coolant bleed valve

[stagman 2004]

Hi guys got my 1st elan about 3 months ago and have already done about 900 miles in it,believe me this is good compared to my other toys,however when i came home from work i noticed a leak on the floor under the nearside headlight, on further investigation i found the coolant bleed valve to be broken,anybody know where i can get a new one from quickly(is this a gm part or specific to lotus)will i find one in a breakers and if so on what car. all help appreciated as i am going to Donington next week hopefully in the lotus if i can source the part soon enough.

[whippit]

mine snapped last week, sj sportcars ltd, to the rescue i think there about £9,
my original one had a thread on the top, then the bleed groove, then threaded at the bottom ,
you've got to pull it up past the bleed groove onto the lower thread, then unscrew it all the way out,
dont do like i did and try and pull it out, it snapped and dropped into the rad, bas,,,d of a job getting it out
the new one is only theaded at the top

[dapinky]

Hi Stagman,

There are a couple of threads on this (fairly common) problem, but the most recent one is here.

The part is not Lotus specific, and the thread is a standard sort of size (same as a wheel bolt - which does work as a temporary repair, but the head needs grinding down otherwise the light pod hits it!), but with it being a bank holiday weekend, getting one local is a good idea, failing that, SJ's will put one in the post to you for a quick delivery before Donington.