A Couple of Newbie questions...

[Drac01971]

Morning Folks,

Having just joined a couple of weeks ago I thought it was about time I put your collective experience to the test..

I'm very new to the Lotus scene, having bought my first Elise on Dec 29th. It's a Titanium Silver, 111S, S2 Elise with an '04 plate (Rover VVT)

I've done a little digging already but can't find anything to answer my questions so hopefully I'll get some good pointers and advice.

1. The cabin heater seems to blow hot the whole time despite being turned to hot or cold. Is this likely to be a simple fix or is it off to see the garage?

2. The accelerator is very heavy (ie. it takes a lot of pressure to move it) over the first few mm of motion (over the first 10mm, ~1k to 1.5k revs) once past this point it seems fine, and it returns no problem to 8/900 revs when released so doesn't appear to be sticking. The two other cars I tried didn't have this feature.

3. It has a Blaupunkt CD player, factory standard afaik, is there any easy way to add a line in from an iPod ? Or am Ibetter off just replacing it with a newer player?

4. I don't know whether this is a problem or just my own inexperience with the car, but.....
At speeds of 70~80mph the car starts to feel very skitish, with a lot of shake coming through the steering wheel, I would have expected the car to hunker down more and grip the road at higher speeds not to feel lighter and jumpy. Not sure what tyres are on the car (I'll find this out and update the post) or if the pressures are correct, again any advice would be well recieved. Once I update the tyre information I guess you'll be able to give me a better idea.
Do you think it would be worth getting an experienced Lotus petrol head or mechanic to take a look?

5. The Alloys have seen better days and it might be worth getting them tidied up a bit, does anyone have any current advice for powder coating etc in the Edinburgh area.

6. As I am quite inexperienced with cars of this type is it worth visiting KH and getting some advanced training or even possibly an A. Walsh day ?
I'm not really interested in tracking the car as such but I feel I should know a little more about what it can and can't do and what to do if it does overstep the mark.....
Any suggestions where, when, who etc.


Thanks folks, I look forward to your advice.


Rdgs

D.

[Shug]

Morning Folks,

Having just joined a couple of weeks ago I thought it was about time I put your collective experience to the test..

I'm very new to the Lotus scene, having bought my first Elise on Dec 29th. It's a Titanium Silver, 111S, S2 Elise with an '04 plate (Rover VVT)

I've done a little digging already but can't find anything to answer my questions so hopefully I'll get some good pointers and advice.

1. The cabin heater seems to blow hot the whole time despite being turned to hot or cold. Is this likely to be a simple fix or is it off to see the garage?

Could be a disconnected control arm - wait for an S2er to reply, but if it is, dead easy

2. The accelerator is very heavy (ie. it takes a lot of pressure to move it) over the first few mm of motion (over the first 10mm, ~1k to 1.5k revs) once past this point it seems fine, and it returns no problem to 8/900 revs when released so doesn't appear to be sticking. The two other cars I tried didn't have this feature.

Go to the engine and try to rotate the throttle body manually (with the engine off) If you don't know where it is, have someone press the pedal as you look at the engine and it all becomes clear. See fi there's anything obviously rubbing in the first bit of movement.

3. It has a Blaupunkt CD player, factory standard afaik, is there any easy way to add a line in from an iPod ? Or am Ibetter off just replacing it with a newer player?

Don't know the stereo, but if it's not got an Aux, you'll need to replace it. There are a variety of FM transmitters, but Andy never got them to work in his 111R.

4. I don't know whether this is a problem or just my own inexperience with the car, but.....
At speeds of 70~80mph the car starts to feel very skitish, with a lot of shake coming through the steering wheel, I would have expected the car to hunker down more and grip the road at higher speeds not to feel lighter and jumpy. Not sure what tyres are on the car (I'll find this out and update the post) or if the pressures are correct, again any advice would be well recieved. Once I update the tyre information I guess you'll be able to give me a better idea.
Do you think it would be worth getting an experienced Lotus petrol head or mechanic to take a look?

They are quite light feeling at higher speeds - although always worth someone having a try or a look if you're concerned. When you say 'shake' could it be an unbalanced tyre or something? Let someone experienced have a go, to be sure.

5. The Alloys have seen better days and it might be worth getting them tidied up a bit, does anyone have any current advice for powder coating etc in the Edinburgh area.

Sure there is a thread about this open at the moment (might be Glasgow though)

6. As I am quite inexperienced with cars of this type is it worth visiting KH and getting some advanced training or even possibly an A. Walsh day ?
I'm not really interested in tracking the car as such but I feel I should know a little more about what it can and can't do and what to do if it does overstep the mark.....

Perfect first question - training is always a good idea with these things. They are basically much better than the majority of their drivers, but if you learn what it does in a scary situation, before that scary situation, it can only be a good thing.

Thanks folks, I look forward to your advice.


Rdgs

D.

Hope that helps a bit

[j2 lot]

. It has a Blaupunkt CD player, factory standard afaik, is there any easy way to add a line in from an iPod ? Or am Ibetter off just replacing it with a newer player?

I have just got a lead which plugs into the back of the Blaupunkt unit. Was £14.99 delivered, easy to fit & it charges i-pod when connected, or you can got the whole hog and get one which dispalys i-pod track details on the head unit for £70 ish. Haven't got details to hand but I got the link from a post on here, so sure someone will come up with the details, if not I will post up the link when I get in tonight. Keith.

[cla5h]

Not much help, but I also have the heater issue - constant temp.

I think there might be a cable in the passenger-side front access panel, under the washer bottle - it has perhaps become disconnected, or got stuck. I've never got round to looking for mine.

[Drac01971]

4. I don't know whether this is a problem or just my own inexperience with the car, but.....
At speeds of 70~80mph the car starts to feel very skitish, with a lot of shake coming through the steering wheel, I would have expected the car to hunker down more and grip the road at higher speeds not to feel lighter and jumpy. Not sure what tyres are on the car (I'll find this out and update the post) or if the pressures are correct, again any advice would be well recieved. Once I update the tyre information I guess you'll be able to give me a better idea.
Do you think it would be worth getting an experienced Lotus petrol head or mechanic to take a look?


Rdgs

D.

The Tyres are Bridgestone Potenza Re040. ?? Don't know if that means anything to anyone.....

Thanks again.

D.

[bertieduff]

Potenza's are the original fit, but lots of prople reckon on others being superior- try a search on here for info .

It's all down to your driving style, conditions and personal preference at the end of the day. (If you start a tyre debate you may be here for some time )
Personally I find the potenzas fine and quite like them in the wet- got a set just now, and on an even half reasonable surface the car feels fine and stable at higher speeds.
You will find the car is very sensitive to pressures- can feel like a totally different beastie depending on what you're running at. Most people will tell you the book pressures are a little on the high side btw.
Worth bearing in mind that you will feel far more through the wheel than most cars- some surfaces made me think I had a problem until I got used to it- but if it's consistent have it checked out.

(Oh, and I'm no expert..sure someone will be along shortly to advise)

[robin]

The current non-R tyre of choice is the Advan Neova (I think that's what they're called); they're really good in most conditions, including on track - you will need some confidence in the wet though as they will tend to lock a bit until you get them warmer. The standard bridgestone RE040 are actually pretty good too, though, so no point switching until you need to; performance is pretty similar (I would say the Advan is better on a dry track, but otherwise not much in it). Check pressures are as per owners manual.

The vibration would make me look at getting the wheels balanced and I would also be checking all the balljoints, wheel bearings and wishbone bushes.

A geo check never hurts either - CLCM near Murray Motors will be able to balance the wheels and tell you which way all the wheels are pointing - you may as well get front and perhaps rear toe set at the same time, and while the car is up on the ramps check all the wishbones for any dinks or bends. I don't have number to hand but no doubt google does. One thing, though - you'll probably want to do the geo setup with you sitting in the seat and holding the wheel dead ahead - Willie seems to often get the wheel slightly off center when using the wheel-and-brake clamp thing.

The stuck on hot thing on an '04 is probably a stuck control flap (assuming you don't have aircon). I am 99% sure that they are solenoid operated in the later cars, i.e. yours, so chances are it's an electrical problem rather than anything really broken - if you remove the front access panels you can see the mechanism roughly in the middle - you'll be able to tell if it's cable or solenoid operated - get someone to operate the control from hot to cold and back again (ignition on if solenoid operated) and see if you can see anything moving. If it's solenoid driven you'll want to check all the fuses too (your owners manual might even tell you which fuse to look at!).

Book a day with Andrew Walsh - you won't regret it - one thing you will learn is how light a touch you need on the wheel at speed - the harder you hold the wheel, the more likely you are to get into trouble!

Cheers,
Robin

[Drac01971]

. It has a Blaupunkt CD player, factory standard afaik, is there any easy way to add a line in from an iPod ? Or am Ibetter off just replacing it with a newer player?

I have just got a lead which plugs into the back of the Blaupunkt unit. Was £14.99 delivered, easy to fit & it charges i-pod when connected, or you can got the whole hog and get one which dispalys i-pod track details on the head unit for £70 ish. Haven't got details to hand but I got the link from a post on here, so sure someone will come up with the details, if not I will post up the link when I get in tonight. Keith.

Cheers for that, I found the lead you mentioned and have ordered one.

How did you route the cable from the back of the stereo head back into the cabin?

Cheers.

D.

[j2 lot]

'Unplug' the head unit from the dash and take of the speakers panel which runs from the dash to the sill - you should then just have enough space get hands in to run the cable onto the shelf below the dash, the cable will go through above the plastic blanking plate at the end of the shelf.
Although its for a federal Elise style dash the attached link might be useful :
http://www.quinndunki.com/lotus/ipod/

[meatball]

'Unplug' the head unit from the dash and take of the speakers panel which runs from the dash to the sill - you should then just have enough space get hands in to run the cable onto the shelf below the dash, the cable will go through above the plastic blanking plate at the end of the shelf.
Although its for a federal Elise style dash the attached link might be useful :
http://www.quinndunki.com/lotus/ipod/

Thats's what I've done, on both my cars, although I did buy an alpine both times because the blaupunkt ones sound p1sh!

[Drac01971]

Well thats my first project completed....

The Blaupunkt to 3.5mm cable arrived from ebay today and rather than wait for a nice day I couldn't resist and have been lying in the rain with the wrong tools and a tourch. The up shot is I can now listen to my ipod in the car, I only misplaced one washer in the process .....

It wasn't quite as straight forward as I thought 'cos my car isn't quite like the one in the link but once I figured out I need to remove the speaker screws as well it was a five minute job and nothing broken or scratched.

Next is getting the Geo sorted and making sure the tyres, tracking etc are sorted.


Thanks for all the help so far.....

D.