When did your radiator go?

[AlexT]

Car: S2 111S '03
Distance to leaking radiator: 10000km

Dissapointing & very annoying.

[GTRene]

AlexT said:

Car: S2 111S '03 Distance to leaking radiator: 10000km Dissapointing & very annoying.

Sad news! what was the reason that caused it? and I've hear'd that a lot with the Elise?!
So that could mean some faults or weak points in the system?

[randy]

Mine lasted about 10K miles. It's often the case that the pipes to the rad come loose and often the plastic tanks at the side of the rad split away. My opinion is that this is often a symptom of HGF (pressurised water system) as opposed to a faulty rad.

[GTRene]

Are there any good replacements? non plastic! but all aluminium?

[bogie]

mine lasted 60k miles - go for an all ally one from Elise parts - without the plastic end caps which seem to be the weak point

[gooby]

AlexT said:

Car: S2 111S '03 Distance to leaking radiator: 10000km Dissapointing & very annoying.

Still in waranty (sp?)

[GTRene]

bogie said:

mine lasted 60k miles - go for an all ally one from Elise parts - without the plastic end caps which seem to be the weak point

Yep, I gues so, but it could also be that the thermostat in your Honda opens in better way for the weak radiator??

[AlexT]

1.5 months out of warranty...last service done 2 months ago. Dealer is going to ask Lotus if I can make a warranty claim...

[MJK 24]

5 year old S2 with 37k on and still ok.

They do seem to be exceptionally poor quality on the Elise. On anything else I'd be upset if it didn't get into 6 figures mileage wise...

[bogie]

GTRene said:

bogie said: mine lasted 60k miles - go for an all ally one from Elise parts - without the plastic end caps which seem to be the weak point Yep, I gues so, but it could also be that the thermostat in your Honda opens in better way for the weak radiator??

could be - I know 3 guys with Hondas and 2 with Duratecs whose rads have gone post conversion

[bjc388]

Bogie

If you want I will relunctantly volunteer to "look" after your car ... for say the next year just to make sure you don't have the misfortune of suffering any sort of rad failure post conversion ... I'll take that suffering for you.

How's that for a generous offer in the New Year

What? No chance you say????

[piooly]

Mine had one break at 20,000 miles, fixed under warrantee, then I had an accident so had to have another new one, that broke 5,000 miles later, now I am on another, been on 3,000 miles and so far so good ! Lets hope it holds out !

[bogie]

LOL - mines already gone - well it had gone a few miles prior to the Honda going in so I have a super dooper all ally upgraded one now

[nigreeves]

Mine lasted 8000 miles.
Just got my 04 111s back from Westover . New rad fitted under warranty.
Cost would have been £400 if I had had to pay for it.

[GTRene]

plastic used in the radiator and other parts is not a good thing...the coolant juice can be bad for the plastic on the long term and also the heat of the coolwater...the plastic parts loose flex and get hardened.(so easyer to crack, or cant expaned the same as the allu on the same time, so ready to explowd)
The seeling between the allu and the plastic also goes bad after some years under heat and coolant, and some coolants are even worse!
I also had that long time ago, don't know anymore what car that was, but it used the same matterials, give me a full allu rad annytime
GTRene

[darkwingduck]

Mine went a week before Christmas and covered the windscreen in a swimming pool of coolant, glad I was overtaking at the time...

All fixed on warrantee

[AlexT]

This is really poor workmanship/design on Lotus behalf. Cars at a fraction of the Elise's price have such components last well over 100,000km's. How much weight can be saved by having ridiculous plastic end tanks? Don't Lotus get the idea by now its a bad idea? Lotus obviously dont mind building cars that only last 10,000kms!