Elise '98. - electrical issue. Fuel ok, no spark
Discussion
Hi All. Greetings from Denmark.
Happy owner of Elise - currently suffering lack of driving time due to electrical issues.
Background: Few week ago car suddenly stopped; no revs, engine able to crank, but no life. Called wife and towed the car home. Suspected the fuel pump at first, but turned to Spent a lot of hours to find the cause, primarily to learn instead of go to the garage. Checked various steps ( posted by scruffs). Reason was a faulty +12v supply in the small MFRU plug to the fuel relay. Mood gauge instantly went up. Unfortunately it only lasted for about 5 miles. Car stopped with the exact same symptoms. Checked all previous findings and learned that fuel pump primes - checked the low pressure fuel return that easily fills a container. So fuel flows. No spark on plugs so I suspect lack of power from ECU to coil. Have checked rotor etc.
All input is highly appreciated.
Happy owner of Elise - currently suffering lack of driving time due to electrical issues.
Background: Few week ago car suddenly stopped; no revs, engine able to crank, but no life. Called wife and towed the car home. Suspected the fuel pump at first, but turned to Spent a lot of hours to find the cause, primarily to learn instead of go to the garage. Checked various steps ( posted by scruffs). Reason was a faulty +12v supply in the small MFRU plug to the fuel relay. Mood gauge instantly went up. Unfortunately it only lasted for about 5 miles. Car stopped with the exact same symptoms. Checked all previous findings and learned that fuel pump primes - checked the low pressure fuel return that easily fills a container. So fuel flows. No spark on plugs so I suspect lack of power from ECU to coil. Have checked rotor etc.
All input is highly appreciated.
hey.. just had the same problem and symptoms… I hear the pump prime, wont start no spark, changed the crank sensor .. nothing... now looking for a lotus compatible error reading tool before I end up changing all the electrics .. I guess you also checked the emergency cut off switch in the engine bay, yep me to still nothing..
cheers
Matthew
98 S1
cheers
Matthew
98 S1
goodwoodweirdo said:
Hi Kenneth,
Good luck and of course check all the fuses, loose wires etc.... next for me is to check the 12v to teh coil but it looks fun to get too...
cheers
On my 97 Elise the rear bulkhead is removable - whip out a few bolts and the access to the rear of the engine is amazing.Good luck and of course check all the fuses, loose wires etc.... next for me is to check the 12v to teh coil but it looks fun to get too...
cheers
Obviously I didn't spot this until after mucking about for ever with a moody coil HT lead.
Later cars are different, so I've no idea how useful this is.
Update:
Today I removed and cleaned the coil and the contact points - well needed. Also checked the crank sensor that has a reputation for becoming loose. All additional,harnesses were cleaned.
Changed rotor and cleaned contacts in distributor cap - so far no luck.
I'll order a new coil and probably also a new crank sensor, though I don't suspect this for being the reason. We used a meter on the wires to the coil and read 12v on the brown/pink in ignition pos 2, and the dropped to 9 v when cranking.
The black/white read 12 v when cranking. I see this as the ECU is providing power/ signal to the coil - pointing at the coil to be the cause - hopefully.
Does it make sense?
Today I removed and cleaned the coil and the contact points - well needed. Also checked the crank sensor that has a reputation for becoming loose. All additional,harnesses were cleaned.
Changed rotor and cleaned contacts in distributor cap - so far no luck.
I'll order a new coil and probably also a new crank sensor, though I don't suspect this for being the reason. We used a meter on the wires to the coil and read 12v on the brown/pink in ignition pos 2, and the dropped to 9 v when cranking.
The black/white read 12 v when cranking. I see this as the ECU is providing power/ signal to the coil - pointing at the coil to be the cause - hopefully.
Does it make sense?
Yesterday I ordered a "survival kit" consisting of new coil, crankshaft,sensor, also a distributor cap and rotor, though those were changed recently.
Mounted the new coil - engine started immediately. One happy Elise owner.
Thanks for all your comments and support. Wish you luck and don' t be a stranger on any development.
Cheers
Mounted the new coil - engine started immediately. One happy Elise owner.
Thanks for all your comments and support. Wish you luck and don' t be a stranger on any development.
Cheers
Status: bad news - took the car to the track on Tuesday evening. First two hours went perfectly. Nice weather, low traffic - just great. Then on the the last lap something strange happend. Suddenlynthe engine lost some momentum, and started to sound like a lawn mover, or a VW beatle :-)
It passed quickly, and seemed to be a sporadic issue. But on my way home, it happend again for some 10 miles, and then disappeared again, only to occour later that evening.
I have changed the crank shaft sensor, coil, distributor cap and rotor. Sparkplugs and cords are rather new, so I'm running out of ideas......my nightmare scenario is a partial stuck valve...........
Suggestions are welcome.....
It passed quickly, and seemed to be a sporadic issue. But on my way home, it happend again for some 10 miles, and then disappeared again, only to occour later that evening.
I have changed the crank shaft sensor, coil, distributor cap and rotor. Sparkplugs and cords are rather new, so I'm running out of ideas......my nightmare scenario is a partial stuck valve...........
Suggestions are welcome.....
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