Rusty's Project

[Rusty Wishbone]

I now have 500 miles under the car's belt, so I thought that I would now take a look around the car and see if anything is wrong. Overall, things are pretty good. I am getting some leakage of grease or something from one of the front wheel hubs. Also, the key fob has stopped working. I don't think that the problem is with the key fob, but with the alarm unit. The central locking still works from the key, and the alarm can be set by pressing the button on the key fob. Also, I am still struggling to keep the rainwater out.

This is a good weekend to catch up with a few overdue tasks on the car. Firstly, I have fitted a new brake fluid level sensor to remove one of the permanently illuminated lights on the dashboard. Secondly, I have removed the dump valve from the engine. This has given me the opportunity to fit one of the numerous Samco hoses that I bought a few months yet. So, the car no longer makes a hissing noise everytime I change gear. Unfortunately it now makes a fluttering noise each time I change gear instead, I think, from the exhaust. Everything seems to be done up tightly. Any idea what might be causing this? I'll post some pictures tomorrow of the things that I have disconnected and reconnected as a result of removing the dump valve. I can't find the camera at the moment.

[novacaine]

I think the fluttering your hearing is excess boost returning back through the turbo when you release your foot off the accelerator to change gear. Its nothing to worry about, it just means your turbo will take a little longer to re-spool as the fan is blowing in the opposite direction. Dump valves are fitted to prevent the return of boost back through the turbo. If it gets on your nerves get yourself a recirculating dump valve, you wont here the typical pfffftttffftt that a standard dump valve makes as the air is recirculated back into the filter box and it will prevent the back spin of your turbo, meaning less turbo lag.

[rip]

I think the fluttering your hearing is excess boost returning back through the turbo when you release your foot off the accelerator to change gear. Its nothing to worry about, it just means your turbo will take a little longer to re-spool as the fan is blowing in the opposite direction. Dump valves are fitted to prevent the return of boost back through the turbo. If it gets on your nerves get yourself a recirculating dump valve, you wont here the typical pfffftttffftt that a standard dump valve makes as the air is recirculated back into the filter box and it will prevent the back spin of your turbo, meaning less turbo lag.

Dump valves are not just there to make a noise. They are there to stop this flutter.
As mentioned, they don't have to make a noise at all.

[Rusty Wishbone]

I've had a few turbo cars before, but have never experienced this flutter before. Might there be a problem with the wastegate or its operating capsule?

[Rusty Wishbone]

Am I the only SE owner who has no problem with the storage box? When I learned to drive, I was taught to change gear using the palm of my hand on the side of the gearknob. Like most new drivers, I did not get on with this & grabbed the gearknob from above. Later I re-taught myself what I was taught by my instructor. This gives me more feel when changing gear, allows me to change gear more gently, makes gear changes more comfortable & enjoyable (yes, really) & I find it lifts my elbow a little higher.

I agree with you about the storage box, although I find the lack of elbow room with the door to be more irritating.

[Fourdoorcat]

Oh yea, comfort.....wayyyyy down on the Lotus priority list. I am told that our M100s are actually pretty good in this aspect. My wife likes the pretty red lights. Go figure!

[novacaine]

Alot of modern turbos have stock dump valves (most often the recirculating type) that don't look anything special or are hidden slightly. Might be the reason you didnt hear a flutter on any of your previous turbos

[Rusty Wishbone]

So, the indicators packed up today. Then I realised that the horn wasn't working either. I pored over the electrical manual, but couldn't find any single fuse for the two. I decided to check all of the fuses in the main 'A' fuseboard. Both 1 and 16 had blown. Having replaced them both, the indicators now work, but the horn fuse blew again when I pushed the horn button. I wonder if this is what is stopping the alarm from working too. My feeling is that the fault lies with one of the horn sounder units, so some more tinkering is required

I've now replaced both A pillar seals with new ones from SJ Sportscars. That is a pretty satisfying job, and I just love Sikaflex!

Another new task is to investigate why grease from the OS front hub is escaping through the wheel centre onto the outside of the wheel. I'm not sure where to start with fixing that.

[DeanG]

Buy a big pack of fuses, get the listing of what amperage should go where then remove each and every fuse. Replace the nasty looking ones and those that are incorrect. I was amazed that after 10 years of ownership how many fuses were wrong or just nasty looking. A spritz of contact cleaner (TV tuner cleaner) with a few removals and reinsertions might also help keep electrical gremlins at bay.

[Rusty Wishbone]

I was surprised that all of the fuses are correctly rated in my Elan.

I am thinking that the problem might be the horn switch. The Stoplock that I use rests on it, and tends to activate the switch. A task for the next bank holiday weekend, perhaps.

[Enright]

If I were you I'd start by pulling off the connectors to both horns, then trying the horn and see if it blows the fuse. It certainly SHOULDN'T!
Then try connecting just one horn and trying again.
Then disconnect the the first and try the other.
if this doesn't generate a blown fuse then it could be that it's the combined current drop that's causing it.
Mind you, I've just remembered that there's a little relay under the dashboard cover that horn button operates - it's all on it's own and has mainly purple wires going to it. If anyone has messed about fitting an aftermarket alarm system then they could have butchered its connections (like they had on mine - I don't just remember all the relay locations and wire colours, I'm not QUITE that sad)!

There's another alternative too, which is the rotary connector behind the steering wheel. There's a brass ring on the back of the steering wheel boss, and a sprung plunger mounted on the top of the casting which supports the steering column should constantly be in contact with it. If it's got sticky or the lubrication on the brass ring has turned to gunk, then that could create issues. That would be a column shroud and steering wheel off job ideally.

There's a knack to removing the steering wheel: undo the centre nut but DON'T take it off yet - if you do you'll end up with a Lotus logo in reverse imprinted on your face when the wheel finally lets go. Then brace yourself against the floor between the pedals, grab the wheel alternately at 6 o'clock and quarter to 3, and rock it while pulling. Eventually it will pop off but be stopped by the nut. Do not under any circumstances be tempted to hit the centre nut - the column is collapsible and you risk damaging it.

As for that grease coming out of the middle of the front wheel centre cap, that's just plain weird because as said elsewhere, there's nothing there to leak, and even if there was it should just get flung straight outwards.

[cliff]

Having just spent some time ripping out the original alarm wiring - there is a lot of it, I found out that there is a horn trigger in the alarm circuit. This may also be causing problems.

The electrical manual covers this but doesn't really explain what it does.

[Elanlover]

While I don't have a car with the stock alarm the wiring diagrams seem to indicate that the lead to the alarm system is so that it can trigger the horn to sound in addition to the siren. The horn is sounded by grounding the +ve wire either from the horn button or from the alarm system when it's triggered. Have you tried triggering the alarm to see if the horn sounds? A faulty connection from the alarm "shouldn't" prevent it from sounding. If anything one would think it would cause it to sound continuously.

Have you checked to see if the ground wire inside the steering wheel is attached to a metal surface?

[Rusty Wishbone]

Strange! Someone has packed some grease inside the central hole of the wheel, and inside the centre cap. It is as if the grease is being used to prevent ingress of water. All clean now.

On the horn, I disconnected one of them, and the fuse stopped blowing. But the remaining horn isn't very loud. So I reconnected the first horn, and disconnected the second - and the fuse blew right away. So I think I have found the culprit. The alarm seems to work to some extent now too - it is a Cobra unit, so I don't think it is the original.

While I was there, I took the off side wheel arch liner out and adjusted the idle and the timing. The idle was a little fast, and the timing a little retarded, but it isn't easy to set the timing with the scale so far away from the pulley. This is the first time I have used the ALDL, which is neat.

Time for an oil change - and I managed to spill most of it!. Bugger.

[Enright]

All part of the ownership expeience, and it sounds like you're getting plenty of it!

[Rusty Wishbone]

1000 miles now completed in just under 3 months.

And what a terrific little car. Comfortable, easy to get in and out of (compared with an Elise) and has not broken down in all those miles.

Things to do:

replace the horns;
top the hardtop from leaking;
replace HT leads and spark plugs (it is sometimes reluctant to start);
do an Elan Scan;
test CO emissions (I wonder if the tuning is good in view of the repeated bangs from the exhause as I travel downhill on a trailing throttle);
fit an Elan Chip;
replace the hoses;
fit outer door window seals

[Rusty Wishbone]

Horns replaced, but now I have what appears to be an overheating problem. Normally, the temperature needle barely rises above the low baseline. This morning, I noticed that it was half way up the scale after about 2 miles, and it kept on climbing to just beneath the H. By that time I had got back home.

I don't think the fans had cut in (I have recently checked that they do work), and no temperature warning light came on (is there such a light?) so I'm wondering if this is a temperature detection problem. Could I have disturbed something while replacing the horns?

I shall do some more testing this evening.

[muley]

Hmm. If you were making progress the airflow through the rad should have kept the temperature low.

My temp gauge stays low unless I am standing still for a few minutes - the needle creeps up and then the fans kick in at about 3/4.

I'm wondering if your thermostat is jammed shut perhaps?

Jim

[maz_r]

Also, there are 3 separate temperature sensors all around the thermostat as shown below:



So it is distinctly possible that the gauge shows one thing but the ECM and fans are working on something different! Worth doing a quick double-check of the connections to the 3 sensors....

[Rusty Wishbone]

Perhaps I should change the thermostat. There was a suggestion in the bottom half of page 1 of this thread that this might not be closing properly. But, if this were the problem, I would expect the fans to switch on.