TVR Tuscan Window and Door not working

[Timothy-x67sk]

I’ve just woken my Tuscan up from being laid up for the winter. I’ve had the battery off the car on a trickle charger. She burst straight to life which was great.

However, the drivers door and window are not working. Neither the outside door release button nor the one on the dash are opening the door. The window is in the down position and there is no life in the window switch at all.

I have checked the 2 fuses in the drivers footwell.

Passenger door and window are working fine.

I am having to use the emergency release, but there’s no way (that I know of) to raise the window.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[nawarne]

I'm sure someone will be along to add to my comments.

Tim, I'd try (Take off transmission tunnel cover) to swap the door ECU's over. The ECUs are tucked up into the space forward of the gear lever. IF the fault on swapping ECUs transfers to the other (passenger) side - it's an ECU problem. Needs sending to Paul Smith or Python Racing/Jody to be repaired.

However, I wouldn't discount the wiring/contacts around the door button or the microswitch UNDER the stainless beauty cover of the door catch on the B pillar.....In fact this last option would be my first check - remove 3 off self tappers and the door catch with the micro switch above are exposed. The small stainless lever on the switch is pushed by the door catch to make the switch. They can become twisted or just fail to push the very small button on the microswitch.

Nick

[Timothy-x67sk]

Nick

Many thanks for your help. That is just the level of detail I need for my ‘enthusiastic amateur’ status.

Wish me luck ;-)

Tim

[Timothy-x67sk]

Right. So, the micro switch in the door latch seems fine.

I’ve found the door control units and by the gear knob and swapping them over shows that the drivers side was faulty. I have swapped them over and now have a functioning door! I just need to replace the broken unit. Half way there!!!

The next problem is the drivers window is still fully in the down position. I have tried locking and unlocking a few times, but still no joy. Do you think a power surge could have fried the ‘window control unit’? Where wouId I find the window control units to switch them over to diagnose a faulty one?

Thanks for you help and patience.

Tim

[Penelope Stopit]

nawarne will very likely be back soon to give more help

Take a look at these images while waiting

Drivers window motor cable colours are Yellow/Green and Yellow/Black



Passenger window motor cable colours are Red/Green and Red/Black



The ECUs that you have found and swapped over are listed as Window and Door ECUs

It can be seen that the Drivers window motor cable colours Yellow/Black and Yellow/Green connect to Drivers ECU Pins 17 and 21

It can be seen that the Passenger window motor cable colours Red/Green and Red/Black connect to Passenger ECU Pins 17 and 21

If the Passenger side window/door ECU is operating the Passenger window and is interchangeable with the Driver side window/door ECU yet the Drivers window still fails to operate, the fault is likely to be found elsewhere



Good luck in finding the fault

Edited by Penelope Stopit on Sunday 21st March 16:40

[Timothy-x67sk]

So, I have now checked and rechecked all connections and drivers door and window working exactly as they should! Winner!!!

Passenger door not working as I have removed the door control unit to be refurbished/replaced. I’d be grateful for any recommendations.

Strangely the boot is not opening at all. I can’t hear the solenoid operating at all when I use the external boot switch.. could the gremlins be related?

[mozza42]

I understand that the boot operation is controlled in some way via the passenger door ECU, which is now the broken one.

[Penelope Stopit]

Timothy-x67sk said:

So, I have now checked and rechecked all connections and drivers door and window working exactly as they should! Winner!!!

No, not a winner

There is a connector/terminal problem at the Drivers ECU plug or a dry joint in the passenger ECU that is now connected to the drivers side

Good luck in finding the fault

[nawarne]

Hi Tim,
OK, you've swapped the door/window ECUs over.....Now got a functioning door(?)

The window lift may be hampered by the "door encoder sensor" https://www.racetechdirect.co.uk/car-parts/electri...

This pcb interacts with the ECU/window control. In TVR's wisdom, its a small pcb mounted on the window lift motor, which is then exposed to moisture, dirt etc as it is btwn door card and door skin.....this "counts" the motor shaft rotations as you operate the window. They do suffer from degradation - mostly because they are not protected in any way from moisture.
They are fixed to the motor/gearbox by a single machine screw - simple to change.

I'd therefore swap the encoder over from the Pass. door to the driver's door to confirm this unit? Sometimes, a spray with contact cleaner on the plug and pcb MAY resurrect it. Else, you've got to look for poor connections.

Nick

[Gladers01]

mozza42 said:

I understand that the boot operation is controlled in some way via the passenger door ECU, which is now the broken one.

That was the case on mine, so if sent away for repair you had to swop the good ecu to the passenger side to open the boot (or use the emergency way in) to fill up with petrol.

The window motor can be driven directly with a 12 volt dc power supply (spare battery etc) to the window motor leads, the polarity/wires can be reversed to drive the window up or down.

The door/window Ecu pcb can be unscrewed and withdrawn from the casing to check the plug pins to the pcb, sometimes they have dry joints which can be re soldered, also check for any obvious signs of component damage, last time mine went away for repair it came back with a short circuit which flattened the new battery in 4 hours, many weeks later and on the 3rd attempt to repair it it worked, worth having a look yourself first, good luck with that one matey

[Timothy-x67sk]

So next step is to get the faulty door control unit refurbished/mended/replaced.

Does anyone have any contacts?

[jeremyc]

Timothy-x67sk said:

So next step is to get the faulty door control unit refurbished/mended/replaced.

Does anyone have any contacts?

Earlier in the thread nawarne said:

IF the fault on swapping ECUs transfers to the other (passenger) side - it's an ECU problem. Needs sending to Paul Smith or Python Racing/Jody to be repaired.