One of those "What to look out for" threads for a 111s
Discussion
Suspension wears on all Elises. Typically, by around 40-50k miles it'll need a refresh (obviously this varies depending on how it's been used) which will be a significant bill to get it all done.
Check the heater fans work on all speeds. The resistor packs often fail and whilst the parts are cheap it's an arse to put right.
Obviously the head gasket can go, but it's a cheapish fix.
The cam belt is due every FOUR years. Lotus revised the schedule down from six to four after the car was released.
Don't worry too much about noisy VVC mechanisms. No-one seems to know what causes it but it doesn't appear to cause any issues. Mine has been rattling like buggery for the seven years I've had the car and hasn't caused any problems.
Otherwise, expect niggles but probably nothing too bad. The paint tends to bubble, especially around the boot opening. Most cars will be stone chipped to buggery but there's not much you can do about that. Alternators can fail because the voltage regulation circuitry is too close to the exhaust manifold. Radiators can blow their end-caps. Roof tensioner cables can fail and can be a pain to replace depending on how generous the stitching is.
Check the heater fans work on all speeds. The resistor packs often fail and whilst the parts are cheap it's an arse to put right.
Obviously the head gasket can go, but it's a cheapish fix.
The cam belt is due every FOUR years. Lotus revised the schedule down from six to four after the car was released.
Don't worry too much about noisy VVC mechanisms. No-one seems to know what causes it but it doesn't appear to cause any issues. Mine has been rattling like buggery for the seven years I've had the car and hasn't caused any problems.
Otherwise, expect niggles but probably nothing too bad. The paint tends to bubble, especially around the boot opening. Most cars will be stone chipped to buggery but there's not much you can do about that. Alternators can fail because the voltage regulation circuitry is too close to the exhaust manifold. Radiators can blow their end-caps. Roof tensioner cables can fail and can be a pain to replace depending on how generous the stitching is.
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 10th June 20:55
To add to what was said above...
Check the front upper wishbone mount points (the forward-most ones) for signs of corrosion on the aluminium box section. You can see the area in question in the photos on the link below (although it's rare for any to fail in the manner shown, but if you've got bad pitting and pinholes the area could be getting weak and repairs are non-trivial):
http://www.lakesideengineering.com/Elise%20Chassis...
Doesn't matter so much if the wishbones themselves are rusty on the surface - surface rust is normal (lotus use a crap coating from the factory - have seen photos of relatively new low mileage cars which have suffered!), although a lot of owners have the wishbones either powder coated or painted in por-15 when they do a suspension refresh.
Check the front upper wishbone mount points (the forward-most ones) for signs of corrosion on the aluminium box section. You can see the area in question in the photos on the link below (although it's rare for any to fail in the manner shown, but if you've got bad pitting and pinholes the area could be getting weak and repairs are non-trivial):
http://www.lakesideengineering.com/Elise%20Chassis...
Doesn't matter so much if the wishbones themselves are rusty on the surface - surface rust is normal (lotus use a crap coating from the factory - have seen photos of relatively new low mileage cars which have suffered!), although a lot of owners have the wishbones either powder coated or painted in por-15 when they do a suspension refresh.
kambites said:
The galvanic corrosion problem appears to have been caused by people using uncoated mild steel spacer washers (steel and aluminium don't play nicely together).
Are you sure that's the case? The bobbins which lotus bond in are mild steel but are isolated from the ali by adhesive used to bond them in and the shims will only be in contact with the bobbins.I had a small amount of pitting and a pinhole develop on one side on my S1 111S and I'm pretty sure nothing had been changed in that area from how it left the factory (it did have an upgrade to S2 suspension earlier in its life but the garage that did the upgrade wouldn't have touched that mounting point) - the other side was absolutely clean of any corrosion in that area.
There's been lots of discussion on SELOC about the issue but nothing conclusive about the cause that I can recall (Lakeside have a theory as can be seen from the link). Dirt, salt and damp in that area will be a factor of course but not all cars subjected to that seem to suffer (and as I mention above on my car it only happened on one side and not the other!).
Luckily it seems to have had a very easy life, so not to worried about rust, but will get on hands and knees to look at all wishbones and mounting points....
No mention of cambelt in listing, so will ask about that, concenrns me a little....
Are they suitabel to leave outside in rain ( with hard top on). It won't be driven, but I haven't got a garage! (Worried about Rain getting into engine bay)
No mention of cambelt in listing, so will ask about that, concenrns me a little....
Are they suitabel to leave outside in rain ( with hard top on). It won't be driven, but I haven't got a garage! (Worried about Rain getting into engine bay)
Skaffen said:
Are you sure that's the case? The bobbins which lotus bond in are mild steel but are isolated from the ali by adhesive used to bond them in and the shims will only be in contact with the bobbins.
I thought the Lotus ones were anodised or coated in something? Either way the two metals need to be electrically isolated from each other. I'm absolutely certain that if you let mild steel come into contact with aluminium and water, the aluminium will corrode, but I'm not 100% sure that's what happens in this case.
Edited by kambites on Wednesday 11th June 08:42
lukefreeman said:
Are they suitabel to leave outside in rain ( with hard top on). It won't be driven, but I haven't got a garage! (Worried about Rain getting into engine bay)
In my experience, the hard top is no more waterproof than the soft-top - if either leaks it will be around the seals which are largely the same on both. Neither should leak if the windows are adjusted right. I have a hardtop but have only ever used it once before deciding it was pointless. The engine bay seems fine, with the slight proviso that if the little drainage holes in the boot/engine bay lip get bocked the boot can flood.
kambites said:
I thought the Lotus ones were anodised or coated in something?
I'm absolutely certain that if you let mild steel come into contact with aluminium and water, the aluminium will corrode, but I'm not 100% sure that's what happens in this case.
I think the are coated but the coating often doesn't last however the design doesn't rely on the coating to provide the isolation - the glue used to bond them in isolates the ali from the steel so they're not in contact. There's skepticism that the case which Lakeside show is as bad as it is because of corrosion, several opinions on SELOC were that there was a missing shim leading to pinch stress causing a lot of the damage. There's some photos of a car where someone's doing some work on cleaning the area in the long thread on SELOC and you can see the state of the bobbins and the surrounding area, but also the glue (orange on this car):I'm absolutely certain that if you let mild steel come into contact with aluminium and water, the aluminium will corrode, but I'm not 100% sure that's what happens in this case.
http://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php?tid=245485&...
The general advice seems to be it's a good idea to clean the area once in a while and use something like ACF-50 on it (especially if you have a car that's used through winter). It seems that moisture, dirt and salt in the area are a factor.
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