Boost Control Valve

[WayneP]

Hello all,

I'm new to the site, and I've got to say it's really fantastic.

Being a Lotus fan for years...I owned a Europa Twin Cam and rallied a Sunbeam Lotus 15 years ago......I'm looking to by an M100 Elan.

I looked at a local one for sale this week and the major problem was that the turbo didn't work - no boost gauge reading, no turbo whine, no wastegate chatter. But no exhaust smoke - indicating the bearings/seals are OK?

I got a call today saying they had found a disconnected wire, which they connected and now the turbo works fine.

Is it likely that the boost solenoid valve electrical connection was bad? Would this result in zero boost? What should I look for besides the correct boost gauge reading?

Looks like all original turbo system and ~85K miles.

Thanks for your help.

[Doug]

Hi Wayne,

I racked turbo might give you no boost, but messed up plumbing in the turbo could give you boost or too much boost, but not no boost??

Certainly it is common the ground wire to the boost gauge transducer gets loose and the boost gauge needle can go dead calm. But even if this happens you should have an feel and hear the turbo working.

I guess I would sy go give it another check and see if it is fixed and ask them what they did to fix it and we can advise.

Otherwise I recommend you see a few more Elans and get familiar with the difference between good and bad ones.

Ed had his BRG ELan for sale in Phoenix but I think it is with him in AK now--too bad you missed that one.

-Doug

[F1 LOTUS]

Unless the car is dog slow, I'd imagine it was a bad connection on the boost gauge transducer, and it was only the gauge not working? In stock condition the turbo is pretty quiet and can barely be heard.

[WayneP]

Thanks for the fast replies.

I'll check the car out again tomorrow. It might just be the gauge if the stock setup is really that quiet.

I looked at Ed's car last weekend and although it's good (he's done a lot of work), I wanted to look at others and would prefer a more stock engine setup (Ed has a Garrett turbo). I could certainly hear the Turbo on Ed's car.

I'll be flying to CA if I need to look at others.

Hope to be a full member of the "owner's" club soon.

Wayne

[Doug]

I can vouch for Ryan's nice yellow Elan for sale in Topanga (L.A.) . . .

[WayneP]

Thanks for the input on the yellow LA Elan. I've seen ads for 3 Elans in the LA area. Ryan's is on the list to look at, I thought the price was a bit high considering the mileage (accepting that I haven't seen it yet).

Is Ryan on this forum? I'd like to get more data & pictures - the car trader ad is pretty thin.

[mvf906]

hi, when i bought my elan a couple of years ago, the turbo gauge had been changed to one which doesn't use the transducer and it works fine but it doesn't match the other gauges !
I have since got hold of another two gauge/transducers but they have all failed to work. Is this a common complaint on the elan and if so can i get round the transducer and use the old gauge ?

[rip]

I cannot hear my turbo at all. The fun gauge and Elanscan confirm that it works though, and I can certainly feel it too.

I am learning about turbos at the moment. In theory they are supposed to make the exhaust note quieter???? by using the energy (kinetic, heat & sound) from the exhaust gases.
I am not sure that it quite works like that in practice though.