sudden overheating
sudden overheating
Author
Discussion

g-boy

Original Poster:

236 posts

246 months

Thursday 13th April 2006
quotequote all
my car overheats regularly now. after a burst of acceleration the temp always goes into the red and occasionally I can hear the coolent fizzing in the engine.

can't hear fans

here's the thing...the car was fine before I had an electrician fix my battery situation. he rearranged the electrics under the passenger footwell.

the previous owner said he had no problems with engine cooling. I trust him.

do you think the guys tampering with the electrics could have affected the thermostat or anything ecu related etc ?

also, my brake lights have gone suddenly. it had just passed its m.o.t.

not been a great week

old64er

1,388 posts

267 months

Thursday 13th April 2006
quotequote all
Yes, these cars were wired by trained chimps.

Check the fuses and make sure your fans are working or it may be an expensive time.

griffter

4,143 posts

284 months

Thursday 13th April 2006
quotequote all
I may have got this wrong, but are you saying the temp climbs into the red in the seconds after accelerating? It can't literally be climbing 30 odd degrees in seconds, surely. If it's taking minutes, ignore the rest - but if it's seconds you might have an air lock (though admittedly I'd expect the temperature reading to fall not rise). Try bleeding the radiator - bleed screw on the top o/s of the rad. Can be done (more safely) with the engine cold - just undo the screw a few turns and loosen the expansion tank cap, then tighten the bleed screw when you see/hear coolant trickling out.

g-boy

Original Poster:

236 posts

246 months

Thursday 13th April 2006
quotequote all
it is literally seconds. it feels always on the edge and when you blip it the temp just shoots up. this is after a 10-15min drive going at normal speeds. then when I blip it all hell breaks loose. the temp goes up very quickly and the coolent is released.

as soon as i'm in 4th on an open road it calms right down within minutes.

felt the bonnet when I got home and it did feel quite hot but then I wouldn't know how hot.

could this be down to fan malfunction? or is something else going on? do the fans make such a massive difference?



>> Edited by g-boy on Thursday 13th April 23:05

griffter

4,143 posts

284 months

Thursday 13th April 2006
quotequote all
I can't think of disturbing anything in the footwell that would cause these symptoms.

Strong acceleration, temperature shoots up & coolant realeased...might be worth getting a compression check done in case it's a head gasket gone (I hope for your sake it's not).

Try bleeding the rad first though. If you had very little coolant (if the rad's full of air the level in the tank may appear healthy) these symptoms may(?) occur.

GreenV8S

31,017 posts

313 months

Thursday 13th April 2006
quotequote all
No fans suggests you have a minor electrical problem.

Overheating as soon as you turn on the power suggests you have a more serious problem. Perhaps the overheating caused by the fan failure has caused head gasket failure. Are you getting bubbles in the coolant when you rev the engine?

g-boy

Original Poster:

236 posts

246 months

Friday 14th April 2006
quotequote all
bloody asked the previous owner specifically about engine cooling (have ebay question as proof)

he answered as though the car had never had any issues.

baseball bats at the ready...

thursday is crunch time at SFR. lets hope the engine even makes it there. will let the board know what happens.

brothers due to have a spin in it over easter weekend, that idea's been scrapped



>> Edited by g-boy on Friday 14th April 10:19

simpo two

92,708 posts

294 months

Friday 14th April 2006
quotequote all
g-boy said:
here's the thing...the car was fine before I had an electrician fix my battery situation. he rearranged the electrics under the passenger footwell.


I've heard before that TVRs often develop faults after someone's been poking aorund.

g-boy said:
also, my brake lights have gone suddenly. it had just passed its m.o.t.

Corroded/intermittent connection?

The key in these situations is to take the car to someone who knows Griffs inside out - and that's not always a TVR dealer. You don't want to pay for a monkey to guess, guess wrong, change things that don't need changing, twiddle things that don't need twiddling - and then bill you for it.

>> Edited by simpo two on Friday 14th April 13:58

g-boy

Original Poster:

236 posts

246 months

Friday 14th April 2006
quotequote all
filled coolent tank right up with 25% anti freeze, did the wiggling of the finger trick and went for a blast. ALL IS WELL AND DANDY! temp barely touches 90 anymore

went with missus with hood down round a few b-roads north of Bury. efing wicked!!!

pasco

6,652 posts

257 months

Sunday 16th April 2006
quotequote all
Hi G-Boy hope the cooling is now ok !!

I was looking at the first page and it seemed strange that your name was not on it so i felt it was only right that i put the situation right for you !!!!

Have a good holiday weekend !! LOL !!

Pasco