD said:

F ram is pod battery dead due to run down battery pos due to worn ignition relay
Should not case other issues though of dim pod

Check Earths 1st

Sounds like relays need replacing on ignition circuit too

Quick fix to dash lights/ ignition remaing on; press brakes or right indicator with key out usually works.

G

Graham, I tried the brakes / indicator method but the ignition / dash lights still stay on. They only method that works at the moment is disconnecting the main battery.

Regarding the ignition relays, are these located on the fuse panel in the driver's footwell? I see that someof the TVR parts websites stock them for Grifffiths but I take it the relays are off-the-shelf halfords-style parts?

Cheers,
Allan

[JockyWilson]

Laser Sag said:

removed fuses for Dash ECU and the dash left out for a minute replaced and all has been fine since

Does anyone know which fuse is for the ECU?

[shep1001]

JockyWilson said:

Does anyone know which fuse is for the ECU?

Fuse no20 is the perm 12v supply. Its the 7.5A 5 down from the top of the fuse board. The 10A fuse in position 18 is the ignition to dash ecu switched supply.


Shep

[JockyWilson]

Thanks Shep, will give this a try....

[JockyWilson]

So, the F-FRAM issues are ongoing... Took the dash ECU out last week and replaced the CR2032 coin battery (pretty easy to do, just 6 screws on the ECU box to remove for access). With a new battery in the dash ECU, I'm still getting the following issues every time:

WARNING CODE: 247 F-RAM FAILURE
WARNING CODE: 4 EFI FAULT
WARNING CODE: CLOCK FAILURE
Mileage has reset to zero and is not recording any miles (or trip miles) on any of the drives I've done.
Dash contrast / brightness settings are not remembered (also, car thinks headlights are on when adjusting these settings and they're not).
Cannot switch off front fog lights (permanently on unless fuse is removed).

Can anyone tell me where the earths are on the Tamora? Seems to be the next thing to check from the posts here so far.

For info, here's the coin cell battery in the ECU:





Any guidance on earth locations would be appreciated. Failing that, is it likely to be more of an internal problem in the ECU? i.e. am I going to have to get it back to a dealer?

Cheers,
Allan

[darkmark07]

Once you've checked the ignition relays, check to see if the alternator is warm.

I had very similar issues to the ones that you are describing a few months ago and this turned out to be a problem with the alternator. As Shep mentioned earlier, there is a diode in the circuit to prevent current back-feeding into the ignition circuit, and this had failed on mine.

See here for some other troubleshooting help from some very helpful and knowledgable people:

http://mobile.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=...

Good luck

[Laser Sag]

If the same as the Sag the main earths are attached just behind the battery and bolted straight through into the passenger footwell, can be worth taking them off and giving them a clean up.