griff overheating!!!!!!!?????? help!
Discussion
drove the griff today approx 4 miles and temp gauge rocketed up to over 90 it had always stayed around or just under 80ish (even on a 100 miles round trip) got to work 8am. let car cool down. at 1pm checked level in swirl tank which was ok and expansion tank had an inch or 2 of coolant all ok drove home 4.30pm and it did the same rocketed up to 95 managed to get home before it went over 95 noticed the fans wernt working although that shouldnt be the reason for the sudden increase in temperature(checked fuses and relays seem fine) and the heater was not blowing warm/hot air when selected the bible says that maybe water pump has given up internal seals? no signs of water leakage on garage floor i let it idle for a minute then shut off
any ideas?
any ideas?
crackedfinger said:
Did the radiator feel hot?
Sound like a wrong temperature gauge reading.. by pass the rad fan switch with a piece of wiring. With just your ignition switch to the on position.Could be the thermostat unit or temp gauge switch. Don't think you need the bank manager yet. Just a couple of hours & plenty of patience.. which we all must have .. LOL
yellowgriff said:
crackedfinger said:
Did the radiator feel hot?
Sound like a wrong temperature gauge reading.. by pass the rad fan switch with a piece of wiring. With just your ignition switch to the on position.Could be the thermostat unit or temp gauge switch. Don't think you need the bank manager yet. Just a couple of hours & plenty of patience.. which we all must have .. LOL
Mine ran hot Sunday... change in ambiant temp I think... May be if the fans had worked it would have pulled it back.... See my post I put on the TVR club site:-
'''The car appeared to be running a bit hotter than normal today?.. Okay it was a hot day (by our standards anyway).. but not that hot!.. It usually runs at 80 going down to 70 sometimes on long drives where you can get the speed up a bit… The faster you go the cooler it runs…. And the temp built up in the engine can take ages to reflect in the gauge. Say your doing 50 mph and the temps at 80… come to some lights and the temp increases… but it won’t show as an increase on the gauge until you’ve left the lights and are a mile down the road.. and then it will come back down again as you run….
But today.. it would creep up to 90 where the fans come on.. you can usually see them have an instant impact as it will start to drop the temp… use the override switch they will drag it down to 70 if left on… But today, they appeared to take ages to make any impact.. and the car ran at 85 anything below 40 mph…
I know this is not high in real terms and I was no where close to 100… and the gauges are not the best etc… but I did think.. if it was a real hot day.. would the system cope?
I have a 3 row rad.. both fans are working and water (coolant) in the system?... But as I say, even with both fans on in traffic.. it didn’t want to come down from the 90 mark?
The slowness of the gauge to react also shows the water moving slowly around the system… I know the stats working okay and you can see it open as the engine heats up… Wonder if I have a smaller bore Rover stat fitted?... or are the water pumps not very affective and slow to circulate the water?.. can you get upgraded ones?
Not a problem (yet).. but in mid summer it might be??'''
'''The car appeared to be running a bit hotter than normal today?.. Okay it was a hot day (by our standards anyway).. but not that hot!.. It usually runs at 80 going down to 70 sometimes on long drives where you can get the speed up a bit… The faster you go the cooler it runs…. And the temp built up in the engine can take ages to reflect in the gauge. Say your doing 50 mph and the temps at 80… come to some lights and the temp increases… but it won’t show as an increase on the gauge until you’ve left the lights and are a mile down the road.. and then it will come back down again as you run….
But today.. it would creep up to 90 where the fans come on.. you can usually see them have an instant impact as it will start to drop the temp… use the override switch they will drag it down to 70 if left on… But today, they appeared to take ages to make any impact.. and the car ran at 85 anything below 40 mph…
I know this is not high in real terms and I was no where close to 100… and the gauges are not the best etc… but I did think.. if it was a real hot day.. would the system cope?
I have a 3 row rad.. both fans are working and water (coolant) in the system?... But as I say, even with both fans on in traffic.. it didn’t want to come down from the 90 mark?
The slowness of the gauge to react also shows the water moving slowly around the system… I know the stats working okay and you can see it open as the engine heats up… Wonder if I have a smaller bore Rover stat fitted?... or are the water pumps not very affective and slow to circulate the water?.. can you get upgraded ones?
Not a problem (yet).. but in mid summer it might be??'''
rigga said:
Otter switch......
What he said^^^ diconnect the two wires from the otter switch (side of swirl pot) and join together and check the following;A: do the fans work?
B: did the temp stay down?
if the answer to both is "yes" then fit new otter switch, open a nice bottle of wine and....R.e.l.a.x.
RichB said:
yellowgriff said:
crackedfinger said:
Did the radiator feel hot?
Sound like a wrong temperature gauge reading.. by pass the rad fan switch with a piece of wiring. With just your ignition switch to the on position.Could be the thermostat unit or temp gauge switch. Don't think you need the bank manager yet. Just a couple of hours & plenty of patience.. which we all must have .. LOL
top & bottom hoses should be 2 completely heat temps as too show rads not blocked, again takes seconds & doesn't cost anything, My bets on the rad switch, But thats whats called guessing,
yellowgriff said:
RichB said:
yellowgriff said:
crackedfinger said:
Did the radiator feel hot?
Sound like a wrong temperature gauge reading.. by pass the rad fan switch with a piece of wiring. With just your ignition switch to the on position.Could be the thermostat unit or temp gauge switch. Don't think you need the bank manager yet. Just a couple of hours & plenty of patience.. which we all must have .. LOL
top & bottom hoses should be 2 completely heat temps as too show rads not blocked, again takes seconds & doesn't cost anything, My bets on the rad switch, But thats whats called guessing,
yellowgriff said:
RichB said:
yellowgriff said:
crackedfinger said:
Did the radiator feel hot?
.. by pass the rad fan switch with a piece of wiring. With just your ignition switch to the on position.Could be the thermostat unit or temp gauge switch.
MADMAX2 said:
started it up idled for 10 min still same this time coolant coming out of the cap close on 95 100 no fans deffo overheating hmmm... put it in garage lights out and back on here. my question is why is the water heating up so fast?
If no fans come on at 100 then there's a problem with the fans, it will boil up in 10 mins because it's a thumping great 5 litre V8 
RichB said:
If no fans come on at 100 then there's a problem with the fans, it will boil up in 10 mins because it's a thumping great 5 litre V8
Madmax...... as said these engines do warm up very quickly compared to "normal" cars you may be used to,id short the wires together at the otter switch to ensure the fans themselves work,then run them with the engine to ensure everything else is ok and the temperature is being controlled ok,this would indicate its just the otter switch at fault,easy to replace and hopefully a quick fix.....im round the corner but on lates this week otherwise i could pop round to check for you...rigga said:
RichB said:
If no fans come on at 100 then there's a problem with the fans, it will boil up in 10 mins because it's a thumping great 5 litre V8
Madmax...... as said these engines do warm up very quickly compared to "normal" cars you may be used to,id short the wires together at the otter switch to ensure the fans themselves work,then run them with the engine to ensure everything else is ok and the temperature is being controlled ok,this would indicate its just the otter switch at fault,easy to replace and hopefully a quick fix.....im round the corner but on lates this week otherwise i could pop round to check for you...
yet other times it would not be working, i.e. when the car was overheating! Swapped it over and Bob's your uncle. DO the paper clip test and see what happens...RichB said:
rigga said:
RichB said:
If no fans come on at 100 then there's a problem with the fans, it will boil up in 10 mins because it's a thumping great 5 litre V8
Madmax...... as said these engines do warm up very quickly compared to "normal" cars you may be used to,id short the wires together at the otter switch to ensure the fans themselves work,then run them with the engine to ensure everything else is ok and the temperature is being controlled ok,this would indicate its just the otter switch at fault,easy to replace and hopefully a quick fix.....im round the corner but on lates this week otherwise i could pop round to check for you... yet other times it would not be working, i.e. when the car was overheating! Swapped it over and Bob's your uncle. DO the paper clip test and see what happens...so its game over im afraid griff is going back to TVR Power as my car is ready all it had to do is get back to the bodyshop had it 3 months broke down 4 times on AA truck 3 times
cant wait to drive my chim it was good to drive a 5 litre though!!!!!!!!!!
its been ok just one of those cars that has been not looked after in the past when it went it certainly went! martin i was probably just down the road looking for the rad bleed screw ahh to no avail if you are passing again come and knock the door the chim will be here tomorrow or if you are about later bring the griff round lets see a reliable one!
My Griff ran way too hot on idle - previous owner fitted a vented bonnet. I believe I've solved this by replacing the broken vacuum advance. With the cooling being marginal that lost 10 or 15 degrees ignition advance on idle sent the temperature way hotter than it should be.
So if it's idling related - then vac advance may be an unlikely culprit.
Neil
So if it's idling related - then vac advance may be an unlikely culprit.
Neil
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