TVR V8S Speedo Problem

[Tony Charente]

Hello to all,
I am trying to help a French friend with very poor English but TWO very nice LHD TVR's! The electronic speedo on his 1992 LHD V8S has completely stopped working (neither the speed nor the tripometer work). It started by not working some of the time, but now doesn't work at all. He's taken the car to a local classic car specialist, who have been unable to sort it.

Here are my various questions, please.
(1) The garage said they'd checked for a signal from the sensor "at the wheel", and that this seemed OK. Doing numerous Google searches seems to show that the sensor is actually on the gearbox - or is it at the wheel on some V8S's, depending on the model?
(2) Assuming that there IS a signal coming from the sensor (wherever located) what is my best course of action? Is this a known problem with a known solution?
(3) Which is the best company to deal with this? Will they want both the speedo and the sensor?

The speedo is in Kms.

All suggestions very welcome, please.
Many thanks,
Tony

[ketvrin]

Hi Tony

I'm sure someone will be along soon to answer your query but meanwhile it would be great to have the details of your ami's cars on the owners list. and tell him to join the fray on this forum and ask away in french anyway... there are some clever people on here and plenty of translation software around to help too.

good luck (or bon chance ?)

K

Editted to correct my english

Edited by ketvrin on Friday 8th January 14:32

[Barkychoc]

Mine is currently off the road but I had problems with mine - initially when setting off it was dead then the speedo would gradually come to life, the needle would flicker to start with then after a couple of minutes work perfectly.

I have not got the car on the road yet - I am going for the world record for the longest body off ever - but I have got a replacement sensor for the gearbox (picture below) and also there is a big yellow connector in the steering column that overheats and causes problems - could be worth a look.

The only place I have seen sensors is on ebay - though I understand Rimmer Bros may have something http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk - its a sensor for a Rover SD1 3.5 V8.

Gearbox sensor

[Tony Charente]

Barkychoc said:

Mine is currently off the road but I had problems with mine - initially when setting off it was dead then the speedo would gradually come to life, the needle would flicker to start with then after a couple of minutes work perfectly.

I have not got the car on the road yet - I am going for the world record for the longest body off ever - but I have got a replacement sensor for the gearbox (picture below) and also there is a big yellow connector in the steering column that overheats and causes problems - could be worth a look.

The only place I have seen sensors is on ebay - though I understand Rimmer Bros may have something http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk - its a sensor for a Rover SD1 3.5 V8.

Thank you very much for you rapid reply. Is it absolutely certain that ALL V8S's had the sensor mounted on the gear-box, like yours, please? (And not close to a wheel or to the diff?)
Thanks,
Tony

[v8s4me]

When I got my V8S (March 06) I had the same problem. Looking through the history "speedo works when it wants to!" cropped up a few times and cost previous owners a lot of money so I decided to leave it and see what happened. When the gearbox oil heated up or when the weather was warm it worked and then stopped working again in September when the weather started getting colder. Luckily this cooincides with when I use the car so I never bothered doing anything about it. Judging from the number of threads on PH I reckon this is just one of those "they all do that mate" issues. Good luck. Joe

[Barkychoc]

I am pretty sure all V8S's and very early griffs have this sensor - later griffs and chims have the sensor on / near the diff I think as you describe.

Maybe a Griff / Chim gatecrasher reading this forum can be more specific....