Coolant temparature

[tvr keith]

I always thought the coolant ran a bit low on my 2000 450 Chim. Running at 70 on the motorway today at about 60 degrees. Fans cut in just over 90 and off at just below 90. Readily warms up to 90 in heavy traffic but no higher. Went to Walldonway for a second opinion and they confirmed it's OK.
What was interesting was that he said in 2000 TVR started fitting the Tuscan radiator which is easily identified being alluminium rather than steel. This apparently is a lot more efficient.
Now I understand why mine runs cooler than my mates 98 400 which has the steel rad.
Also he said that they are having to resort to drilling holes in the front apron of the T350 to overcome heat problems.
I thought this might be interesting to some of you out there.

[Sharky500]

I was thinking the same thing....

My Chim used to run at about 80 degrees when on the motorway. Fans came on and operated normally at an indicated 90. However, a little while ago, I fitted a cut-down number plate which opens the intake a great deal. This was only for aesthetic reasons, it looks much meaner and Cerb-like. Anyhow, this has made a BIG difference - it runs at about 60-70 degrees on the open road or on the motorway. Fans still come on at an indicated 90.

I just wonder if its running TOO cool???

[GreenV8S]

If it reads a steady 60 while you're cruising, I suspect that either the gauge is inaccurate (one reason would be the sender fitted in that dead end pipe so the reading bears little relationship to the actual engine temperature) or the stat is faulty and leaking. Sometimes people deliberately drill holes through the stat to improve venting, which is fine in moderation but can lead to overcooling if you get carried away.

The older rads would be Cu/brass by the way, not steel.

[that daddy]

yep ill second that about 75/80 moving,rapid to 90 in traffic fans cut in down again,don,t take the instruments as gospel,just a guide.

[Fire99]

Normal operating temp for the Chim is 70-90 approx.
The guages are err personalised so wont be strictly accurate however if your car is genuinely running at around 60 then that is too cold and out of the 'sweet spot' which causes increased fuel useage and isnt great for your engine.
However you would need accurate diagnostic equipment to check that and not the TVR temp guage..

Personally i believe if your car is standard then as long as the cooling system is kept maintained with the rad in good condition etc with the fans cutting in at the right temp then you shouldnt need to change anything.
The only thing i would be tempted to have is a manual fan override switch as a failsafe just incase the auto switch fails.

(In heavy traffic in hot weather the car will overheat pretty quickly if the fans dont cut in.. and that would be bad news)

Yours is probably running fine though!

[ray_von]

tvr keith said:

stuff about rads

I can confirm this happened to mine when I changed to the new ally rad definite drop on gauge of about 10 degrees on motorway

[FlipFlopGriff]

Ours is about 70 on the motorway too with the alley rad, mind you it's still cold. This is around 10 degrees coller than with the standard rad. Creeps up to 90 slowly when in traffic, David Beers mod set to around 82 so fans come on a half speed to slow the heating process, main fans still kick in at 90 but very rarely at the moment as it doesn't seem to reach that temp often - very impressed with the alley rad - been on around 12 months now.
FFG