Newbie here~ Help Please~
Discussion
Dear All:
My name is Isaac, and I am new to this sport.
I recently purchased a slightly problematic 87 G-type Turbo Esprit, and I need a lot of help from you. (I admit, I was completely out of control when I tell the guy that I will take it~ as most of you could probably understand, when love cames, fools rushed in.)
First of all, I am having problem shifting to the 5th. The seller claims that it cames with a 4speed tranny originally, but all the sources I can find shows the car came with a 5speed. is there some kinda trick I need to know to shift into O/D? Or where else I should look for? The rest of the 4speeds are very happy with each other and running without any complaints.
Secondly, there seems to have somekinda starvation problem with the carb if I tried to hold it at constant speed for a period of time. But the car is accelerating smoothly and idles smoothly (once it warms up) Any sugguestions on what I should do?
All advices are welcome. Thanks for your help.
Isaac
My name is Isaac, and I am new to this sport.
I recently purchased a slightly problematic 87 G-type Turbo Esprit, and I need a lot of help from you. (I admit, I was completely out of control when I tell the guy that I will take it~ as most of you could probably understand, when love cames, fools rushed in.)
First of all, I am having problem shifting to the 5th. The seller claims that it cames with a 4speed tranny originally, but all the sources I can find shows the car came with a 5speed. is there some kinda trick I need to know to shift into O/D? Or where else I should look for? The rest of the 4speeds are very happy with each other and running without any complaints.
Secondly, there seems to have somekinda starvation problem with the carb if I tried to hold it at constant speed for a period of time. But the car is accelerating smoothly and idles smoothly (once it warms up) Any sugguestions on what I should do?
All advices are welcome. Thanks for your help.
Isaac
As to your problems, Calvin, Jim and lots of others here have loads of experience in your model car, so you have came to the right place. 
Your car was fitted originally with a five speed box.
Assuming it still is fitted, you either have a knackered gearbox or a knackered linkage.
A new box is expensive, a new linkage is not.
Start with the linkage.
You need to check the linkage to see where the problem lies. There are two parts to the gear linkage.
Firstly, a fairly straightforward rod controls the fore and aft motion of the shift. There are bushes in this system that do wear, but these only cost a couple of quid. This aspect of the linkage seems rarely to cause problems.
Secondly, there is a cable and bell crank system to control the sideways aspect of the shift, coupled to a short rod at the gearbox end. The design is not great. The cable stretches beyond its adjustment limit and the bellcrank pivot wears. As a consequence you either end up with a very sloppy and imprecise shift or real problems engaging gears.
My car is also a 1987 Esprit and has only covered 22000 miles, but the linkage is in very poor shape.
I have just bought a set of bushes, a new crossgate cable and a stronger crossgate rod from SJ Sportscars and will be fitting them very soon. I am told that this will solve all my problems....
The procedure for changing the cable is set out in the official Service Notes, which is worth its cost, despite being £45.
Hope this helps.
Pat.
Assuming it still is fitted, you either have a knackered gearbox or a knackered linkage.
A new box is expensive, a new linkage is not.
Start with the linkage.
You need to check the linkage to see where the problem lies. There are two parts to the gear linkage.
Firstly, a fairly straightforward rod controls the fore and aft motion of the shift. There are bushes in this system that do wear, but these only cost a couple of quid. This aspect of the linkage seems rarely to cause problems.
Secondly, there is a cable and bell crank system to control the sideways aspect of the shift, coupled to a short rod at the gearbox end. The design is not great. The cable stretches beyond its adjustment limit and the bellcrank pivot wears. As a consequence you either end up with a very sloppy and imprecise shift or real problems engaging gears.
My car is also a 1987 Esprit and has only covered 22000 miles, but the linkage is in very poor shape.
I have just bought a set of bushes, a new crossgate cable and a stronger crossgate rod from SJ Sportscars and will be fitting them very soon. I am told that this will solve all my problems....
The procedure for changing the cable is set out in the official Service Notes, which is worth its cost, despite being £45.
Hope this helps.
Pat.
Dear Isaac,
I cant give you any suggestions but some kind words. We hope that its only a linkage problem and if so this will not be too bad to fix. If this is the only problem you have then you have not done too bad. A lot of Esprits have a long lists of 'could be better' or worse.
Even though you have bought the car, if you have concerns a quick mechanical check from someone with experience would be worth it as you would find any other soft spots before they become major problems and leave you on the highway somewhere. Even though you may not want to know, its best and then get them fixed. If the PO did not get the gearbox fixed, he may not have looked after lubricants, filters etc so check that all these have been serviced etc.
Regards
Jason
I cant give you any suggestions but some kind words. We hope that its only a linkage problem and if so this will not be too bad to fix. If this is the only problem you have then you have not done too bad. A lot of Esprits have a long lists of 'could be better' or worse.
Even though you have bought the car, if you have concerns a quick mechanical check from someone with experience would be worth it as you would find any other soft spots before they become major problems and leave you on the highway somewhere. Even though you may not want to know, its best and then get them fixed. If the PO did not get the gearbox fixed, he may not have looked after lubricants, filters etc so check that all these have been serviced etc.
Regards
Jason
See with a help of a friend if you can shift it into 5th from the transmission it self to see if it is box or shifter equipment. The past posts are correct about the cables and bushes. Some of the bushes can be rotated a bit if there are flat spots on them as temp fix as you order new ones and wait for them to come in.
A good chance the fuel filter is clogged or the screen of the fuel pick up in the tank is clogged.
I would start there as that is easiest and least expensive. I would think it unusal for 5th to be broken in the box, but one can never tell.
Good Luck,
Calvin
A good chance the fuel filter is clogged or the screen of the fuel pick up in the tank is clogged.
I would start there as that is easiest and least expensive. I would think it unusal for 5th to be broken in the box, but one can never tell.
Good Luck,
Calvin
I have my car 3 months (S2) which has the same problem. It als affects reverse in this case.
It has a kink in the 'sideways' linkage mentioned, so effectively goes out of adjustment. Occasionally I have to reach under the back of the car and 'unkink' it. I will need to make a new shaft for the rear section. Looks relatively easy. Altering the threaded adjustment on this linkage on the side of the gearbox helped.
So...Check that the rear shaft on this linkage is dead straight. Adjust linkage if necessary.
It has a kink in the 'sideways' linkage mentioned, so effectively goes out of adjustment. Occasionally I have to reach under the back of the car and 'unkink' it. I will need to make a new shaft for the rear section. Looks relatively easy. Altering the threaded adjustment on this linkage on the side of the gearbox helped.
So...Check that the rear shaft on this linkage is dead straight. Adjust linkage if necessary.
Thanks everyone for the kind advices. I will sure look in those directions.
Things are a bit more difficult here in Taiwan because there isn't a Lotus Authorized Service dealership, and all the parts have to be shipped to me from UK. But thanks to internet, life is a lot easier now.
What I fear now is that the box is not original, because another friend of mine told me that the CORRECT reverse position of the car is to the left of 1st gear, and I have to pull up the shifter knob to do so. But in my case, the reverse position is to the right of the 4th gear. o_O
Where is the reverse on your car?
Things are a bit more difficult here in Taiwan because there isn't a Lotus Authorized Service dealership, and all the parts have to be shipped to me from UK. But thanks to internet, life is a lot easier now.
What I fear now is that the box is not original, because another friend of mine told me that the CORRECT reverse position of the car is to the left of 1st gear, and I have to pull up the shifter knob to do so. But in my case, the reverse position is to the right of the 4th gear. o_O
Where is the reverse on your car?
Your reverse gear is in the proper place, so don't worry.
Get a new crossgate cable (£97) and the gearchange modification (£20) from:
www.sjsportscars.co.uk
The modification is a beefy stainless rod with a rose joint to replace the floppy Lotus original which couples to the rear of the crossgate cable.
Pat 87 TurboHC
Get a new crossgate cable (£97) and the gearchange modification (£20) from:
www.sjsportscars.co.uk
The modification is a beefy stainless rod with a rose joint to replace the floppy Lotus original which couples to the rear of the crossgate cable.
Pat 87 TurboHC
Zak,
Sorry to hear of your troubles. Your problem is probably twofold.
Your gearbox, like all Esprit gearboxes, is a five speed. Lotus never used a four speed gearbox, nor is the Citroen SM gearbox available as a 4 speed.
Your problem is most likely one of misadjustment. Your gearbox contains 4 selector shafts, one for 1st & 2nd gear, one for 3rd & 4th gear, one for 5th gear and one for reverse. Each of these shafts supports a selector fork which physically moves the gear as the selector shaft is thrust fore and aft by the cross shaft which responds to the energy you apply to the gearshift. This fore/aft force is transmitted to the cross shaft by a solid gearshift tube. This gearshift tube is not adjustable as the amount of travel of the shift fork is fixed.
A crossgate cable is used to move the cross shaft side to side to apply force on the appropriate selector shaft (remember you have four of these). The side to side motion of the gearshift is transmitted to the bellcrank crossgate lever which moves the cross shaft side to side to engage any of the 4 selector shafts. This cable is adjustable in length, which determines the amount of sideways motion on the cross shaft. But, this adjustment is finite and the cable can/does stretch to the point where it can no longer move the crossgate lever sufficiently to move the cross shaft enough to engage a particular selector shaft. At this point, the cable must be replaced. But, you may simply have a misadjusted one.
You'll need to get under the car and you'll see a rod connected to the crossgate lever on the transmission with a clevis pin and a springclip. Remove the clip and free the extention rod from the lever. Follow the lever toward the front of the car and you'll see where it attaches to the crossgate cable. Loosen the locknut and rotate the extention rod clockwise to shorten it (this will make 1st/2nd gear easier to engage) or counterclockwise to lengthen it (this will make 5th and reverse easier to engage). You can only turn in 1/2 turn increments. At each turn, replace the extension rod on the crossgate lever and try the gearshift. Keep trying this until the feel is right, but remember that when you add favor to one side, you reduce it to the other. If you can't get the proper adjustment, you'll need to replace the cable. Hope this helps. Happy Motoring!..Jim '85TE
Sorry to hear of your troubles. Your problem is probably twofold.
Your gearbox, like all Esprit gearboxes, is a five speed. Lotus never used a four speed gearbox, nor is the Citroen SM gearbox available as a 4 speed.
Your problem is most likely one of misadjustment. Your gearbox contains 4 selector shafts, one for 1st & 2nd gear, one for 3rd & 4th gear, one for 5th gear and one for reverse. Each of these shafts supports a selector fork which physically moves the gear as the selector shaft is thrust fore and aft by the cross shaft which responds to the energy you apply to the gearshift. This fore/aft force is transmitted to the cross shaft by a solid gearshift tube. This gearshift tube is not adjustable as the amount of travel of the shift fork is fixed.
A crossgate cable is used to move the cross shaft side to side to apply force on the appropriate selector shaft (remember you have four of these). The side to side motion of the gearshift is transmitted to the bellcrank crossgate lever which moves the cross shaft side to side to engage any of the 4 selector shafts. This cable is adjustable in length, which determines the amount of sideways motion on the cross shaft. But, this adjustment is finite and the cable can/does stretch to the point where it can no longer move the crossgate lever sufficiently to move the cross shaft enough to engage a particular selector shaft. At this point, the cable must be replaced. But, you may simply have a misadjusted one.
You'll need to get under the car and you'll see a rod connected to the crossgate lever on the transmission with a clevis pin and a springclip. Remove the clip and free the extention rod from the lever. Follow the lever toward the front of the car and you'll see where it attaches to the crossgate cable. Loosen the locknut and rotate the extention rod clockwise to shorten it (this will make 1st/2nd gear easier to engage) or counterclockwise to lengthen it (this will make 5th and reverse easier to engage). You can only turn in 1/2 turn increments. At each turn, replace the extension rod on the crossgate lever and try the gearshift. Keep trying this until the feel is right, but remember that when you add favor to one side, you reduce it to the other. If you can't get the proper adjustment, you'll need to replace the cable. Hope this helps. Happy Motoring!..Jim '85TE
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