Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Boston-Sam wrote:Turns out the failure was in the voltage regulator. While waiting for the part what is the risk of running without one?

Not a good idea I think. There is no voltmeter or ammeter so you have no idea what would be happening & you may damage the battery or burn out the dynamo.

With the field winding open circuit the residual magnetism in field coils will not be able to allow the dynamo to reach a voltage that will over heat the armature this would only happen if the F and D were linked.
Neil

I recently bought another Elan, a beautiful Series 3 that has had only one owner from new. It's delightful car but I have an electrical drain somewhere that I need to find because the battery will drain overnight unless I turn off the battery master switch. The car is negative earth. Can anyone offer suggestions of where I should look for the cause(s) of the battery drain while parked?

Thanks,

Eric

If you have a tester with amps dc pull of the large brown lucar on the solenoid ( Should only be the battery large cable left )and link the ammeter between to see if you have a drain or disconnect the earth lead on the battery and do the same,if you have no meter see if you get a little blue flash when you touch the earth lead to the battery.
Neil

One at a time, take the 4 (?) fuses out of the fuse box & then use an ammeter set to something like 10 to 30 amps & use it to bridge where the fuse was This will help narrow down which circuit is 'leaking'

Some circuits, i.e the radio are not controlled by the main fuse box but by small in-line fuzes behind the dash & can usually be reached through the ash-tray hole.

Get a wiring diagram if you don't already have one.

Thank you for the helpful suggestions.