For all things Rover V8, the TVR Griffith and Chimaera and TVR T-Cars
A modern car tends not to go wrong in a way that lends itself to being fixed with a little bit of fiddling. However, TVRs are old technology and little things can give up the ghost. Indeed many Griffs and Chims are now ‘classics’ in the opinion of insurance companies and are of an age where items which had never given a moment’s cause for concern suddenly stop working for no apparent reason. And at the mot inopportune time. Believe me, I’ve been there.
Generally faults do not happen spontaneously but develop over a period of time and those familiar with their car can often head a serious problem off by noticing a slight deterioration, or even just a change in performance, and then indulging in a bit of preventative maintenance.
My father had a whole series of old and exhausted motorbikes and cars and developed, as a necessity, a system of fault diagnosis that was so efficient that he became something of a local guru when things went wrong with other people’s vehicles. I will share the system with you.
My father would ask anyone who brought a malfunctioning vehicle, or just the problem, to him:
What have you done to the car recently?
This is not to demean the person’s ability to do a particular task but if said chap has recently replaced the spark plugs then a number of possibilities are revealed. The HT leads could have been mixed up, the one on the distributor disturbed, the plug gap incorrectly set, a connection nothing to do with the plugs dislodged when working under the bonnet, or even the battery not reconnected properly.
The next question was:
Have you noticed any strange noises, or other symptoms recently?
If, for instance, the temperature gauge had been edging up or the headlamps becoming duller then particular causes might be apparent.
The next thing to do is not to panic.
Work out a list of likely causes, the Fault Finding page might be of help there, and then pick the easiest and cheapest to check first. You should not opt for a new radiator just because your water temperature gauge goes into the red. It could be a number of causes, such as debris blocking the air flow. The first I knew of the fact that I had totalled a bird was when my car boiled over. It is surprising just how much of your radiator grill can be covered by a deceased pigeon. Those feathers get everywhere.
Don’t adjust a number of things at the same time. Adjust the throttle, for instance, and if that doesn’t make a difference, put it back where it was originally before moving onto something else.
And if all else fails and you have to bring in the professionals, tell them what you have done. It will make their job easier.
But if no solution presents itself then try our Fault finder.
Fault finding