sunroof rattles and door handles 89NA

[lotuseffect]

Help! My sunroof rattles like a b#@!&*d irrespective of whether it is open or closed. Anyone have any suggestions as to miracle cures...other than driving around with it completely removed!? I have removed both the front tongues and the rear catches and tightened all the bolts/screws contained therin (I even went as far as to replace them with new stainless ones as the old ones were quite rusty). Whilst they are all now tight, the rattles are probably even worse than when I took it apart. Are there any tricks to adjusting it that I am missing (there doesn't seem to be much scope to move the tongues or catches)? I did see a note somewhere about smearing mastic into the slots that the front tongues fit into. Anyone ever try this?

Also - does anyone know whether the drivers side inner door handles are a lotus only part, or are they pilfered off some other model of car. One of mine is a bit munted and I can't find them listed in any suppliers catalogue or on Dr Hess' parts interchangeability guide. The ones I have look also pretty ancient (they are black with a diamond cross hatch pattern on them)...are they interchangeable with anything that looks a bit better off later models?

Cheers, Si

[lotusespritworld]

You haven't mention what Esprit you have. With so many models, it's worth mentioning what model and year you are enquiring about. Save people going through your Profile to find out. As you have an 1989 NA, we will answer what we can.

We have a rebuild guide here for the sunroof:

www.lotusespritworld.com/EMaintenance/Sunroof_rebuild.html

You might find the tonges are rattling, so lubricating it or placing something around the tonges before inserting them might get rid of the rattle.

As for the doorhandles. We only have a guide for removing the door panel and replacing the outer handles.

www.lotusespritworld.com/EMaintenance/doorremoveold.html
www.lotusespritworld.com/EMaintenance/doorhandles.html

As for the interior handles, the are off a morris marina and can also be found on Range Rovers and could probably still be found in UK scrap yards (guessing you're in the US, so not much help). You should also still be able to order them through a Lotus Dealer or independent. You won't be able to upgrade them with anything from later Esprit models without a lot of modification.

[mike.griese]

It is possible that the weatherstrip around the sunroof has compressed enough that the catch is not clamping the top firmly enough. I believe that from some models, there is a different weatherstrip used for the glass top vs. the fibreglass version. The different profile could cause a rattle.

Mike

[kylie]

Had a rattle same spot in mine when I first bought the car a few yrs back and found that the front slots were to blame. (in this case!)
I put some grease on the male bits and small thin foam rubbers cut to fit snug in there. And all sorted. Pay to check the rubbers as mentioned.

[lotuseffect]

Hi guys - thanks for that. As my rubber seal looks good, it sounds like in order I should try 1) simply greasing the male bits, 2) packing out the female bits with foam (or replacing) and failing that 3) rebuilding the tongues completely (and it looks like there should be a few more rubber washers than there are in mine, so perhaps that is the problem). Excellent guide/pics by the way LEW - cheers.

Also - I am in New Zealand, so sourcing Morris Marina or Rangerover handles from the scrapper may not be quite the challenge you'd expect. Incidentally, the outers look identical to those on my 95 Discovery and on an 89 Rangerover I owned, but the inners are completely different.

and apologies - I should have mentioned I had a glass sunroof and put the MY in the text rather than hiding it at the end of the title. Blame the distracting influence of my girlfriend bleating on about the merits of Valentines day dinners vs lotus maintenance while I was writing!

cheers, Si

[kylie]

lotuseffect said:

Also - I am in New Zealand, cheers, Si

Hey hey!

[lotuseffect]

Thanks guys - after looking at LEWs guide I realised I was missing the rubber washers that go either side of the tongues. Once I fitted new ones ordered from SJS all my rattles disappeared I still have a couple of new sunroof tongues on order as I noticed several indentations have been worn into the front of both of mine and I am sure this is contributing to slop in the system also. Cheers, Si