S1 - fuel pump not (always) priming

S1 - fuel pump not (always) priming

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Discussion

Fabio81

Original Poster:

23 posts

109 months

Wednesday 2nd November 2016
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Hi everyone, so finally i got my Lotus Elise! (see thread Cheap S1 with wheels issue - need your opinion!)
The car is not perfect aesthetically but it is in good working order and it cost me less than the average S1 Elise here in Italy. (p.s. forget £8000-9000, here they cost at least double that).
Anyways, I found that when I have less than 20 liters in the fuel tank, the fuel pump won't prime during left hand bends, so the engine tends to cut off.
Now: is it a case of "they all do that, sir" or do I need to get something sorted?
Thanks

spiralp

143 posts

260 months

Friday 4th November 2016
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Fabio,

It is not uncommon for the S1 fuel pump to start to fail. Symptoms are that it overheats when it has to work hard, such as when the fuel level gets low, and it then cuts out. You can run with it like this by keeping the tank full, but the best fix is to replace the pump. There are a number of alternatives from Elise Parts, Elise Shop, etc, but I have fitted a Spitfire Engineering pump to mine. At the same time I have replaced the old tank with a larger ProAlloy 48 ltr tank, but you could just refurb your existing tank. Replacing the pump involves removing the tank, so it is not cheap.

Spiralp