S1 Clutch problem
Discussion
I know that there is a general problem with the clutch line expanding, but would like to find out if anyone can suggest a quick temporary fix.
My clutch will not disengage fully now, which makes it very hard to change gears. I know that I could take it to a dealer, but I am supposed to be going away this afternoon, and want to be able to leave the Elise for my wife when I'm away.
Is there any clutch adjustment possible, or anything that can be done to alleviate the problem for a short while?
Any suggestions gratefully accepted, thanks.
My clutch will not disengage fully now, which makes it very hard to change gears. I know that I could take it to a dealer, but I am supposed to be going away this afternoon, and want to be able to leave the Elise for my wife when I'm away.
Is there any clutch adjustment possible, or anything that can be done to alleviate the problem for a short while?
Any suggestions gratefully accepted, thanks.
northernboy said:
I know that there is a general problem with the clutch line expanding, but would like to find out if anyone can suggest a quick temporary fix.
My clutch will not disengage fully now, which makes it very hard to change gears. I know that I could take it to a dealer, but I am supposed to be going away this afternoon, and want to be able to leave the Elise for my wife when I'm away.
Is there any clutch adjustment possible, or anything that can be done to alleviate the problem for a short while?
Any suggestions gratefully accepted, thanks.
Have you got a red clutch hose? If you open the bonnet you'll see a red plastic tube just behind the top of the radiator. I don't know of any quick fixes to this.
If you don't have the red clutch hose it maybe that your linkage has got its self out of whack and might just need a bit of adjusting.
There is really no 100% quick fix. It also depends on the extent of the problem. Can you engage into gears 3,4 and 5. If so you can try and heat wrap the red hose which will slighty help. If you cannot engage into gears 3,4 or 5 then you will need to get the hose replaced.
On some cars only gears 1, 2 and reverse are affected. With such cars protecting the hose with heat wrap (although not 100% sure how owners have done this) will allow access to these gears albeit sometimes requiring a few attempts. Indeed if your car is one of these cars then you don't have to replace the clutch hose (although you will gain benefit from doing so) but simply use 1st gear then 3rd (i.e omitting 2ng gear if you can't select it) or rev the engine and pull away from standstill in 3rd gear (if access to 1st gear is not possible). As for reverse you will often be able to select but find that you can't get out of it. Soln here is to turn off the engine, put the gear back into to neutral and then turn back on the engine.
It depends if you want to spend £300ish to get it sorted taking into account hot weather in the UK is only present for a very small number of days in the year. Some owners just live with it.
>> Edited by Simon N on Wednesday 16th July 01:59
On some cars only gears 1, 2 and reverse are affected. With such cars protecting the hose with heat wrap (although not 100% sure how owners have done this) will allow access to these gears albeit sometimes requiring a few attempts. Indeed if your car is one of these cars then you don't have to replace the clutch hose (although you will gain benefit from doing so) but simply use 1st gear then 3rd (i.e omitting 2ng gear if you can't select it) or rev the engine and pull away from standstill in 3rd gear (if access to 1st gear is not possible). As for reverse you will often be able to select but find that you can't get out of it. Soln here is to turn off the engine, put the gear back into to neutral and then turn back on the engine.
It depends if you want to spend £300ish to get it sorted taking into account hot weather in the UK is only present for a very small number of days in the year. Some owners just live with it.
>> Edited by Simon N on Wednesday 16th July 01:59
This doesn't sound right. If the hose _is_ the problem then it will affect all gears, there is only one clutch after all. If you can get some gears and not others then suspect wear or alignment problems with the linkage.
If you cannot get any gear, or it goes in with a big clunk then just maybe the hose is the problem, but before forking out loads of notes just get the clutch bled and the pedal adjusted to give full travel.
Most cars can still be driven if the clutch is not quite disengaging properly, or even at all, although does require a bit of dexterity and mechanical sympathy.
AdrianR
If you cannot get any gear, or it goes in with a big clunk then just maybe the hose is the problem, but before forking out loads of notes just get the clutch bled and the pedal adjusted to give full travel.
Most cars can still be driven if the clutch is not quite disengaging properly, or even at all, although does require a bit of dexterity and mechanical sympathy.
AdrianR
Different gears are impacted to different extents by clutch drag, lower gears (1st, reverse) tend to be worse, it's like that in every car I've ever seen with clutch drag (which is what happens when your red hose goes soft and expands) . . .
however
You need to verify that the problem is not the gearbox/clutch slave cylinder mounting bracket, as on early cars these are too flexible and can bend or even break, leaving you with insufficient clutch travel.
The difference between the later brackets and the early brackets is massive if you watch them when someone presses the clutch pedal.
Getting the clutch line bled properly may also help, I've lost count of the number of cars which have clearly never had the clutch fluid changed, despite having the brakes changed (same reservoir supplies both), when you bleed them more often than not a big glob of contaminated fluid comes out along with a load of air. In fact I did another one like this tonight, and yes it's much better even with the red hose.
I'd take the car to someone who knows what they are doing, as opposed to a dealer . . .
Fd
however
You need to verify that the problem is not the gearbox/clutch slave cylinder mounting bracket, as on early cars these are too flexible and can bend or even break, leaving you with insufficient clutch travel.
The difference between the later brackets and the early brackets is massive if you watch them when someone presses the clutch pedal.
Getting the clutch line bled properly may also help, I've lost count of the number of cars which have clearly never had the clutch fluid changed, despite having the brakes changed (same reservoir supplies both), when you bleed them more often than not a big glob of contaminated fluid comes out along with a load of air. In fact I did another one like this tonight, and yes it's much better even with the red hose.
I'd take the car to someone who knows what they are doing, as opposed to a dealer . . .
Fd
Bled the clutch, didn't fix it.
I took the car up North, and left the wife the sensible saloon car (which meant leaving the MX bike behind), and so I had to handle the problems in 95 degree heat. I suppose that a braided hose is the answer, but, on the other hand, it would appear that buying a Noble, and pushing the Lotus into the Thames is also a viable response. Any advice on this route?
I took the car up North, and left the wife the sensible saloon car (which meant leaving the MX bike behind), and so I had to handle the problems in 95 degree heat. I suppose that a braided hose is the answer, but, on the other hand, it would appear that buying a Noble, and pushing the Lotus into the Thames is also a viable response. Any advice on this route?
Bled the clutch, didn't fix it.
I took the car up North, and left the wife the sensible saloon car (which meant leaving the MX bike behind), and so I had to handle the problems in 95 degree heat. I suppose that a braided hose is the answer, but, on the other hand, it would appear that buying a Noble, and pushing the Lotus into the Thames is also a viable response. Any advice on this route?
I took the car up North, and left the wife the sensible saloon car (which meant leaving the MX bike behind), and so I had to handle the problems in 95 degree heat. I suppose that a braided hose is the answer, but, on the other hand, it would appear that buying a Noble, and pushing the Lotus into the Thames is also a viable response. Any advice on this route?
Don't buy a noble expecting no problems. Its a very low volume car, and I'm pretty sure you can guess what that entails.
Its not uncommon to hear noble owners moan on the noble mailing list about how they shouldn't have problems on a car costing 50k etc.
Any relatively cheap & low volume sports car is going to have niggles. Why not just fix up your liz and enjoy it?
p.s. do you have the red hose or is it something else? I was under the impression that the red hose problem only manifested after a bit of driving, not all the time (i.e. when warm).
Yep, red hose. Recent weather (95 degrees) has meant problems after about 10 minutes of normal driving. It's fine now that we've cooled down again. I've now also fixed the extremely sttiff windows with a littlle squirt oof silicone spray on the guides, so it's a happier car all round.
Another problem arises now, though. I took the roof off a few months back, and so only use the car in the dry. As a result, it never gets cleaned by rain, and the windscreen is very hard to see through. Any help on this one?
Another problem arises now, though. I took the roof off a few months back, and so only use the car in the dry. As a result, it never gets cleaned by rain, and the windscreen is very hard to see through. Any help on this one?
Red hose problems can just appear, I suspect the hose reaches a certain point in it;s life and the expansion problem gets markedly worse.
Generally once it's started it never really goes away again . . . ;-(
If you can do the spannering youself I can supply a braided red hose replacement that will get rid of that problem forever.
Contact me on info@lotusecosse.com if interested
Fd
Generally once it's started it never really goes away again . . . ;-(
If you can do the spannering youself I can supply a braided red hose replacement that will get rid of that problem forever.
Contact me on info@lotusecosse.com if interested
Fd
fergusd said:
You need to verify that the problem is not the gearbox/clutch slave cylinder mounting bracket, as on early cars these are too flexible and can bend or even break, leaving you with insufficient clutch travel.
The difference between the later brackets and the early brackets is massive if you watch them when someone presses the clutch pedal.
Tends to be an issue on the cars with the red clutch hose mainly so get that checked too.
As for cleaning the windows use hot soapy water and then a glass polish like autoglym. Once thats all finished off use RainX or Rain wizard to keep the screen nice and clear when it rains.
A wiperblade upgrade isnt a bad idea either - see Eliseparts for that.
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