TVR - Overheating Woes

Overheating Woes

Written by Darren Jones

Jan 18, 2014 at 01:16 AM Over my new year holiday I got another couple of new issues on the car and have now decided to put it up on the ramps for a while and get it sorted out.  First on a drive back from the beach I was stuck in a little slow moving traffic for a while and the engine temperature kept climbing.  After about 20 minutes it went off the scale and had to park it for a while to cool down and wait for traffic to improve.  Lost some cooling fluid but seems to be the only damage from the heat. Have since then found a great source of information from other TVR owners at PistonHeads.com.  They have a great forum for TVR owners and even one specifically for the Chimaera.  What's more there is a great bunch of people there, very knowledgeable and quick with the answers and wit.  After a little discussion there it was diagnosed I had an air lock in the cooling system, and given the steps for how to fix it.  What we've not been able to answer is the oddity of the number of fans I have.  The "bible" mentions 1 fan on early models, and two fans on later models. Now I have 2 fans on the back of the radiator. And one fan on the front.  A previously unknown configuration.  Perhaps specifically for cars in hotter climates? Cooling sorted out it was time for a test drive.  Initially this looked very good.  Driving along open roads the temp was barely getting to 70 degrees.  Into traffic it would rise to low 80's but holding there.  Completely normal.  But paranoid as I am I looked under the hood and found an issue.  Some black streaky lines on the heat shield that turned out to be the remains of an electrical shroud for some wires.  Completed melted by the heat from the exhaust.  Exhaust is getting hotter than it should, possibly from a catalytic converter failure and needs to be fixed. Time to put the car up for a while.