Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi,
Can anyone tell me the purpose of the large domed bolt head on the bottom of the 5-speed 'box close to the drain plug. Mine is weeping a little and before I tighten it I'd like to know if I'll wreck any carefully torqued internals.

Thanks for any help,

Simon

(There's a photo in section F, page 51 of the manual)

Hello again,
A second question - there's oil leaking from what looked like a core plug on the bottom of the 'box close to the drain plug but now it seems to be a small plate at the bottom of a 1" circular recess and kept in place by a circlip.
Can anyone explain its purpose and should I seal it up with autoweld or smear jointing compound over it?

Cluelessly,
Si

The domed plug houses a spring and rod detent,it can be removed carefully sealed and replaced wheras the one held in by a circlip is a pivot and should not be removed(unless you want to do a gearbox rebuild) but having said this ,cerfullly remove the circlip,clean the recess,
and reassemble with "hylomar" or similar might do the trick
John

Thanks for your help John, red jointing compound it is then - I have Wellseal but I fear it may be too poisonous to use at such close quarters lying on the ground under the car.

Best wishes,
Si

Si,

I would stick to Wellseal. Red Hylomar sets solid and tends to crack (and therefore leak) and the Blue stuff is not advised by Miles Wilkins - he recommends Wellseal. Just take a deep breath when applying it!



Hamish.

Hi Hamish,
I have a red compound which doesn't set (not Hylomar) and although I would always use the Wellseal for manifold and thermostat gaskets etc I think I'll try my red stuff first as this application isn't so important and using Wellseal at close quarters leaves me feeling and looking like this guy - - and probably leaves me with his range of mental faculties too.

Si

Si,

I did my head gasket using Wellseal. Know what you mean - phew.

It's good stuff but who needs white, powdery, mind altering substances when you've got Wellseal!
I had a can of beer after the headgasket job - mouth and brain disengaged completely.

Regards,

Hamish.

Hi,
I refilled the gearbox (5-speed) 6 weeks back (not used it much since) and have had a persistent leak, which existed before the oil change - I'd guess at least 150 -200ml from the pools on the garage floor. I've just sealed the dribble and have the car again off the ground to top up the 'box but on removing the filler I find...it's too full! I'm sure this doesn't make much of a difference but I even measured it level left to right under the front crossmember and front to back on the sill tops with a spirit level. What is going on? Should I put the spirit level along the chassis flange?
200ml short of the gearbox capacity went in and I put that down to old oil still being trapped inside.
Can anyone put my mind at rest?
Having read this back I'm not expecting many responses but thanks in advance to anyone who ventures a suggestion.

Si
Lotus victim

Forgot to mention, I used the spirit level both times.

Si