Discussion
I have a rattling noise which seems to be coming from right behind my head when driving, in particular on bumpy roads (no big suprise).
Whats odd is that my previous Lotus (now owned by a friend) has the same thing.
It also seems to be much worse when the weather is cold.
Does not appear to be the roof rattling - definitely seems to be coming from behing the little glass partition.
Tekk
(V8 - had it 6 weeks - 2 faults so far :-)
>>> Edited by tekk on Friday 12th December 15:33
Whats odd is that my previous Lotus (now owned by a friend) has the same thing.
It also seems to be much worse when the weather is cold.
Does not appear to be the roof rattling - definitely seems to be coming from behing the little glass partition.
Tekk
(V8 - had it 6 weeks - 2 faults so far :-)
>>> Edited by tekk on Friday 12th December 15:33
I had the same thing on my 86 s3, i thought it was the petrol tank being loose or the air duct that lays on top of it. i used a piece of foam in between the 2 to see if it made a difference...but no, then that was hardly surprising....as ive mentioned before i think its a lost lotus mechanic stuck in the tank wanting to get out........nothing surprises me anymore...lol
Could be the roof gasket in the cold weather. Try and lube it. Maybe with a little powder or other type of lubricant. Could be a tool left in the car by the assembly technician at the factory. Someone I met at LOG once had a tool of some sort left in the car in or near the heater core that would make an occasional thump on some turns. It had the name of the owner of the tool. He took it back to the UK when he signed up for a tour of the factory at Hethel a few years ago and personally returned it to the much embarassed technician.
Calvin
Calvin
It also could be the engine cover or the firewall panel behind the driver.
Engine cover is easy: just pull the gasket up a little bit, then drive it again and see if it's better. I used a small cable I found lying around to space it up permanently.
Firewall panel is more trouble. There's a bolt that goes from behind the seats through to the engine compartment. The panel shrinks with age, rendering the spacer that keeps you from crushing the panel too long. Most people seem to cut the carpet behind the seats to access, remove, trim, reinstall the spacer and bolt. You might search on the yahoo esprit group for good directions.
Good luck.
Engine cover is easy: just pull the gasket up a little bit, then drive it again and see if it's better. I used a small cable I found lying around to space it up permanently.
Firewall panel is more trouble. There's a bolt that goes from behind the seats through to the engine compartment. The panel shrinks with age, rendering the spacer that keeps you from crushing the panel too long. Most people seem to cut the carpet behind the seats to access, remove, trim, reinstall the spacer and bolt. You might search on the yahoo esprit group for good directions.
Good luck.
Good grief - nice diagnosis from very little info Jim :-)
The garage just phoned and said that one of the chassis-to-body bolts is loose. However they seemed be be indicating they may or may not be able to fix it? (What they actually said was that sometimes tightening it didnt actually cure the problem...).
Anyway nice to know what it is and Im very impressed with your predictive engineering skills at a range of 5000 miles!
Kev.
ps. V8 looking like needing new Catalytic converter - any recommendations where to get a non-lotus-approved one in the UK?
The garage just phoned and said that one of the chassis-to-body bolts is loose. However they seemed be be indicating they may or may not be able to fix it? (What they actually said was that sometimes tightening it didnt actually cure the problem...).
Anyway nice to know what it is and Im very impressed with your predictive engineering skills at a range of 5000 miles!
Kev.
ps. V8 looking like needing new Catalytic converter - any recommendations where to get a non-lotus-approved one in the UK?
tekk said:
Good grief - nice diagnosis from very little info Jim :-)
The garage just phoned and said that one of the chassis-to-body bolts is loose. However they seemed be be indicating they may or may not be able to fix it? (What they actually said was that sometimes tightening it didnt actually cure the problem...).
Anyway nice to know what it is and Im very impressed with your predictive engineering skills at a range of 5000 miles!
Kev.
ps. V8 looking like needing new Catalytic converter - any recommendations where to get a non-lotus-approved one in the UK?
Kev,
Thank you for your kind words. But in this instance it's merely a case of Been there...Done that! As far as a non=Lotus Cat, try Steve Roberts at SJSportscars (www.sjsportscars.co.uk) or possibly Chris Neil. Happy Motoring!...Jim'85TE
My vote is that it is your bulkhead/firewall bolts that work themselves loose. Characteristic sign is that the sound (creaking) is coming from behind your back/head or behind passenger back/head. I have to agree with MikeyRide on this one. They are attached with 2 nuts on each side at the bottom of the bulkhead panel. Shouldn't be impossible to access but certainly hard from the engine compartment. Probably from underneath the car is easiest but I neglected to ask how he accessed it. The mechanic showed me in an S4 that had its engine out. Assuming you don't resolve this problem, let me know if you need to know how to get to them, I will call the mechanic and ask him.
I just had this problem and had it fixed by the Lotus mechanic.
>> Edited by chasevdr on Wednesday 17th December 02:00
I just had this problem and had it fixed by the Lotus mechanic.
>> Edited by chasevdr on Wednesday 17th December 02:00
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