My alternator deciding to give up last night coming back from Bedford on the M25 but question is is it worth upgrading the alternator or keeping it standard??
I know that elise-parts do an uprated alternator but this seems to only fit a car without A/C which I have so are there any other options?
In addition to this is it worth fitting some ductiong to the alternator to aid cooling?
When I spoke to Lakeside, they said they’d seen a load of alternatives, none of which had been tremendously successly.
You could try some ducting but I think the thing wasn’t designed to run at Exige revs, so it’s still gonna be a lottery. Personally, I’ve cut some holes behind the rear number plate and remove it on track, that certainly helps keep the temp down in the engine bay. Some have come up with solutions that help on the road too, but they tend to let water in when washing.
Pesky (I think?) managed to get a reconditioned one for a good price, which is what I was planning on doing to mine, as it’s started to give a few warning signs (batt light flickers at max revs when lights, etc are on).
Ian
Mark, do you have the duct beween the right scoop and the alternator?
No I don’t have a duct as reading the archives it implies that cars with air-con did not come with the duct in place.
However I was wondering whether it was worth fitting and if so do you know what the diamater of the duct fitted is (150mm??) as I would imagaine it is similar to the flexiable ducts at work
if you can find a path to route some duct passed your a/c gubbins - the stuff on a non-a/c car is about60mm diameter - i think you should do this.
Yes 60mm, (150mm is waaaay too big!).
There is a RH scoop adapter to it so you could buy it from Lotus.
Actually you could buy the whole duct with adapters from Lotus, handy because it has the alternator side bracket as well.
Anyone got a picture of this RH scoop and / or a part number?
My car and Meat’s car were A/C cars before Lotus Sport converted them were converted to track-only cars. I am, shall we say, scoopless.
After mine went a couple of weeks back I did a bit of investigation and found out what one of the problems is.
Apparantly the alternator isn’t designed to be fitted that way up so the small hole for water drainage on the end cover is on the top and not on the bottom, as such it can fill with water and rust.
ahh free water cooling… didn’t know lotus were so generous
I suppose that means it might be worth blocking the drainage hole, and drilling a hole in the other side?
So heres the thing. S1 Exige…
Yesterday the battery light came on, screeching from engine bay and slight rubber smell…hmmm Alternator seized I surmized as these things get eaten by Exiges on a regular basis.
Drove home the last 3 miles with no problems.
The back of the alternator is a molten mass of crap and I can see lots of internal bits so thats NOT good obviously. I pull the remnants of the belt out as its shredded itself on the crank pulley as I drove home yesterday.
Now I had a look at doing it myself, but whats the best way to tackle this?, The A/C pipework is routed over the alt. So thats not easy. I dont have a lift or inspection pit so going from underneath doesnt look easy.
Its been on a trickle charger all night so my other option is to take it somewhere. If I dont use any lights, wipers, radio, how far do you all think I’ll get driving the car. My options are Sinclaires which is 40min by M-way or Castle Lotus which are 15min away. Lakeside is 1h20 away on the M25 so not very likely under own power.
Whats the best way forward here?
Haved you got any breakdown insuirance ??
Why not drive down the road, and ‘break down’ ???
Then get a tow to the garage of your choice !!
I’d look at PLANS, by the way…
Sorry to hear that Carsten. Hope you get it fixed.
This does remind me of another point though (which might interest you Carsten). Has any anybody found a good alternative? Eliseparts have one (non-A/c ), any reports on it?
Ian
Cross post from my SELOC posting:
Grooooooooooaaan
Remind me why I hate VHPDs again…
I charged the battery and drove it to Sinclaires this morning as the job looked too fiddley with the AC pipework everywhere.
On the M25, the engine started an almighty racket and I thought is was the “safemode/Misfire” thing kicking in.(but wait…the S1’s dont have that!!)
Roy listens to it as I arrive and with out having looked at we think its a broken valve Spring or something else dire…
Thats all I need now in my life, a blown engine too…
Really bad luck - advice may be useless if its now at Sinclaires but it is possible to change the alternator from above and jiggle it around the rollbar support - take the wheel arch liner out. I did mine nearly 2 years ago now and its held up fine. Its a standard alternator so got it from the local refurbishers on a service exchange for �75.00.
If you have the 190 upgrade and re-worked ECU then you do have the misfire detection…but sounds like your problem is more serious - sorry to hear that.
Sorry to hear that Carsten!
steve, how did you find the refurbisher?
Ian
steve, how did you find the refurbisher?
Ian
Just looked in yellow pages under auto electrics - took the alternator in for them to look at, he recognised it straight away (i didn’t say anything about it being off a Lotus) and picked a shiney new one off a shelf and we swapped!
Splendid, thanks!