Joys of tiv ownership

[Baldyboy]

Bought a known 500 last year ex Tvr club area chairs car.
Spent ages looking for the right one, paid good money and was v happy.
In 700 miles it’s put a grin on my face and a song in my heart.
After 400 miles drivers door catch went whilst motoring down the A45 and flew open, finally got it to shut after pulling over and it’s on the to do list access is now through the passenger side, it grounds the silencer if you’re a little enthusiastic on the B roads near me, then today having fitted an up rated battery I was out for a bimble when the temp started to increase. No problems I turned on the fan over ride, then it died several times at tick over, odd so I headed home. Suddenly it’s 120 degrees dies at the lights so I pop the bonnet coolant over the chassis behind radiator.
I let it cool down check reservoir seems ok cools down after a fag so I’m 20 miles from home I whack the heater onto max and bizarrely the air is cool? Not got AC, then temp shoots back up so I pull over pop the bonnet again shed loads of steam/smoke.
So it’s either air locked or air locked and head gasket.
Oh well, no one said it would be easy. However come back C4S all is forgiven.
So I got towed home at 20 mph for 20 miles at journeys end the hazards stopped working and my new battery is flat.
So that’s my first 6 months and 700 miles with a chimaera.

[Belle427]

These things happen, just check your cooling fans are actually working.
Sometimes messing around near the battery can disturb things.

[bobfather]

Definitely and air lock, did you top up the expansion pot more than 1/3 full, if so then that's your problem. You have to bleed air from the swirl pot not the expansion pot. When cold you need the expansion pot at 1/3 full, anything more and it'll overflow when hot leading to another air lock.

[TarquinMX5]

Whilst you're checking the other things already mentioned, it's worth checking that the expansion-pot inlet / hose isn't blocked with 'crud'. Looking at previous owner, it's unlikely, but not unknown.

Several threads around re correct top-up / bleed-method if you search.

[AKA PABS]

Hope you have managed to get to the bottom of it and it’s nothing too serious.

[pits]

Running copper or ally rad? If copper it has probably given up and needs recore, can't see how you airlock it if you haven't touched it, so something has failed, could be worse, I am 9 months into ownership and I have already had to do a top end rebuild.

[Baldyboy]

So I’ve done compression tests etc and the motor is lunched, significantly down on 2 pots, 150 to 170 on the others. So it’s engine build time.
Having sold my old 997 C4S few years ago and always wanting a Tiv, I do kind of understand why they say these are enthusiasts cars 😁.
I’m lucky though as I have friends and family who know these cars v well.

[ray von]

Yeah you need to be careful just because its an ex TVR chairs car doesn't mean it's any good. If you bought it from a dealer do you have no comeback? I have suspicions this car was at a SOR merchant though

[Baldyboy]

Privately so no come backs, I had the offer of having Dom do a comprehensive once over, wish I’d said yes but thought I’d be ok. First mistake.

[Belle427]

Best of luck with it, the 500 is known to have its engine problems sadly.
I’d look at a replacement V8 Developments lump personally, seem to be more reasonably priced than others and they do know how to build a great engine.

[Baldyboy]

I’ll either get my brother to do it, or maybe dom. In hindsight I’d have gone for a 4.5. Although this could of happened with any chimaera. I am aware of the ‘problems’ with the 500 hopefully a decent rebuild that’s blue printed and matched properly will mean I’ll minimise the risk moving forward.

[Baldyboy]

I’ll either get my brother to do it, or maybe dom. In hindsight I’d have gone for a 4.5. Although this could of happened with any chimaera. I am aware of the ‘problems’ with the 500 hopefully a decent rebuild that’s blue printed and matched properly will mean I’ll minimise the risk moving forward.

[gordon1955]

Baldyboy said:

I’ll either get my brother to do it, or maybe dom. In hindsight I’d have gone for a 4.5. Although this could of happened with any chimaera. I am aware of the ‘problems’ with the 500 hopefully a decent rebuild that’s blue printed and matched properly will mean I’ll minimise the risk moving forward.

Just bite the bullet and get back in a Porsche, you will be throwing good money after bad……..

[geordiepingu]

Displacement is not a factor of reliability here. If the crankshaft snapped or the pistons cracked, then maybe...

Inspect your coolant temp sensors and otter switch. It may be that your fans aren't kicking in and have been boiling the water over to a point of not having coolant left. Could also be something simple like your thermostat stuck shut, blocked portion of the system, failed pump causing your boil over and loss of coolant. That said, if aggravated enough, it could cause head gasket damage.

Given you've not yet described anything like tappy noises for cracked liners/water jackets or steam out of the exhaust, there's a reasonable chance you just have a simple cooling circuit fault.

A Cerbera owner was convinced his car was getting air locks and was overheating in traffic for about 2 months. It didn't take me long to find a faulty pigtail in the wiring loom for the coolant temp sensor. 20 minutes from plugging my diagnostics laptop in to be exact, causing incorrect temperature to be read and thus not commanding the fans.

Poorly understood are cooling systems on TVRs. The fan override switch is not the big cure-all people crack it up to be.

[TrotCanterGallopCharge]

gordon1955 said:

Baldyboy said:

I’ll either get my brother to do it, or maybe dom. In hindsight I’d have gone for a 4.5. Although this could of happened with any chimaera. I am aware of the ‘problems’ with the 500 hopefully a decent rebuild that’s blue printed and matched properly will mean I’ll minimise the risk moving forward.

Just bite the bullet and get back in a Porsche, you will be throwing good money after bad……..

My friend recently bought a leggy, but serviced Porsche Boxster - did about 30 miles before engine had issues & replacement engine required....

These things can happen whatever the make & model.

[robsco]

gordon1955 said:

Baldyboy said:

I’ll either get my brother to do it, or maybe dom. In hindsight I’d have gone for a 4.5. Although this could of happened with any chimaera. I am aware of the ‘problems’ with the 500 hopefully a decent rebuild that’s blue printed and matched properly will mean I’ll minimise the risk moving forward.

Just bite the bullet and get back in a Porsche, you will be throwing good money after bad……..

As long as it’s not a 996 with infamous IMS bearing issues… or a 997 with infamous bore score issues… or a Cayman with the above… or a 991 with notorious twin turbo failure… or a Cayman 4.0 GTS with Indian conrods…

[Baldyboy]

Had a 997 C4S did 35000 miles in 3 years without issue. Yes it wasn’t cheap to service, but never had an issue. However it was too good it didn’t resonate emotionally like the tiv does.

[phazed]

robsco said:

As long as it’s not a 996 with infamous IMS bearing issues… or a 997 with infamous bore score issues… or a Cayman with the above… or a 991 with notorious twin turbo failure… or a Cayman 4.0 GTS with Indian conrods…

In the scheme of the amount of cars sold, those issues above are fairly minor. The fact that Porsche sell more than a few shed loads of cars highlights these odd problems which do exist but on a very small percentage of cars.

I have had a cracked block behind the liner on my RV8 engine as well as a snapped crankshaft. Very few engines have zero issues. Saying that, the VAG 1.8 T engine in my track car is a real screamer and seems unburstable with a great reputation in history going back decades. maybe it is odd!

[phazed]

Just to add OP, It could well have been a cracked block behind a liner or a blown head gasket.

No matter what, it sounds like a total rebuild or maybe if you can run to it the V8D 5 litre revised bore and stroke short block.

[Andy JB]

Just picked up on this thread, while i feel for the OP it can be frustating but do hold out.

A couple of observations, firstly the 500 has a lot of myths perpetuated normally from 400/450 owners dare I say with reliability problems. It's a strong unit and seems like you have been unlucky in this instance.

My 500 is now 27 years old on the original engine without any additional work other than regular maintenance in my 20 year tenure and I know of several other 500 too in similar fettle.

I also had a look at several 997 a few years back and apart from the drive and character I thought slightly lacking it was the folders of repair bills which put me off and the cost never mind the scare stories, which put TVR ownrrship into perspective as a realistic hobby prospect so long as they are well maintained.