Newbie Lotus Owner

[rbgosling]

The RH track rod and track rod end separated nicely and I went to put on the gaiter - which did not fit !!

Steering gaiter from Lotusbits? I had exactly the same problem a couple of years ago, ended up getting some off eBay that fitted well for half the price. Someone else on here has exactly the same issue a month or so ago. The thread is around here somewhere…

[DavidOliver]

Everyone seems sold on using WD40 to lubricate and free up nuts ad bolts. Their marketing is impressive but it is not the right stuff for the job.
It is a Water Dispersant (hence WD). I use thread and nut de-ruster for loosening and 3-in-1 for light lubrication.

Dave the cog.

[malrig]

The RH track rod and track rod end separated nicely and I went to put on the gaiter - which did not fit !!

Steering gaiter from Lotusbits? I had exactly the same problem a couple of years ago, ended up getting some off eBay that fitted well for half the price. Someone else on here has exactly the same issue a month or so ago. The thread is around here somewhere…

That was me - I put it on the "alternative parts" thread under steering gaiters.

[malrig]

Everyone seems sold on using WD40 to lubricate and free up nuts ad bolts. Their marketing is impressive but it is not the right stuff for the job.
It is a Water Dispersant (hence WD). I use thread and nut de-ruster for loosening and 3-in-1 for light lubrication.

Dave the cog.

Wise words Dave - I have an update on this in part 2 (coming soon )

[malrig]

A couple of bits I forgot to include in the June/July progress :
I started on the dreaded electrics and managed to get the front and rear side lights working with a combination of replacing/fitting bulbs and cleaning contacts. Likewise the brake and reversing lights and hazards. Indicators required a new stalk from Lotusbits.
Front fog lights also then started working, but no rears. Also no headlights, but still a massive step forward from my starting point, which was pretty much no lights at all.
Otter switch replaced and fans now run whenever the ignition is on
Suspect a seized relay, but not sure. The fans used to come on when the otter switch was bypassed, hence me replacing it. One for another day if the problem persists.

[malrig]

So, here is part 2, which starts in November.
I took early retirement at thee end of October, so no excuses for lack of progress now.
However I wasn't looking forward to the continuing track rod end problem.
It really was the most stubborn seized thread I have ever come across. I had already tried heat as well btw.
After a chat with Tony at the Classic Car Show I was thinking I might have to resort to drilling it or maybe even an angle grinder

No real progress until a discussion with my wife (Gill) and her dad moved onto "what is penetrating oil ?" We explained, but
Gill googled it to better understand. Amongst other things, she found a classic car forum that suggested a 50:50 mix of ATF and Acetone as being the best for freeing seized nuts and bolts, followed by diesel, and then some other proprietary products and heating (multiple times if necessary). A couple of friends had already suggested diesel, but I really didn't expect it to make much difference, and we have no diesel cars near us, so I never tried it. However I found an old tub of ATF and some nail varnish remover and we gave it a go, applying the mix with a brush as recommended. I also wrapped the joint in clingfilm to reduce evaporation and keep the lubricant in contact. I then left it for about 40hrs, unwrapped and applied some more magic mix, then rewrapped for another few hours.

I genuinely could not believe it when the nut came loose

The problem wasn't fully solved though as the track rod end itself would now not unscrew from the track rod !
More of the magic mix will sort it I thought, but in the end it required the two opposing hammers move to finally free it.
New steering gaiters ordered and fitted a couple of days later along with the remaining top joint refurb.



Now all positive again I decided to have a go at the oil pressure gauge.
The fuel gauge was also unresponsive, but I suspected the sender on that.
Dash eased out and gauges tested suggesting both gauges are faulty (there's a separate post on this in the electrics section under oil pressure gauge).



A trip to Lotusbits for new gauges and anything else that comes to mind in the next few days.
I also took the opportunity to return the steering gaiters, which they refunded despite the fact that one was already cut, and I had bought them in April.
Dave at Lotusbits tested the gauges to confirm my diagnosis which was helpful. Apparently it's usually the senders that fail so he was quite surprised. I still suspected the fuel sender at this stage in any case, but at least I would know the gauge was good while fault finding.
Archie was also helpful at Lotusbits, and I came away with a collection of bits including instrument bulbs for the unlit gauges.



Oil pressure gauge working as expected, and confirms good oil pressure.
Fuel gauge also working - what a result - very happy .
I was finally confident enough to add more fuel in the knowledge that I wouldn't be removing the tank any time soon.
I even cleaned up the boot and put the carpets back in ! (they'd been on the roof all summer).



Now finally onto the dreaded front lights - I'll post that later as this is already getting a bit long.

Cheers All
And thanks again for your continuing advice.

[DavidOliver]

Next time you go behind the dashboard try removing the steering wheel, not by the centre nut but by removing the rubber protection over the wheel centre and spokes, it simply peels off, and removing the six allen headed screws. There is no need to break spline frictions and the wheel comes off (and goes on) dead easy.

Dave the cog

[rbgosling]

Next time you go behind the dashboard try removing the steering wheel, not by the centre nut but by removing the rubber protection over the wheel centre and spokes, it simply peels off, and removing the six allen headed screws. There is no need to break spline frictions and the wheel comes off (and goes on) dead easy.

Dave the cog

Careful not to strip the treads though, my wheel is now held with only 4 out of 6.

[DavidOliver]

Richard, certainly no need for a torque wrench (guage!)

Dave the cog

[malrig]

I will bear this advice in mind thanks guys - I'll have to go back eventually as the speedo illumination still doesn't work - my fault to be fair, as I didn't check the new (second hand) bulb before putting everything back together
At the moment I'm just happy that everything else works as it should

[DavidOliver]

Malcolm, if you are changing dial illumination bulbs I can highly recommend installing LCD Bulbs. You will probably have to dismantle first to see what size bulbs are required, there are several types used.

Dave the cog.

[malrig]

So here is the next stage taking us up to Christmas :

Light pods and headlights not working so where to start
Spent lots of time checking the wiring diagrams trying to understand how everything works, and realised that I could perhaps test the motors with a direct 12v connection.
This is actually quite easy - disconnect the 3-pin connector and pop the motor wires out through the big hole in the bottom of the light pod. The earth is the black wire (middle pin). The live is the red & green (RH pod) or red & slate (LH pod). 12v across these terminals should run the pods up and down continuously. And sure enough my motors seem to work fine .

So then, what to do next

Initially the motor control seemed quite complicated, but I finally worked out it's a bit like a light in your house with two switches. The headlamp switch in the cabin is one switch, and the motor position switches are the other one.
So :
1. With the headlamp switch off (or sidelights only), there should be power to the motor relay(s) in any position except when the pods are down.
2. With the headlamp switch on (full dipped), there should be power to the motor relay(s) in any position except when the pods are up.
3. The flash works on a similar principle - i.e. turn the lights on just long enough to move the pods off the down switch. They will then continue moving until the pods are down again if the dipped beam switch is off.


I appreciate there is slightly more to it than my simple diagram, but hopefully it helps to explain the way they work for somebody who is starting out on these and scratching their head.

I could hear the relay(s) when reconnecting the battery with the pods up, so knew there was power getting to the switching side, but a voltmeter on the power side showed no main power to the relay. At this point I had still not removed the pods and was hoping not to have to. I decided to make up 5 wires with spade connectors on each end to enable me to test different scenarios. This seemed like a great idea, but just served to confuse me even more as I could not get anything to work. I subsequently still think it was a good idea as it's helping me test other things :


After more head scratching, and a look at the big connector under the glovebox (all clean and dry), I finally decided to take the pods off for a better look. The hinge bolts were very tight/seized, hence my initial reluctance to take them off. They eventually came free after a couple of soaks with WD40 tbf (sorry Dave ). Removal of the pods would also enable me to check out the horn.
What I found was that my testing was somewhat flawed as I was testing the wrong things, and hence expecting the wrong results, and getting nowhere !
Here is the diagram of the relay positions which I took as gospel while testing, but I have since noted the real relay positions by hand !


This is how I discovered the error - I assumed there must be a bad connection(s) under the relay block, so did some investigation.


The two big purple wires should go to the rear connection of the RH headlamp motor relay, so something was clearly amiss.
The single purple wire should go to the front connection of the flash relay.
I then realised that, where I was expecting continuity, I was testing between things that clearly weren't even meant to be connected .
I'm not sure what made me finally check it, but I then discovered the headlamp motor fuse was blown as well .
I replaced that, and now having worked out which relay is which I could test things properly - all now seems to work as it should, including 12v to the headlights (both main and full beam).

But why did the fuse blow in the first place, and why did the pods and lights not work initially ?
You may remember that the headlamps were stuck in the up position when I go the car. I manually wound them down when I was thinking of going out for a test drive. They then came up when I was checking out the lights, but have not worked since, except when I manually connected them.
These are the problems I diagnosed :
1. Flash relay seized in the on position - this prevents the pods from going down.
2. Headlamp switch connection is poor in the dipped beam position - it works consistently when the headlights are disconnected, but is intermittent with the headlights reconnected and fitted back in the pods.
3. Motor overload when the pods reach full opening causing the fuse to blow.

Additionally to all the above, the pushrod/spring/pivot mechanism connecting the motor cranks to the pods seemed poorly set up (springs not seated properly etc).
So final stage before re-assembly was to disassemble, clean, re-assemble and re-set up the pod mechanisms.
My objective was to make the movement smoother, and to reduce the load on the motor by reducing the compression in the springs and minimising the length of the push rods to reduce the "over-lift" at full opening.
I also lubricated the pod hinges and got the rotation as free as possible. I still can't get over the way Lotus use rotation along a thread for the bonnet and pod hinges . I'm amazed it works at all !
Dismantling the pod mechanism meant I had to set up the pushrods to get the home position right, but that's fairly easy, and quite satisfying tbf. Well worth the effort to be sure everything is optimised.
A bit of advice here - there is backlash in the system, so don't forget the headlamps add weight. When you test without headlights the pods will sit higher than when they are in.
Result is a slightly low home position


So, just need to refit the bonnet and wait for a dry day to go out on the first test drive


Also, will need to do a bit more work on the dipped beam switch. I'm pretty sure I improved it by switching up and down multiple times (advice from Dave at Lotusbits that this might work if I'm lucky), but it's still not completely right. Through this process I realised that poor connections sometimes only show up under higher load (more current), but not when the load is small (lower current) e.g. when the switch is operating a relay. That's definitely true of my headlamp switch.
One of the rear fog lights now works as well as the fog light switch warning light - it seems the rear fogs will only work when the dipped beam is on. So only one rear fog light to fix and I will have a full set of working lights .

I'll re-adjust the pod position to be spot on flush when they're closed soon.

Some of you may be thinking I forgot the horn - fear not - I did test it before putting the pods back using the same principles as when I tested the light pods - direct feed to the horn itself proved that works ok. Then power to the relay block on the horn side proved that the connection from the relay block by the fuse box to the horn is sound, as I could manually operate the horn. The horn still doesn't work from the column switch, but at least I know the problem is in the cabin now, not in the light pod or front loom.


A final note - I'm pretty sure the crank on the RH pod motor is longer than the LH one, hence putting higher load on the motor, especially in the "overlift" phase, and probably contributed to the blown fuse. I'm wondering if this is because someone has fitted a motor from a non-Lotus car that is perhaps nearly the same ? Has anyone else experienced anything like this ? I know Dan said he used (or at least considered using) a TR7 pod motor.

Cheers All,

[DavidOliver]

When you install the pod lift fuses make sure the correct wattage is used. If over watted, and with the bonnet back in place possibly fouling the pod on closure, or overtightened pod pivot bolts, if the motor is impeded from going to fully closed the current keeps flowing and you can burn out the motor. Not an easy replacement on these earlier Excels.
While you have access to the motors, and as they can get the worst of rain and salt, it is not a big job to dismantle the motor to ensure the armature and bearings are free and regreased.
And if anyone finds the plastic cover plate in the car body under the motor is missing, it happens that the hole is the same size as a standard paint can lid, a bit of silicone and away you go. Stops water and salt.

Dave the cog

[malrig]

Malcolm, if you are changing dial illumination bulbs I can highly recommend installing LCD Bulbs. You will probably have to dismantle first to see what size bulbs are required, there are several types used.

Dave the cog.

I'm going to sick with standard ones for now thanks Dave - I like the level of illumination as it is.
I'll swap the faulty bulb next time I'm at Lotusbits.
Cheers,

[malrig]

Bonnet now back on with nice new bonnet strut - no more broom handle to hold the bonnet open .


This is the one I used. - slightly higher rated force than the original, but it works fine, and less than half the price of a custom made one.


Now just waiting for the roads to dry out.