Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Over the last 30 years I have been lucky enough to have a whole range of classics from a jensen to a marcos Being away at sea for months at a time most of these cars had periods of inactivity. Had my Elan now for 5 years and this car for some reason hates not to be used. When the car is in use it is a reliable pleasure, leave it standing for a month and it sulks. The car is well maintained and in good order but seems to hate inactivity more than any other car I have owned. Why is this?

Do you mean it becomes difficult to start after not being used for some time? That's a well-known problem caused by petrol evaporating or flowing back down the pipe to the tank, so the mechanical pump then has difficulty getting it flowing again into the carburettors.

Hello,
If you mean it is slow to start and if you have Weber carburettors, have you tried priming the carbs.
If you remove the brass jet cover and pour a little petrol in to about half fill the float chamber, then the accelerator pumps will work and the engine should start and run long enough on the contents of the float chamber for petrol to arrive from the tank.
Best of luck
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC ( the sun`s come out, I`m off)

Hello.
I had the same issues .
Restored my plus 2. Drove it every day for 3+ years on a London commute !
Never missed a beat
Changed jobs so couldn't commute by car anymore....
Lotus sulked for weeks

Then when it came to play time it would always have something wrong !
One time... fuel pump just stopped..... then a week later came alive !
Then wiring problems. .. poor earth stopped reliable spark... no lights.... dead battery.... stuck door lock...
It went on and on.

But as soon as I drove it once a week it healed itself !

I agree. LOTUS cars sulk.. they need to warm up and drive a bit to stay healthy....

Never had the same problem with any MG. Triumph TVR.... only one other marque needed weekly attention.... ferrari !!