Early Elise maintenance issues?

[SonicHedgeHog]

Due to it being our third car any Elise we buy will do relative few miles. Because this is true for a lot of Elise owners our car will have low mileage for its age. With this in mind is there anything that is regularly starting to crop up on early S2 cars? I'm trying to balance purchase price with maintenance costs and if there are age-related issues starting to appear then I would rather spend the maintenance money on a newer car.

Thanks

[Captain Muppet]

I've got a 1997 S1 and there are no specific age related problems with it. Things wear out with mileage, but the only thing I have an issue with that is age dependant is the window seals on the top of the door, which aren't a problem on S2s anyway.

[kambites]

The cam belt interval is four years, which I suppose will add up to a chunk of servicing cost if you don't use the car much. I can't think of much else that's specifically age related, though, other than the usual perishable rubber bits that every car has.

[CocoUK]

Hopefully somebody with more knowledge than myself can comment on the condition of the suspension components at ten years +40k miles, may be nearing the stage where a refreshment would be quite beneficial.

[LotusEater666]

Gaskets on K-series engines, 2 went on mine.

[Skaffen]

I'd check the upper wishbone mounting points at the front (especially the foremost ones) - a few cars are getting corrosion cropping up there (perhaps due to bits of rust coming off the castor shims, bobbins or wishbones and getting stuck to the aluminium with the muck/moisture you often get there leading to galvanic corrosion happening). A bit of pitting isn't uncommon (probably more so on cars which do get winter use), but if it gets bad enough to reach the point of weakening the mount point then it's an expensive fix! Worth keeping a check on the area and keeping it clean (and maybe using ACF-50 once in a while). Suspension refreshes are increasingly common on earlier cars I think (often painting or powder coating the wishbones as part of that).

[SonicHedgeHog]

Thanks chaps. That tallies with my research. One less thing to think about.

[Nightmare]

I've been the only owner of my S2 since 2001, and done 77,000 miles in it - think it was the second one off the production line or close......it's been used in all conditions and been on track a fair bit (though not for a few years)

As I now should sell it to make space for the evora I've been going through paperwork and seeing what I've done over the years.....conclusions thus far

1. It is the cheapest car I have ever run by miles.....take mpg into account and its an amazingly efficient thing to own....and this includes the hgf.....
2. Things wot have been replaced over time
Tyres. 5 full sets
Discs. 2 sets
Pads 4 sets
Cam angle sensor
Head gasket failed so it went to DvA power who both reshaped the head so it will never happen again, and upgraded the throttle body, slightly big in Hector's and slightly more aggressive cam. (Still only £2k which wasn't bad)
Radiator - been replaced with full aluminium unit by Sinclaires - think that went at about 60k miles
Geo has been done 5 times
Shocks - 1 set
Battery - 3
Front number plate - 5 (!!!)
Windscreen wiper blade - Christ knows...lots and its still average at best

And aside from normal servicing, that's it,....which over 12 years I think is pretty good all things considered

Night

[Ireland]

Front wheel bearings are another weak point.

They are out of a Montego.

[timbo999]

Bit like nightmare, I've had my S2 from new in May 2001, so I guess its early as well - in general its been bomb proof but I've only done 34,000 miles but have done 5 to 10 track days every year. I've had:

On 3rd set of tyres
2nd set of discs and 4th set of pads
2nd battery
2nd alternator - this failed but I managed to get all the way from Rugby to Paul Matty's on the charge in the battery! So it didn't let me down.
2nd Multi Function Relay (I think its called!) this stopped working when trying to start the car when hot (in France!) - as long as I let the car cool down it was ok, so again it didn't let me down.

As someone said - by far the cheapest car I've ever owned...

[timbo999]

Another quick point on HGFs - a wise man (Miles Wilkins) once told me that the reason the gaskets go can be that folk come off track (esp) with a red hot motor and just turn it off... since the car has (his words) 'a Metro water pump and the longest top hose in the world' this promotes failure.

The trick is to leave it running for a few minutes until it cycles through the 103 degree turn on point for the fan and then off again...

My gets stinky hot (esp at Goodwood where its flat for half of each lap) and I've never had an HGF (oh, no what have I said...).

[bencollins]

Rusty tanks: when to replace? I suppose an aluminium tank is an inevitable upgrade at some point what are the options?
when does rusty on the outside transmogrify into rusty on the inside? mine was unused for 18 months prior to purchase.
Tank looked like this today, Im sure theres a wiki i can check on this, is a swap dooable by a half competent mechanic with only 420mm working height space?
Im planning on getting a mini scissor jack for £200 odd in autumn and building some tyre plank tracks beside for this kind of underworld job, so would like to delay the tank and just drive the thing before doing the dreaded "over winter refresh". Or should I get on with it?
Not had any car for six years so my garage is rubbish.

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Edited by bencollins on Thursday 9th May 20:23

[Scuffers]

you can do it on stands, just need some reasonable height...

really is a two person job, and one of you needs small hands to disconnect the pipes and loom though the access panel.

filler pipe is usually the hardest part with the rear clam on.

[Mr E]

Suspension at about 50k (as discussed). I've just done mine.
Heater matrix can fail I think.

[pthelazyjourno]

Ireland said:

Front wheel bearings are another weak point.

They are out of a Montego.

Always thought it was a Maestro.

There's at least one person on SELOC who claims 150,000 miles from his, Christ knows how!

Mine have all been replaced twice. As have the ball joints. As have the dampers.

[wooooody]

pthelazyjourno said:

Always thought it was a Maestro.

There's at least one person on SELOC who claims 150,000 miles from his, Christ knows how!

Mine have all been replaced twice. As have the ball joints. As have the dampers.

It's both. And metro and MGF and TF.

[bencollins]

Scuffers said:

you can do it on stands, just need some reasonable height...
really is a two person job, and one of you needs small hands to disconnect the pipes and loom though the access panel.
filler pipe is usually the hardest part with the rear clam on.

thanks for the info.
on the pro alloy website they describe a "foam filled area", after googling, apparently that is cubes of foam similar to this, http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p1055/80-X-80-X-...
Ive seen ally end collector tank prices ranging from £475 to £810

Maestro / Montego = Escort / Orion etc = same

Edited by bencollins on Saturday 11th May 15:40

[bencollins]

jeez caught the thread killing disease.
Anyhoo.....
Have made the mental commitment to buying a new S1 tank (between £450-£900) with thursday's pay cheque,
so............ what else should I be changing at the same time.
I will be keeping this car for life so money is no object and want to do it once and properly, though i object to spending money because I dont have any
Sender unit, fuel pump, fuel nozzle, down pipe, rusty connectors, tired springs?
Which should I change at the same time?
What refurb should I be doing on the pump unit?



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then hopefully wont need any more upgrades for a while [url]

[Scuffers]

WARNING!

DO NOT fit a 'motorsport' style filler cap without adding a pressure vent to the system.

the std filler cap has a vent in it to release excess pressure in the fuel tank, without this, if you have any issues with the charcoal canister or it's associated systems, the tank can over-pressurise and cause all kinds of issues, right up there with setting the car on fire (like I did 2 weeks ago for another fuel related reason!)

No, the roll-over valve is not there for this job, that's there to let air into the tank when the fuel is being used, but not let fuel out if the car flips.

340R's had one as standard (as they came with Motorsport style caps):

[bencollins]

Thanks, fire sounds perturbing.
That looks like a lot of extra gubbins I will never need as my needs are somewhat lower key, probably just a good clean up then of the existing pipes, though obviously dont want to leave rusty bits to contaminate the shiney (very expensive) new bits.
Quite like the original cap aesthetics too, though havent worked out how to lock the thing yet.
Will change main fuel filter obviously and is there some kind of filter on the sender unit? and pump? might as well get new ones perhaps.
here is the nicked diagram:

Edited by bencollins on Monday 20th May 20:18