Lotus Elan Central

by **stinkerstag** » Mon 11.09.2006, 17:13

my elan se was hissing quite noticably from the coolant overflow bottle after a short journey of about 3 miles. temp level was slightly elevated but still between a quarter and half way. i loosened the cap and it bubbled for ages. there was no tell tale sludge in the oil filler cap. Do i have a head gasket problem? I believe the previous owner had a top end rebuild a bout 2 years ago due to high temperatures.
#what do i need to be doing next.
car drove fine, Steve

by **WillS** » Mon 11.09.2006, 22:10

could possibly be head gasket. Depending where the gasket goes you don't always get oil in water, or water in oil. Increase in water temperature and increase in coolent pressure can be symptomatic of a blown head gasket though.

Personally I'd get a compression test done and a chemical sniffer test, just to check it out.

--Will

by **RatHead** » Tue 12.09.2006, 00:12

could be a stuck thermostat?

Website · by **theelanman** » Tue 12.09.2006, 09:58

how long have you had the car????
mine did something similar not long after I bought it...turned out to be the stuff the DPO had put into the cooling system to stop the 'holy' rad from leaking.....
the water/stuff in the header tank looked like it was also bringing out the rusty crud from the bottom of the system......

:cry:

by **Kjeld** » Sat 11.11.2006, 12:31

Steve, what did you conclude? I ask, because I saw the very same thing today. The temp gauge reading at the 1/2 mark. In fact, it appeared there was quite a lot of pressure between the coolant tank and the engine, to the point where coolant was pissing ever so slightly from the hose.

I tightened the hose and topped off the coolant (didn't take much). Went for another short drive, on a rather cool San Francisco evening, and the car seems to be running just a little hotter. Between the quarter than half mark. In the past, it would be reliably pegged at the quarter mark. The temp seems to wander a bit too, though I am not sure about that.

Was thinking there might be a coolant bleeding trick or hopefully, maybe a thermostat failure. I replaced it ~20k ago, but it is cheap enough to start there. Love to hear some other ideas.

by **muley** » Wed 29.11.2006, 18:21

Kjeld et al,

My Elan did something strange today, too.

For a few months now, the temp gauge has hardly moved off the stop but in the way into work today it hovered between 1/4 and 1/2. No apparent coolant loss and no hissing/bubbling.

On the way home (mixed driving 20+ miles) it ran at about 1/2, sometimes going a little bit above. When I got home, for the first time ever, the electric coolant pump kicked in.

The good news is that at least I was warm on the journeys - it was fairly chilly today. The bad news is I am suspecting a head gasket failure - my local 'blacksmith' will check it next Wednesday.

Question is; could this be a symptom of thermostat stuck closed?

Any other comments?

Jim

oh, and arsebiscuits

by **clemo** » Wed 29.11.2006, 19:04

jim ...
knowing your fondness of elans in the medium price bracket go and by yourself the "squishy ball " headgasket tester. it s £25 , pop the fluid in the top, squish squishy ball in the coolent tank top...

bobs ya uncle , snotters ya notter...
instant test..

was invaluable for me after i bought my n/A with blown head.. save £25 by not buying it first then spent £3000 thereafter thus saving myself a whopping minus £2975... on the engine let alonr the cost of the car...

then found out they did them without turbos ..

ohh the early days of elaning

so much blood and skin lost..

still no problems now

i just don't drive them.!!!!!!!

by **Dave M** » Wed 29.11.2006, 19:11

For muley and Kjeld, I would look at either the thermostat or the heater valve for staters. You could also have some air in there for some reason. When starting the car, undo the coolant cap and see if you get any bubbles out. Don't let the engine get too hot with the cap off, though.

If you do suspect the head gasket, have a leakdown test performed rather than a compression test. It is more reliable to detect this sort of problem. Or you could try Clemos balls... :smt017

by **clemo** » Wed 29.11.2006, 19:18

check top and bottom hose to see if thermosat is opening..

hot /hot ... is
hot/not ... isn't

by **Specky** » Wed 29.11.2006, 20:06

muley wrote:
Any other comments?

Jim

oh, and arsebiscuits

It's the curse of the H&C carpark... :shock:

It's just a matter of time before it gets your cooling system :wink:

..

TTFN

by **muley** » Thu 30.11.2006, 09:36

Clemo and Dave,

Thanks for the feedback. :wink:

I can see a test kit on e-bay so I'll order that and do the test myself. All hoses are hot, so things aren't looking good.

Cheers

Jim

(It might be easier/quicker/cheaper to finish the black restoration and do the blue Elan's head gasket at my leisure - as I've just been made redundant I've plenty of time ...)

by **ailwyn** » Thu 30.11.2006, 14:42

muley wrote:It might be easier/quicker/cheaper to finish the black restoration and do the blue Elan's head gasket at my leisure - as I've just been made redundant I've plenty of time

Good to see you're looking on the bright side

Ailwyn

by **muley** » Sat 02.12.2006, 18:09

muley wrote:Clemo and Dave,

Thanks for the feedback.

I can see a test kit on e-bay so I'll order that and do the test myself. All hoses are hot, so things aren't looking good.

Cheers

Jim

(It might be easier/quicker/cheaper to finish the black restoration and do the blue Elan's head gasket at my leisure - as I've just been made redundant I've plenty of time ...)

Well, I bought a block tester kit, got the car to operating temperature, shoved Clemo's squishy ball into my header tank and squeezed for 3-4 minutes with no result - liquid stayed blue.

I'm going to replace the thermostat - relatively cheap and easy - even if that isn't the real cause. :smt017

Cheers

Jim

by **GeoffSmith** » Sat 02.12.2006, 18:34

muley wrote:shoved Clemo's squishy ball into my header tank and squeezed for 3-4 minutes with no result - liquid stayed blue.

Link to what you bought please! I put my squishy ball in the header tank and it turned red (but the air turned blue!) :-D

by **clemo** » Sat 02.12.2006, 22:02

jim thats good news..

by **clemo** » Sat 02.12.2006, 22:03

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Head-Gasket-Teste ... dZViewItem

geoff
one of these...

by **GeoffSmith** » Sat 02.12.2006, 23:13

clemof1 wrote:one of these...

So not me left bollock!

by **muley** » Sun 03.12.2006, 16:37

clemof1 wrote:jim thats good news..

Clemo,

..and it gets better! Popped a new thermostat in and all is well.

Temp gauge reads just below a 1/4 now.

Phew!

Jim :-D

by **clemo** » Sun 03.12.2006, 19:15

good darts...

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