help please with a couple of problems with elise

[kazste]

Just wondering if anyone can help so i dont have to take a trip down to local dealer. car is an elise s.

1st problem, very annoying rattle coming from behind the seats sound mettalic or glass like, occurs when hit a bump or at around 1.5k revs.
it is not the rear screen as held the revs to cause the rattle and pushed against the glass which did not make it stop, also dont think it is the rear plastic barrier between cabin and engine as done same but not against all of the plastic.

2nd problem, the middle of the roof has lifted at the front, took the car in for a service mentioned the roof was really loose which was due to the rear connected tension cable coming apart, but i now have it in the middle at fron not seated tight against the seal. have had a look at the roof and there appears to be a velcro flap right where the problem is which is not velcro'd against anything, dont know if this is the cause or not.

any help greatly appreciated, cheers steve.

still love it though!

[Herbs]

Hi

I had similar on by my S1 & S2 and both times it turned out to be the exhaust resonating against either the floor plan or undertray(can't remember which) which explains why it's only at certain revs - mine did it at 2750rpm

have you changed the exhaut recently?

not sure if it is this but easy enough to check out

HTH

[kazste]

Still the standard exhaust on the car. I have had the undertray rattle due to being loose before and same kind of noise but louder so this could be it Guess it's a trip down to the dealers to take a look.
Thanks for the advice.

[noodleman]

You're going to take it to a dealer to see if a bolt has come loose on an undertray?

Really?

[kazste]

Well for as far as I can get to the undertray I can't see any loose which is why I had discounted this but it does sound similar if a lot louder. But my impression was that the suggestion is it's the exhaust which is loose not the undertray which would be well beyond my comfort zone, especially seeing as also have the problem with the roof which I cannot work out.

[The Bandit]

Steve,sounds like your drivers seat could be rattling,had the same myself and it drove me nuts.Just go round all the bolts with an Allen key,tighten them all up and if you have any,give the runners some lube/grease.
Try that and see if it works first.
I think theres a tensioner on the front of the soft top too under that velcro bit that you can gently tighten

[noodleman]

kazste said:

Well for as far as I can get to the undertray I can't see any loose which is why I had discounted this but it does sound similar if a lot louder. But my impression was that the suggestion is it's the exhaust which is loose not the undertray which would be well beyond my comfort zone, especially seeing as also have the problem with the roof which I cannot work out.

Ah I see.

I'd still take the undertray off and get someone to hold it on the correct revs for the vibration. You may be able to at least find the source of the problem before you start paying someone to do this.

[kazste]

Right been out in it again. Definitely not the seat that does creak but has done for a while and a lot quieter than the new noise. Has only dome it since it's first year service so wondering if something not fully retightened. Not thinking it is the exhaust or undertray now as noise seems to much in the cabin for those. It really does sound like the rear glass screen but it doesn't stop when pressed which I would expect it to.

It is sounding like a resonance vibration more that a rattle from behind the rear plastic part of the firewall and quite frankly it's driving me mad.

The dealer has offered to look at the roof and change if it can't be fixed so can't say fairer than that, but they have no idea what the velcro flap is either.

Thanks for all the help so far.

[noodleman]

Stuff under the seats can also make a noise like you wouldn't believe possible.

[Herbs]

good point - you'd be amazed where the resonance is coming from as it could sound quite a bit away from where it is actually happening, loose coins can be a right bugger for this

[kazste]

Will take a look under the seats to see. Not much space so guess will have to wait for a nice day to remove the seats.

[bordseye]

The Velcro simply hides / covers the tension adjusters for the softop cables.

Edited by bordseye on Tuesday 30th March 21:34

[kazste]

Thanks for all the help. The noise was after 2 hours of searching by me and the missus to be an ice scraper that had gone underneath the passenger seat. I never would of believed it from the sound made but boy do I feel silly!! The roof was something that couldn't be fixed so hats off (yet again) to strastone lotus for replacing the roof to solve the problem.

Again thanks for the assistance