MOT advisories "heavily corroded" - Steer clear ?

[ElanX4]

I've seen an S2 for sale. 69k miles. Doing an online MOT check shows it as having the following advisories:

power steering pipes heavily corroded
suspension components heavily corroded
Brake pipe corroded, covered in grease or other material (1.1.11 (c))

Is this something to be wary of, or even steer clear of ? What sort of cost would I be looking at to have these things sorted by a workshop? Fixing corroded suspension sounds expensive.

[dapinky]

The brake pipes are easily/cheaply replaced.

The power steering pipes will depend on which pipes are rusted - all are replacable, but some are easier than others (and some need to be made specially).

It is the suspension which is the real worry for me - without seeing it, it is impossible to say what is okay, what is restorable, and what needs replacing.

Everything is availlable (new or used), but much of it is expensive. The phrase 'rusty suspension' can vary anywhere between an afternoon with some sandpaper, wire wool and paint.... all the way up to £4K+ of replacement components.

[ElanX4]

Thanks for the advice.

[Rambo]

If you post a link to the advert or give further details we may be able go help further ie we might know the car and/or owner and be in a better position to advise, avoid or recommend another

[Rambo]

'

[scotlan]

I've seen an S2 for sale. 69k miles. Doing an online MOT check shows it as having the following advisories:


suspension components heavily corroded.

It would be interesting to know what the earlier advisories included about suspension components...was this something that was noted before, has it deteriorated? Is it a new advisory? Maybe as others have mentioned it may only require a good surface clean,

Also, I thought S2's did not suffer from suspension corrosion.

[Rambo]

They all suffer from corrosion Tony. Only the S2 had galvanised rear wishbones (unless an SE has had replacement S2 galvanised ones) so you won't have to worry about that on your one. But the upper links, chassis all front suspension components, OEM brake lines etc all rust over time, particularly if used in the winter on our heavily salted Scottish roads.

That's why the canny ones amongst us put their M100 to bed from late October. I still drive my yellow one right through though, albeit I always try and avoid the worst of days. If you can get to drive on snow, before they grit and salt it, it's a fantastic experience.

[Saltire]

Having rebuilt an S2 (63,000 miles) suspension fairly recently . . . If I remember correctly, the rear wishbones are galvanised from the factory, so should be sound as long as there’s no accident damage. All the other bits on mine were OK, although I replaced all bushes and brake lines as a matter of course. I cleaned up pretty much all of the suspension components and sent them off for media blasting and powder coating. They were all salvageable. I did replace springs and dampers, but that was through choice rather than absolute necessity.

I don’t know exactly where you are, or if the car has an MoT, but if you view it and like it, you could do worse than arrange an inspection at (for example) Lakeside Engineering - they’ll give you a realistic view of what needs done and the likely cost, which you can then use to haggle on price!

Hope this helps.

[scotlan]

Mine's in for MOT TODAY! Fingers crossed!

[scotlan]

They all suffer from corrosion Tony. Only the S2 had galvanised rear wishbones (unless an SE has had replacement S2 galvanised ones) so you won't have to worry about that on your one. But the upper links, chassis all front suspension components, OEM brake lines etc all rust over time, particularly if used in the winter on our heavily salted Scottish roads.

That's why the canny ones amongst us put their M100 to bed from late October. I still drive my yellow one right through though, albeit I always try and avoid the worst of days. If you can get to drive on snow, before they grit and salt it, it's a fantastic experience.

Hi Rambo, Mine stays in October til April, if I had my way it would be sitting in the lounge. Snow? Ice? None round here!

[ElanX4]

Thanks for all the replies and advice.

It’s S2 No. 194. Reg M606 FUG.

Last years MOT said ‘front and rear suspension components corroding’. So in a year it’s gone to ‘heavily corroded’. Car seems to only be doing about 1000 miles per year. Owner says he’s had it regularly serviced for past 6 years at an independent Lotus specialist, and owner before him at Lakeside for 9 years. But services were missed in ‘97, ‘04, ‘08 and ‘09. Cambelt was replaced in 2015, so needs doing again? From photos I’ve got some of the roof/door/b post rubber seals look like they need replacing and drivers seat looks a bit tatty. Engine bay looks clean. The ‘heavily corroded’ suspension MOT remarks are making me wary of pursuing this any further. It’s up for 8500 which seems a fair price for an S2 but maybe that’s because of the issues?

[tb10]

If you want to buy a nice S2, then I’d strongly advise you look at this one:

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing ... d=10694275

The seller is well known on this forum and is recommended.

Regards

John

[theelanman]

a link to the advert would be useful

[Simon_P]

The S2 had an eight year anticorrosion warranty coatings were grey epoxy and everything got covered internally and externally with black/brown Dinitrol. Which was inspected /repeated every two years. Few people keep it up and some mistakenly remove it.

If not kept up, eventually moisture gets under the epoxy coating and the steel rusts and great chunks of dinitrol coated epoxy coating come off it looks awful but generally the underlying rust isn't too bad.

I'd take the MOT comments as needing to do something about it. The question is really if that is something you would take on yourself.

[Kevingmorfa]

Hi I am thinking about buying this car. I have no knowledge of a lotus m100. I have seen the advisorys on the mot. The owner has said its its nothing to worry about. Any advice please.