111s heater and a/c problems

[duke_dan]

Hi all,

I have just bought an 02 111s Elise, im having some issues with the cabin heating system (it has a/c). Im only getting hot air and only on full power (ie fan setting 3).
I've had the front access panels off and removed the ducting from the blower to the cabin - by removing the ducting i gained access to the hot/cold blender flap. The flap moves by pulling it by my hand, but does nothing via the rotary dial inside the car (i have tested and know the switch is working)
Is the flap driven by a motor? - all the fuses are good...

Next weekend im going to remove the front clam. im going to remove the entire a/c system (minus pipework in sills) -for the weight saving, who needs air con when the roof comes off!! - so what id like to know is

1 What do i do about the hole that will be left in the heater box after i take the a/c part off?
2 Where can i buy a new heater resistor pack from (to cure the fault with the fan only blowing on full power and no 1 or 2)
3 Can the blender flap (motor?) be fixed or replaced

I will be doing all the work myself, so i would just like a 'heads up' and hopfuly i can order all the correct parts before removing the clam (its my daily driver - so can't have it in bits for weeks on end!)

Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance dan

[Captain Ahab]

Hello, you can get a replacement heater resistor pack from Eliseparts.com or you can fix it yourself if you're handy with a soldering iron...

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

hth Dan

[VladTheDad]

When I had an Elise 111R it didn't have air con and it was one of the reasons I sold it (not a very good reason in itself I'll admit). I was wondering is the Lotus air con system actually any good at keeping the cabin cool?

[JimLP]

I had to buy a new flap unit when mine failed - I've been left with some more problems now though.
If you check the 3 pin socket at the flap you should have +ve and -ve supplies and a variable voltage which you can adjust from the temperature control on the dash board. If these are present then asssume the flap is at fault if they are not then the flap may be fine.
If you take out the A/C you will still need the flap although it will be blending ambient air with hot air rather than cold air with hot air.
I suggest you keep the A/C if you can as it is great for demisting and will aid resale value - the weight penalty isn't too bad and you can switch it off after all. Also the S2 cabin can get pretty warm in these lovely roof on wet summers.
If you do remove the A/C you will need to remember that the Radiator cooling fans are interconnected with it - you don't want to loose operation of these.
Jim

[duke_dan]

thanks for the advice!

the a/c doesnt work on my car anyway (the compressor housing is cracked and leaks out all the gas) so i figured i might aswell remove the dead weight...

I had a go at fixing the blender flap at work today - turns out the motor was/is working as it should, the problem was the flap had wedged in the full hot position, as i have selected cold the motor has turned (but the flap has not) and its damaged the spline drive that connects motor to flap.

The fix was easy, i plastic welded the flap back to the drive. The difficult bit is working on the heater system while the clam is still on.
It is worth giving the inside of heater box a spray with some lube.

RE the problem with the resistor pack for the fan, i can live with having no 1 and 2 setting and just selecting 3 (only level 3 works)

So i'll leave the a/c box up front as its feather weight anyway, and just un bolt the a/c compressor and bin it! btw - if you ditch the a/c you need a new alt drive belt, just thought id mention that!

thanks again all!