Not good news

[Mountainman]

Hi all, happy new year and happy motoring for 2022.

Can’t say I’ll be doing the same tbh.

Broke down the other week in the elan S2 M100
Same issue that happened 6 months ago.
Sudden loss of power again, weird as it had been running okay through the
Summer but seems no pattern last time 10 miles into spirited journey. This time
4 miles into journey driving normally.

Booked into garage found head gasket has gone! Ouch great start to the year.
Quoted 1500-2k to fix.

Could this be the issue with the power loss?

Seems a big bill and potentially another gremlin to contend with.

The elan dream is turning into a nightmare and it pains me to say I’ve
Lost all confidence in this car and feel it’s time to cut losses and move on.

One issue after another pretty much since day 1 for for 32 months. bad buy? Unlucky? Are these the normal trial and tribulations of owning a old lotus. The car is clean and done 84,000 miles, I have only put 2k miles on it since brought.

Starting to think all the troubles and costs are not worth the dream.

Sorry to rant but this seems a bit too excessive, many years ago I chatted to a guy that had toured around the alps
In his car without issues. I wouldn’t trust my car to make it to the local shops.

Any advice would be appreciated
Thanks

[tb10]

Hi Jamie,

Sorry to hear about your Elan. I’m sure that it would not cost upwards of 2k to rebuild? It does sound like there’s been some gremlins in the car though?



John

[B_land]

Hi mountainman
Sorry to hear your news I’m not a mechanic by no means and I also use a local garage (near Derby) to sort things out but thought as we both live in and around Derby it would be useful to meet, discuss and compare our experiences/notes with these cars. I’ve owned mine for 9 years. Over my period of ownership I’ve tried to understand the common issues and have replaced parts, other than a clutch failure I’ve had no break downs and it has been reliable. Once sorted it should provide many miles without problems. May restore your confidence in the car.