Ravings from a new owner of an '80 TR7 convertible...
>>>>> On Tue, 6 Jul 93 09:15:56 EDT, Ingo_Dean said:
...
Ingo> Today I ran into two things:
Ingo> 1.) After driving for about 45 minutes, I parked it. Five
Ingo> minutes later I tried to start it. It wouldn't turn over. (It
Ingo> did "click", however). Popped the hood. Checked all the
Ingo> connections. Everything looked fine. Tried it again, and it
Ingo> turned over and started fine. Battery? Starter? Something to
Ingo> do with the heat?
This is a consistent problem. Once the engine warms up to cruising
temperature, I can't park it without a cooldown period. Makes buying
gasoline embarrasing....
Someone mentioned a heat shield on the starter. Neither my Bentley or
Haynes manual shows a good picture of one, but I think I found one
between the starter and the exhaust (a metal plate with a shallow V
shape)... it looks OK (I guess, but how can you really tell?). Am I
going to have to pull the starter to fix this one? I'm sure the
problem is heat and starter related. Maybe I should rig a small fan
to point at the starter? ;-}
Ingo> 2.) About 10 minutes later, I finally got it up fast enough to
Ingo> go to 5th gear. No dice. It just wouldn't go in. All I got
Ingo> was that nasty grinding sound. I pulled over and went through
Ingo> all the gears with the engine off, but still couldn't get it
Ingo> into 5th. Should I shoot it? I'm not enough of a mechanic to
Ingo> tackle a transmission. What's it take to debug this one? How
Ingo> about to fix it? This morning I was still pissed off at it. I
Ingo> decided to drive it in to work _anyway_. I tried to upshift
Ingo> into 5th several times on the backroads, but no luck. When I
Ingo> hit the interstate, I shifted without thinking (every car's an
Ingo> automatic!) and it went into 5th fine! (Aaarrggghhh! Make up
Ingo> your mind, car!) I didn't want to push my luck any further, so
Ingo> I left it there until my exit.
I've had no more problems with this. Fifth is now the most "fluid"
gear in the car, as far as shifting. Second is a tad notchy when
cold, but loosens up real fast. I plan on taking someone's (Tencate?)
advice and flush out the fluid, replacing it with "Buick Synchromesh"
just as soon as I find some (and find the drain plug!).
On to new problems:
Last week I came home from work very late (around 1am) so I actually
had occasion to use my headlights (only the second time since I bought
the car a month ago). It seems the PO didn't want to replace the
column dimmer switch when it wore out, so he simply wired a new switch
under the dash. BUT HE DIDN'T INSULATE IT FROM THE CHASSIS! Needless
to say, when I put my beams on high, I suffered a visit from Lucas. I
ended up rebuilding the main light switch because the plastic melted
during the short. Funny, I thought that's what fuses were for... I
then put half a roll of electrical tape on the rigged dimmer switch to
preclude me from driving in the dark again (but it wasn't too bad, I
was only a mile from home and it was a full moon). Vicky Brit lists a
new dimmer/turnsignal switch for ~$80. No wonder he rigged it. And
while I'm at it, my wiper switch is bad too... another $50. Does
anyone have a better (read: "cheaper") source?
Shocks and Struts. Mine are bad (very bad). I don't have the money
to invest in Koni's or the like, so I called Sears for their latest
special. Unfortunately, they don't list the TR7 in their book, just
the Spitfire. Are the shocks the same? I doubt it. If anyone has a
cross index of shocks and struts, could you look up what type an '80
TR7 uses? Please? Pretty please?
How much "bounce" should the popup headlights have? Mine are all over
the road (vertical bounce only) when I hit minor bumps...
The PO didn't have the snapdown cover for the convertible top. I
haven't found one in any of the TR7 catalogs. Any recommendations?
The PO also didn't have keys to the trunk (woops, I meant to say
"boot") or glove compartment. Is there _any_ way to get them made
from an ID number on the lock or should I replace the locks? Where
can I get the locks???
BTW, how many people are on BOTH the britcar list AND the TR8 list? I
do hate to crosspost and if most TR8 drivers also read britcars, I can
avoid doing this...
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