Lotus Elise Clutch

[boxel0]

Hello all,

Havent posted for ages,
But just a quick question about clutches:
Has anyone needed to change theres on there lotus?
If so how much was it, as i understand the part isnt too exspensive but its the labour?

I think mine is going because i smell a clutchy burning smell every so often!

Look forward to your posts
Thank you

[bogie]

I would think there are quite a few people who have had new clutches, the car has been out for over 10 years now LOL

seriously, which Elise do you have - Rover or Toyota engine?

parts are about £150 - the rest is labour, which of course depends where you go - a dealer could be £120 + vat an hour, a specialist is about £40 ph upwards

labour should be about 4 hours

so you do the maths - it could be a £350 job or a £750 job, depending where you go

[boxel0]

Its a 55 plate 111r
So im hoping its just me being paranoid

Can they be tested?

[Sam_68]

boxel0 said:

I think mine is going because i smell a clutchy burning smell every so often!

TADTS; don't worry about it. The aerodynamics of the Elise are such that air from the engine bay sometimes gets drawn into the cockpit, so you will get a whiff of hot clutch every now and then.

Unless the clutch is slipping (test: hard acceleration up a steep hill - if the engine revs climb faster than they should for the increase in speed of the car, then your clutch is slipping) or the release bearing is shot (horrible noise when you depress the clutch pedal), I wouldn't be concerned.

[boxel0]

The only thing i have heard is when im driving along, i let of on the accelerator and i here a high pitched rattling noise (not loud, only just hear it)

[bogie]

boxel0 said:

The only thing i have heard is when im driving along, i let of on the accelerator and i here a high pitched rattling noise (not loud, only just hear it)

that can be pretty normal too in an Elise ...you get lots of noises you dont get in regular cars, due to not a lot of sound deadening

best bet is to let someone drive it who drives a lot of them - like a dealer, or specialist

[Sam_68]

boxel0 said:

The only thing i have heard is when im driving along, i let of on the accelerator and i here a high pitched rattling noise (not loud, only just hear it)

That just sounds like a bit of gearbox chatter on the over-run (or possibly a loose baffle in the exhaust - it's quite difficult to diagnose noises over the internet!). I doubt it's related to the clutch in any way.

It's easy to get paranoid about smells and noises in Elises; some people are always listening out for them because of Lotus' reputation for unreliability (although the Elise is actuallyvery releiable, in my experience), and the constrcution of the Elise means that you hear, feel and smell lots of things that you just wouldn;t notice in ordinary cars.

Try not to let it bother you, and just get on with enjoying the car.

[boxel0]

Cheers sam,
I drove her quite hard over the weekend on a trip to "festival of speed"
Chasing 2 ducati motorbikes, got no where close to them though

[Gooby]

boxel0 said:

The only thing i have heard is when im driving along, i let of on the accelerator and i here a high pitched rattling noise (not loud, only just hear it)

There are a number of springs built into the 'plate and I had one of these fracture, it caused an instant failure (Not as described by OP).

I replaced the clutch with the plates used in the 240R. This has given much better bite and feels more positive.

Before the failure, I did notice that the plates were often "smelly".