S1 elise brakdown
Discussion
help needed to solve problem, my 99 elise 58.000 miles on the clock runs like a drea until, last sat (hot sunny day)i got caught up in some heavy slow moving traffic for about 10-15mins and when i got clear and went to drive on the car rumbled to a halt and refused to start again, but turned over like it wanted to start, i looked at the temp gauge and it said 86 which
is hot but not to bad so i pushed it to the side of the road and sat for a few mins, i tried the car again and it started, so i drove on for a few hundred meters and again it stoped, but this time i noticed the electric cooling fan had come on, so again i pulled over to the side of the road and sat a few mins, and again it started, and again it stopped. so i phoned a mate who came to my aid,this time i left it about 45mins and the car had cooled to 76, so i drove it to a mates house about half a mile away, and it went great, at his house i let it idle and when the electric fan came on this time about 82 it struggled to run and then stopped again, so i checked the oil and water , they where both fine and the engine bay was clean and dry, nothing obivous seemed out of place so just to be safe i left it there and got a lift home, four days later i went back to the car to check it and have another look, again seemed fine so i drove it home which was 42miles and the car ran perefectly, so when i got home i let it idle and the temp read 90 this time and the cooling fan came on and the car ran perfectly, so since then ive been driving it and all seems fine, but now my confidence is dented and i don't want to take it to far just incase it lets me down again, i just want to get to the bottom of this problem and get it fixed, has anybody had simliar problems or an idea of the cause, any help will be greatfully accepted.
is hot but not to bad so i pushed it to the side of the road and sat for a few mins, i tried the car again and it started, so i drove on for a few hundred meters and again it stoped, but this time i noticed the electric cooling fan had come on, so again i pulled over to the side of the road and sat a few mins, and again it started, and again it stopped. so i phoned a mate who came to my aid,this time i left it about 45mins and the car had cooled to 76, so i drove it to a mates house about half a mile away, and it went great, at his house i let it idle and when the electric fan came on this time about 82 it struggled to run and then stopped again, so i checked the oil and water , they where both fine and the engine bay was clean and dry, nothing obivous seemed out of place so just to be safe i left it there and got a lift home, four days later i went back to the car to check it and have another look, again seemed fine so i drove it home which was 42miles and the car ran perefectly, so when i got home i let it idle and the temp read 90 this time and the cooling fan came on and the car ran perfectly, so since then ive been driving it and all seems fine, but now my confidence is dented and i don't want to take it to far just incase it lets me down again, i just want to get to the bottom of this problem and get it fixed, has anybody had simliar problems or an idea of the cause, any help will be greatfully accepted.
If your fan is coming on at an indicated 86/90 then this is too low - you will need to change your stack temperature sensor. Suggest changing the one for the ECU at the same time, they're about £10 each and take 2 minutes to change. The ECU can adjust the fuelling depending on the coolant temperature so if the reading is incorrect it may under-fuelling which is why it's not running correctly.
I'll try the sensors,this might explain the different temps that the fan comes on at if its getting a wrong or varied signal, any idea where i can get them from,(online ?) i live in N.I. and we don't have an offical lotus dealer anymore,
And while i'm there i'll drain the tank and change the fuel filter again,
Manythanks for your help.
And while i'm there i'll drain the tank and change the fuel filter again,
Manythanks for your help.
LOL - Exact same thing happened to me in my Elise S1 days, car cutting off for no reason and in the middle of nowhere sometimes but would re-start if left for 5-10mins.Murray Lotus (Edinburgh) took 3 attempts at finding the fault as it was intermittent. Final Anaylsis was the Tempreture Sensor Switch. High Tension Leads & Distributor Cap were also blamed at the time BUT the temp sensor got the final blame.
Remember, in the Elise, if anything goes wrong, the ECU reporting an "Error", the Fans will fail-safe to on, just in case.
For the money it costs, first thing you should do is to change BOTH your temp sensors (Blue stack, brown ECU) and check the connections for frayed/melted wiring when you do.
That's 90% likely to sort the problem, if not, I'd be taking it to a service agent and getting them to run the Lotus Scan Tool over it to check to see what fault codes the ECU is throwing up... it's possible you could have an IAT/MAP sensor failing intermittantly when it gets hot. Know of an Elise that when it got warm it'd misfire like a bitch, when it cooled down it was ok... turned out to be a buggered MAP.
For the money it costs, first thing you should do is to change BOTH your temp sensors (Blue stack, brown ECU) and check the connections for frayed/melted wiring when you do.
That's 90% likely to sort the problem, if not, I'd be taking it to a service agent and getting them to run the Lotus Scan Tool over it to check to see what fault codes the ECU is throwing up... it's possible you could have an IAT/MAP sensor failing intermittantly when it gets hot. Know of an Elise that when it got warm it'd misfire like a bitch, when it cooled down it was ok... turned out to be a buggered MAP.
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