Thursday 14th November 2013

Lotus Elise Sport 135: PH Fleet

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

---

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.

---

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

---

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...

[ReVolt]

Suprise suprise, another report on how unreliable an Elise can be. There was more content about your body parts than how good the Elise was to drive once you got it back. Zzzzzz

[Exige77]

If you want reliability you need an MX5.

The Elise is far from perfect, but on that sunny day, on that country road you wont get more smiles for the money.

[750turbo]

ReVolt said:

Suprise suprise, another report on how unreliable an Elise can be. There was more content about your body parts than how good the Elise was to drive once you got it back. Zzzzzz

I would like to thank you on behalf of the Editorial Team for your insightful input.

Some of us are genuinely interested.

Geesus!

[selym]

ReVolt said:

Suprise suprise, another report on how unreliable an Elise can be. There was more content about your body parts than how good the Elise was to drive once you got it back. Zzzzzz

Hows about you give us a write-up on your current steer, Cilla?

It is meant to be a warts n all report, and that is what it is. Cars go wrong, what is the next revelation going to be?

[kambites]

Alternators are well known to be a weakness on the K-series Elise - the voltage regulation circuitry is mounted too close to the exhaust manifold so it gets cooked; the alternator voltage rises to about 18v which kills the battery.

[ReVolt]

750turbo said:

I would like to thank you on behalf of the Editorial Team for your insightful input.

Some of us are genuinely interested.

Geesus!

So you are telling me that out of 7 paragraphs, 1/2 of one paragraph was dedicated to how the car drove is insightful?

It must have been bliss to have the car back and working again after having the injury and the alternator issues. The Elise's best aspect is its driveability and handling, but it gets barely a mention.

[Krikkit]

kambites said:

Alternators are well known to be a weakness on the K-series Elise - the voltage regulation circuitry is mounted too close to the exhaust manifold so it gets cooked; the alternator voltage rises to about 18v which kills the battery.

A useful titbit, presumably a heat shield would be in order if fitting a new alt?

[kambites]

ReVolt said:

The Elise's best aspect is its driveability and handling, but it gets barely a mention.

Well yes but everyone knows that so an owner reiterating it isn't particularly helpful.

[750turbo]

ReVolt said:

So you are telling me that out of 7 paragraphs, 1/2 of one paragraph was dedicated to how the car drove is insightful?

It must have been bliss to have the car back and working again after having the injury and the alternator issues. The Elise's best aspect is its driveability and handling, but it gets barely a mention.

Certainly more insightful than your one liner...

[kambites]

Krikkit said:

kambites said:

Alternators are well known to be a weakness on the K-series Elise - the voltage regulation circuitry is mounted too close to the exhaust manifold so it gets cooked; the alternator voltage rises to about 18v which kills the battery.

A useful titbit, presumably a heat shield would be in order if fitting a new alt?

There is a heat-shield there, and looking at it a fairly decent one (at least on my late S2 K-series car). It still overheats and stops working.

When mine went it cost me about £100 to replace alternator and battery; had I been quicker to fix it, it would have just been thirty something for the alternator.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 14th November 15:01

[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

[beak]

Steff at Analogue does do some great work!

[da_murphster]

I had an alternator go on my S1 (after 16 years and 100k I could not grumble).

Easy (if fiddly) DIY and I think it cost me £60 for a reconditioned one.

I really think that if replacing a cheap alternator on a 15 year old car is enough to be fustrated with it then you are in the wrong car!

BTW an AA parts and labour warranty at £100ish would have covered this - considering cancelling my cover though as I never have cause to use it with my Elise.

[pthelazyjourno]

kambites said:

Alternators are well known to be a weakness on the K-series Elise - the voltage regulation circuitry is mounted too close to the exhaust manifold so it gets cooked; the alternator voltage rises to about 18v which kills the battery.

From the majority I've seen, it's the replacement alternators as much as anything else that cause the problem.

The heat is definitely an issue, but a lot of the time heat shields get removed for various reasons and never get replaced, and if the alternators do fail there seem to be a *lot* of cheap Chinese knock offs floating around.

That's why you'll find lots of cars that are either 1) still on the original alternator after 10 years or 2) owners complaining of having burnt through 2, 3, 5 or whatever alternators in 3 or 4 years.

[kambites]

Is there meant to be two heat-shields then? One on the exhaust manifold and a separate one on the alternator itself?

[ReVolt]

kambites said:

Is there meant to be two heat-shields then? One on the exhaust manifold and a separate one on the alternator itself?

Correct. Or at least there was on my S1.

[I WISH]

Still on the original alternator in my 1998 S1 which I've owned since new.

Did have to replace the battery a few years ago though. Interesting that the article didn't mention the inevitable skinned knuckles due to the battery being buried in its own little tight box deep in the bowels under the front "bonnet". If your fingers and knuckles survive intact you do your back in!
Obvious the author didn't do the work himself.

Otherwise totally reliable car. Any problems I've had have been minor niggles associated with lack of use during the winter.

Absolutely brilliant machines.

[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.

[kambites]

ReVolt said:

kambites said:

Is there meant to be two heat-shields then? One on the exhaust manifold and a separate one on the alternator itself?

Correct. Or at least there was on my S1.

Interesting. My S2 didn't have one when mine went, and the car was only three years old when I got it with no indication of a replacement so I'd be surprised if it wasn't on its original alternator.