head gasket, the latest problem

[johhn]

I am told that the head gasket has "gone" engine out and replace..how bad is this? Should I cut my losses and get rid now? Has anyone had similar, by the way rebuild done at 9k now done 16k. I have a 3 year warranty agreed before I bought the car.

[TVR-Phoenix]

Head gasket gone???? something fishy going on there.... if you've got a warranty then get the car sorted without spending a penny and sell her off if you still want to afterwards...

if you have to pay for the job, get a quote from others such as www.tvrpower.co.uk or www.tvrcraft.com

or... email me if you want to sell her, theres a guy I know who is interested in buying a 'in need of repair' tuscan...

[johhn]

I am confident that the warranty will cover the repair, I am losing confidence in the car. This is the latest of a catalogue of problems : tyres need replacing on the front after 3k, efi fault almost constant, flat battery-god knows why, I don't- sadly etc etc. Would a new one be better because I foolishly continue to like the car. Pissed off because I cannot use my toy this weekend.

[TVR-Phoenix]

who does your servicing?

[johhn]

peninsula

[fireblade2000]

'Seriously flawed' seems a bit of a generalisation maybe !!! Older models maybe in some respects, but the Mk 2 version I have seems so far (very very new) !! to be quality. Have you owned or driven a Tuscan 'LA' to enable you to come to this opinion or is it just a perception from 'here-say' maybe ?

[fireblade2000]

Oh Boy ! I dont want to get into another one of these threads !! I dont have the time or experience but...........Fact is things change ...and a repetitive quote of 'seriously flawed' may not be applicable to the current generation of cars....

[GreenV8S]

los angeles said:

Masses of reports about the cars problems posted on PH, serious problems confirmed by TVR mechanics and franchised dealers alike

I'm not aware of any particular issues with head gasket failure, are you?

[bogie]

well theres definately been a fair few reports of HGF on Tuscan MK1's if you do a search on here.

[TVR-Phoenix]

TVR have never admitted to problems with the speed 6 engines, despite having a cue of them to sort out.

But they are very keen to increase the warranty to 3 years of all new purchases. I for one am *hoping* they have finally sorted out their dreaded issues... otherwise, that queue of engines will grow... and each customer will end up waiting a lot longer, unless they've got that covered and have trippled the number of lines for engine re-habilitation to handle the increase of rebuilds...

but fingers crossed... Fireblade, so far you have said its just the indicator stalk falling down and no other niggles yet? Well, please keep us informed... I suppose a few thousand miles and we'll all know soon enough if with the new engines the dreaded issues are gone - or not!...

[pete]

The message from a specialist I spoke to was that there was a batch of 2004 Speed 6 engines which were particularly prone to head gasket failure. Something to do with modifications to the water cooling in the head. They claimed that TVR has gone back to the older, more complex design after a spate of failures.

Dunno how true that is though...?

Pete

[J_S_G]

johhn said:

I am confident that the warranty will cover the repair, I am losing confidence in the car. This is the latest of a catalogue of problems : tyres need replacing on the front after 3k, efi fault almost constant, flat battery-god knows why, I don't- sadly etc etc. Would a new one be better because I foolishly continue to like the car. Pissed off because I cannot use my toy this weekend.

Flat battery could be the boot light. If the boot hasn't quite closed right (or the sensor's not doing its job), it could have latched down properly, but not have switched it off, slowly draining the battery.

Edited to add: Oops, forgot the obligatory "and mine's currently for sale with a warranty and new engine, amongst a five figure sum's worth of upgrades & other work over the last year"...

>> Edited by J_S_G on Monday 21st February 01:49

[GreenV8S]

One advantage of buying your car second hand is that the car should have had this sort of niggling electrical problem sorted out. Assuming the seller did care enough to fix this sort of thing.

[johhn]

The good news is that the repairs will be covered by the warranty, the bad that it may have to go back to Blackpool rather than be repaired locally. But we are off skiing for a week and hopefully all will be well on return. Inconvenient, but what the hell after all.