Electrical Help

[NJP]

Hi All
This is more of an offer than a request.

Having now pretty much rewired my Tamora I think I have probably encountered a large percentage of the electrical gremlins that these cars suffer.

If anyone out there is struggling with the electrics and the vagaries of them I may be able to point you in the right direction! I am no Paul Smith and am not claiming expert status on these cars but I do now have a pretty good understanding of how they work and know the wiring diagrams intimately so any of my experience from the work I have done I am more than happy to share.

Some of the issues I had are below...
- Dash board readings for water temp (high), oil pressure (low), oil temp (high), fuel (low) were wildly out and very unstable
- The car would really struggle to restart when warm
- Occasional mis-fire
- Dash board lights would sometimes stay on. Switched off if you pressed the brake pedal
- Boot would intermittently decide not to open

Once I started looking into these problems I ended up realising that there were some pretty serious issues with the electrics so this is the list of jobs I ended up doing...
- Replaced all the high current cabling including re-routing the starter motor / alternator feed
- Replaced the stater motor
- Replaced the regulator pack on the alternator and had it reconditioned
- Moved all high current fuses to accessible locations
- Replaced / remade all of the earth bonding cables
- Replaced all of the engine sensors
- Repaired / re-wired the engine ECU loom to remove all corroded cabling
- Replaced the dash screen
- Replaced all the dash cabling
- Re-earthed Lambda sensor heaters locally
- Installed front speakers including doing all the work on the door pods and fitting the cabling
- Replaced rear speakers with larger ones
- Replaced the head unit
- Installed DAB antenna
- Replaced door window seals
- Reset windows so they fit properly
- Replaced headlights - refitted with rivnuts instead of wood screws
- Resealed headlight covers
- Repaired access covers
- Installed rivnuts and seals on all access covers (battery, headlights, front under tray)
- Replaced suspension bolts
- Replaced flexible brake hoses

I think that is most of it.

Any help I can give anyone to prevent some of the head scratching, hair tearing and general confusion I have been through over the last few months would be my pleasure!

[NWTony]

That's awfully generous of you.

Poor starting when hot - the Sagaris manual says poor earth is that the solution? Clean up the current earth, re-route a new earth?

[shep1001]

NJP said:

Hi All
This is more of an offer than a request.

Having now pretty much rewired my Tamora I think I have probably encountered a large percentage of the electrical gremlins that these cars suffer.

If anyone out there is struggling with the electrics and the vagaries of them I may be able to point you in the right direction! I am no Paul Smith and am not claiming expert status on these cars but I do now have a pretty good understanding of how they work and know the wiring diagrams intimately so any of my experience from the work I have done I am more than happy to share.

Some of the issues I had are below...
- Dash board readings for water temp (high), oil pressure (low), oil temp (high), fuel (low) were wildly out and very unstable
- The car would really struggle to restart when warm
- Occasional mis-fire
- Dash board lights would sometimes stay on. Switched off if you pressed the brake pedal
- Boot would intermittently decide not to open

Once I started looking into these problems I ended up realising that there were some pretty serious issues with the electrics so this is the list of jobs I ended up doing...
- Replaced all the high current cabling including re-routing the starter motor / alternator feed
- Replaced the stater motor
- Replaced the regulator pack on the alternator and had it reconditioned
- Moved all high current fuses to accessible locations
- Replaced / remade all of the earth bonding cables
- Replaced all of the engine sensors
- Repaired / re-wired the engine ECU loom to remove all corroded cabling
- Replaced the dash screen
- Replaced all the dash cabling
- Re-earthed Lambda sensor heaters locally
- Installed front speakers including doing all the work on the door pods and fitting the cabling
- Replaced rear speakers with larger ones
- Replaced the head unit
- Installed DAB antenna
- Replaced door window seals
- Reset windows so they fit properly
- Replaced headlights - refitted with rivnuts instead of wood screws
- Resealed headlight covers
- Repaired access covers
- Installed rivnuts and seals on all access covers (battery, headlights, front under tray)
- Replaced suspension bolts
- Replaced flexible brake hoses

I think that is most of it.

Any help I can give anyone to prevent some of the head scratching, hair tearing and general confusion I have been through over the last few months would be my pleasure!

Good work. Where did you install your DAB aerial and what did you earth it off?

[brownspeed]

Top Bloke!
I'll bet you're based in the south knowing my luck
Thanks for the offer- i hope i never need it.....

[FOT Fast]

Thanks! I think all T-car owners will appreciate it.

I have the intermittent boot opening problem which is a bloody nightmare when you're running on fumes and blocking the pump on the petrol station forecourt. Oddly, I found if I hit rear side panel just behind the drivers door solenoid it would suddenly spring into life! Can you shed any light as to what's going on with the boot?

[shep1001]

FOT Fast said:

Thanks! I think all T-car owners will appreciate it.

I have the intermittent boot opening problem which is a bloody nightmare when you're running on fumes and blocking the pump on the petrol station forecourt. Oddly, I found if I hit rear side panel just behind the drivers door solenoid it would suddenly spring into life! Can you shed any light as to what's going on with the boot?

Micro switch or positioning of the boot badge that actuates it might need seeing to. Remove the boot badge and have a look. Might need the 2p trick to make it work!

[shep1001]

FOT Fast said:

Thanks! I think all T-car owners will appreciate it.

I have the intermittent boot opening problem which is a bloody nightmare when you're running on fumes and blocking the pump on the petrol station forecourt. Oddly, I found if I hit rear side panel just behind the drivers door solenoid it would suddenly spring into life! Can you shed any light as to what's going on with the boot?

Micro switch or positioning of the boot badge that actuates it might need seeing to. Remove the boot badge and have a look. Might need the 2p trick to make it work!

[NJP]

FOT Fast said:

Thanks! I think all T-car owners will appreciate it.

I have the intermittent boot opening problem which is a bloody nightmare when you're running on fumes and blocking the pump on the petrol station forecourt. Oddly, I found if I hit rear side panel just behind the drivers door solenoid it would suddenly spring into life! Can you shed any light as to what's going on with the boot?

Agree with Shep. Microswitch positioning maybe. The multi pin for the rear loom coming loose maybe though you would be likely to have all sorts of other issues too if that was the case. The connections on the switch or actuator corroded or coming loose.

The boot lid not wanting to release was one of the strange minor symptoms of my larger electrical and earthing problems. I hope its not the same for you!

[SteveSPG]

temp readings are interesting, my GM temp sender and the TVR one which goes into the dash say rather different things. the GM one is correct.

I've never bothered adjusting the tvr one, as it means sending the ecu dash to paul, but I'm glad its not just me

[NJP]

My temps were 10-15 degrees out prior to sorting earths and the loom out. Now they are at most 2 degrees between the dash and the engine ecu.

[SergSC]

NJP said:

My temps were 10-15 degrees out prior to sorting earths and the loom out. Now they are at most 2 degrees between the dash and the engine ecu.

A half turn of the passenger footwell earth bolt fixed this one for me, my most satisfying fix ever

RE Dash staying On... this was happening after rain... I fixed that by sealing ALL the bulkhead grommets with silicon (imo any soft rubber part on these cars IS rotten by now).

But... I have since needed a new alternator, and I got a genuine (LOL) alternator from you know where (LOL), this genuine (LOL), alternator has absolutely zero identifying marks on it (LOL), its probably made by slave children in China... unsurprisingly this genuine (LOL) part gives the power supply 245 error. Genuine my ******* ****. Flicking the wipers to top removes this residual leccy keeping the dash On and draining the battery.

[TAM747]

same here, after changing all sensors, 125A fuse(es), etc.( 2-3 weeks ago), troubles when engine was running warm/hot; water and oil-temperatures had been displayed from fairyland ...

yesterday i fixed the ground-connection in passengers footwell, had nearly 1cm until fixed ;-)

today, driven for a long period and all went perfect again, my tam & i are happy again.

[smighall]

Details on the lmabda earth wiring would be useful. Mines a Tuscan but should be similar.

[NJP]

SergSC said:

A half turn of the passenger footwell earth bolt fixed this one for me, my most satisfying fix ever

RE Dash staying On... this was happening after rain... I fixed that by sealing ALL the bulkhead grommets with silicon (imo any soft rubber part on these cars IS rotten by now).

But... I have since needed a new alternator, and I got a genuine (LOL) alternator from you know where (LOL), this genuine (LOL), alternator has absolutely zero identifying marks on it (LOL), its probably made by slave children in China... unsurprisingly this genuine (LOL) part gives the power supply 245 error. Genuine my ******* ****. Flicking the wipers to top removes this residual leccy keeping the dash On and draining the battery.

Sounds very much like the alternator does not have the correct diode / regulator pack on it if the dash is staying on. You can fit a diode on the alternator feed into the engine loom to check if that is the problem.

I have a place I can recommend for reconditioning alternators if that helps. They replaced the diode / regulator pack and the brushes on mine for £50 and has behaved perfectly ever since.

[NJP]

smighall said:

Details on the lmabda earth wiring would be useful. Mines a Tuscan but should be similar.

Lambda earth mod is fairly straight forward if you are happy doing wiring on cars. Happy to provide you some guidance if you need it.

Do you have a reason to need to do it? Lambdas playing up?

[SergSC]

NJP said:

Sounds very much like the alternator does not have the correct diode / regulator pack on it if the dash is staying on. You can fit a diode on the alternator feed into the engine loom to check if that is the problem.

I have a place I can recommend for reconditioning alternators if that helps. They replaced the diode / regulator pack and the brushes on mine for £50 and has behaved perfectly ever since.

Not only that. This `genuine` alternator requires shimming to get the pulleys to line up... This went unnoticed on first installation, and thus cost me another flatbed trip to garage (AA must hate me by now) due to a snapped `genuine` alternator belt, a `genuine` alternator belt which I have been told is 1mm wider than spec.