Lotus Elise aircon issue - advice required

[TimDogg]

Thanks guys btw - good to have your advice, it really is!

[PJC]

It's a big learning curve for me too, went to the Kent meet saw five guys standing by Lotus cars outside having a chat, parked up, by the time I had parked up they had all pissed off indoors.

Not the nicest welcome won't bother with them in future.

[TimDogg]

Typically British Paul. Thing is, I'm happy to fix the aircon it not if it's going to break again in a years time! £2200 would get me a Stage 2 remap and a CAF for the RS!

Or some bollox aircon that I'll have to fix again in a years time for a convertible car.

[PJC]

Not like that at the National meet when we first met, everybody was interested in everybody.

Wankers

Hope you get it sorted soon, if you need any money to your funds jut give me a ride in your company car and I will cover the cost of your air con fix.

[PJC]

I will need full access to the weapons though

[TimDogg]

Ha, brilliant - if I could I would Paul! We are hoping that over the next year we will have a passenger clearance for the T2 but like all new aircraft it takes time to get the authority. The T1 flies passengers but it's going out of service soon, I'll work on it as it is of benefit to the Service to fly those that finance the military ie. the taxpayer.

That's why this forum is so great, everyone is just out to help each other with no agenda, it seems odd that it takes a car to do this

[adsgreen]

Front anti roll bar bushes are trivial to fit.
And cost circa 25 quid a pair iirc.
It really is just put car on ramps, remove front under tray and then remove 4 bolts securing the roll bar.
http://www.hangar111.com/shop/231-lotus ... l-bar.html
http://www.beddysblog.com/lotusmanuals/ ... ension.pdf

[PJC]

1) Me

Add your name to the list

[TimDogg]

What did you think of the other costs Ads?

[adsgreen]

Option one coolant rad only and removing a/c rad but leaving pipes in sill

Radiator (alloy motorsport) £328.00
Antifreeze £ 18.21
Labour £490.00

As we both found, the rad is a bit overpriced.
I thought it was about 4 hours to remove and refit clam and 490 isn't far off. I've found most dealer rates around the £100/hour mark plus a little for faffing with the rad and coolant.


Option two
A/c rad £383.00
Re-gas a/c £ 49.00

Rad can be cheaper but looks like no labour?
Re gas at 50 quid... yeh well meh. fair enough.


Option three
A/c sill pipes £229.36
Labour £315.00

3 hours to remove and refit the air con pipes... quite a bit there.
I do have a service manual so will see what is involved.
I *think* the door sill panel that is glued on needs to be removed in order to access.
229 for the pipes... no idea but based on oil cooler pipes it's not a million miles off.
I'd want to see what the condition of them was though.


Option four
Exhaust heat shields £ 92.00
Labour £ 94.20

hour seems a bit high here.
Are they taking the rear undertray off? . lots of bolts. Not difficult but pita.
If so and if it's not a safety concern then I would say wait until the next service when the undertray is coming off anyway. could probably cut this is two.


Option five
Front roll bar bushes £ 71.46
Labour £ 74.50

As above - bushes seem expensive. Perhaps they are replacing the rubber ones with polyurethane?
about 45 minutes labour... about right I gues but really a doodle. Are you having these done for a specific reason? They can squeak but a bit silicone lubricant can solve it. If you are having them replaced I'd be tempted to look at an adjustable roll bar.

[TimDogg]

Thanks Ads, the technician said that they might need replacing but no rush and it might quieten down the front of the car a little. All those costings were pre-VAT though, so labour looks like £94.50 +VAT ie. £113.40. Did you take into account that these were pre-VAT?

With VAT it all looks exceptionally pricey. I was going to bin the condenser and just replace the radiator but seeing as the clam is off and there's no work involved I may as well have a new condenser in there. But then I may aswell do the pipes so it all works and I'm back at £2200 again arrgggghh!

Or just do the radiator and take a £1000 hit and a car that rattles less but has no aircon.

[adsgreen]

The other option would be a diy... it really isn't hard to remove the front clam.
http://wiki.seloc.org/a/Remove_S2_front_clamshell
Not a bad write up there. Could easily do it in a day even factoring in bacon sarnie breaks. You probably could get away without jacking the car up or removing the wheels (I did). Extra pair of hands to help move the clam is useful - it's not heavy just awkward.

The radiator is quite high so you may get away without even draining the coolant completely. There's a bleed point here just for that reason. The Toyota unit is actually pretty easy to bleed.

Could do both rads for a little around 500 quid mark and have some fun too
It one of the things I like about elise based cars - they really are fun to work on.

May even be cheaper if you can negotiate the parts (or contribution) from the supplying dealer.

[PJC]

Sounds like you fancy the job there Adrian.

The other option would be a diy... it really isn't hard to remove the front clam.
http://wiki.seloc.org/a/Remove_S2_front_clamshell
Not a bad write up there. Could easily do it in a day even factoring in bacon sarnie breaks. You probably could get away without jacking the car up or removing the wheels (I did). Extra pair of hands to help move the clam is useful - it's not heavy just awkward.

The radiator is quite high so you may get away without even draining the coolant completely. There's a bleed point here just for that reason. The Toyota unit is actually pretty easy to bleed.

Could do both rads for a little around 500 quid mark and have some fun too
It one of the things I like about elise based cars - they really are fun to work on.

May even be cheaper if you can negotiate the parts (or contribution) from the supplying dealer.

[TimDogg]

Called the technician today - he's happy to use non-Lotus supplied parts but is just checking what that will do to the warranty.

[TimDogg]

From Will Blackham...

Hi Tim,

Really sorry to hear that (

It was working and tested when I had the heater resistor pack replaced about 4 months ago.
As part of that they need to remove the a/c front pipe to access, then pressure check the system and re-gas.
But, as you've read annoyingly it can stop working at any point.
They would have also checked the front end for leaks etc when the clam was off

From memory, it has already got an upgraded all alloy radiator fitted? If that's the case it may just be easiest to get it repaired. If it is leaking......

Have you noticed any leaks or losing coolant? I am a bit suspicious with garages trying to charge for work that's not needed....

Will

Costs as calculated by me...

If I use Lotus parts..... £2143 + VAT = £2571
If I use parts from various places online £1932 + VAT = £2318
If I make sure that this car never has aircon ever again as it's an absolute waste of money and I should have bought a car without it.....just rad.... £800 + VAT = £961

I feel better now