Garage has broken by Cerbera
Garage has broken by Cerbera
Author
Discussion

sshenton1975

Original Poster:

805 posts

250 months

Wednesday 16th March 2011
quotequote all
Following a 1000 miles trip back from Italy with no hitches, i booked my Speed 6 straight into the local MOT centre for a test.
Had asked on here who was good in the Northampton area and followed the advice given....
Garage phoned me to say the car had overheated during 20 minutes of idling whilst half way through the test.
Reckoned the problem was a cracked header tank which they fixed with Araldite
Another test was booked but the tester got scared again when some whiffs of steam came out again...
I said fine - I will pick up and take away next weekend.
The weekend came and I went to pick up the car.
They brought it round the front and after paying my £50 test fee i went to start it
It backfired and failed to start.
Tried again and again but it wouldnt catch.
Jump pack on but still nothing.....
Mechanic came out and explained it had been moved around the yard, switched on and off, and he reckoned it was flooded
He proceeded to take off the injector leads and cranked the car to try to clear the flooding
No avail and now my battery was flat

Next day I came back and managed to get the car running by tow starting it - sounded horrendous and was running on 4 to 5 cylinders.

Much banging and exhaust smoke coming from the engine but eventually it cleared abit and I was able to drive it.

Had another look under bonnet to see on of the leads still disconnected. Put this back on and the car started to run much more cleanly

Question is, will I have done any damage?? garage clearly didnt have a clue what they were doing and I have now booked the car into TVR Power for MOT and service. The car seems to be running roughly still, although now on 6 cylinders. It seems to be very rich and smells of fuel. Could the ECU have got confused due to flooding and 5 cylinder running??

Any advice greatly appreciated

Simon

JensenA

5,671 posts

259 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
The garage who did the MOT are responsible. If they have allowed it to overheat, then they have been negligent, and possibly damaged your engine. Take it back to them and tell them you want it back in the same condition that it was when you took it there.

a1rak

556 posts

212 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
JensenA said:
The garage who did the MOT are responsible. If they have allowed it to overheat, then they have been negligent, and possibly damaged your engine. Take it back to them and tell them you want it back in the same condition that it was when you took it there.
It would be nice to think that was the case and the garage would accept at least some responsibilty but in reallity I think you will have to just take it on the chin, the car should,nt overheat if everything is working correctly. Every MOT station in the country must get all sorts of bags of ste turning up to be MOT'ed, if thety accepted responsibilty for all possible faults that occurred during the test then I dont think we would ever find a MOT centre willing to test an old car let alone a TVR.

FarmyardPants

4,372 posts

247 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
Possibly running it with an HT lead disconnected has poisoned the lambda sensor(s) which might explain the poor running when the lead is reconnected. Let's see what Power says, there may be no damage done.

Mr Cerbera

5,151 posts

259 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
Jesus, that sounds like a complete load of Dingbats had no idea and not a care about what they were doing. I certainly wouldn't take it back to them for any work EVER.

Dom'll fix it - then give the bill to the original garage together with the Tel. No. of your lawyer.

Bloody Tragic. Hard Luck.

custardkid

2,514 posts

253 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
Speed six's don’t like being started / stopped with out proper running.

the throttle pots can go out of balance every 3-6000 miles, this can lead to back firing, difficult starting & lumpy idle.
resetting the adaptives with the software, balancing the throttle pots and possibly setting a higher idle (c900rprm) should solve it.

In reality TVRs need sympathetic hands, if you want it to be perfect 100% of the time buy something else.

as for the garage, a car shouldn't over heat after 20min, but sending it to someone who knows about TVRs is a wise move.

Hope you get it working well again

Custard
Custard

JensenA

5,671 posts

259 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
a1rak said:
JensenA said:
The garage who did the MOT are responsible. If they have allowed it to overheat, then they have been negligent, and possibly damaged your engine. Take it back to them and tell them you want it back in the same condition that it was when you took it there.
It would be nice to think that was the case and the garage would accept at least some responsibilty but in reallity I think you will have to just take it on the chin, the car should,nt overheat if everything is working correctly. Every MOT station in the country must get all sorts of bags of ste turning up to be MOT'ed, if thety accepted responsibilty for all possible faults that occurred during the test then I dont think we would ever find a MOT centre willing to test an old car let alone a TVR.
Yes, your probably right Paul, but I still think he should go back to the garage now, and make his case, just so it is on record. An attempt to fix a cracked Header tank with Araldite doesn't exacty paint them as a highly professional and skilled team of Motor Engineers.

Mr M

1,276 posts

231 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
I too have recently had issues with an M.O.T station buggering around with the car and screwing it up. Not quite as bad as this though. Hope you get it sorted.

Zippee

14,125 posts

263 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
Mr M said:
I too have recently had issues with an M.O.T station buggering around with the car and screwing it up. Not quite as bad as this though. Hope you get it sorted.
Out of interest which one did you take yours to so I know to avoid it? I usually get my MOT done through Sebring but my service will be earlier this year and I'd rather not take her an 80 mile round trip just for an MOT.

Mad Mark

2,345 posts

261 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
Sorry to hear about this but this is exactly why I always stay with my cars while being mot'd etc

scotty_d

6,795 posts

223 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
Mad Mark said:
Sorry to hear about this but this is exactly why I always stay with my cars while being mot'd etc
Same even though my MOTer is a mate and owns a Chimaera it gives him a chance to ask me questions about the cars and learn.

He bought a chim after seeing my old one hehe

mikeinsheffield

1,038 posts

214 months

Thursday 17th March 2011
quotequote all
Mad Mark said:
Sorry to hear about this but this is exactly why I always stay with my cars while being mot'd etc
^^^^ this, or use a reputable TVR dealer to take it for you (then they can always sit on the wing whilst the headlight alignment test is done, ahem....)

In your position, I would seriously start formal conplaint procedings. Ensure that you commit all this in writing the the offending garage if you beleive the car has been mistreated whilst with them, but it may be difficult to prove it was in good condition prior to dropping it off with them..... your word v's theirs....

Nicholas Blair

4,111 posts

313 months

Friday 18th March 2011
quotequote all
Who the heck recommended them eek

verminator

723 posts

261 months

Friday 18th March 2011
quotequote all
once only did i take my cerb to an ordinary MOT place. Never again. I stayed with the car all the time. Just as well as they reved the balls off it untill i said enough, what the f**k are you doing? They were having trouble getting through the emision test. they even got the lad to put his hands over the exhausts till his gloves caught fire. The idiots doing the test then found out about the special emisions band that the cerb should be in. One of the planks then got a mouthfull from me for leaning on the unsuported side of the bonnet. I should have guessed that these idiots did'nt have a clue right from the start when they said " leave it with us so we can road test it" yeah right. the tester then walked round it trying to work out how to get in it. Ever since then i have taken it to the TVR specialist who looks after it. Lesson learnt.

Mr M

1,276 posts

231 months

Friday 18th March 2011
quotequote all
Zippee said:
Out of interest which one did you take yours to so I know to avoid it? I usually get my MOT done through Sebring but my service will be earlier this year and I'd rather not take her an 80 mile round trip just for an MOT.
Mail sent Tony.

Mr M

1,276 posts

231 months

Friday 18th March 2011
quotequote all
> but it may be difficult to prove it was in good condition prior to dropping it off with them.

Agreed. That is the problem.

LordGrover

34,164 posts

241 months

Thursday 24th March 2011
quotequote all
JensenA said:
The garage who did the MOT are responsible. If they have allowed it to overheat, then they have been negligent, and possibly damaged your engine. Take it back to them and tell them you want it back in the same condition that it was when you took it there.
nono
What makes you think they'd be any better second time?

If you can be arsed and are that bothered, get a third party to inspect and verify the issues before going any further.

Were it me, I'd put it down to experience and get it sorted by a specialist.


baguaman

335 posts

238 months

Thursday 24th March 2011
quotequote all
Where can i get the software to reset the adaptives

Byker28i

91,550 posts

246 months

Thursday 24th March 2011
quotequote all