5000 miles since January !!!
Discussion
Yup, I've been using my GTO-3 a lot and I've now clocked up over 5000 miles. This is my only car, though I also have a motorcycle, but I just can't stay away from it. I've been everywhere, driven it in rain, snow and sunshine - in fact I even drove it in the snow which brought the country to a stand still in January and I managed to complete my 25 mile commute from Stevenage to Watford, safe and warm and comfortable.
Has anyone else been clocking this type of milage in their car? I'd be interested to hear what their experiences are of using the car to commute on a daily basis.
So far, I've had the exhaust silencer replaced as it had developed a bit of a "tizz" which was getting progressively worse. The new silencer turned up the day after I notified the dealer and was fitted very promptly (HR Owen, St Albans).
The other weekend I had a bit of a dilema with the cooling system. Normally the guage reads 90 and never moves more than a gnat's chuff from that position on the dial. I noticed that the needle was moving into the mid 90s and so I decided to pull over and investigate. The coolant header tank was completely empty !
I left the the engine for 30 minutes or so to let it cool down before putting more water into the header and then drove it home (about 3 miles). I checked the coolant again some hours later and noticed that, once again, it was empty. I topped the system off once more (by this time it had taken about 3 litres of water) and drove it to the dealership. They had the car for a morning and had tracked the problem down to a loose hose located near the thermostat. They tightened it up, filled it up with coolant, pressure tested the system and then declared it fixed. Since then I've not had a recurrance or that problem.
I've also had a minor problem with the passenger door latch, when closing the door it felt like it had dropped on it's mounts - which is so typical of TVRs - but the door looked like it was aligned correctly. It turned out that it was simply the post bolted onto the body work that had moved slightly - five minutes of adjustment and the door latch felt like new again. I blame Debbie, my girlfriend, who always seems intent on slamming the door whenever she gets in or out of the car (I guess she's just too used to her Nissan Micra).
Once again, thank you Paul, Brian, Ian and Jason at HR Owen who have availed themselves to me at a moments notice whenever I've turned up unannounced. It's like having your own private pit crew.
Phil
Has anyone else been clocking this type of milage in their car? I'd be interested to hear what their experiences are of using the car to commute on a daily basis.
So far, I've had the exhaust silencer replaced as it had developed a bit of a "tizz" which was getting progressively worse. The new silencer turned up the day after I notified the dealer and was fitted very promptly (HR Owen, St Albans).
The other weekend I had a bit of a dilema with the cooling system. Normally the guage reads 90 and never moves more than a gnat's chuff from that position on the dial. I noticed that the needle was moving into the mid 90s and so I decided to pull over and investigate. The coolant header tank was completely empty !
I left the the engine for 30 minutes or so to let it cool down before putting more water into the header and then drove it home (about 3 miles). I checked the coolant again some hours later and noticed that, once again, it was empty. I topped the system off once more (by this time it had taken about 3 litres of water) and drove it to the dealership. They had the car for a morning and had tracked the problem down to a loose hose located near the thermostat. They tightened it up, filled it up with coolant, pressure tested the system and then declared it fixed. Since then I've not had a recurrance or that problem.
I've also had a minor problem with the passenger door latch, when closing the door it felt like it had dropped on it's mounts - which is so typical of TVRs - but the door looked like it was aligned correctly. It turned out that it was simply the post bolted onto the body work that had moved slightly - five minutes of adjustment and the door latch felt like new again. I blame Debbie, my girlfriend, who always seems intent on slamming the door whenever she gets in or out of the car (I guess she's just too used to her Nissan Micra).
Once again, thank you Paul, Brian, Ian and Jason at HR Owen who have availed themselves to me at a moments notice whenever I've turned up unannounced. It's like having your own private pit crew.
Phil
I've done 8000 in 9 months. No major problems to date apart from a a problem with ride quality fixed by a wheel balancing at the factory and my coolant hose popping off and spraying coolant everywhere !
Just can't fault the car really and look forward to evey weekend when i can go out and stretch her legs...........
Just can't fault the car really and look forward to evey weekend when i can go out and stretch her legs...........
I've needed attention to coolant hoses, mine were leaking onto the fuse box area in passenger footwell. Many thanks to Warren @ Mole Valley who got it all fixed and pressure tested at very short notice!
Looks like hoses are something to watch out for on these cars - the Samco blue ones should be very reliable, so it's just a question of keeping the jubilee clips nice and tight.
Looks like hoses are something to watch out for on these cars - the Samco blue ones should be very reliable, so it's just a question of keeping the jubilee clips nice and tight.
I have done about 4000 miles since January. Drive it pretty much every day on the school run - my son does not want to get into any other car any more 
No major problems with the car.
Minor issues were a blown fuse on the ECU (kind of scary because everything shuts down while you drive), new rear tyres (after 3500 miles due to some "driver training" slides) and a molten handbrake cable (needed to be re-routed because it was too close to the exhaust).
The car still gives me a big grin every time I drive it - really enjoy it a lot!
No major problems with the car.
Minor issues were a blown fuse on the ECU (kind of scary because everything shuts down while you drive), new rear tyres (after 3500 miles due to some "driver training" slides) and a molten handbrake cable (needed to be re-routed because it was too close to the exhaust).
The car still gives me a big grin every time I drive it - really enjoy it a lot!
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