Thursday 14th November 2013

Lotus Elise Sport 135: PH Fleet

Broken Lotus, broken driver - things can only get better, surely?

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It's been so long since my last update on the Elise, I feel it may be useful to give you a quick recap of where we are. A little bit like they do at the start of Homeland, albeit without the creepy jazz music and epileptic editing. It was early August, at the Bedford Autodrome, when the battery warning light came on. As everything electric was working fine and it started without a problem, I convinced myself the warning light was telling porkies and blundered on. And on. And on a bit more, lapping all afternoon in fact. Then I managed to drive 99.9 per cent of the journey home to Surrey. It was only on leaving the M25 that the car started to cough and splutter like it had been chain-smoking woodbines. On a short rise, not half a mile from my house, it threw in the towel. Ah, that'll be the battery dead then.

Improvisation required to get it to the workshop

I got it recovered home, but with the battery flat and the cause of the problem probably alternator related, my next challenge was to actually get it somewhere to be fixed. That's when work started to get busy with a trip to the cycling industry's biggest trade show immediately followed by a press launch in Austria. The Elise would have to wait until I was back in the country before I could get it fixed.

And then I went and broke my thumb. Not a particularly spectacular injury, I'll agree, but, with my entire hand in subsequently in a cast for the next eight weeks, it was definitely an inconvenient one. I couldn't ride my bike, I couldn't get the plaster wet (which led to an unfortunate Hitler impression every time I took a shower) and driving was forbidden. So, both the Elise and I spent the next two months broken and incapacitated.

Car and thumb fixed time to get reacquainted

The cast came off a couple of weeks ago. At about the same time I had a very kind offer from Stef at Analogue Automotive; he'd pop up to my house and fit a new alternator roadside. We arranged a day and I ordered the new alternator and battery, but then the weather turned. It was tipping it down when he turned up and, disappointingly, he wasn't too keen to lie in the road, getting wet, playing with electrics. So, we decided to plug the new battery in and hope there was enough juice to nurse the car back to his workshop.

Well, that was the plan. Except we hadn't reckoned on one of the bolts holding it place having seized. Back to square one. It was time for drastic action; it was time to get ghetto. By removing the washer bottle and a few bits of cowling Stef created enough space to piggy-back the new battery on top of the old one. It wasn't pretty, but it got the car back to his workshop.

For speed add lightness, to wallet in this case

A week later it was ready. As suspected the alternator was toast, and Stef had also found an air leak from the inlet manifold that seemed to have sprung out of nowhere. A new gasket sorted that out, and with the annual service window looming, I figured he may as well give it the once over too. It had been three months since I'd driven it, so being reunited again was fantastic. It was looking immaculate and running perfectly. So much so that I took it straight out for a blast around Sussex and Kent to blow away the cobwebs.

Unfortunately - why is there always a downside? - the new alternator, battery, service, labour and (joy of joys) my insurance renewal, means that, although the Elise feels great, my wallet has been left well and truly Chapman'ed this month.

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Fact sheet
Car: 1998 Lotus Elise Sport 135
Run by: Danny Milner
Bought: October 2010
Purchase price: £9,500
This month at a glance: Power restored and enthusiasm recharged counterbalanced by finances drained

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Previous reports
Suspension fettling brings results, just in time for the alternator to go pop
Scottish road trip answers 'should I sell?' dilemma
Is it time for the Elise to go?
A cry of alarm from the Lotus - just drive me!
To Goodwood in the Elise
Why is the Elise slower on its new suspension then?
Nitron suspension upgrade for Danny's Elise

 

 

 

 

[zebedee]

Alternator (given the age), battery and service are pretty much routine costs to be fair, your wallet would have been a lot lighter if the car was almost anything else...

[zebedee]

My altenator hasn't missed a beat.

And what a load of crap saying this article suggests an Elise is unreliable.

A car of that age needed a new battery, which is a life limited component (and thankfully pretty cheap in the Lotus as it is a small one, I think I paid about £60 online for my last one) and an alternator, which is hardly the end of the world (and shock horror I had a Ford Fiesta which needed a new alternator too).

Elises are simply not unreliable and even if something goes wrong, they are a hell of a lot cheaper to get on the road than a BMW/Porsche etc etc

[zebedee]

the battery is small and the alarm cabin sensor will drain it within 10 days or so of non-use, especially in the winter or if battery not in tip top condition. Running the battery totally empty doesn't do it any good. If you switch the cabin alarm sensor off by pressing the small button on the fob just after the large one (signalled back by a beep from the car) it will last quite a lot longer.

[zebedee]

sato said:

I did not know that.

Yep, the sensor bombards the cabin with infra red or whatever, waiting to notice if something breaks the signal to trigger the alarm (as you will probably have noted on reaching in to grab something when the hood is off!) If you press the small button once after pressing the big button and then reach in, nothing should happen, but similarly the drain on the battery is that much less.

[zebedee]

pthelazyjourno said:

Learn something new every day!

This is on the Cobra 6442 only mind. From the service manual:

"Intrusion Sensing
A hyperfrequency radar detector, mounted at the rear of the centre tunnel, is able to detect substantial
movement within the cockpit and trigger the alarm in the event of unauthorised intrusion. The range and
sensitivity of the intrusion sensor may be adjusted if necessary - see page 6.
If an animal is to be left in the vehicle when the alarm is armed, it is necessary temporarily to switch off
the intrusion sensing by the following procedure:
Arm the system in the usual way by pressing once the large button on the transmitter.
Within 40 seconds, press once the smaller button on the transmitter. This action will be acknowledged by
a single buzz of the buzzer.
Note:

1. Intrusion sensing will automatically be reinstated the next time the alarm is armed.
2. Do not inhibit operation of the radar detector by placing bags or large objects against the sensor."