Discussion
I can't seem to get any decent heat in this car! 
The vents under the radio are supposed to blow cold only, right? But can you turn them off?
The vents on the right of the driver seem to blow cold only, I guess they should be warm, what could be up here?
Lastly, my car runs at 80-90 degrees (ish) normally, recently its taken to dropping to 65 or 70 when cruising in this cold weather, the marginal heater I have blows cold! I guess the thermostat has packed up. Is it a standard one I'll be able to pick up from Halfords on the way home tonight?
Will they list it as TVR, or is it "the same as.."?
Cheers,
Andy (gradually thawing out)
The vents under the radio are supposed to blow cold only, right? But can you turn them off?
The vents on the right of the driver seem to blow cold only, I guess they should be warm, what could be up here?
Lastly, my car runs at 80-90 degrees (ish) normally, recently its taken to dropping to 65 or 70 when cruising in this cold weather, the marginal heater I have blows cold! I guess the thermostat has packed up. Is it a standard one I'll be able to pick up from Halfords on the way home tonight?
Will they list it as TVR, or is it "the same as.."?
Cheers,
Andy (gradually thawing out)
WHAAAAT? Cold in a TVR! Something is definitely not right. Those vents under the radio are supposed to keep your gear hand warm and toasty when roof down motoring in winter conditions! In mine I can't get the vents to blow cool air - ever - even in summer (luke warm is the best it does...)- time to check thermostat/coolant levels etc I think.
If you've got some heat in the cabin then some hot coolant must be circulating through the heater matrix. You may have a partial air lock. If I were you I would check the coolant level and go through the process of topping it up with the heater control on the dashboard set to hot and the engine running. Got to be careful when you do this. Engine must be cold when you start doing this otherwise any air in the system will expand enormously and may blow hot coolant all over you. Process is described on various other threads on this site.
If that doesn't work I guess either there may be a blockage in the matrix, or the control on the dashboard may not be working. Feeling the pipes going into and out of the matrix might give you a clue. If you can squeeze them in, it may be a sign there is air in the system. If the exit pipe is cold, the coolant isn't circulating properly. Good luck...
If that doesn't work I guess either there may be a blockage in the matrix, or the control on the dashboard may not be working. Feeling the pipes going into and out of the matrix might give you a clue. If you can squeeze them in, it may be a sign there is air in the system. If the exit pipe is cold, the coolant isn't circulating properly. Good luck...
Chaps,
Only had a Chimaera for a week now and just driven it in this cold weather we are having (snow here by the way!). Strange thing was that I had to drive around 150 miles and for 80% of the drive I was freezing - mucking around with the dials for the heating didnt seem to do much.
Low and behold, one last fiddle and hot air comes out! Lovely and toasty. Now I am a novice and dont know these things, but maybe the vent / fan / dial operators have gone a little skew-whiff. Might be worth checking them out to see if something has dropped or broken.
I understand that this is a dashboard off job, but would be worth checking before taking it to a dealer...
Cheers,
Paul
Only had a Chimaera for a week now and just driven it in this cold weather we are having (snow here by the way!). Strange thing was that I had to drive around 150 miles and for 80% of the drive I was freezing - mucking around with the dials for the heating didnt seem to do much.
Low and behold, one last fiddle and hot air comes out! Lovely and toasty. Now I am a novice and dont know these things, but maybe the vent / fan / dial operators have gone a little skew-whiff. Might be worth checking them out to see if something has dropped or broken.
I understand that this is a dashboard off job, but would be worth checking before taking it to a dealer...
Cheers,
Paul
Definitely out of whack...
Drove most of the way to Cheltenham and back with the ice warning on, and was toasty the whole way with the temperature dial set in the middle or thereabouts.
The air direction control, and fan speed, made no difference to the temperature.
The temp control operates the heater control valve via a bike brake cable. Look under the passenger side of the dash on the left hand side, and you'll find some chunky pipes leading to a black circular thing where said brake cable terminates. Wiggle your temperature dial and make sure the lever on the black doodah moves through its full extent.
Drove most of the way to Cheltenham and back with the ice warning on, and was toasty the whole way with the temperature dial set in the middle or thereabouts.
The air direction control, and fan speed, made no difference to the temperature.
The temp control operates the heater control valve via a bike brake cable. Look under the passenger side of the dash on the left hand side, and you'll find some chunky pipes leading to a black circular thing where said brake cable terminates. Wiggle your temperature dial and make sure the lever on the black doodah moves through its full extent.
Cheers folks I'll get myself under the dashboard this afternoon.
Right now its "have new thermostat, will fit" time. Scraped the ice off the windscreen and drove home from work last night, (M5 past Cheltenham - you were a long way from home Marshy!) temp gauge settled at a chilly 65 degrees, didn't reach 70 until I got off the motorway and found a hill! That's gotta be a duff thermostat.
Cheers guys, I'm off to get oily
Andy
Edited by crimsonchim on Saturday 10th November 13:29
Right now its "have new thermostat, will fit" time. Scraped the ice off the windscreen and drove home from work last night, (M5 past Cheltenham - you were a long way from home Marshy!) temp gauge settled at a chilly 65 degrees, didn't reach 70 until I got off the motorway and found a hill! That's gotta be a duff thermostat.
Cheers guys, I'm off to get oily
Andy
Edited by crimsonchim on Saturday 10th November 13:29
That sounds like an accurate thermostat. Last winter my Chimaera never warmed past 65-70 degrees on motorway trips in cold weather, local blatting around it might go up to 75-80. At the time, we had a discussion here about it and the concensus was that a combination of cold air through the rad plus direct cooling by the airstream of the engine itself are the causes.
Whatever. It's not hot enough in my book since I want 90 degrees on the 'stat to make me feel nice and toasty with the roof off, so I'm off now to wrap a piece of corrugated cardboard in a black plastic bag, and slide it down in front of the rad so it covers about a third of it. I'll see what difference that makes and alter it if necessary.
-Manek-
Whatever. It's not hot enough in my book since I want 90 degrees on the 'stat to make me feel nice and toasty with the roof off, so I'm off now to wrap a piece of corrugated cardboard in a black plastic bag, and slide it down in front of the rad so it covers about a third of it. I'll see what difference that makes and alter it if necessary.
-Manek-
It would be interesting to hear of the results as i did just that last year. My result, no change. Conclusion, the guage is not exactly accurate. When you pop in your stat note the stamped temp on it. Then on the motorway that temp will then be shown on your guage.The stories of too much air circulating around the engine are not true, if the engine was not up to temp the stat would not open, keeping the rad cold.In the summer we all compain of lack of air circulation around the engine.There is only one way to improve the heater and that is to up the water stat opening temp as i have now done.Was 82,temp guage showed 70,now 88, as my rangie, guage shows 80 now and the heater is much better. Has anybody owned a car that the engine temp varied so much between summer and winter? My tvr now does not budge winter or summer, but i am not allowed to say on line how.
New thermostat is in and the car now runs in the 80's with an 88` t/stat. The one I took out was 82`, tho I'm assured 88 is correct. Maybe I'll try and get an 82` in time for the summer, just in case
It's nice to have some heat now, even if some of the vents still only blow cold. I've had a look and can't see anything obviously loose, all the "bike brake cable bits" seem to be working too. I guess this calls for deeper investigation....later.
The rad's sprung a leak now. Hissing from radiator, puddle under car, empty overflow bottle. Oh well, thank goodness for the spare car
It's nice to have some heat now, even if some of the vents still only blow cold. I've had a look and can't see anything obviously loose, all the "bike brake cable bits" seem to be working too. I guess this calls for deeper investigation....later.
The rad's sprung a leak now. Hissing from radiator, puddle under car, empty overflow bottle. Oh well, thank goodness for the spare car
I'm paranoid about overheating, so take what I say with a pinch of salt, but if it's an 88 thermostat your car must be running at 88 or above. If your temp guage is reading lower than that, I would assume it is not accurately calibrated. If your radiator has sprung a leak, your heater is doing strange things and you're having to change the thermostatic valves ... I'd get it to an expert and ask them to sort the entire cooling system out asap.
p.s. who assured you 88 is correct?? I'm pretty sure I read in Steve Heath's bible that the standard Rover thermostatic valve was replaced by TVR Power with a lower temp unit, and that it was worth checking that the correct, i.e. cooler one, was fitted.
Edited by ATG on Monday 12th November 18:46
p.s. who assured you 88 is correct?? I'm pretty sure I read in Steve Heath's bible that the standard Rover thermostatic valve was replaced by TVR Power with a lower temp unit, and that it was worth checking that the correct, i.e. cooler one, was fitted.
Edited by ATG on Monday 12th November 18:46
quote:
It's nice to have some heat now, even if some of the vents still only blow cold. I've had a look and can't see anything obviously loose, all the "bike brake cable bits" seem to be working too. I guess this calls for deeper investigation....later.
The vents to the right of the steering wheel and by your right leg are 'fresh' air from outside - fed by a separate fan (which you may or may not have, switch under dash to right of steering column). You will have the vents though. Close them. The vents on the left come from the heater matrix area.
T/.
I dont know if you saw my posting on the subject of cooling etc. It is true tvr open early 82 degrees because there is no cooling for the rad unless you are moving at say 30 mph. The rover lump always had a thermo coupled engine driven fan, if this was not enough then an electric fan kicked in. So in the tvr, unless the otter switch activates the fans,96, you just have to make sure you dont stand still. Not nice in the summer, or indeed in the winter with the roof on. The answer is >>>>>>>
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