Lotus Elan Central

by **paulwatkins** » Tue 03.04.2007, 08:34

Hi,
Can anyone suggest the best driving characteristics to adopt in order to carry out an effective elanscan run?

By characteristics, I mean, amongst others,

Start logging from cold? Or warm the engine up first?
How hard to accelerate and decelerate?
Throttle position? Amount of boost to aim for?
What gears to be running in?
What length of time to log the results?

Any advice would be appreciated (as always).
Cheers, Paul

by **Sy V** » Tue 03.04.2007, 08:48

Start logging from cold? Or warm the engine up first? - Cold
How hard to accelerate and decelerate? - A cocktail of both
Throttle position? Amount of boost to aim for? - Maximum
What gears to be running in? - All of them
What length of time to log the results? - As long as it takes to warm up the engine and collect a good cross section of data.

Top Tip. Find a straight level quiet road and do a 3rd gear from 30MPH through to 70MPH with full acceleration throughout. That's what the ES gurus (Alan and John) use as a comparative data set.

by **paulwatkins** » Tue 03.04.2007, 09:09

Thanks for the information Sy.

I will be trying it out this weekend. It'll be interesting to see what results I record.

Cheers, Paul

by **RayF** » Sun 22.04.2007, 10:16

Paul,

Just read this post and realised you may have an Elan Scan file from a cold start. If you have could you upload it? I am having some cold start problems and it would be ideal to compare a good cold start with mine.

Thanks

Ray

by **paulwatkins** » Sun 22.04.2007, 17:59

Ray,
I did a 'from cold' log this afternoon. The data is attached.

The run was carried out with the car in the garage, ie no cooling breeze.
Ambient temp about 18degC in the garage.
Throttle not pressed for duration of run.
Run duration allowed fans to cut in twice.

If you look at the coolant temp curve, you can see the thermostat opening at approx 82degC and then see the fans cycling at approx 105degC.

I hope the data helps you to compare with yours.
Cheers, Paul

by **RayF** » Sun 22.04.2007, 21:40

Paul,

Very kind of you to do the test for me - I'm very much obliged.

Its interesting that your injector pulse width is much less than mine - ie my mixture is much richer. Then I noticed your MAT... it starts at 31.2. Hell it must be hot in your garage ( :-)

) or was there an initial few minutes running? If there is a log of the first start that would be good.

The other interesting difference is the CO Potentiometer/Oxygen sensor - this is not listed in the manual but our traces are certainly different. Mine takes off after 50secs but your stays flat. I wonder if this is something that was introduced with the S2 (assuming yours is an SE).

Allowing for the offset I think the logs are comparable so my suspicions are heading towards the HT leads.

BTW I loaded a log from my rough start in this topic in the "Elan Scan of cold start" topic.

Thanks again

Ray

by **John_W** » Sun 22.04.2007, 22:25

Ray,
As you say, SE & S2 are different in that the S2 has an O2 sensor and the SE has the CO pot. I would expect that parameter to look different, which is why I haven't posted any of my Elanscan runs from cold (I have an SE).

You really need some kind soul with an S2 to post a "from-cold" log. Nevertheless I could post mine if you think it would help.

John

by **GeoffSmith** » Sun 22.04.2007, 22:36

I'd try one but I haven't got an interface! :lol:

I've got a few runs stored and the S2 should give a noisy trace between 0V and 5V on the 'CO pot / oxygen sensor?' trace whereas the SE traces are steady at 2V - this makes sense as SE's don't have sensors! The same goes for the 'oxygen sensor (integral)?' traces which fluctuate between 100 and 155.

Geoff

by **RayF** » Sun 22.04.2007, 23:05

John/Geoff,

Thanks for confirming the cause of the difference.

I just went back to the scan again - the CO potentiometerOxygen sensor is exactly as you say - also the trace of the Oxygen sensor.

Do you have any idea why there are two readings for oxygen sensor - one immediately after CO potentiometer, and another after battery volts... curious. The trace always seems to show the values (translated from hex to decimal) from the first one not the second. Is this a quirk with elan scan do you know?

Cheers

Ray

by **GeoffSmith** » Mon 23.04.2007, 07:10

RayF wrote:Is this a quirk with Elan scan do you know?

I think it's a quirk of the ECU. Alan should be able to confirm, but there appear to be two identical sets of data sent back during the data transfer. Alan has somehow deciphered them all - some are as yet unidentified and some are not fully confirmed (hence the question marks on some). ElanScan reports the full data set though.

Geoff

by **paulwatkins** » Mon 23.04.2007, 07:46

RayF wrote:Then I noticed your MAT... it starts at 31.2. Hell it must be hot in your garage ( ) or was there an initial few minutes running?

Ray,
I have to confess, I did balls up my first attempt :oops:

I went back to the car after 5 mins and noticed I hadn't hit the start logging button! So I let the car cool of for 20mins and started again. I guess there must of been some residual heat left in the engine.

Sorry if this caused some confusion.

And yes, my car is a SE.

Cheers, Paul

by **RayF** » Mon 23.04.2007, 09:33

No problem. I must admit if I had read your signature line I would have relised you had an SE :oops:

Still, I have learned a bit more about the car from the feedback which is always a good thing.

I have just ordered myself a set of new ignition leads as that seems most likely now. Fingers crossed...

Thanks

Ray

by **paulwatkins** » Mon 23.04.2007, 10:01

Ray,
could I ask you what manufacturer of leads you have ordered? From where? And how much?

I need to get a new set for mine and was thinking of getting Magnecor's, not decised on the diameter yet

by **RayF** » Mon 23.04.2007, 10:21

I rang SJ Sportscars this morning and they only have the Magnecor in stock so it was Hobsons choice. £58-68 plus VAT and postage. However I should have them tomorrow and hopefully problem solved.

They can get Lotus leads in about a week (£82-40 plus VAT and post) which I would have gone for if not in a hurry.

For what its worth I did ask them if they had had any problems reported with the leads as there have been some negative comments about them coming apart or fusing to the plug. He said none at all. I will be very careful handling them I think!

by **Doug** » Mon 23.04.2007, 18:11

get some of that spark plug dielectric grease to put on the top of the plug and then the plug wire wont rust to the plug top . . .

by **RayF** » Mon 23.04.2007, 21:00

Thanks Doug. Interestingly I did a UK google seach for "spark plug dielectric grease" as it is new to me and the first hit was Magnecor... do you believe in coincidence?

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Best driving characteristics for Elanscan run

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