Tuscan total electronic death?

[Nenad]

A few days ago the engine stopped, the display went blank, followed by flickering garbage. Within a few seconds, the display returned to its normal state, and as the car was still rolling at a decent speed, the engine restarted, pretending nothing had happened.

Has anyone else had this experience? And is it malignant – or just another TVR feature?

[glow worm]

I had a similar experience quite a few years ago, everything in my convertible just stopped when I was in the outside lane. Pulled over, waited a bit, stunned and it restarted although it left a bit lumpy for a few miles , never did bottom what happened. But a few months later my alternator completely gave up the ghost, didn't notice the voltage from the first incident but under 11.6 Volts strange things start to happen .
Although I expect there are lots of other possibilities ... poor earths, main fuse deterioration etc.

Edited by glow worm on Tuesday 29th March 09:57

[nawarne]

Hmmm! That situation could be/was disconcerting!

My first thoughts would be engine loom. It connects to the interior/ECU via an 'aircraft' multi-pin connector under the scuttle driver's side....Tracing any breaks will be a time consuming business (wiggling wires as they run along the injector rail and/or at the loom connector. I had a new engine loom about 6 years ago. Didn't get a total 'blackout', but the engine was rough...ignition would not advance under acceleration

Might be poor main engine earth(s) - located on driver's side engine mount...remove OSF wheel.
The fact that everything "went down", (and then recovered?) kinda leads me to the poor earth scenario?

Nick.

Edited by nawarne on Tuesday 29th March 10:06

[Nenad]

glow worm said:

I had a similar experience quite a few years ago, everything in my convertible just stopped when I was in the outside lane. Pulled over, waited a bit, stunned and it restarted although it left a bit lumpy for a few miles , never did bottom what happened. But a few months later my alternator completely gave up the ghost, didn't notice the voltage from the first incident but under 11.6 Volts strange things start to happen .

I don't think this was the case here, as I've had the alternator replaced a couple of years ago and the battery is barely a month old. But I will not disregard anything, as TVRs seem to run on "thoughts and prayers", and a good deal of black magic!

[Nenad]

nawarne said:

Hmmm! That situation could be/was disconcerting!

My first thoughts would be engine loom. It connects to the interior/ECU via an 'aircraft' multi-pin connector under the scuttle driver's side....Tracing any breaks will be a time consuming business (wiggling wires as they run along the injector rail and/or at the loom connector.

Might be poor main engine earth(s) - located on driver's side engine mount...remove OSF wheel.
The fact that everything "went down", (and then recovered?) kinda leads me to the poor earth scenario?

Nick.

Thanks for the tip, Nick.

That sounds quite feasible, considering the streets and roads my poor baby has to negotiate around Kuala Lumpur. Besides the bloody road humps (which I have to take at a crawling pace so as not to scrape the underside), the council idiots have contracted an idiot firm to paint thick stripes across most of KL streets, I’m sure paid by amount of stripes and their height. Stripes that the Protons with their shot absorbers never even feel, while my kidneys get dislodged as I drive over these. (Even with the new Michelin PS4s – yet infinitely better than the old Toyos. But that’s another story.)

I’ve even had the silencers, firmly fastened before the ride, come off on a busy motorway after driving over too many of these. So I will next check the connectors as the most probable cause.

[S6PNJ]

I appreciate a completely different car and a completely different battery location and route, but I had similar back in the 1980s in my classic Mini. The battery is in the boot (if you were not aware) and the route for the cable to the engine was alongside the exhaust. Yup, you guessed it - it got a bit close, melted the insulation, then arced out on the exhaust pipe. Happened about 3 times (momentarily) while I was driving but on the 4th time, it didn't restart and I noticed smoke!! so out I leapt and disconnected the battery. Once I'd got my car home, I was able to look at the cable route which was when I found out what had been going on - up until that time, it was a spurious fault and I was looking at ignition issues etc, while trying to solve it, not the main power line.

TL:DR - Check your Anderson connector and battery cable routes for heat degradation and arcing or poor connections.

[Snaaakeey]

Kuala Lumpur! Bloody eck! Thats got to be the only Tuscan over there. Biscuit take to that man. Got a pic of her in front of the Towers! That would be a unique shot indeed.

[ninetynine]

if you have recently had a battery my 1st check would be battery terminals are tight

[Polly Grigora]

99% of the time we overlook the obvious

[so called]

ninetynine said:

if you have recently had a battery my 1st check would be battery terminals are tight

I was going to say the same.

I've had a couple of issues where mine died.

First was when on holiday in France, leaving Toulouse just for a couple of seconds, smelt an electric fire.
Car carried on until we stopped at a services for coffee.
When we came to leave, it was dead.
Turned out to be the Engine Management Computer.
Had to be shipped home.

Second time, also in France.
Driving through Lyon around 4:30pm, started to misfire as we entered the first tunnel.
Two lane motorway with concrete walls each side, enetred the second tunnel and misfire getting worse
Fortunately made it out the other end before the engine died, leaving us stuck at the side of the right lane.
No hard shoulder so blocking rush hour traffic.
Fortunately two Police Motorcycles pulled up behind us with lights on.
Turned out to be the Alternator. Battery was below 10v and we couldn't open the doors to get out.
Recovery wagon pulled us on to his low loader with us still sat inside.
Much better view of the river etc.

This has reminded me of a similar experience in my FTO.
Engine cut out but then recovered. Turned out to also be the Alternator.

[Nenad]

Thanks for the tips, everyone! I'll check the battery terminals first, then alternator output. And also the connections. Just the usual easy Tuscan job - removing the wheel to get to the battery; removing the hood to get to the engine bay, etc. In 40 degrees heat in a poorly ventilated garage

[fredd1e]

When checking battery terminals tightness to battery also check their tightness to the cables. I had a 12v + terminal to the battery become loose on the cable that resulted in very strange behaviour during a start of spinning engine ok, then a clunk (engine stop) and all the relays and solenoids flip flopping until i disconnected the main 12v interior fuse That took a while to locate as it still showed 12V at the main fuse input and I couldn't get the car moved to get access to battery until I jury rigged a separate battery up to get it started. The 12v terminal was held onto the cable by 2 screws and both were only just tight, which seemed enough to flip from connected ok for (good) starter speeds to not enough to power interior electronics (never mind the starter)

[mcosh]

Not sure which model....but have you checked the cutout key if later model?

[Nenad]

mcosh said:

Not sure which model....but have you checked the cutout key if later model?

Cutout key? I've got a 2003 S.

[s6boy]

Maybe meaning the fuel cut off? If so under the flap in the boot.

Not sure if this would give the symptoms you've described though.

[Nenad]

Snaaakeey said:

Kuala Lumpur! Bloody eck! Thats got to be the only Tuscan over there. Biscuit take to that man. Got a pic of her in front of the Towers! That would be a unique shot indeed.

Is this good enough? With the towers just visible above the car? And the old KL tower to the right.

[glow worm]

My Chim was made in KL (well the chassis and the body) have you managed to find the old TVR factory ?

[Nenad]

glow worm said:

My Chim was made in KL (well the chassis and the body) have you managed to find the old TVR factory ?

Alas, the factory is no more. The chassis jigs, on the other hand, and the body moulds, are reputedly 'somewhere else' and still usable. As with everything else here in SE Asia, a greased palm or two will invariably produce results.

What's more interesting to you (and again, this is just hearsay from the people in charge here in those glorious days) is that Mr Wheeler and particularly the UK union(s) were not happy about the (semi-finished?) cars made here and shipped to UK. Supposedly these were made to a higher standard than the UK ones. Slower production but better, and ultimately cheaper than the ones made in the UK factory.

I'm not saying it's true, just passing on what I've heard. There are about a dozen Chims still around here, most of these in prime mechanical condition; and the work they need is usually (as I've seen) repair of the tatty interior. As can be expected in this unforgiving climate.

[glow worm]

My friend Heath Briggs (ex TVR service mgr now X-Works) and Mike(?) Atkinson were both sent out to KL to supervise (have a jolly with Dave Cummings) , they've both reported to me that the bodies and chassis were to a higher standard than Bristol Avenue .As you say more time to complete the work and the bodies were cured better in shipping containers rather than being left to the elements of North West English weather . I have some photos of inside the factory somewhere.