S1 Elise Running Temp?

[Marks1]

Hi all new to the site but had my S1 standard elise all summer love the car, but i was told recently that the operating temp when warm should be anything from 80 degrees upwards, but mine only ever reaches 72 and this is after a long drive in the sun!

At the moment I can drive the car for 15 - 20 mins and the temp will be at about 65 tops is this correct?

Any help most appreciated, as i am using the car on a daily basis and through winter so want to know if i have any problems in the lurk!

[karlosfandango]

Could be a knackered temp sender. There are two, one that feeds the stack and one that supplies the ecu. They cost about £10 and a pretty easy to change if a little awkward. If you do change it DO NOT overtighten them, I did and snapped it in two. Result being half in the engine and half on the undertray. A bit of DIY toolmaking and all was well.

[paulwakinshaw]

Hi Marks1

I had a similar situation to yourself. S1 98R plate.

When I got the car back in Feb it would read about 80 degrees when it was up to temperature, but during the summer the max temp readings were gradually creeping down and in the end 76-77 seemed the usual. After a bit of reading up it could have been one of 2 things.

1: STACK temp sender probe. This is a blue temperature sensor which is used to give you the temp reading in the dashboard display.

2: Lazy thermostat, not opening at the correct temperature. This is one of the signs that you are about to experience the evil head gasket failure.

Best bet for you is to do what I did. Buy a new blue sensor (about £10 from rover or Lotus) the part number from rover is GTR 270 or from Lotus it's A111E6047S and fit it, see if the temp is higher, about 84-88 is normal and if so, a cheap fix.

If not, new thermostat. this is a fiddly job to do. new stat is not much, £25ish if I remember correctly.

[Marks1]

Thanks For the replies will try a new blue sensor first then.