oil prob's

[gazgriff]

my tusc's lost 3ltrs of oil in the last 500miles, had castrol rs 10/60 put in.
any ideas?

[Chim450]

When you say lost do you mean leaked or burned off? If it has burned that much oil I would expet that you would be seeing plumes off blue smoke from your exhaust.

Either way it sounds like bad news, valve guides have been known to wear out causing this problem. Hate to say it but I think you may be looking at a rebuild.

[J_S_G]

gazgriff said:

my tusc's lost 3ltrs of oil in the last 500miles, had castrol rs 10/60 put in. any ideas?

Do you get any (blue) smoke out of the back? Especially when you've been sat at traffic lights, etc. and set off? Or when you first start it up?

If so, and you can't spot pools of it under the car, then it could well be due a trip to Blackpool to replace the valve guides. If you're up to 20-odd thousand miles or so, this could well be the case. Especially if it's gradually worked up to this intake.

Having just checked your profile... oh.

Could be something else entirely, of course...

[gazgriff]

to be honest i haven't noticed either. the cars now at the garage, so i hope it won't cost to much, hmmmm!
are the valve guides a big job (expensive), and would they be covered by a warranty?

[J_S_G]

gazgriff said:

to be honest i haven't noticed either. the cars now at the garage, so i hope it won't cost to much, hmmmm! are the valve guides a big job (expensive), and would they be covered by a warranty?

If it is the valve guides it will, unfortunately, mean a rebuild. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

"Goodwill" rebuilds for that used to be around the £2k mark. Now you're looking at £3.5k to get it done & Red Rosed at the same time. It'll go down as wear & tear, so most 3rd party warranties won't cover it. If you've bought from a dealer, I'd throw it back at them & get them to sort it FOC.

Hope it's something much simpler & cheaper...

[gazgriff]

bought it from a dealer in the middle of november'04, was told car was in perfect condition, serviced (wasn't), and had the upgrade valve kit.

what do you think?
i'm only 22 (skint), and didn't expect a problem so early!!!!
i'm so gutted it's going to cost me already!!

[J_S_G]

gazgriff said:

bought it from a dealer in the middle of november'04, was told car was in perfect condition, serviced (wasn't), and had the upgrade valve kit.

I'd have taken it straight back & got it serviced!

gazgriff said:

what do you think?

In all honesty, at that age, mileage, and with those symptoms, I think you're talking a top-end rebuild to the tune of £2.5-3.5k. If someone offered me odds at 3-1 on that, I'd stick £50 on it.

But I don't work for TVR and have personally never seen your car, so I could be completely wrong... it could just be a hose/something leaking. If it were me, and I'd bought from a dealer, I'm bl**dy sure I'd end up not paying a penny towards a rebuild on a car only bought 3 months ago!

gazgriff said:

i'm only 22 (skint), and didn't expect a problem so early!!!! i'm so gutted it's going to cost me already!!

Don't get stressed yet till the dealer's got back to you... it could be nothing, or they might offer you a new engine for free. Worst case: stick it on an interest free credit card, and pay it off over a year or two. Or if you've bought the car on credit, cancel the repayments.

Might be worth finding out a few bits of info in the meantime; like how other people have faired with the dealer in question (would suggest mailing people offline).

[gazgriff]

thanks ever so much for your advice, i'll have to wait for the next few days to see what the outcome is.

i'll keep you posted!