500 not warming up??

[CaptiV8ed]

Hi All,

Before I go pulling my cooling system to pieces, I would like to ask anyone if Chimaeras struggle to warm up in the cooler months. I've only had mine for 2 weeks so did not see how it behaved through the summer. I took it out yesterday (it was nippy to say the least) and the guage never read over 60 degs. Even dawdling through town didn't bring it up. A good belting on the dual carriage way didn't improve things either. When I collected the car it was holding a good 80 - 90 degs, but it was much warmer weather. At this point, I am not able to say if it has a non standatd thermostat.

Do I potentially have a problem or as the say goes "they're all like that sir"?

Many thanks

Nick

[theaxe]

Not sure if they all do that but mine did. Generally it would only get up to temperature if left stationary for a while, after that it would stay at about 80-90.

During the summer it operated as you'd expect.

[GreenV8S]

Probably a faulty stat or no stat at all, but it may just be that somebody has helpfully drilled some holes in the stat to improve the bleeding, and they've gone over the top.

[CaptiV8ed]

Worth checking then.... A drilled stat sounds a winner for the summer, but perhaps whipping it out to see and replacing it if so would be a good scheme for the winter.

Many thanks for your replies

Nick

[TVR keith]

Nick,
my 450 is the same. you don't say what year yours is. After about 1999 they have ally rads as opposed to steel, my 2000 model has the ally rad and I am told they run about 10 degrees cooler with that. No problem overheating this year when driving in heavy traffic on the hottest day in July.
So i wouldn't worry, is the heater working OK?

[siobe]

theaxe said:

Not sure if they all do that but mine did. Generally it would only get up to temperature if left stationary for a while, after that it would stay at about 80-90.

During the summer it operated as you'd expect.

Just like mine, serviced a few months ago at a respected indi (on here) and they said all working fine after bleeding etc to check. Fans cut in and out normally despite temp reading low if pottering along and then stop for a short while. Sort of got used to it, but temp gauge has never shown to be overheating, either too cool or normal. Is this normal for the average Chim? How cool can the car get?

[Cider Andy]

There are all sorts of reasons for a car running too hot, but none for it running too cool! Mine does a similar thing. With the winter upon us it'll just make it use too much fuel. Only idleness has stopped me from fixing this thermostat problem.

[theaxe]

I always suspected the gauge to be honest as the heater worked fine and it was still returning 24-28mpg.

[andy-w]

Try taking the top of your swirl pot when the engine is cold, start the car up and see what the flow of water is like...it should just trickle with a shut stat...if it is gushing through then the stat could be stuck open or not there at all!!!

At the moment mines has a stat that opens at 76deg and the temp in newcastle has been about 5deg the past few days. My trip to work is about 8 miles and the needle on the temp gauge is only just moving by the time i get to work...in summer it will get to about 70'ish.

[pupp]

Just to add to the experience, mine runs cool when the ambient temperature dips like it has over the last few days. Maybe gets to 70 for the coolant if I'm pushing hard but often sits below that. Never really concerned me until I fitted an oil remperature gauge... oil temp rarely above 50 at moment (it was 80 - 95 during summer) and takes nearly 15 mins to even get to 40 (where the gauge starts registering). Even if it does climb (in traffic say), once bowling along, it plunges very quickly. Not ideal but little that can be done to 'fix' it I reckon.

[david beer]

With a normal water stat, say 72, thats what you will run at on a cold day, anything less is down to the guage or rather the sender.Its not actually in the water flow, its on a bit of old pipe that gets cooled. With a serp engine you can use the spare sender on top of the head, add a 120 ohm resistor and it is usually spot on. A simple test is to start the car from cold, hold the rad inlet pipe, when it gets hot take a look at the guage, ok it will vary a tad after the second opening, but it will give a pretty good idea.

[Sharky500]

What I am seeing is very consistent with what most people are saying - that is, barely getting to 50-60 degrees in the mornings on the motorway. In summer, it is 70-ish.

In stop-start traffic, at the point the fans cut in, (if I don't use my over-ride switch) it indicates approx 90, which I believe is spot on (88, if you're being pedantic.

[DavHughes]

My 5.0 hangs at about 50/60 in the winter. Only really goes past 70 when I get into built up areas. Quite good really - stops me going to fast in the winter

Dav