Scottish Elises

________

With a fully charged battery and no alternator you would probably manage around 1.5 hours with no other drain being used i.e. battery starts, lights, wipers etc, before it fell to 10 volts and would not power the ECU.

tut

With the lambda sensor disconnected or not in the exhaust stream I would expect the yellow MIL to light up.

The red charging light would not come on because of the lambda, but would come on if the alternator was not producing a charge. Unfortunately the charge warning light won't come on in the case of broken wires.

If you recharge the battery completely with a charger and it's in good condition I'm sure you'll make 100 miles in daylight - obviously leave the blower, stereo, lights, etc., all off.

Cheers,
Robin

________

It's certainly possible.

You might need a few cycles before the MIL comes on due to the lambda missing; of course the lambda was still electrically connected and breathing some exhaust gasses so maybe the ECU hasn't yet figured out that the readings don't quite make sense.

The gas from the lambda boss on S2 might well cook the alternator, or the alternator might just have failed anyway.

You can check that the charge warning light is working properly - when you turn on the ignition but do not start the engine. The charge warning light should be lit. Now start the engine. The light should go out. If it never lights then the control circuit is broken or the regulator pack has broken. If the light comes on but doesn't go off when the engine is running then the alternator is bust.

Cheers,
Robin

It is wired up the right way round?

________

If the lambda sensor starts giving weird readings the MIL light should come on, Strange it hasn't already, wonder if because it is reading way out the ECU is ignoring it and has gone into open loop. Off to check the rover manual.

Edit: To check your O2 sensor looks like you will need to beg, borrow or steel a code reader. You are looking for codes in the range P0131 to P0135 for the Pre Cat sensor itself. As I thought if the pre cat sensor fails the ECU goes open loop using a fixed O2 value but should still illuminate the MIL light.
If you have a volt meter you could try reading the voltages from the back of the plug, think the signal wires are green/yellow and GN which is green/something (can't remember what n stands for). This is from the engine side of the plug (sensor side all the wires will be white IIRC). You are looking for between it switching in the range of 0,7 and 1v.

Given that the MIL has not come on and the engine idles and runs properly I would strongly suspect the lambda sensor is OK now that it's reseated in the exhaust pipe.

Intermittent charging fault with the charge light coming on sounds like regulator pack or alternator drive belt really loose.

Cheers,
Robin

________

________

There are generic sensors available from motor factors, etc.

Considering the hassle to remove downpipe, helicoil, etc., I might be inclined to buy the standard Rover/Lotus part.

Cheers,
Robin

robin wrote:There are generic sensors available from motor factors, etc.

Considering the hassle to remove downpipe, helicoil, etc., I might be inclined to buy the standard Rover/Lotus part.

Cheers,
Robin

..treat the old girl scott