Tick-over problems

[gixxer1000]

I know this has already been covered here, but I couldn't find the thread by searching.

This weekend my 2000 Cerbera 4.5 started playing up on idle. Firstly the idle seemed to be much lower than normal, at about 500rpm, sometimes dropping down to 300. Then, when driving the car in crawling traffic the revs kept dropping down further and the car stalled (happened about 6 times in one journey).

Any ideas?

I vaguely recall reading something in this forum about this, and the problem potentially being one of a number of possibilities.

Thanks in advance.
gixxer

[Pies]

Have you cleaned the stepper motor?

Past that im no use sorry

[gixxer1000]

Cleaned it! I've never even heard of it (I'm a mechanical muppet you see ).

Cheers for the advice, but any further tips on what it looks like, where to find it, and how to clean it.

[dannylt]

The stepper motor is a Rover V8 issue - irrelevant on the Cerbera. If you're a mechanical muppet, then I'd just take it back to the dealer - it's unlikely to be anything simple! For the simple idle adjustment, you were probably thinking of the Speed 6.

danny

[Pies]

Ain't the 4.5 a rover V8 then,i recall the cerbie being made in three guizes 4.2 4.5 and speed 6

you've got me confused now as the searches show people cleaning the stepper motor

edited for spelling

>> Edited by Pies on Sunday 22 June 18:47

[dannylt]

The 4.2 and 4.5's are AJP engines, in no way related to the Rover engine. Aside from maybe the oil filter. Perhaps a good idea to only make suggestions if you have a clue yourself :-)

[Pies]

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=9538&f=6&h=0&hw=stepper+motor

7th post

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=29671&f=6&h=0&hw=stepper+motor

1st post

So these people got bits on there car they don’t need

[joospeed]

Pies said:

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=9538&f=6&h=0&hw=stepper+motor 7th post www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=29671&f=6&h=0&hw=stepper+motor 1st post So these people got bits on there car they don’t need

case of the blind leading the blind here methinks. same person both times (john mckenzie) calls these things stepper motors when he means throttle potentiometers, the danger of searching old threads for info is that sometimes they're absolute boll*cks. The cerbie doesn't have a stepper motor, it uses the ignition advance to (laughably) control the tickover. Actually using the ignition advance is a very good way of controlling the tickover if you set it up with a low idle value, that way you can wind more airflow on to get the speed you need , then adding advance has more effect to control the speed, unfortunately TVR chose not to do this.. doh!

[PaulHill]

gixxer1000 said:

I know this has already been covered here, but I couldn't find the thread by searching. This weekend my 2000 Cerbera 4.5 started playing up on idle. Firstly the idle seemed to be much lower than normal, at about 500rpm, sometimes dropping down to 300. Then, when driving the car in crawling traffic the revs kept dropping down further and the car stalled (happened about 6 times in one journey). Any ideas? I vaguely recall reading something in this forum about this, and the problem potentially being one of a number of possibilities. Thanks in advance. gixxer

Geoff - This exact same situation happened to me on Saturday (have a S6 though). Low idling rpm then just cutting out, once whilst I was changing gears, managed to get it going again whilst we where rolling. After we got on the motorway though the problem disappeared and this morning it behaved too. Are you going to take the car to the dealer for them to have a look?

[gixxer1000]

Yep, looks like I'd better get it into the dealer. Was hoping it might have been something simple I could have tackled myself (wishful thinking).

Thanks for the clarification on stepper motors Joospeed.

[PaulHill]

Can you let me know how you get on? Not gonna be able to get any time away from work this week and have plans on Saturday so not gonna be able to get to the dealer. Cheers.

>> Edited by PaulHill on Monday 23 June 08:53

[joospeed]

there's the idle speed screw on the back of the right hand bank of throttles, you can wind this up to stop it stalling whilst you get it to the dealer .. after all a car that's running too fast on tickover but doesn't stall is a whole lot safer than one that's stalling at every junction.

[octane junkie]

joospeed said:

there's the idle speed screw on the back of the right hand bank of throttles, you can wind this up to stop it stalling whilst you get it to the dealer .. after all a car that's running too fast on tickover but doesn't stall is a whole lot safer than one that's stalling at every junction.

Especially if you stall 'em like I do - so hard that the fuel cutoff switch trips out, at extremely busy junctions...

[gixxer1000]

Thanks again guys.

Paul, I will let you know how I get on with my dealer.

[PaulHill]

Thanks Geoff, hope it's nothing serious.

[yellowcerbie]

I had this with a v week battery, foot gently on throttle to prevent it from stalling at lights. Problem disappeared with new battery.

[Steve_T]

Had a similar problem at the start of my Le Mans trip this year, not with a Cerb, but bear with me. I'd sat in traffic for a long time, then topped up with fuel, sure enough at every junction the car just died, the car wasn't pulling as hard under acceleration either.

I spoke to Dave Batty, who suggested it might be fuel vapourisation and to get on with the trip. He said after a reasonable period of decent airflow over the engine, it should cool enough for normal idling to return. Sure enough it did. Not an expert here, but it seems a good fit for the scenario, particularly if the problem rectifies itself when the car is cool.

Steve.


>> Edited by Steve_T on Monday 23 June 16:47

[gixxer1000]

Steve - thanks for the input. My particular problem did not go away when the car was cool as 2 days later it was still ticking over low and stalling even when cold.

Yellowcerbie - you make an interesting point as I have been having problems with my battery - already replaced once and the new one also went flat after sitting for 5 days.

Fernies will be looking at the problem on Saturday morning, so will report back then for interested readers.

Cheers

[gixxer1000]

Paul, I had the cerb looked at this morning and the problem turned out to be a dodgy throttle switch (little black plastic thing). They replaced it in minutes.

Needed to be hooked up to the laptop to diagnose however.

Car is now ticking over beautifully, even in the extremely heavy traffic (standstill) coming back into London at lunchtime today.

Good luck with yours.

[PaulHill]

Cheers Geoff, had the same problem again over the weekend so it's def going back to the garage at some point. Not before my RideDrive day tomorrow though! Hopefully the weather clears up to.