Broken down on A1 think its bad!!

[adycole]

On the way home tonight the engine all of a sudden

overheated and eventually stopped all together after i had slowed down.

There is oil on the dipstick although there was a small bit of oil

on the floor after it was loaded on the recovery lorry.

Only symptoms before hand was the heater wasnt blowing much hot air out,

is this relevent?

Any ideas anybody to what it could be?

Regards Ady

[miniman]

When did you last check the coolant level?

[adycole]

It was serviced end of august
but has only done 200 miles since then,
i have checked the oil every other trip, but not the coolant level.

[madasafrog666]

If its been parked outside with the sub zero temps recently and the anti freeze is not correct you could have damaged the rad or pipes or worse!

[DonkeyApple]

Losing heating is a real indicator of no coolant.

If it's been parked outside then it may be the coolant froze and cracked a pipe, leading to the loss.

[adycole]

it has been parked outside just for the last 3 days

while i hired a bike down in essex didnt think it had been

that cold of late.

But sounds feasible.

[quattrophenia]

Heater going cold may well suggest the coolant system failed and the resulting failure caused the oil leak? I'm sure there was a thread on here a few months ago that was along the lines of 'if the coolant system fails the water temp reader wont register hot because there is no hot water in the system for it to measure'?
Did the engine just stop or was their any mechanical bangs/noises when it cut out?
Hope it's not too serious matey, but what ever the cause it maybe a good point for everyone to ensure they check their coolant levels the first time they start up and venture out after this very cold weather (that will be some time in April then!).

Edited by quattrophenia on Wednesday 15th December 22:18

[adycole]

just stopped,

will get matt at sebring to have a look at it fingers crossed

its not too bad, thanks for replies guys,

[Wacky Racer]

Could possibly have damaged a cylinder head gasket with the overheating...Let's hope not...

[phillpot]

Does sound like a coolant (or lack of it) problem, loss of heater is usually a good tell tale.

interesting

Whilest some original TVR service schedules that came with my S3 include "check anti-freeze content" at every service interval there is nothing mentioned on the Chimaera schedule, only "change coolant every two years". Presumeably with an anti-freeze/corrosion inhibitor and not just water ?

Of course may not be a freezing issue, hose or rad or whatever can fail in any weather.

Hope damage isn't too serious

[dog man]

Just sounds like the headgasket(s) has gone. I've had car's serviced come back with low coolant before - not good.

If you want help taking the heads off just gimmie a shout, I've done my fair share of headgaskets!

[adycole]

did manage to start it this morning no problem
just to check if i had seized the engine.

so i guess that is a good sign.

[DonkeyApple]

adycole said:

did manage to start it this morning no problem
just to check if i had seized the engine.

so i guess that is a good sign.

That must have been a nice start to your day

To be honest, they are tough engines and can take a fair bit of abuse that other engines from that era may not.

I once dropped from 4th to 1st, looking for 3rd and locked the whole car up and went sideways for a while. I have the car low loaded back from Carlisle and when it was looked over by Barnet they found nothing wrong. I'd assumed I must have completely buggered it.

I've also had them over heating in Rangies in the past and so long as you catch them early enough I've got away with murder.

They are old technology and there are so many smarter options nowadays but they are tougher then you think and ever so endearing.

[adycole]

yes it certainly was after a sleepless night.

[phillpot]

adycole said:

did manage to start it this morning no problem
just to check if i had seized the engine.

so i guess that is a good sign.

without checking coolant and oil levels ?????

[dog man]

Hmmm strange

[quattrophenia]

Glad to here that. Where did the oil come from then??

[adycole]

Matt has had a quick check over
and the diagnosis is not good, he can here a knocking
from the lower engine,so thats a bearing.
He is going to take the engine out and see how bad it is.
So im thinking if i am going to have the engine out i wonder
if tvr powers teraka upgrade would cover the broken bits and
i would get a 3 yr warranty and added value at the same time.
Rather than simply repairing.
Its going to be 2.5k anyway.
Merry xmas i thought

[Alexdaredevilz]

adycole said:

Matt has had a quick check over
and the diagnosis is not good, he can here a knocking
from the lower engine,so thats a bearing.
He is going to take the engine out and see how bad it is.
So im thinking if i am going to have the engine out i wonder
if tvr powers teraka upgrade would cover the broken bits and
i would get a 3 yr warranty and added value at the same time.
Rather than simply repairing.
Its going to be 2.5k anyway.
Merry xmas i thought

Don't st yourself just yet

Mine ran out of water doing 100+ mph engine cut out e.t.c

I thought its blown I cried e.t.c

Waited till next day, checked oil level, and started it up first time no problem,

I fixed the leak,

Then had a metal like knocking noise coming from my engine, is thought bottom ends gone, or piston slap or some thing along them lines, so I cried some more

Turned out it was the exhaust manifold gasket that went,causing the noise, and I would of sweared on my missus's cats life! it was some thing much worse,

Dynoed it week after 254bhp and 291 lb's torque, running rich, but didn't do any damage, don't forget these are hard engines

Hope this is all it is,

Alex

[Flintstone]

adycole said:

Matt has had a quick check over
and the diagnosis is not good, he can here a knocking
from the lower engine,so thats a bearing.
He is going to take the engine out and see how bad it is.
So im thinking if i am going to have the engine out i wonder
if tvr powers teraka upgrade would cover the broken bits and
i would get a 3 yr warranty and added value at the same time.
Rather than simply repairing.
Its going to be 2.5k anyway.
Merry xmas i thought

The silver lining is that you're using two good people who I've trusted with my car over the years, Matt and Dom. Whatever it costs you'll have a sound car afterward.