The S2 files

[benymazz]

So this is the thread I'll post on from time to time with information about what I'm doing to the Elan, or what it's doing to me...

Feel free to ask any questions if you should have any and I'll try to answer them as best as possible... feedback is appreciated...

Today, I rolled her out of the garage and in to the driveway for the first start in 11 months. To my surprise, she cranked over fine for about 20 seconds before the battery began to die, which is about 20 more than I expected. After putting the battery charger on for only a couple of minutes as it wasn't very dead, I cranked it over, and it "tried" to start, but not quite. I let it sit for another few minutes to charge the battery, and went back to it. I cranked it, pumped the gas pedal, and it fired right up. Let me also interrupt and say here, I did all this from the engine bay, because there's a little button under the hood that (I think) activates the starter solenoid. Not sure if this was original from the factory or my father put it there for convenience. But, back to the story. It fired right up, but was running a little rough and wouldn't idle without stalling, so I held it open at about 1500 rpm until it warmed up enough to idle. All in all, not bad for not being started in a year and having 2 year old gas in it. As per usual, once things started warming up she started smoking profusely. I don't think my dad ever figured out where in the thunder the oil leaks on and in to the exhaust pipe from, but it's a very slow leak and is only noticeable if it's been sitting for over a month. Actually, I do think I remember him and my uncle talking about it and they settled on worn valve guides, but I'll see what you guys think about that. After burning off all the oil for about 5 minutes, I had mom drive it down the road about 1000ft and back to exercise the brakes and clutch, and she reported that everything was working well. We didn't take it farther than that because A. the registration is expired and B. its state inspection is expired. She parked it in the driveway, shut it off and let it cool down for a bit (it's worth noting at this point that yes, we did get it up to operating temperature, and the temperature gauge held steady at around 190 F) before pushing it back in to the garage for the night.

I'll also do little videos on occasion, sadly my internet is not nearly good enough to warrant doing long ones

Here's todays video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D6DCjmSdfo
Yes, I know I shot in in portrait mode, and it's shaky, and low resolution, shame on me...

[trw99]

Well done, all looks good.

I do hope that you had a fire extinguisher near by, just in case. Appears that your father passed on a good deal of motoring wisdom to you.

Tim

[billwill]

I think that "little button under the hood" that you speak of, IS the starter solenoid.

Some elans have a version with a rubber button that pushes the main plunger down.

If it has two big fat wires on it, it is definitely the starter solenoid.

[benymazz]

Well done, all looks good.

I do hope that you had a fire extinguisher near by, just in case. Appears that your father passed on a good deal of motoring wisdom to you.

Tim

Always, one behind the driver's seat and another just inside the garage.