Chimaera radiator
Discussion
Hi guys the car is sorned for winter and im just starting to do a few little jobs/checks etc ready for spring. My main question concerns the radiator. The car was running really well with no major temp issues. I fitted an overide fan switch for "peace of mind" when in heavy traffic, which in this country is all the time, and everything was ok. If the car was left in the garage for a few days there would usually be a very small amount of coolant on the floor, but for the life of me i couldnt find a leak. It seemed to be a slight drip coming thru the holes where the splitter is attached. I would as a precaution check/bleed correctly the coolant level every 2 or 3 weeks so the leak was only small but VERY ANNOYING. I ran the car up to temp today and again checked for leaks but could not see any. If you look thru the front grill, you cant see anything but radiator. If you look from within the engine bay back to the rad there is an area below the rad capable of holding water, and this was wet! I undone the nut on top of the rad but the rad was full! What do you guys think? Do i have a tiny leak on the rad somewhere, which would be slightly worse as the pressure in the cooling system rises?... If so why is the rad full.... could the leak only happen when the system is under pressure? I am convinced its somewhere on the rad, hence the water in the well directly below it, which is the same area where the fastenings of the splitter are. Im thinking of removing the rad and getting it recored. What do you think?
You've probably forgotten more about cars than I will ever know Tom. But before I had my rad re-cored I noticed that there was a tiny trickle of water from the top of the rad that was sort of running within the rads casings before finding it's way out of the bottom and through the holes in the bodywork under the rad. It was not easy to spot, but I suppose the only way to be sure it's your rad is to either see a drop in the swirl tank level or dry out the collection point under the rad and use the car only in dry weather for a while and see if any more water collects.
All the pipes nice and tight?
All the pipes nice and tight?
Last year I had the same small patches of coolant on the garage floor at the front but there was no drop in fluid level in the expansion tank/filler.
It drove me mad trying to find the leak.
It wasn't until the car was up on a ramp and I happened to look up that I saw two areas of corrosion high up on the front of the rad.
In decided to err on the side of caution and recore the rad. A few hours work and £150 for the recore later (quoted as £350 for a TVR specialist to do it and I spent what I had saved on a stainless gooseneck pipe and silicone replacement hoses which needed changing anyway)I was reassembling when I realised that the alloy expansion tank was still half full of coolant which was strange as the other end of the hose it was connected to was open under the car.
I disconnected the hose that was connected directly to the bottom of the expansion tank and...... no fluid came out! The outlet was blocked by Alloy corrosion and I had to put a drill bit down it to clear it.
I thought it odd that when I had drained the rad the water was red (rusty water) yet the coolant in the expansion tank was blue.
I realised the rusty water was from the mild steel goose neck which was very corroded.
This was on a 2000 reg Chim in very good overall condition (according to the TVR specialist who was going over it doing a condition inspection).
Either change the rad or get it pressure tested as the consequences, financial or otherwise, of the rad giving out at high speed doesn't bear thinking about.
It drove me mad trying to find the leak.
It wasn't until the car was up on a ramp and I happened to look up that I saw two areas of corrosion high up on the front of the rad.
In decided to err on the side of caution and recore the rad. A few hours work and £150 for the recore later (quoted as £350 for a TVR specialist to do it and I spent what I had saved on a stainless gooseneck pipe and silicone replacement hoses which needed changing anyway)I was reassembling when I realised that the alloy expansion tank was still half full of coolant which was strange as the other end of the hose it was connected to was open under the car.
I disconnected the hose that was connected directly to the bottom of the expansion tank and...... no fluid came out! The outlet was blocked by Alloy corrosion and I had to put a drill bit down it to clear it.
I thought it odd that when I had drained the rad the water was red (rusty water) yet the coolant in the expansion tank was blue.
I realised the rusty water was from the mild steel goose neck which was very corroded.
This was on a 2000 reg Chim in very good overall condition (according to the TVR specialist who was going over it doing a condition inspection).
Either change the rad or get it pressure tested as the consequences, financial or otherwise, of the rad giving out at high speed doesn't bear thinking about.
Edited by Tyre Tread on Monday 7th February 19:34
Assuming that the water under the rad. is coolant and not from washing/rain, I would recore/replace the rad.
Had similar issue with mine, I couldn't locate the leak at first but eventually realised that the radiator was weeping very slightly. As others have done, I also replaced the 'S' tube with an alloy one as the original was showing early signs of corrosion and fitted silicon hoses.
Had similar issue with mine, I couldn't locate the leak at first but eventually realised that the radiator was weeping very slightly. As others have done, I also replaced the 'S' tube with an alloy one as the original was showing early signs of corrosion and fitted silicon hoses.
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