Multiple niggles with 1990 SE

[Shimbo]

I've had my 1990 Elan SE since 1995 and I'm afraid I have somewhat neglected it (I was forced to park it on the road in London for most of its life) hence it has some problems. I've looked through this forum for suggested fixes. Here are the problems and my proposed solutions based on what I've seen. Please let me know if these seem right.

Leaking hood. I got a new one but that didn't help (it needed it anyway, it had worn through in places). Solution: garage and/or shower-cap.
Drivers-side headlamp pod only rises manually. Solution: Not sure, it's not the gears, can you get a replacement controller?
Passenger-side headlamp pod will only rise if forced but stays up once forced. Solution: buy one of those headlamp motor gear kits.
Passenger side headlamp breakpoint non-existent (according to MOT tester). Solution: Can someone tell me how the headlamp breakpoint is adjusted on the Elan (the guy at my local garage was stumped)?
Turbo boost gauge non functional (turbo is working though). Solution: Any ideas?
Needs a total re-spray, practically every panel has a scratch on. Driver's side front is particularly bad. Solution: Re-spray obviously, any ideas on cost for this, my local body-shop quoted £3K which seems excessive.
Door catching panel on passenger side. Solution: adjust panel.
Imobiliser non-functional (Clifford Eagle). Solution: New immobiliser.
Central locking non-functional Solution: related to immobiliser?
Rubber strip at front missing. Solution: Get new one, are they available?
Boot carpet rotting as boot leaks. Solution: New boot seals, are they available?
Battery draining so it won't start without help after about 3 days idle. Solution: I'm hoping this is caused by the dodgy immobiliser, so should be fixed by replacing that.

On the good side, it was serviced regularly, it is mechanically sound, fairly low milage and it just passed its MOT (except for the light issue mentioned above).

Now I've moved to the country I want to get it fixed up and just use it on sunny weekends, so any advice welcome. Thanks.

[Specky]

Welcome to the LEC...

This is a testing quiz...



Leaking hood.... Normally it's a combinattion of things...

If your symptoms are a wet floor behind the seat and you have wet sills when you get in.. the lower window seal has gone... park car nose down hill.. new seals... shower cap

or a wet floor way in front of the seats..a bulk head has seal gone... replace or reseal..

The odd drip from the roof seals... adjust them or if it's the top of the A seal... replace seals(££££££) and fit a packer... sirflex... or adjust window...


Drivers-side headlamp pod only rises manually. Test it... then gears, then controller..

Passenger-side headlamp pod will only rise if forced but stays up once forced. Solution: buy one of those headlamp motor gear kits. Yep..

Passenger side headlamp breakpoint non-existent Three screws on the front.. normally heavily corroded...(Not the screws that hold the light in)


Needs a total re-spray, practically every panel has a scratch on. Driver's side front is particularly bad. Solution: Re-spray obviously, any ideas on cost for this, my local body-shop quoted £3K which seems excessive. Sounds OK if it's a good job...(Have heard of 5 grand for an Elan)

Door catching panel on passenger side. Solution: adjust panel. Yep

Imobiliser non-functional (Clifford Eagle). Solution: New immobiliser. Possibly.. Not my bag..

Central locking non-functional Solution: related to immobiliser? Could be

Rubber strip at front missing. Solution: Get new one, are they available? The rubber lip is still available.. 20 quid I think..(There's a thread on it somewhere)

Boot carpet rotting as boot leaks. Solution: New boot seals, are they available? The seal is available...

But check you windscreen washer bottle isn't leaking from around the motor, also the lid is on and it's not split.. Also the rubber bungs are in the floor..

South West Lotus do just the carpet...(not the sound proofed backing board)


Battery draining so it won't start without help after about 3 days idle. [i]Solution: I'm hoping this is caused by the dodgy immobiliser, so should be fixed by replacing that. Possibly...

TTFN

[GeoffSmith]

Rubber lip and stainless fixing kits.

[tweetdriver63]

Turbo boost gauge non functional (turbo is working though). Solution: Any ideas?

A common problem that will cause this is a faulty ground (earth). Mounted under the hood (bonnet) on the right wheel arch is a small vacuum transducer unit (usually orange) that sends the boost info to the gauge. The ground wire on it is normally the problem. It was with mine. Also check the vacuum line to it.