New owner, thermostat question

[Mayboy]

Hi, i bought a 118bhp silver S1 a few weeks ago, and love it so far! I've been viewing the forum on and off and it seems like there is a good Lotus community on here. Are there any owners in SW London to meet?

My first question to you is this:

Is it possible to change when the radiator fan kicks in? I assume it's possible to change the thermostat.. alternatively has anyone fitted an auxiliary fan that can be turned on and off manually? Drove back into London tonight and the temperature was rising quite fast in traffic! On a different subject i also want to fit a cat replacement pipe to hear some pops and bangs from the Janspeed! Currently have the standard manifold and downpipe, with cat fitted to Janspeed stainless rear box

Thanks

[Esprit]

Hi Mayboy, welcome in.

There's 2 things you can do. You can buy a switch to mount in the blank station to the right of the headlight switches from a Peugeot dealership (they're pug switches)... you just need to wire this to ground out the fan relay, this gives you control over the fan to manually override it to a permanently "ON" state.

What it sounds like you're after is a fan controllwer.

Yvo at www.elise-shop.com does a fully automated fan controller where you can choose the trigger point for the fan and it's also got protection against overspeeding (which will destroy the fan if you're driving at highway speeds with the fan operational).

If there's any specifics you have questions about, just post 'em up and we'll do our best to answer

[stevie111s]

I don't think replacing the cat alone will make very much difference, I had to re-install mine for the MOT and couldn't really hear any difference between them.

[Mayboy]

Thanks for the replies.. the fan controller sounds a bit fancy although a good bit of kit. Perhaps just a manual over-ride is all i need, something to turn on when in traffic to keep the temperature down. It feels wrong seeing 100 degrees on the stack display! Are these things difficult to wire in, i have absolutely no knowledge of electrics..

[zebra]

I'm assuming that the water temp is going up to 100 when you're stationary - it's quite common. In traffic try and stay a good car length away from the car in front and that will help as you're not sucking in hot exhaust fumes.

My 111s used to regularly go past 100 when stationary in hot weather, especially when I'd been driving hard before hand.

Zebra

[Esprit]

Nothing wrong with the car getting to 100 degrees... it's meant to. So long as the fans kick in at 102 and bring it back down to around 90, it's doing its job

Only time to worry is when you start to see 115+

Drive it and enjoy it The digital dash readout has a lot to answer for in terms of generating paranoia

• puts on tinfoul hat to protect himself from orbiting alien sattelite signals*

[whygee02]

Hi Mayboy

I'm also reasonably new to the Lotus clan, and raised an almost identical post on this forum yesterday - sitting in rush hour traffic now the schools are getting back and was alarmed to see the temp reaching 100-105.

Half a dozen responses from the clan, and its normal. As long as the fan kicks in and brings it down again, nothing to worry about.

Good advice from Zebra, keep a distance from the car in front to avoid sucking in their hot exhaust fumes - made an effort to do it this morning and it certainly seemed to make a big difference.

[Mayboy]

Thanks - reassuring to know 100 degrees is normal. The fan does kick in at the right temp. As said it's probably the digital read out that can cause paranoia although it's not pleasant sitting in traffic with the temp rising, concrete walls either side of you and nowhere to escape to cool the car down! Bit like Michael Douglas in the film Falling Down...

[whygee02]

Completely understand mate - yesterday morning I was in exactly the same situation, gridlock traffic, stuck in a tunnel, temperature on the up. I was thinking at what point do I switch off and bail out ;o)

Luckily it wasn't needed and it came down, but digital readout does help trigger thinking the worst.

This forum is the best for these type of things - lots of reassurance from other loti owners to put my mind at rest.

[porteouz]

Mayboy ive just recently wired my fan to a switch. 100% better makes me feel alot more confident sitting in traffic. Only took about 30 mins to do. Easy job

[whygee02]

I'd maybe be interested in this - tell me more. How much did it cost, did you do it yourself, does it work nicely alongside the standard fan controller, where does the switch sit...etc etc.

Please tell me more.

[Mayboy]

I would also like to know how to do this!

[Esprit]

Mayboy said:

I would also like to know how to do this!

http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=131841 <--- That's what you want to read then.... specifically the posts by Jean Philippe (111ti) as he's put up some photos of when he did his

Enjoy

Edited to add that I shall be doing this to my Exige when it arrives, not for road use though, only I find that in NZ we only have 1-lap cooldowns on most trackdays, which isn't enough to pull the heatsoak from the engine... the fan helps to suck some of this heat out in the first few minutes when you get back to the pits.

Edited by Esprit on Tuesday 4th September 11:50