Another new Chimaera owner!
Discussion
Hi guys,
my name is Brian and i have just recently bought a Chimaera. I have had the car for 2 months now and im very pleased with it. Its a 5.0 on an m plate in metallic green.
My last car was a Nissan Pulsar GTi-R it was tuned to 300bhp but it is nothing compared with the power of the TVR.
I was on the GTi-R owners web site when i was driving that and i know how valuble that was. A lot of people helped me out and i helped people out when i could.
BUT
I already have an over heating problem! When i have been driving the car for about 10 mins from cold it is at 90 degrees on the temp guage. I have hard wired the fan so i can switch it on at my own leisure but it doesnt cool it? I have to switch the engine off and leave the fan on to cool it down. Could this be the thermostat or a bad radiator? Also is there a special way to get air locks out of the cooling system.
Cheers Brian
my name is Brian and i have just recently bought a Chimaera. I have had the car for 2 months now and im very pleased with it. Its a 5.0 on an m plate in metallic green.
My last car was a Nissan Pulsar GTi-R it was tuned to 300bhp but it is nothing compared with the power of the TVR.
I was on the GTi-R owners web site when i was driving that and i know how valuble that was. A lot of people helped me out and i helped people out when i could.
BUT
I already have an over heating problem! When i have been driving the car for about 10 mins from cold it is at 90 degrees on the temp guage. I have hard wired the fan so i can switch it on at my own leisure but it doesnt cool it? I have to switch the engine off and leave the fan on to cool it down. Could this be the thermostat or a bad radiator? Also is there a special way to get air locks out of the cooling system.
Cheers Brian
Welcome and congratulations.
From what I understand and from driving the beast, 90 degrees is acceptable temp when pootling about. The fans on mine cut in at just above 90 and keep it level. Rarely goes above though unless stationary for long time. Temp should be 70 when on M-way or 70-80 when cruising. Good luck!
From what I understand and from driving the beast, 90 degrees is acceptable temp when pootling about. The fans on mine cut in at just above 90 and keep it level. Rarely goes above though unless stationary for long time. Temp should be 70 when on M-way or 70-80 when cruising. Good luck!
The temp is quickly to 90 degrees then slows down but keeps going until the start of the red. Dont know past there cos i switch the engine off and keep the fans on to cool it, but it cant be good for the engine doing this all the time so im not using the car very often now. Lucky im only 2 miles from work.
Brian
Brian
brian chim said:
The temp is quickly to 90 degrees then slows down but keeps going until the start of the red. Dont know past there cos i switch the engine off and keep the fans on to cool it, but it cant be good for the engine doing this all the time so im not using the car very often now. Lucky im only 2 miles from work.
Brian
So do the fans come on without you switching them on? They should kick in at about 92...if they aren't then that sounds like your otter switch has failed.
Bottom line is that they shouldn't overheat even if it is very hot and sunny and you are stuck in stationary traffic.
Check that there are the no air locks and that your rad insn't blocked. Still lots of summer left so don't let this little thing stop you from using it.
May be worth picking up a copy of Steve Heath's bible too.
Plus I don't think turning off the engine and running the fans does any good because the engine isn't running which means that the water is not circulating around the system so it's not really cooling anything over and above just leaving it.
Check that there are the no air locks and that your rad insn't blocked. Still lots of summer left so don't let this little thing stop you from using it.
May be worth picking up a copy of Steve Heath's bible too.
Plus I don't think turning off the engine and running the fans does any good because the engine isn't running which means that the water is not circulating around the system so it's not really cooling anything over and above just leaving it.
brian chim said:
I think i will do the thermostat tomorrow night if its not raining that is.
Is the thermostat a common part you could get from halfords or is a special one from TVR?
Where do you guys get the bible from?
Cheers Brian
If the thermostat is stuck closed the radiator will not heat up so fairly easy to check. Mine stuck open and I had an over cooling problem. My gauge also over reads by about 8F - that could be your problem but with a larger error. Did the previous owner have a problem ?
Welcome to the mad house and hope you get the car sorted soon.
Bob
Dont know if the last owner had the problem. The car had only done 500 miles since the last service (may 04) im booked in on tuesday next week for the next service. Might just let them sort it out.
Does any one know what thermostat i should go for tomorrow? I will probably take it out and borrow my dads car so i can compare them.
Brian
Does any one know what thermostat i should go for tomorrow? I will probably take it out and borrow my dads car so i can compare them.
Brian
If its any help I used to find that mine hovered around 90 all the time going up to a 100 when stationary in traffic and then back down to about 75 on the motorway.
As long as it doesn't go above 100 and you can see the fan running when its hot then I would say this is normal. Check your water level when its cold and provided your not losing any water i.e. you don't need to top it up now and again, then accept it as the way it runs.
The only time I had trouble was when the otter switch (which switches the fan on/off) broke and the fan didn't run, it got overhot then o.k.
I have a Chim/Griff bible from when I owned a Chim (I have a Cerb now) so if you would like it send me a mail and I'll post it to you.
As long as it doesn't go above 100 and you can see the fan running when its hot then I would say this is normal. Check your water level when its cold and provided your not losing any water i.e. you don't need to top it up now and again, then accept it as the way it runs.
The only time I had trouble was when the otter switch (which switches the fan on/off) broke and the fan didn't run, it got overhot then o.k.
I have a Chim/Griff bible from when I owned a Chim (I have a Cerb now) so if you would like it send me a mail and I'll post it to you.
brian chim said:
Where do you guys get the bible from?
2 options for this.
Either look on e-bay and buy the old edition for hundreds and hundreds of pounds (as some do)
or
Buy one from the author
http://tvrbooks.co.uk/
Amazon also sells it, as do Waterstones I believe. I ordered mine from the website above and it turned up the next day. Its invaluable!
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