Ignition Relay

[H2DCA]

Oh joy, removed the dash to repair the heater fan and wiper motor, everything kept in order then put everything back and its gone to pot. No battery light or voltmeter reading, FI OK, turn the ignition to turn over car (Thats fine but no spark) and headlamps come on (But not up), tested lights and ignition circuits and no stray currents, fuses all OK!!! I wanted to check the relays but Steve Heaths manual shows Ignition Relay 1 and 2 but the TVR 400 handbook does not show these on the fuse box, where are these pesky relays ? and apart from those any other pointers.
Cheers
Hamish

[chedder]

Have a look on the wiring loom next to the ecu in the passenger footwell, should be there.

Chedder

[chedder]

Sounds like it could an earthing problem, did you disconnect one under the dash when you removed it?

[H2DCA]

Thanks Chedder, I did not see a relay on the loom to the ECU but I will have another around the area, earth did cross my mind but I never disconnected any major earth wires apart from the gauges and I did a continuity test on all the wires but may have missed something. Also after reading AM400 post about the fuse box I will have a look at the connections as it was unsupported for a while.
Cheers
Hamish

[chedder]

Hi Hamish, is it a flapper or hotwire system?, have you checked that the main ecu plug is firmly home in it's socket on the ecu? If it's a flapper there should be two relays and a steering diode (larger red relay) on the loom to the ecu.
Don't know if it's the same on the 400se but thats how it is set up on the 350i, one relay supplies the power to the ecu, another for the fuel pump and the steering diode assists the start up I think.

[chedder]

Have given the problem a bit more thought, if the dash has been out and the steering column has been dropped, check all the under dash wiring multi plugs from the column, ignition etc, it may be something as simple as that.

[H2DCA]

chedder said:

Have given the problem a bit more thought, if the dash has been out and the steering column has been dropped, check all the under dash wiring multi plugs from the column, ignition etc, it may be something as simple as that.

Cheers Chedder, Flapper, I will rumage tonight along the loom, yep checked the column as I thought it maybe a stray earth from the stalks, they seem OK. The cars wiring is not the neatest I have seen and its all orignal !!! off to pick up a couple of relays.
Thanks again

[Wedg1e]

H2DCA said:

chedder said:

Have given the problem a bit more thought, if the dash has been out and the steering column has been dropped, check all the under dash wiring multi plugs from the column, ignition etc, it may be something as simple as that.

Cheers Chedder, Flapper, I will rumage tonight along the loom, yep checked the column as I thought it maybe a stray earth from the stalks, they seem OK. The cars wiring is not the neatest I have seen and its all orignal !!! off to pick up a couple of relays.
Thanks again

There shouldn't be any earths anywhere near the stalks.

The ignition relays should be easy to spot as they have heavy Brown and White wires coming off them. The browns are permanent 12v from the battery, the whites go to 12v with ignition on.

[H2DCA]

Wedg1e said:

H2DCA said:

chedder said:

Have given the problem a bit more thought, if the dash has been out and the steering column has been dropped, check all the under dash wiring multi plugs from the column, ignition etc, it may be something as simple as that.

Cheers Chedder, Flapper, I will rumage tonight along the loom, yep checked the column as I thought it maybe a stray earth from the stalks, they seem OK. The cars wiring is not the neatest I have seen and its all orignal !!! off to pick up a couple of relays.
Thanks again

There shouldn't be any earths anywhere near the stalks.

The ignition relays should be easy to spot as they have heavy Brown and White wires coming off them. The browns are permanent 12v from the battery, the whites go to 12v with ignition on.

Thanks for all the info, I had a good rumage around the fuse box and discovered that the instrument fuse terminal that the fuse sits in was not full home breaking the circuit to the instruments, battery warning lighst etc.

Guess that's what you get if your fuse box has been dangling for years.

Double checked everything and decided to clean all the terminals etc with solvent and now made a bracket to support the fuse box.

Fired the car up but no road test yet, couple of other jobs to do

Cheers
Hamish
PS Still never found the ignition relays and I had a good look along the wires etc !!!