Clutch

[BMMcGlynn at aol.com]

The clutch on my S4 had lost some fluid, so I topped up the reservoir. Now
the clutch "grab" point is nearly at the floor, much too low to drive. Any
ideas as to how to solve this?

Brian McGlynn
1970 S4 S/E DHC

[summerinmaine]

Brian,

I'd start from the assumption that the fluid went somewhere, i.e. it
leaked. So now you may have some air in the line, i.e. it takes more
pedal travel to build up the requisite pressure to actuate the clutch
(cause the air bubble needs to be compressed before the pressure will
build up; air is a poor hydraulic fluid). First thing I'd do is find
where the fluid went, fix the leak, then bleed the system.

Jim

65 S2
66 S2 S/E

--- In lotuselan@y..., ***@***.***e:

[rodney]

Brian

I would also check that the nut(s) on the push rod between the slave
cylinder and the clutch operating lever on the gearbox hasn't come loose.
This can cause the takeup point to move and could have been the cause of
fluid loss. Jim's suggestion is also a good one.

Rodney Stevens
CSIRO Minerals
http://www.minerals.csiro.au

Ph. 61 2 97106701
Fax 61 2 97106789

Personal Home Page
http://mywebpage.netscape.com/rodjohnst ... mePage.htm


--- In lotuselan@y..., ***@***.***e:

[tvacc]

I think you need to bleed the system....just adding fluid would not change
the release point....or something else may be wrong

Tony Vaccaro
http://www.lotusowners.com
http://www.drivingclothes.com

-----Original Message-----
From: ***@***.***lto:***@***.***
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 2:57 PM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: [LotusElan.net] Clutch


The clutch on my S4 had lost some fluid, so I topped up the reservoir. Now
the clutch "grab" point is nearly at the floor, much too low to drive. Any
ideas as to how to solve this?

Brian McGlynn
1970 S4 S/E DHC








the Disclaimer! Copyright) 1999, 2000, 2001 LotusElan.net and the email


.

[mcola]

Hello Lister,

Been here awhile mostly lurking as I am not an owner of a Lotus.
However, I have been looking for awhile now and drove a +2 today.
I have a few questions which if someone could comment on, may help
me out a great deal.

When letting the clutch pedal back up, the point of it's engagement
and the end of it's upward travel are near the same. The car has only
about 14K miles on the clutch. Is this more or less normal? I tested
it on a hill for clutch slip but detected none and no burning smell.

After drving it I noticed a somewhat small amount of oil had leaked
onto the ground from somewhere in the vicinity of the bell housing/
engine interface area. It seemed to stop after awhile and the owner
said he had 10W weight oil in the engine. Should I be concerned about
this?

Next, while drving it a fuse blew and we lost instruments, radio and
turn signals. Replacing it and it blew again. Source of short not
determined.

Then back at the owners house while closing the hood (bonnet) a hinge
pin broke off. This was turning out to be not a great test. I helped
the owner remove the hood so he could take a look at it.

Lastly, the owner had 185/70R14 tires on the car and I noticed that
the rear tires rub the coil spring base plates on both sides of the
car. I tried to shake the tires to see if wheel bearings were loose,
but both seemed tight. Is it just that too large tires are on the car?

Thanks all for any help you can shed on these items.

Mike

[kstrutt11]

Mike I will attempt to take them in order.

Clutch operates at top of pedal.
The adjustment on these is manual so it probably just needs adjusting
correctly (which is very simple) with a small amount of free play, it
could be that it has been set up like this to hide another problem
though (ie lack of disengagement when set up correctly).

These engines do tend to leak oil but should not leak enourmous
amounts, thin synthetic oil can make the leaks worse especially on a
cold engine. If the leak at the rear is bad it could be the cam cover
(very simple to fix), the head gasket (more difficult to fix), or the
crank seal (requires engine removal).

Fuses blowing are potentially a nightmare, it could be something
simple but tracing it is always time consuming. As with all older
cars loooms which have been messed around with are always a problem
as well.

Bonnet hinge.
The Plus 2 bonnet hinge is very simple, a bolt should screw into a
threaded bobbin in the bonnet lid and pivot in another bobbin in the
bodyside, if the bolt comes out the bonnet comes off and makes a mess
of the car (don't ask me how I know!). If the bolt has just come
loose tighten it up and drill / wire it, if the treads are stripped
then the bonnet and body will need to be drilled and tapped to use
oversize bolts.

Larger tyres will rub on the spring perches, the accepted method to
gain clearance is to flatten the face of the seat with a hammer.

My general impression of a vehile which has exhibited these issues on
a test drive would be to question the amount and quality of
maintainance, it sounds like it has not had much TLC but if you are
doing the work yourself and luck is on your side could be fixed at
little cost.

Kevin +2S 130


--- In lotuselan@y..., "mcola21" <mcola@w...> wrote:

[Briggs1]

Does anyone know the clutch master cylinder bore diameter?

Thanks,
Briggs Pletcher

[M100]

On Mon, 25 Nov 2002 09:47:44 -0500, Briggs Pletcher wrote:



My 1970 S4 Manual says 5/8" master, 7/8" slave. Never had cause to
measure them myself though.

--
Martin

72 45 / 94 M100

[daves56]

I'll throw in my "two-cents-worth" too.
It's been my experience that the clutch usually engages very close to the
floor on these cars. Not the other way around. If the clutch isn't
disengaging completely it could cause premature throwout bearing wear.
I have about 400 miles on a rebuilt engine and it leaks oil. If oil muck
isn't visible near the upper part of the engine then it's probably leaking
from the oil pan (mine is) and running on to the bell housing pan.
The tires are too big. I'm running 165's on mine.
As for the rest of the problems. Part of the joys of ownership. What
you've described may be very minor problems. Instead base your decision on
the more important (and costly) parts of the car. Check the frame carefully,
especially the shock towers. Engine rebuilds can be very costly, they will
smoke a little when cold but when warm the exhaust should be clean. Do some
reading to determine what's important. By lurking you're probably a head of
the curve. Good Luck.
Dave Sutcliffe
69 +2



-----Original Message-----
From: mcola21 [mailto:***@***.***
Sent: Sunday, November 24, 2002 9:55 PM
To: ***@***.***
Subject: [LotusElan.net] Questions re +2, oil leaks, clutch operation


Hello Lister,

Been here awhile mostly lurking as I am not an owner of a Lotus.
However, I have been looking for awhile now and drove a +2 today.
I have a few questions which if someone could comment on, may help
me out a great deal.

When letting the clutch pedal back up, the point of it's engagement
and the end of it's upward travel are near the same. The car has only
about 14K miles on the clutch. Is this more or less normal? I tested
it on a hill for clutch slip but detected none and no burning smell.

After drving it I noticed a somewhat small amount of oil had leaked
onto the ground from somewhere in the vicinity of the bell housing/
engine interface area. It seemed to stop after awhile and the owner
said he had 10W weight oil in the engine. Should I be concerned about
this?

Next, while drving it a fuse blew and we lost instruments, radio and
turn signals. Replacing it and it blew again. Source of short not
determined.

Then back at the owners house while closing the hood (bonnet) a hinge
pin broke off. This was turning out to be not a great test. I helped
the owner remove the hood so he could take a look at it.

Lastly, the owner had 185/70R14 tires on the car and I noticed that
the rear tires rub the coil spring base plates on both sides of the
car. I tried to shake the tires to see if wheel bearings were loose,
but both seemed tight. Is it just that too large tires are on the car?

Thanks all for any help you can shed on these items.

Mike

[elanplus2]

Hi,

I agree with everything Kevin Strutt has said. However, in terms of the lower engine oil leak, check to make sure its not coming from the input bearing into the gearbox. If the nearing is worn, then oil will seep out, down the bottom of the bellhousing, and then out at the sandwich plate onto the floor.

Ray



Hello Lister,

Been here awhile mostly lurking as I am not an owner of a Lotus.
However, I have been looking for awhile now and drove a +2 today.
I have a few questions which if someone could comment on, may help
me out a great deal.

When letting the clutch pedal back up, the point of it's engagement
and the end of it's upward travel are near the same. The car has only
about 14K miles on the clutch. Is this more or less normal? I tested
it on a hill for clutch slip but detected none and no burning smell.

After drving it I noticed a somewhat small amount of oil had leaked
onto the ground from somewhere in the vicinity of the bell housing/
engine interface area. It seemed to stop after awhile and the owner
said he had 10W weight oil in the engine. Should I be concerned about
this?

Next, while drving it a fuse blew and we lost instruments, radio and
turn signals. Replacing it and it blew again. Source of short not
determined.

Then back at the owners house while closing the hood (bonnet) a hinge
pin broke off. This was turning out to be not a great test. I helped
the owner remove the hood so he could take a look at it.

Lastly, the owner had 185/70R14 tires on the car and I noticed that
the rear tires rub the coil spring base plates on both sides of the
car. I tried to shake the tires to see if wheel bearings were loose,
but both seemed tight. Is it just that too large tires are on the car?

Thanks all for any help you can shed on these items.

Mike


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