Lotus Elan headlight pods stay up while parked

[Soonteo]

Appreciate anyone’s advice if the headlight pods stay up or in closed position when the engine is off and car is parked. My comes up after a while (about 15 minutes) and I wonder if this is normal. If not, how do we keep them closed?

Thank you
Tony
1969 Lotus Elan

[alan.barker]

You car has a Vacuum leak.
The first easy check is the "T" Vacuum take off. This is front middle of Chassis Cross Member connected to Vacuum Tubes. It often goes rotten.
Alan

[richardcox_lotus]

Before looking for faults, it depends on whether your car is configured to be “failsafe” or not.

What is the model type and year ?

[alan.barker]

I think he confirmed they are Failsafe, "they come up after about 15 mins" = Failsafe with a leak
Alan

[Soonteo]

Thank you gentlemen - very helpful advice.
Will check it out.
Tony
1969 Lotus Elan

[TBG]

Mine are not "Fail Safe" but if I leave them up they come down after a few days. Not a problem. They stay up when they are needed under all conditions.

[Foxie]

Mine are not "Fail Safe" but if I leave them up they come down after a few days. Not a problem. They stay up when they are needed under all conditions.

You have obviously never experienced driving on a dark and very rainy night on a busy M20, a 40 ton artic stuck up your a**e, with all lights blazing, and every time you try to give the Lotus a little more throttle, the headlamps sink a little lower..........

Installing my Spyder headlight kit at the moment !

[69S4]

Mine are not "Fail Safe" but if I leave them up they come down after a few days. Not a problem. They stay up when they are needed under all conditions.

You have obviously have never experienced driving on a dark and very rainy night on a busy M20, with a 40 ton artic stuck up your a**e, with all lights blazing, and every time you try to give the Lotus a little more throttle, the headlamps sink a little lower..........

Been there and had that, except it was on the M40.

[TBG]

"You have obviously never experienced driving on a dark and very rainy night on a busy M20, a 40 ton artic stuck up your a**e, with all lights blazing, and every time you try to give the Lotus a little more throttle, the headlamps sink a little lower.........."

If your headlights sink low when you press the throttle your car definitely needs some TLC. Throwing money at Spyder is one way, but proper care and maintenance is another. Never had a problem in well over 200k miles.

[nigelrbfurness]

A simple mod with a bicycle innertube valve stops the drooping under open throttle conditions, first discovered back in the '70s when non-return valves were hard to get.

[Foxie]

If your headlights sink low when you press the throttle your car definitely needs some TLC. Throwing money at Spyder is one way, but proper care and maintenance is another. Never had a problem in well over 200k miles.

I think I might have been returning from a 3,000 mile round trip to from Ireland to Budapest when I developed that problem. Otherwise the car ran well, it does get looked after

Sod's Law: If something can go wrong, it will go wrong, and usually at the most inopportune moment

[wotsisname]

In the absence of visible damage (eg crack in the T piece) I bought a vacuum / pressure gauge from Amazon.. A lot quicker to tell if you have a leak, than waiting a few hours for the pods to move.
If you attach to the T piece on the other side to the pipe that runs to the manifold, run the engine until you get a steady reading, then switch off the engine.. you get a pretty quick idea of which half of the system is leaking. Repeat as required at different points in the system. For me (+2, non failsafe) it is the pull switch that leaks... testing my repair in the morning.

[alan.barker]

If the leak is the pull Switch you can fit a Solenoid Valve like what is used in a fail safe. But plumbed in different.
Alan

[TBG]

I have been lucky - so far - it seems!! The solenoid valve I think should be in my diddy box for come the day. A neat solution and easy to fit.After 54 years not too extravagant!