SEAC Frustrations
Discussion
Please excuse the tone of this posting – but I am frustrated!
Took the car back to John at the Trim Technician (who did the re-trim), to have new roof and door seals fitted, as the roof was leaking like a sieve.
While we were there, the cigarette lighter was not working, which I wanted sorting for the Sat Nav as I will be travelling down to BBWF tomorrow
We took the front of the dash off, found the wire had come disconnected, put it back on – it now works
Had major problems getting the stereo back in as there is so much wiring back there (we counted 3 old alarm boxes and wiring looms which have never been taken out when a new one has been fitted), but eventually we got it in
On the way home from Blackpool, the heavens opened, the roof worked – no water, happy days, John had done a great job.
Then the car windows instantly steamed up, flicked on the fan – it did not work, spent the final 10 minutes of the journey madly wiping the windscreen, avoiding flooded roads and torrents of water whilst trying to look through a windscreen that was completely frosted over. It was not fun! At one point I had to wind down the window and stick my head out to see where I was going!!
On returning home found the problem, broken connector at the back of the switch
This morning visited Track V Road, asking for help. We repaired the wire, the fan now works
Unfortunately, when putting the stereo back in (I was helping guiding it between the mass of wires) something has come disconnected and now the headlights come on but the headlight on the driver’s side now doesn’t pop up, this is an electrical nightmare. It is such a mess behind there. I wish we had time to rip it all out and start again.
I have now left the car with them. I have stopped interfering in something I know nothing about, so hopefully they will have it sorted by tonight and I can be at BBWF tomorrow
Here’s hoping.........
Took the car back to John at the Trim Technician (who did the re-trim), to have new roof and door seals fitted, as the roof was leaking like a sieve.
While we were there, the cigarette lighter was not working, which I wanted sorting for the Sat Nav as I will be travelling down to BBWF tomorrow
We took the front of the dash off, found the wire had come disconnected, put it back on – it now works
Had major problems getting the stereo back in as there is so much wiring back there (we counted 3 old alarm boxes and wiring looms which have never been taken out when a new one has been fitted), but eventually we got it in
On the way home from Blackpool, the heavens opened, the roof worked – no water, happy days, John had done a great job.
Then the car windows instantly steamed up, flicked on the fan – it did not work, spent the final 10 minutes of the journey madly wiping the windscreen, avoiding flooded roads and torrents of water whilst trying to look through a windscreen that was completely frosted over. It was not fun! At one point I had to wind down the window and stick my head out to see where I was going!!
On returning home found the problem, broken connector at the back of the switch
This morning visited Track V Road, asking for help. We repaired the wire, the fan now works
Unfortunately, when putting the stereo back in (I was helping guiding it between the mass of wires) something has come disconnected and now the headlights come on but the headlight on the driver’s side now doesn’t pop up, this is an electrical nightmare. It is such a mess behind there. I wish we had time to rip it all out and start again.
I have now left the car with them. I have stopped interfering in something I know nothing about, so hopefully they will have it sorted by tonight and I can be at BBWF tomorrow
Here’s hoping.........
Par for the course I am afraid. Of course the solution is to remove the faceplate and tidy up the wires etc behind the dash properly; removing all the dead alarm boxes etc until its reliable, cleaning the switches, replacing the 'twisted together wiring' from previous owners botched attempts at fixing something as you go. Then you can move onto the next problem area, chasing them around the car until you have some confidence in the thing.
This process never ends with a hand built British supercar! Don't think for a moment that other massively more expensive 'supercars' don't have the same sort of issues!
Paying independent garages and experts to fix these basic things might start getting expensive though...
As for the misting up issues, yep thats also an issue but sealing the joints behind the dash with sealant will help as a lot of the air pressure gets lost due to loose fitting joints and vents in the system. But again you are down to fiddling around behind the dash, applying fog and rain-X and chasing the bugs out of the car.
MikeyB
This process never ends with a hand built British supercar! Don't think for a moment that other massively more expensive 'supercars' don't have the same sort of issues!
Paying independent garages and experts to fix these basic things might start getting expensive though...
As for the misting up issues, yep thats also an issue but sealing the joints behind the dash with sealant will help as a lot of the air pressure gets lost due to loose fitting joints and vents in the system. But again you are down to fiddling around behind the dash, applying fog and rain-X and chasing the bugs out of the car.
MikeyB
Yes, I agree
The lads at the TrackVRoad said the light was full of water and that was causing the problem
I was told once it had dried out it would probably work fine
We had a great run down to BBWF, the light was still not popping up, and it was still not working on the way home.
Got home, left it for an hour before covering it over, tried it again – it worked!
Not frustrated any more.
In the winter the wiring will be sorted another job for the list!
The lads at the TrackVRoad said the light was full of water and that was causing the problem
I was told once it had dried out it would probably work fine
We had a great run down to BBWF, the light was still not popping up, and it was still not working on the way home.
Got home, left it for an hour before covering it over, tried it again – it worked!
Not frustrated any more.
In the winter the wiring will be sorted another job for the list!
GV said:
It's always the way with Wedge electrics! The best one I had was when I had lose earth on my brake lights - when I pressed the break pedal the headlights popped up...classic.
There's money to be made in creating a Wedge wiring loom that replaces the old and works fault free...
HiThere's money to be made in creating a Wedge wiring loom that replaces the old and works fault free...
Thanks for this post it's given me a good idea!
As you may know I am having proplems with my legs (Early days) so it looks most likly that I will be retiring from my current work. I was thinking what to do, so I might start producing items like wiring looms, the wheel center caps and other items in my new workshop/garage, on a small scale i.e. made to order!
Would you all like this and what else would you think you need. This would be small scale production, but good quality and safe as I would not fit them in my cars unless the were correct!
It may be six months to a year before I can start production of wiring looms. There is not just one, there are a number off differant looms in the car. The main body loom from the fuse/relays one end goes to the rear of the car for any electrical system there one part goes through the nearside front wing for the items like lights etc. There is one which goes to the dash connection which then has items from there to other parts of the car from the dash connection. Then the dash loom its self. So it's not just one simple loom and each car is a bit different from the next, they would be is some cases be a bespoked loom for the individual car!
So if any body would like this I will look into this as soon as I can health etc allowing!
Andy
Edited by Mr Tank on Monday 2nd July 16:06
Andy....Thats a brilliant idea!!...It would be good if someone could make a part loom that covers the main headlight switch and switchgear to headlights/Side lights and indicators..Id definitely be interested...Centre caps also a good idea...And if you are having bits chromium plated what about door handles and front badges...Ziga
Mark
If I did looms they would be to the same layout to the original, but using better/moden connections. I am a great beliver in originalaty were poss!
Door handels still come up new on f-bay and you can get items like that re-chromed no proplem.
TVR badges again are already being done by other people. I have them on all my cars!
The only items are not done at present I can see are Wheel caps but more importantly the looms. But fitting them will not solve all the problems as most problems are in fact bad earths and dirty conections, not looms perse!
Andy
If I did looms they would be to the same layout to the original, but using better/moden connections. I am a great beliver in originalaty were poss!
Door handels still come up new on f-bay and you can get items like that re-chromed no proplem.
TVR badges again are already being done by other people. I have them on all my cars!
The only items are not done at present I can see are Wheel caps but more importantly the looms. But fitting them will not solve all the problems as most problems are in fact bad earths and dirty conections, not looms perse!
Andy
rev-erend said:
Have fun tinkering - see if you can post a few pictures of the front Nitrons and suspension set-up.
Thank you, I willThe pictures are on a previous posting; http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
&
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I think I have some more if these are not good enough
Edited by anthonysant on Monday 2nd July 17:04
Edited by anthonysant on Monday 2nd July 17:05
Mr Tank said:
Mark
If I did looms they would be to the same layout to the original, but using better/moden connections. I am a great beliver in originalaty were poss!
Door handels still come up new on f-bay and you can get items like that re-chromed no proplem.
TVR badges again are already being done by other people. I have them on all my cars!
The only items are not done at present I can see are Wheel caps but more importantly the looms. But fitting them will not solve all the problems as most problems are in fact bad earths and dirty conections, not looms perse!
Andy
I too think this is a good ideaIf I did looms they would be to the same layout to the original, but using better/moden connections. I am a great beliver in originalaty were poss!
Door handels still come up new on f-bay and you can get items like that re-chromed no proplem.
TVR badges again are already being done by other people. I have them on all my cars!
The only items are not done at present I can see are Wheel caps but more importantly the looms. But fitting them will not solve all the problems as most problems are in fact bad earths and dirty conections, not looms perse!
Andy
A lot of these cars are now approaching 25 years old and the wiring was not great when it was new
A modern wiring loom available would be a very popular item and if I have not had it done by when it is available would happy to be the first customer
Unfortunately, my wiring is in desperate need of attention now and as there have been many items and alarms added over the years, and you now can't tell which is original and which can be binned
anthonysant said:
Thank you, I will
The pictures are on a previous posting; http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I think I have some more if these are not good enough
Looking good The pictures are on a previous posting; http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I think I have some more if these are not good enough
A lot of injection issues are not down to dirty connections but due to the 'fingers' in the multi-pin conectors being distorted by the action of twisting and wriggling the connectors when pulling them off/ putting them on. The fingers get bent back or squashed so that they no longer make contact when they should, which of course you can't see and which is why I advocate using a splitter-box at the ECU end of the loom so that you can accurately measure currents and voltages with the whole system connected.
I've costed-up the two splitter-boxes I have and with a bit of shopping around, using a spare ECU and RangeRover loom as a start (lots on Ebay) you could build one for under £100, which is only really a couple of hours of a mobile sparky's time.
Vehicle Wiring Products sell almost every wiring colour used on the Wedge as well as nearly all the connectors so building looms would be dead easy albeit time-consuming. Perhaps the easiest way to do it would be to a build a 'pin-board' as used in the real factory; this gives you the correct length and routing for each wire... never seen a wheelchair-accessible one though
I've costed-up the two splitter-boxes I have and with a bit of shopping around, using a spare ECU and RangeRover loom as a start (lots on Ebay) you could build one for under £100, which is only really a couple of hours of a mobile sparky's time.
Vehicle Wiring Products sell almost every wiring colour used on the Wedge as well as nearly all the connectors so building looms would be dead easy albeit time-consuming. Perhaps the easiest way to do it would be to a build a 'pin-board' as used in the real factory; this gives you the correct length and routing for each wire... never seen a wheelchair-accessible one though
Wedg1e said:
consuming. Perhaps the easiest way to do it would be to a build a 'pin-board' as used in the real factory; this gives you the correct length and routing for each wire... never seen a wheelchair-accessible one though
Cheeky Bugger I can stand for a short time and sit on a stool so no problems, But hope to be driving in a few months!
Need to with all my toys!
Andy
mrzigazaga said:
Mr Tank said:
Cheeky Bugger
Andy,
Seems like a great idea to recreate wiring looms, especially if they're as close to original as is possible.
I'd be interested in them (mine's had 3 alarms and immobilisers "spliced" into it over the years, none of which now work) so it could do with replacing at some point and I know from speaking with a few people at the fest that they're suffering with electrical "Gremlins" too!
Cheers for now and for what it's worth; I think you should go for it!
Mark
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