K series Elise won't start...

[NeilH]

I am in need of your help ladies and gentlemen....

We have a '97 k series S1 elise, which has thrown a strop. Not that I really blame it ...... My wife could not be bothered to put the full cover on it last week, and we, like most, of the UK had torrential rain over the weekend. When I got home tonight, I find the car in the middle of tbe drive blocking everything else and my wife says that there is a problem with it. Apparently she started the car, and it was not running right, left it running (??? No idea dont ask) but not on all cylinders. She then decided to move it (womens logic at work here - again don't ask) and then turned it off.

Now it won't start at all ! Spins over no problem. I have checked all the plugs... bone dry. So a fuel issue right. Well I popped the fuel line off and when the ignition is switched on, fuel appears (should this pump out with force ?)

I have spent ages on the web tonight, and understand there is a fuel pump related fuse near the boot on the
LH side.. but from my investigations, it would appear Stevie Wonder did tbe wiring at some point, because it looks nothing like the pictures of other peoples I found on the web.. and I could not find a fuse of any description in that general area.

I know the rain has got somewhere it should not, but can anyone suggest where I should be looking , and what I should be looking for to figure out why fuel is not reaching the cylinders.

Thanks for reading......

[pthelazyjourno]

Have a look at my issue on SELOC - I initially thought it was fueling related:

http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=374234

My car is later than yours, but there's plenty of advice and things to try / pics from earlier cars on that thread.

Cheers
Philip

[DCor]

Hi Neil,
Sounds similar to the symptoms my 2000 S1 showed about six months ago, again after sitting in heavy rain for a day.
After much head scratching, trial & error and finally speaking to my resident expert we ended up changing the distributor cap and rotor arm and normal service was restored. Don't know if this was unique to mine but apparently any wear & tear here can be exacerbated by extremeely damp conditions !!
Might be worth having a look at this ?
Best of luck.
David

[NeilH]

Thanks David,

Damp in the dizzy and leads was my first thought to be honest, but the total lack of fuel on the spark plugs has thrown me somewhat .. perhaps I am chasing a ghost and should pull the cap off and start with some basics !

[DCor]

No problem Neil, hope she's back in the land of the living soon!
Whilst I was investigating mine I also had the fuel line off and was surprised just how little fuel appeared to be getting to through. Obviously it is enough though !!
Incidentally, just looked at your profile - fantastic collection in your garage, sir. My eyes were especially drawn to the Jalpa - I've had a thing about the Silhouette since reading a CAR adventure as a boy many years ago!!!

[AllyBee]

DCor said:

Hi Neil,
Sounds similar to the symptoms my 2000 S1 showed about six months ago, again after sitting in heavy rain for a day.
After much head scratching, trial & error and finally speaking to my resident expert we ended up changing the distributor cap and rotor arm and normal service was restored. Don't know if this was unique to mine but apparently any wear & tear here can be exacerbated by extremeely damp conditions !!
Might be worth having a look at this ?
Best of luck.
David

I also had this very same problem back in the summer. new dizzy and rotor sorted it for me as well.

[NeilH]

Sorted

Thanks for all your suggestions, I went back to basics and checked the Dizzy cap - damp as you would expect given it was out in the rain. 5 mins clean up and dry and a touch of WD40 and she was back up and running - The dry plugs was obviously a total red herring

DCor said:

No problem Neil, hope she's back in the land of the living soon!
Whilst I was investigating mine I also had the fuel line off and was surprised just how little fuel appeared to be getting to through. Obviously it is enough though !!
Incidentally, just looked at your profile - fantastic collection in your garage, sir. My eyes were especially drawn to the Jalpa - I've had a thing about the Silhouette since reading a CAR adventure as a boy many years ago!!!

Thanks you for your kind comments. The Jalpa is a rolling project since I "rescued" her earlier in the year. Not to everyones taste, she really comes into her own above 4000rpm when the sound of 4 x twin webber carbs is just fabulous.