SERIOUS Speed Six Engine Problem - TVR T350
Discussion
It seems I have a serious issue with my T350 speed six engine (54 plate with only 15k miles!!). I took it in to a garage because the engine was making a horrible noise a bit like a tractor! It also felt like the whole car was trembling!
Anyway ,they have already replaced the head gasket, reseated all the valves to TVR specifications, replaced one of the cats, but the problem is still there apparantly. So far the cost has hit 2k ! They are saying it must be an issue in the bottom part of the engine as they have done everything to the top! They now have suggested sending it away for a complete rebuild at the cost of 6k extra ! I cant believe this is the only solution. Does anybody have any suggestions on what may be causing this issue? Or is there anywhere that does rebuilds for a much cheaper price perhaps? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Anyway ,they have already replaced the head gasket, reseated all the valves to TVR specifications, replaced one of the cats, but the problem is still there apparantly. So far the cost has hit 2k ! They are saying it must be an issue in the bottom part of the engine as they have done everything to the top! They now have suggested sending it away for a complete rebuild at the cost of 6k extra ! I cant believe this is the only solution. Does anybody have any suggestions on what may be causing this issue? Or is there anywhere that does rebuilds for a much cheaper price perhaps? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Cheers.
Was this "garage" as TVR specialist?
Most specialists worth their salt will be able to tell you whats wrong with it with a certain degree of accurancy (given a few hours of investigation work..)
"Sounding like a tractor" is a strange expression - is it the engine sound or the exhaust sound? in what way did the sound change?
Most specialists worth their salt will be able to tell you whats wrong with it with a certain degree of accurancy (given a few hours of investigation work..)
"Sounding like a tractor" is a strange expression - is it the engine sound or the exhaust sound? in what way did the sound change?
Bottom of the engine is a very expensive job ussually i'm afraid. 6k is around the going rate for a full re-build. There are a few options i can think of.
1. Get a second opinion and just make sure it does need such work doing
2. There was a fully rebuilt engine up for sale on here for around half that price with 0miles since
rebuild? Might be worth having that dropped in instead of waiting around as much and cheaper.
Afraid the mileage on these cars mean nothing some people get lucky and some people don't... many people have had the engine rebuilt at your stage where as some people are well into 30k with no rebuilds? No one knows why but from what i've heard its something to do with TVR using inferior parts when building and then changing to better quality bits. But even then some people have had to have rebuilds?
Hope this helps
Dan
1. Get a second opinion and just make sure it does need such work doing
2. There was a fully rebuilt engine up for sale on here for around half that price with 0miles since
rebuild? Might be worth having that dropped in instead of waiting around as much and cheaper.
Afraid the mileage on these cars mean nothing some people get lucky and some people don't... many people have had the engine rebuilt at your stage where as some people are well into 30k with no rebuilds? No one knows why but from what i've heard its something to do with TVR using inferior parts when building and then changing to better quality bits. But even then some people have had to have rebuilds?
Hope this helps
Dan
If it's a full rebuild that is required then it's that sort of money; however lots of alarm bells here, the garage where it is now sound a bit flakey, is a TVR specialist? £2k of work before they "suggest" that it might need a full rebuild 
. First job is to make sure that it does need one because it doesn't sound like they know their S6 engines. Secondly assuming they are now finally correct, you are going to want to query that £2k bill strongly as that's pretty much wasted effort.
I'd have it on a low loader to TVR Power sharpish.
. First job is to make sure that it does need one because it doesn't sound like they know their S6 engines. Secondly assuming they are now finally correct, you are going to want to query that £2k bill strongly as that's pretty much wasted effort.I'd have it on a low loader to TVR Power sharpish.
touching cloth said:
If it's a full rebuild that is required then it's that sort of money; however lots of alarm bells here, the garage where it is now sound a bit flakey, is a TVR specialist? £2k of work before they "suggest" that it might need a full rebuild . First job is to make sure that it does need one because it doesn't sound like they know their S6 engines. Secondly assuming they are now finally correct, you are going to want to query that £2k bill strongly as that's pretty much wasted effort.
I'd have it on a low loader to TVR Power sharpish.
Same here,I would not be happy with the garage at all! sounds like 2k pissed away there!. First job is to make sure that it does need one because it doesn't sound like they know their S6 engines. Secondly assuming they are now finally correct, you are going to want to query that £2k bill strongly as that's pretty much wasted effort.I'd have it on a low loader to TVR Power sharpish.
Sinc you should be here mate
Cheers for your helpful suggestions guys.
I should clarify exactly what happened. It was a few months ago when I first had the issue. It sounded then like it
was only firing on 5 cylinders and the car was juddering - I took it to the closest local garage (non tvr dealer) -
when looking in the engine bay we could see that the exhaust was red hot. It turned out that cylinder 5 wasnt
firing properly and expelling unlit fuel in to the exhaust which seemed to be catching on fire there. It therefore
ruined one of the catalytic conevertors. This mechanic replaced the cat and reseated all valves, replaced the
gaskets. However, he could not start the engine after doing this work and had several people look at it but no-one
could work out why the engine wouldn't start so it sat in his garage for three months which was pissing me off no
end.After paying this guy 900 for parts and his time and trouble, i had it taken to 'London Group' who are a tvr
specialist.
On arriving at this place they did two hours of investigative work (£131/hour)and they found the HT leads were not
in the correct order( TVR apparantly have a secret whereby the COIL numbers do not corrspond with where you should
put the leads!) which is why it hadnt started for the previous mechanic ! SO they had it started but it didnt sound
correct at which point they informed me it sounded like a tractor! ON further investigation they found that all the
valves were seated completely incorrectly so they had to do 4 hours of work to reseat all valves to TVR specs. SO
they did this work but the engine was still sounding 'like a tractor' ! So they then told me I had three options -
1) Find a new Engine
2) Let them take the engine out, strip it down and through a process of trial and error get to the bottom of the
problem which could end up being very expensive (at 131 pounds an hour) and without a warranty.
3) Send it to a specialist company who will completely rebuild the engine and warranty it for 6k
So at this stage its difficult to know what to do as i have spent close to the 2k between both garages (i feel
raped! ) . I will certainly look at geting a second opinion and also look around for another engine! Dan - Do you
know if that S6 engine is still on this site? I cant seem to find it - Do you have the link.
Also, would it be worth joining the TVR car club to get further help?
Thanks again for your help!
I should clarify exactly what happened. It was a few months ago when I first had the issue. It sounded then like it
was only firing on 5 cylinders and the car was juddering - I took it to the closest local garage (non tvr dealer) -
when looking in the engine bay we could see that the exhaust was red hot. It turned out that cylinder 5 wasnt
firing properly and expelling unlit fuel in to the exhaust which seemed to be catching on fire there. It therefore
ruined one of the catalytic conevertors. This mechanic replaced the cat and reseated all valves, replaced the
gaskets. However, he could not start the engine after doing this work and had several people look at it but no-one
could work out why the engine wouldn't start so it sat in his garage for three months which was pissing me off no
end.After paying this guy 900 for parts and his time and trouble, i had it taken to 'London Group' who are a tvr
specialist.
On arriving at this place they did two hours of investigative work (£131/hour)and they found the HT leads were not
in the correct order( TVR apparantly have a secret whereby the COIL numbers do not corrspond with where you should
put the leads!) which is why it hadnt started for the previous mechanic ! SO they had it started but it didnt sound
correct at which point they informed me it sounded like a tractor! ON further investigation they found that all the
valves were seated completely incorrectly so they had to do 4 hours of work to reseat all valves to TVR specs. SO
they did this work but the engine was still sounding 'like a tractor' ! So they then told me I had three options -
1) Find a new Engine
2) Let them take the engine out, strip it down and through a process of trial and error get to the bottom of the
problem which could end up being very expensive (at 131 pounds an hour) and without a warranty.
3) Send it to a specialist company who will completely rebuild the engine and warranty it for 6k
So at this stage its difficult to know what to do as i have spent close to the 2k between both garages (i feel
raped! ) . I will certainly look at geting a second opinion and also look around for another engine! Dan - Do you
know if that S6 engine is still on this site? I cant seem to find it - Do you have the link.
Also, would it be worth joining the TVR car club to get further help?
Thanks again for your help!
Used one here at £2k2 http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/913898.htm buyer beware and all that. I think the advert for rebuilt one has been removed.
£131 an hour! I have tried to search for that engine to no avail 
,Personally i would steer clear of a second hand engine as you could be opening up another can of worms.If it was me I would be calling Dom at Power http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/ and getting his opinion.
Good luck mate hope you get it sorted
D14 AYS said:
£131 an hour! I have tried to search for that engine to no avail ,Personally i would steer clear of a second hand engine as you could be opening up another can of worms.If it was me I would be calling Dom at Power http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/ and getting his opinion.
Good luck mate hope you get it sorted
No.5 cylinder is the weakest link if there have been overheating and/or ignition problems caused by other things - which I had several times with a modified engine they've been developing for track use for me.
You're going to be spending some money here...
I can't believe the HT firing order was the only mistake stopping the first garage getting your car running for months. A simple call to any TVR place, or a simple post on this forum would have come up with a list of suggestions - and this would have been one of them (I would have mentioned it for sure - the first engine I built wouldn't start ... due to HT firing order ... automechanic fixed in 2 mins flat - that was a Ford Crossflow BTW, not a Speed Six). Have you paid these guys? They should be ashamed!
Sounds like the London TVR place has done the right thing - they never heard the car running before receiving it. At that labour rate you could pay for the car to be transported to one of the Speed Six engine specialists for an hour's worth of labour. Some I know of: TVR Power (Coventry), Dulfords (Somerset), Straight Eight (Bucks), Racing Green (Hants). Your engine would probably be sent to one of these places for the work anyway.
Hope you get the car on the road and enjoy it again soon.
I can't believe the HT firing order was the only mistake stopping the first garage getting your car running for months. A simple call to any TVR place, or a simple post on this forum would have come up with a list of suggestions - and this would have been one of them (I would have mentioned it for sure - the first engine I built wouldn't start ... due to HT firing order ... automechanic fixed in 2 mins flat - that was a Ford Crossflow BTW, not a Speed Six). Have you paid these guys? They should be ashamed!
Sounds like the London TVR place has done the right thing - they never heard the car running before receiving it. At that labour rate you could pay for the car to be transported to one of the Speed Six engine specialists for an hour's worth of labour. Some I know of: TVR Power (Coventry), Dulfords (Somerset), Straight Eight (Bucks), Racing Green (Hants). Your engine would probably be sent to one of these places for the work anyway.
Hope you get the car on the road and enjoy it again soon.
Link for Str8 6 rebuild from Dream Machines here:
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/830360.htm
I know it's probably a question that you're asking yourself, but why didn't you get it straight to a specialist at the first sign of a problem? If it's cost you £2k to get where you are now, you could be 1/3 of the way to the cost of a rebuild by now!
Hope you get it sorted with minimal expense from here on in...
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/830360.htm
I know it's probably a question that you're asking yourself, but why didn't you get it straight to a specialist at the first sign of a problem? If it's cost you £2k to get where you are now, you could be 1/3 of the way to the cost of a rebuild by now!
Hope you get it sorted with minimal expense from here on in...
I know - silly error on my part. I was trying to save a few quid by taking to a local garage. Shot myself in the foot there! oh well hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Just called dreammachines - That engine just sold unfortunately! :-(
Again - Thank you everyone for all your helpful suggestions
Just called dreammachines - That engine just sold unfortunately! :-(
Again - Thank you everyone for all your helpful suggestions
Sorry to read about your woes.
I've been in a similar situation myself and my advice is to phone Dom at TVR Power: http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/ or 024 7636 6177. Explain your situation, arrange for them to do the work, and then phone your garage and get them to flat-bed the car to Coventry.
It isn't going to be cheap, though.
I've been in a similar situation myself and my advice is to phone Dom at TVR Power: http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/ or 024 7636 6177. Explain your situation, arrange for them to do the work, and then phone your garage and get them to flat-bed the car to Coventry.
It isn't going to be cheap, though.
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