Overheating Chimaera 500

[JonRB]

Hi folks Last night, just 4 weeks after getting my 97R Chimaera 500, I had my first experience of the less fun side of TVR ownership. Yesterday I posted a message to the Yahoo group about a fast idle. On the way home from work last night, my water temperature was creeping up, but when it got to 90 it didn''t stop - it kept going. By the time it passed 100 I was getting concerned, but the time it got to 110 I was worried. Managed to limp into my driveway with it just past 110 but below 120, with some distinctly worrying "melting glue" / boiling coolant smells in the cockpit. Lifted the bonnet and the blue cap on the radiator overflow reservoir was dancing and vibrating with puffs of white steam venting out from under it. Once that subsided, I noticed some worrying "coffee percolator" sounds coming from the rest of the engine bay. Boiling coolant, anyone? Phoned Hawthorns and talked to Gary (one of their engineers). To cut a long story slightly shorter, they''re sending a pickup truck to get it today. Gary says its serious enough that he doesn''t want me to drive it from Basingstoke to Farnham to bring it in, hence the truck. Fortunately I have a 2 years warranty with Hawthorns, so hopefully this should all get sorted out under warranty. Anyway, thought you all might be interested to know. I''ll let you know what happens. Regards Jon (currently without 97R Chimaera 500)

[xain]

Hi Jon, I've not had this problem with my Preg 500 yet, but I have had similar on other cars. If the coolant is boiling, but still present, then either there's a big pressure leak, or the thermostat's not opening (does the radiator get hot, if not, it's the thermostat) or the fan's are packed up (were you stuck in traffic?) I've had one car quietly dump all its coolant in the work's car park the day I was supposed to move into my new house. I jumped in, drove 1/4 mile and the revs started doing silly things, up and down. The temp guage was also in the red after 1/4 mile. Bad news. It was just a small hole at the bottom of the rad, lost all the fluid. Almost any of the above are fairly easy and cheap to fix. You're underwaranty too. I shouldn't worry too much, since most of these fixes require the replacement of the offending component it shouldn't trouble you again. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

[craigw]

Again, I shouldn't worry too much, mole Valley replaced my whole radiator,header tank and coolant system in about 2 days and wasn't mentally expensive either. you've got a warranty so don't worry. Scary when it overheats though isn't it?

[RobM]

Same happened on my prev chim 400. Fans had not come in. Turned out to be a naff otta switch. £15 ( adjusted one, fans cut in 5 deg sooner! ) and 2 mins to replace.

[Blimechime]

I had a similar problem of my 4.0 chimaera getting very very hot. After speaking to numerous TVR dealerships and sports car specialists the problem was corrected. All that has been done is the number plate completely removed to allow full airflow through the grill and the fan switch bypassed so the fans now come on right from the moment the ignition is turned on. Low and behold no more worrying needle bending on the temp gauge! It sits at round 75/80 on the motorway and just under the 90 mark in heavy traffic! Not the best solution I know but it worked.

[JonRB]

I got the car back last night - 3 weeks after I gave it to Hawthorns. So I've owned the car for 7 weeks now, and 3 of those I've been without it. And it turned out that it was just a failed switch too. Then this morning I ran out of petrol (see other post). Hawthorns didn't charge me for the work, but tried to sting me with the £88 recovery fee for sending a breakdown truck out to get it. I told them that their engineer had said not to drive it and that they'd send out the truck, that I'd only had the car a month, and that as a gesture of goodwill (ie. if they want to keep my business!!), perhaps they might like to waive that cost. They did. Still got water sloshing in my doors and the hood isn't fixed yet, so this isn't the last time the car will be into Hawthorns for warranty work, but I think I'll enjoy the car for a few weeks before I let them have it again. Regards Jon 97R Cherry Pearl Chimaera 500.

[Graham B]

Why did it take 3 weeks to diagnose and fix that? Sounds like maybe a couple of hours work. Did the over heating damage the engine - headgaskets etc?

[JonRB]

I'm guessing that both sales and service were expecting the other to phone me to let me know, so no-one told me. I finally phoned up yesterday to say "is it ready?" and they said "yes, it is". I didn't ask the obvious question "so why the hell didn't you tell me?". To be honest, for the past week I've been fitting a kitchen and have had a skip on the drive, so I didn't mind the car being safe & sound at Hawthorns, otherwise I'd have been making that call a week ago. Its still a bit poor though, I'll agree.

[JonRB]

Actually, there is a further twist to the story. When the car went in to be repaired, I asked them to sort out the screen washer too, as it didn't work. After a week, they said the car was ready and I asked if they'd fixed the washer bottle, and service claimed they'd never been told about that, and the car would have to go to the back of the queue (although they would try to fit it in). Then the rest of that week went by with no word from them, and then as we got close to the time that the skip was due to arrive I decided to keep my mouth shut for a week and if they called, I'd get it and store it at a friend's house, otherwise I'd let it stay there. As it turned out, they didn't call and it stayed at Hawthorns until yesterday. Still no excuse for them not calling though.