On the road at last...sort of...
Discussion
I finally got my new (to me) 350i on the road this weekend, after an agonising month waiting for bits and pieces to be fixed and serviced. Everything seems OK now, I only broke down twice in my first two days driving it!
The first was just a silly mistake, the connector to the distributor hadn't been conected properly, so fell off. The second one was due to a hose touching the engine, burning a hole and promptly smoking and steaming. Luckily the hose was twice as long as it needed to be, so I cut it and all seems OK for now.
There are a couple of questions I have though, and remember this car has just had a thorough service. First off is the brakes, they work fine but they squeek. Even when my foot is off the brake you can hear that the brakes are touching slightly sometimes. I presume they were checked, but is there anything I can do, I can't oil them?
The second question is the engine. At 4000rpm (I don't know how fast that is, see Speedo Demons thread) the engine goes a bit funny. It seems like it isn't firing on all cylinders, and the rev counter flutters around. If I push a bit further it seems to vibrate the car, but I only tried this a couple of times due to my lack of speedo. Sometimes pushing from 3900 to what should be 4000rpm actually makes it drop to around 3700! I'm not sure what is going on, so any suggestions would be good.
Part of my problem is I have never driven a wedge before, so I'm not sure what to expect. Even with it not performing perfectly it's an amazing car. I was passed by a Ferrari today, but it slowed down to have a look at my car. I thought that was pretty cool.
Anyway I am glad to be a wedge driving contributor to the forum at last. Perhaps I will be able to contribute something soon, instead of asking all these questions.
David
The first was just a silly mistake, the connector to the distributor hadn't been conected properly, so fell off. The second one was due to a hose touching the engine, burning a hole and promptly smoking and steaming. Luckily the hose was twice as long as it needed to be, so I cut it and all seems OK for now.
There are a couple of questions I have though, and remember this car has just had a thorough service. First off is the brakes, they work fine but they squeek. Even when my foot is off the brake you can hear that the brakes are touching slightly sometimes. I presume they were checked, but is there anything I can do, I can't oil them?
The second question is the engine. At 4000rpm (I don't know how fast that is, see Speedo Demons thread) the engine goes a bit funny. It seems like it isn't firing on all cylinders, and the rev counter flutters around. If I push a bit further it seems to vibrate the car, but I only tried this a couple of times due to my lack of speedo. Sometimes pushing from 3900 to what should be 4000rpm actually makes it drop to around 3700! I'm not sure what is going on, so any suggestions would be good.
Part of my problem is I have never driven a wedge before, so I'm not sure what to expect. Even with it not performing perfectly it's an amazing car. I was passed by a Ferrari today, but it slowed down to have a look at my car. I thought that was pretty cool.
Anyway I am glad to be a wedge driving contributor to the forum at last. Perhaps I will be able to contribute something soon, instead of asking all these questions.
David
. Sorry to hear you are having reliability problems, but I can tell you what you already know - that the Rover engined Wedge is the best sounding TVR and almost nothing sounds better. Stick with it.
My Wedges brakes squeak, and it is actually the handbrake rather than the main brakes that is making the noise. The handbrake has a separate caliper. If I quickly tug the handbrake I can often get the squeaking to stop.
As for 4000rpm. It doesn't sound right to me. I think it should feel like it's needing to change up at 4500rpm, but it shouldn't feel like it's missing.
Mind you - This is assuming you have a standard engine; there are Wedges with hot cam profiles that don't really start developing much power until getting on for 4000 rpm !
Having said all that - your rev counter sounds a bit dicky. You ought to be able to hear changes in revs. The rev counter should really just be confirming what you can already hear and tell you how much the revs have changed by.
My Wedges brakes squeak, and it is actually the handbrake rather than the main brakes that is making the noise. The handbrake has a separate caliper. If I quickly tug the handbrake I can often get the squeaking to stop.
As for 4000rpm. It doesn't sound right to me. I think it should feel like it's needing to change up at 4500rpm, but it shouldn't feel like it's missing.
Mind you - This is assuming you have a standard engine; there are Wedges with hot cam profiles that don't really start developing much power until getting on for 4000 rpm !
Having said all that - your rev counter sounds a bit dicky. You ought to be able to hear changes in revs. The rev counter should really just be confirming what you can already hear and tell you how much the revs have changed by.
Some thoughts about the 4000rpm problem David. The rev counter is driven by 300-400volt(well, in the region of) spikes from the negative side of the coil(and distributor amplifier). If the spikes are to low the rev counter would show a lower rpm(can be seen with an Oscilloscope). If some pulses are not there at all there could be missfireing cylinders and the engine would vibrate and the rev should show a lower rpm..
It may be a faulty coil. It could also be the "inductive mecanical unit" or "amplifier-switch" in the distributor. Both the coil and amplifier(outside the dist.) are easy to switch and maybee you can borrow them just for a test ? It may also be somthing else of course...
It may be a faulty coil. It could also be the "inductive mecanical unit" or "amplifier-switch" in the distributor. Both the coil and amplifier(outside the dist.) are easy to switch and maybee you can borrow them just for a test ? It may also be somthing else of course...
quote:
Some thoughts about the 4000rpm problem David. The rev counter is driven by 300-400volt(well, in the region of) spikes from the negative side of the coil(and distributor amplifier). If the spikes are to low the rev counter would show a lower rpm(can be seen with an Oscilloscope). If some pulses are not there at all there could be missfireing cylinders and the engine would vibrate and the rev should show a lower rpm..
It may be a faulty coil. It could also be the "inductive mecanical unit" or "amplifier-switch" in the distributor. Both the coil and amplifier(outside the dist.) are easy to switch and maybee you can borrow them just for a test ? It may also be somthing else of course...
All this rings true to me, at least as a best guess. I'll look into it and let you know.
Thanks
David
I doubt the amplitude of the trigger pulses would be the cause: we've used a bench signal generator to calibrate tachos before, and those put out about 50V max.
It is feasible that disappearing sparks would cause the tacho to fall, but this would be evident in the engine note anyway. If you feel a drop in 'urge' and the engine sounds like it's stuttering, it's obvious you have a fuelling or ignition fault.
Trust me, I've been there.... ;-)
The 1/4" blades on the distributor amplifier are a daft idea for a connector carrying trigger pulses; it only takes a bit of oxidation and things are bound to go tits-up.
My car has a pair of crimped spade terminals at the mo, but I'm intending to change to soldered joints and maybe a waterproof inline connector to improve matters. The trigger connectors fall off at the least provocation.
It does sound to me like your tacho is working OK and you have a power tail-off for some reason.
Things to check include fuel pressure, distributor vac advance operation, basic ignition timing, airflow meter operation.
Then panic.
Ian
It is feasible that disappearing sparks would cause the tacho to fall, but this would be evident in the engine note anyway. If you feel a drop in 'urge' and the engine sounds like it's stuttering, it's obvious you have a fuelling or ignition fault.
Trust me, I've been there.... ;-)
The 1/4" blades on the distributor amplifier are a daft idea for a connector carrying trigger pulses; it only takes a bit of oxidation and things are bound to go tits-up.
My car has a pair of crimped spade terminals at the mo, but I'm intending to change to soldered joints and maybe a waterproof inline connector to improve matters. The trigger connectors fall off at the least provocation.
It does sound to me like your tacho is working OK and you have a power tail-off for some reason.
Things to check include fuel pressure, distributor vac advance operation, basic ignition timing, airflow meter operation.
Then panic.
Ian
Sorry to say this - but you may have a worn camshaft. My car used to stutter at full throttle and in extremes I could hear a banging noise, which turned out to be the flapper in the air flow meter (due to the inconsistant sucking as the valves on one or two cylinders weren't opening).
It's easy to check, just whip of the rocker covers and check that all the rockers arms seem to move a similar amount when you turn over the engine. No 7 is the normally the first one to wear.
I HOPE I AM WRONG!
Danny
It's easy to check, just whip of the rocker covers and check that all the rockers arms seem to move a similar amount when you turn over the engine. No 7 is the normally the first one to wear.
I HOPE I AM WRONG!
Danny
Ian, you´re probably right about the amplitude of the trigger pulses to the tacho, sorry.. However, the ECU trigger(same connection) needs high voltage pulses from the coil(or whatever aftermarket CDI system). I have an aftermarket CDI and i have to use a special MSD high voltage adapter to the ECU trigger. So even if the tacho works, the ECU could fail. Still easy to check.
bengt
bengt
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