Sooooo hot!!

[jeffsy]

Hi all

I could do with some advice/imput on the temperature that the cabin reaches inj my Griff 500. The garage advise me that the heater will go from "warm" to "hot" with no mention of "cool"! Apparently this is normal/to be expected??

Whilst this will be nice in winter and also just about acceptable,mostly, for the rest of the year with the lid off, it will be a beasty in warm/hot weather if the lid is on for rain etc.

Further to this,after coming home after an hour or two in the car yesterday (still waiting for a "spotted" post !!),I could hardly hold the door release handle as it was too hot. Is this normal??

I'm not really wanting to shell out 3.5k on a/c so any options/thought apart from a hand held fan? :moan:

Thanks :confused:

[stesrg]

Hi
yep, mine and all are probably tne same, as my heater is disconected from going to hot it still gets pritty hot in the summer .
Ste.

[Painey]

Inside of mine gets very hot when the roof's on in the summer. And there has to be a very good reason for the roof to be on as it's gets almost unbearable. The transmission tunnel gets very hot to the touch where my left foot is and it generally isn't that nice.

[gerjo]

Although it is never cold inside a Griff, it shouldn't get that hot. A few things you could look into:
- exhaust manifold wraps
- thermostat with a lower setting (75 degrees)
These are good things to do anyway, if only the keep engine temperature within limits

- look at where the tube, going to the heater, is located in the engine bay; in my old 4.3 it was running very close to a manifold. You could also wrap this tube.

And of course: always roof down if the sun is out!

[david beer]

You have to keep the air moving from under the bonnet when stationary, at no time can fans be off if you want a bit of cool. There is also the heater temp valve that can become out of sync with the control.

[gooner]

Sounds silly but make sure that the the airflow knob is set fully to fresh air(triangle) rather than recirculate (dot). Just through experimentation I found this made quite a difference, especially as you get some cool air without having the very loud fan on. In the end though, if I sit still in traffic I get warm air from the vents whatever I do. I'd soften and fit aircon if I could find a cheaper way of doing it than the £2k-£3k quoted.

[antonyj]

david beer said:

You have to keep the air moving from under the bonnet when stationary, at no time can fans be off if you want a bit of cool. There is also the heater temp valve that can become out of sync with the control.

David, how difficult is it to install a manual override on the fan?
The otter switch switches the relay , yeh?

So if I earth the relay through a switch in the cabin it would work , wouldnt it?

[griffy]

My 500 also gets very hot and has on summer days has gone over 100 - although I do think that the gauges are know to be about 5 degees out. Having said that my door handles have never got that hot. Finally I seem to have solved some of the problems with a new radiator - the old one had a tiny split in the seam and removing the front number plate. makes a huge difference (although not so legal).

I've explored the options around wrapping manifold etc, but have been advised that this will only shift the heat elsewhere - so this could make your problem worse. How about insulating under the centre tunnel - has anyone tried that with any success?

[Ballistic Banana]

Havent yee got the nice drivers cool air button under the steering wheel, cools drivers footwell and left hand centre vent works pretty well on mine must have been a lucky one.

BB

[stesrg]

Ballistic Banana said:

Havent yee got the nice drivers cool air button under the steering wheel, cools drivers footwell and left hand centre vent works pretty well on mine must have been a lucky one. BB

Got one its a little noisey though but it will be on all the way to le mans .
Ste...

[Hoover33]

Ohhhh I am right in thinking the right air vent is only cosmetic then

[Hoover33]

My button under the dash gives advance cooling to the rad LOL

[bluebottle]

My first Griff got so hot it singed the backing off the carpets.
I think my current one is unique having spent time improving air flow insulating manifolds etc etc to no avail, i had the radiator recored and no i am suffering from overcooling!!
the temp guage dropped to 70 deg. on the way back from Rockingham, i guess i had better change the stat.

[Pum]

The heater temp range from warm to hot is normal.
I've never had problems with door release or floor/carpets getting too hot - that sounds a bit wrong.
If stuck in slow traffic then it does all get pretty hot, and even the drivers external vents are sucking hot air from around the car - this is part of what people mean when they say the car has character

Pum

[groucho]

Wouldn't say that mine gets that hot, my blower blows out cool air too, quite unsual going by general concensus.

[stringbag]

My '98 blows cool air too, but my '96 was very hot. The cars have quite different routing for the air pipes - my '96 ran a black plastic pipe behing the engine from the pax footwell side to the drivers side - no wonder it got hot in there!
The routing in my '98 is different. It seems to run behind the bulkhead and is therefore protected.
The '96 car had a fairly noisy but useless fan operated by a knob by my right knee, but no such knob on the '98 car - it doesn't need it.
So, in answer to the original post question - yours is a '98 so it should be cool in the front. I suggest you have it looked at, as the valve that shuts off the (red hot) coolant flowing around the heater matrix might not be shutting properly. (ie when you turn the metal hot/cold knob to cold, it doesn't completely shut the valve). I have no idea how to check or how to adjust it, but I bet someone here does!
Here is to weather like today for le mans! Can't wait!

[jeffsy]

Hi all...so in summary

- Check the valve (somehow) regulating the flow of coolant
- Maybe fit some heat deflector shielding?
- Maybe fit a smaller front number plate?
- Fit one of these fan override switches as mentioned (NB Can somebody give me a bit more info on these??)
- Drive everywhere with the roof off
- Buy the missus a hand held fan!!

Any more thoughts?

[bluebottle]

jeffsy said:

Hi all...so in summary - Check the valve (somehow) regulating the flow of coolant - Maybe fit some heat deflector shielding? - Maybe fit a smaller front number plate? - Fit one of these fan override switches as mentioned (NB Can somebody give me a bit more info on these??) - Drive everywhere with the roof off - Buy the missus a hand held fan!! Any more thoughts?

You could awlays fit a fridge or ice bucket on the back shelf

I'll get me coat on the way out