Checking the coolant level

[shoggoth1]

Having just got the car, I decided to check all the fluid levels (trying to get into good habits). How the hell do you check the coolant level?

The manual states 'there should be approx 10mm of fluid visible within the filler neck'. This is the filler neck at the front of the engine, in the middle and which is quite tall. Without clambering onto the engine and lying across it (which I didn't want to do), there's no way I can see into it the filler neck. I resorted to a torch and my girlfriends make up mirror. This allowed me to see that there was some fluid at the bottom of the filler neck, but no idea as to how deep it was.

Any tips from the more experienced owners out there (flasher, gb61390, nubbin - I'm looking at you )

Is it just the case that if you can see some fluid at the bottom then it's OK?

[paul.davies]

I bought a wooden spoon with the spoon bit too big to fall into the coolant filler hole. Then I use it like a dipstick, bit crap but it seems to work.
Gets a bit warm under there doesn't it!!

[shoggoth1]

My girlfriend suggested something similar, a wooden skewer I think, and I was worried about dropping it in - but a wooden spoon, sounds good to me.

'gets a bit warm' - oh yes. I checked the oil yesterday after a run. With the sage words of the dealer in my mind, 'check the oil within a minute of turning off the engine', I popped the bonnet, jumped out the car, opened bonnet, reached in - thinking 'watch your arm on that hot engine' - to firmly grasp the metal oil cap. It was then I found a use for the gloves in the toolkit.

Cheers.

[paul.davies]

Getting the bonnet open within a minute is a damn good trick. Mine requires two people, one to pull the handle and the other to lift the bonnet. The catch is not right, so if you pull the lever, then try to open the bonnet, it's closed again.....
Any tips for this?

[shoggoth1]

Mine's the other way around.

When you close the bonnet, you have to make sure that the bonnet release is all the way back in otherwise the catch does not engage.

Worried me a bit the first time I'd had the bonnet open and the catch wouldn't engage on closing - I thought I had been driving around with a bonnet prone to flying open at any given time.

[nubbin]

Mine seems to use very little oil, despite the reputation of the speed 6 for being an oil muncher. I suspect the stipulation to check the oil is more due to the previous finger follower problem, which some suspected was partially due to oil starvation at the head. The oil cap does get a tad warm I agree! I've virtually abandoned the coolant check. It never alters anyway. The other contortion trick is to see who made your engine - the plaque is at the front of the block. See if you can get to it, and read the name!!

[gb61390]

Must admit I've been pretty bad at checking the various levels but do keep a constant check on the digital readouts when driving. Nothing out of the norm yet!
It is possible to reach the bonnet release with your right hand and lift the bonnet with your left! Having said that my dealer has fixed the catch so I don't have to do it any more!
Cheers....... Andrew

[nubbin]

Andrew, will you send me a couple of close up photos of how Kings fixed your bonnet catch? I want to do the same. Cheers.

[gb61390]

Nubbin, unfortunately I don't have a digital camera, I've borrowed one in the past! I'll try again?
Don't know exactly what they've done either?
Pulling the lever doesn't seem to do anything (no click) but the catch does release the bonnet. Closing it also works and also is silent!
You could phone Kings but finding the right person to talk to could be tricky? Or come to the Sportscar Show at the NEC as my car'll be on the TVRCC stand! Or wait 2 weeks later for the Chatsworth meet?
Cheers...... Andrew

[hatchn]

The TVR Centre upgraded my bonnet catch too. Basically all they have done is mounted a spring loaded metal rod with a rubber stop on the end of it next to the catch under the bonnet. So as soon as the bonnet catch is released by pulling the handle in the car the spring pushes the rod up and this in turn lifts the bonnet clear of the catch. It works a treat. Give them a call they might be able to help you out. My car is in there at the moment having its first service otherwise I'd send you a couple of snaps.
Cheers, Nick

[lrussell5]

hang on - doest the handbook mean 10mm from the TOP of the neck? otherwise you're right - it's completely impossible to check. silly factory.

[anonymous-user]

hatchn said:

The TVR Centre upgraded my bonnet catch too. Basically all they have done is mounted a spring loaded metal rod with a rubber stop on the end of it next to the catch under the bonnet. So as soon as the bonnet catch is released by pulling the handle in the car the spring pushes the rod up and this in turn lifts the bonnet clear of the catch. It works a treat. Give them a call they might be able to help you out. My car is in there at the moment having its first service otherwise I'd send you a couple of snaps.
Cheers, Nick

An oldie, but does anyone have a sketch or detail of this it sounds excellent?

[astonman]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/sourcing-map-Plunger-Spri...

[astonman]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/sourcingmap%C2%AE-Rubber-...

[astonman]

I guess something like the above plunger with the rubber end cap pushed over the end?
I looked at " index plungers", but they all seem to be made to be in the retracted position at rest,you want it in the extended position at rest,and compressed when the bonnet is shut.

[anonymous-user]

I’ve done a mock up from scrap that works, just needs a slightly larger ali section to clear the cable and wiper rod and I’ll fit it. It goes tight to the underside of the plate on the bulkhead and length adjusted by the bottom nut.

[KD88]

This thread went a bit off course (interesting as it was) before we got a definitive answer.
Could someone who definitely knows, if the 10mm means above the base of the tank, 10mm above the inlet/outlet tube or 10mm below the top?

[brownspeed]

I run mine at just above the inlet/outlet pipe. I tried running it higher but the car refused to join in, always returning to the lower level above the pipe. Hope this helps

[KD88]

That's what I thought would be the most obvious.