About maintenece (long)
Discussion
Valve clearances are critical on our engines. Many people think, okay so the valves are a little off so performance will suffer. The time the cams stay in contact with the valves are used to cool the valves off. If they get too out of whack they over heat and will burn. Many people wait till they have a problem or have a part completely fail before they attend to them and then say the repairs cost so much. Many times when a part fails it takes out other things that are connected to it. The most famous being the T belt as this $70.00 part takes out the upper half of the engine. There are many other things like changing the brake pads, do it before and it cheap. Drive the rivets into the discs and it's more time and money. worn suspension bits wearing away our expensive Z rated rubber or making our fragile steering rack go out prematurely. Heck we have a hard enough time with the normal wear pattern than an accelerated one due to not checking worn parts about to fail. I always wonder about people who say if it's not broken don't fix it. I think back to recent drive last fall when a friends car, (Jim) blew a puff of smoke out the tail pipe. Still had lots of power but he felt something was wrong. We took his engine apart in the winter. His main piston ring on #4 had failed. This enabled blow by gasses to migrate to the oil control rings which still held a lot of compression. Hot blow by gases then entered the holes on the oil control ring lands that act as scuppers for the oil to flow back when scraped off the cyl wall by the oil control rings. The hot blow by gases entering these holes shot right on to the connecting rod end as evidenced by the blow torch scarring effect. Over a period of time this would have caused the the connecting rod to separate from the piston, fracture the piston, the connecting rod to come into contact with the cyl. walls, drive the piston into the valves and have metal bits circulated through all lubricating surfaces and the turbo bearings as well. So do things by the book or the car will end up as either your or someone elses problem child. Maintain and do the preventative things before they break and you will have a wonderfull experience, good Lotus stories and fond memories. Do it for yourself and for the future owner(s) of your car. We all have heard of these Esprit's that have just been real nasty and a real pain to people who have aquired them. Many of these under maintained cars have soured many people to Lotus or ended the dream of Esprit ownership for many people. I don't think there is a true owner amoung us that wants to kill off the dream of an aspiring owner that might have given up a lot to be able get one. By the same token new owners must be able to pay the freight for the right to own one of our cars. Just being able to buy one does relieve them the responsibility to maintain it by paying someone to do it or by sweat equity. There are many cars that take a while to sell or are repeatedly listed for sale until someone bites and thinks they got a good deal then end up spending much more than what they could have gotten a good one for. The sad part is many have never gotten to go out for a nice trouble free drive or gone for a period of time without problems. I for one like scheduled maintenence and repair of worn parts. There is a difference between worn and broken parts. I like it when I control the time and place for such things. Not when the part breaks to leave you stranded in some strange place or a bad financial situation. The people in the know have a pretty good idea who has the good cars and who has the problem child. So think resale when fixing your car if you are worried about spending money on your car. I had 6 offers within a day of posting "thinking to upgrade to an S4s". I would tell them you have not even seen the car and it is not a good idea to buy any car sight unseen. I would tell them what would possess you to make such an offer. They all said the same thing, someone I know has seen the car, know it's history, it is known as one of the good ones and they don't last long once the word is out it is for sale. Well I ended up keeping the SE and not going for the S4s as it had a very hard troublesome life but that's another story. After much thought I too would buy sight unseen from a few select people. So please do maintain your car and replace things before they fail. It's good for you, the next owner, and the Lotus name. It's a good hobby, enjoy it.
Calvin 90 SE
Calvin 90 SE
Great post Calvin! I, for one, am very happy to see Larry and others creating web sites on maintaining the V8's. I spoke to Larry tonight and I got this burst of confidence to do some work on the V8 on my own. If not for you and several others, maintenance for my SE would of killed me. I would have given up the minute my clutch master cylinder went out... Selling my car was easy as there was always an offer at a reasonable price, and many people emailed me an offer for the car..... The trick was to find the highest bidder.
I've come to the conclusion that maintenance could either be a good word or a "bad word".... Changing and working on my brake pads, red hose, clutch cylinders, headlight pods, dash buttons, etc... made maintenace fun.
Ed-
I've come to the conclusion that maintenance could either be a good word or a "bad word".... Changing and working on my brake pads, red hose, clutch cylinders, headlight pods, dash buttons, etc... made maintenace fun.
Ed-
Ed,
You were a great SE owner and one that did it by the book. You did things right. I will miss the email banter we used to have about the repairs and maintence to both of our SE's. Although you have joined the V8 ranks, I know you will continue to do things the right way. It will people like you that will enable the V8 people to work on their own cars. We 4 cyl. owners used to poke fun at some of the V8 owners unfamiliarity with their own engine bays, with statements like I don't think they now to change their own oil. Lately with the economic times I have had a few questions from V8 people about how to change their oil and should they attempt to do so. So things are looking up, as the price continues a downward spiral a few of the car guys are now aquiring them and the strength of the technical question and answers are getting more complex. So Larry and the rest will be ahead of everybody. I am so glad that more of the V8 people are doing their own work. It has been a Lotus tradition to work on ones own car as well as drive them. I am a firm believer that working on ones own car makes that person a better driver as we are so in tune with the car as we can tell when it is running well and not so well so we may adjust ourselves in our driving technique. Also many of the what I call the true car people take very calculated risks when driving, we are very aware of the action we take and what is possible to happen to our cars when we do so. We know what it takes to repair it as a result of our own actions. I'm so glad most of the V8 owners have not gone the Ferrari or Lambo way, Geez I don't think some of them even wash their own cars. It is owners like yourself that is willing to work on your own car, that many of the other V8 owners will appreciate your efforts to learn the V8 and share your experiences with them. Best wishes for you and your V8 Esprit. If I have contributed to your enjoyment of SE ownership, That makes feel very happy. Even though you have sold the SE and moved on, you have had a lot of fun with it, have pleasant and fond memories, met a great bunch of guys who are your friends now and few good Lotus stories that you may tell for years to come. The money you have spent on the SE was well worth the entertainment value you have recieved, as much as one recieves when one goes on a vacation or partakes other recreational activity. That in the end is what it is all about. Hey tomorrow it's going to be almost 60F, another chance to have a robust drive along the rolling roads of the river valleys and dairy hills before the snow drops.
Happy Motoring,
Calvin
You were a great SE owner and one that did it by the book. You did things right. I will miss the email banter we used to have about the repairs and maintence to both of our SE's. Although you have joined the V8 ranks, I know you will continue to do things the right way. It will people like you that will enable the V8 people to work on their own cars. We 4 cyl. owners used to poke fun at some of the V8 owners unfamiliarity with their own engine bays, with statements like I don't think they now to change their own oil. Lately with the economic times I have had a few questions from V8 people about how to change their oil and should they attempt to do so. So things are looking up, as the price continues a downward spiral a few of the car guys are now aquiring them and the strength of the technical question and answers are getting more complex. So Larry and the rest will be ahead of everybody. I am so glad that more of the V8 people are doing their own work. It has been a Lotus tradition to work on ones own car as well as drive them. I am a firm believer that working on ones own car makes that person a better driver as we are so in tune with the car as we can tell when it is running well and not so well so we may adjust ourselves in our driving technique. Also many of the what I call the true car people take very calculated risks when driving, we are very aware of the action we take and what is possible to happen to our cars when we do so. We know what it takes to repair it as a result of our own actions. I'm so glad most of the V8 owners have not gone the Ferrari or Lambo way, Geez I don't think some of them even wash their own cars. It is owners like yourself that is willing to work on your own car, that many of the other V8 owners will appreciate your efforts to learn the V8 and share your experiences with them. Best wishes for you and your V8 Esprit. If I have contributed to your enjoyment of SE ownership, That makes feel very happy. Even though you have sold the SE and moved on, you have had a lot of fun with it, have pleasant and fond memories, met a great bunch of guys who are your friends now and few good Lotus stories that you may tell for years to come. The money you have spent on the SE was well worth the entertainment value you have recieved, as much as one recieves when one goes on a vacation or partakes other recreational activity. That in the end is what it is all about. Hey tomorrow it's going to be almost 60F, another chance to have a robust drive along the rolling roads of the river valleys and dairy hills before the snow drops.
Happy Motoring,
Calvin
Just a few questions - how often does one need to check valve clearances and is it difficult? Is this something that changes radically? And what does somebody need to look for in order to check the suspension and fragile steering rack?
Dan 'Not Very Mechanically Inclined' 90 SE owner
Dan 'Not Very Mechanically Inclined' 90 SE owner
I think Jim explained it very well in his descrption of checking valve clearences and adjustments. Every 10K was his answer. I think for a robust driver this would be correct. A lot of people wait till C service, some I have chatted to say adjust valves? Whats that? So I must assume they have never done it. In the US a lot tend to drive more hwy miles than in a robust manner on the twisties. So in my opinion mileage is less of an indicator in those instances and it would depend more on how you drive. I know Esprit drivers that use it just on the hwy (a lot of 5th gear driving)at mid to low rpms and others that feel at home in 5-6k range and see a lot of 3rd gear action. If the later were the case then by all means check it at 10K would be my answer. Checking the suspension and rack? I guess the first place would be is before I take performance type drive (lately with Jim) or at least once a week I go through a few checks. We all know about tire pressure and all fluids checks so I will skip that part. I run my hands over the surface of each tire tread and both side walls to see if there is anything strange with the tread surface or foriegn items that might embedded in it. I grab each tire at 10 and 2 o'clock and do a push/pull on it to rock the car. It should feel very tight and no clicking or play should be felt. If there is remove the tire, do a visual check for ball joint/tie rod play, bearing play in the hub, the bushings,etc and while you are at it check the shocks. Many times if you spot it early it does not mean it must be fixed now unless it is really screwed up, but order the part and schedule a near future replacement or correction. Drive down the road and move the steering back and forth check for play in the rack. Like as in is there any slop in the steering before the car actually starts to veer. Then take the car up to 30-40mph on a flat road and let go of the stering wheel and give the brake pedal a good push to see if the car tracks straight while braking to a stop. Be prepared to grab the wheel if the cars should happen to pull hard. Along with the regular checks that are listed in manual you should be able to spot many of the parts about to fail.
Calvin
Calvin
Sorry to nitpick, but it's the time the valves spend in contact with the head that's important for cooling. Too tight clearances that reduce/eliminate that time kill valves.
The time the cams stay in contact with the valves are used to cool the valves off. If they get too out of whack they over heat and will burn.
EDIT: Ooops, I see Jim said this very thing already.
Mike
>> Edited by MikeyRide on Wednesday 13th November 20:27
MikeyRide said:
Sorry to nitpick, but it's the time the valves spend in contact with the head that's important for cooling. Too tight clearances that reduce/eliminate that time kill valves.
EDIT: Ooops, I see Jim said this very thing already.
Mike
That is true for an exhaust valve, but intake valves also need cooling from the fuel/air mix contact and benefit more from on cam than off for cooling. Although rare for N/A engine to burn intake valves they happen more often on a turbo car with high boost and/or a detonation condition.
Calvin
MEMSDesign said: Is there some rule against paragraphs in this thread.
Ouch!
Edited to say that no offense meant. Interesting stuff (now that I've waded through it).
>> Edited by MEMSDesign on Wednesday 13th November 20:46
MEMS,
I'd be happy to punctuate my writings with paragraphs as I have done, but upon posting, the paragraphs disappear.
I am new to this forum and know a whole lot more about cars than I do about computers, so if anyone out there can tell me what I'm doing incorrectly, I would be most appreciative... Jim (Punctuation before pronunciation)'85TE
Ahhh....were car guys not editors...so we did not do so well in those areas...plus that I've got a lot of typo's as I use the keyboard fast and do not double check my work a lot. Whatever differences Jim and I have from time to time, we get along pretty well and we both are much better at Esprit's than writing that for sure.
Calvin 90 SE
Calvin 90 SE
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