Headlights

[MyLotus]

I'm new at this and new at the Elan (1970 S4 with new Lotus chassis), so bear with me. The haelights do come up but they won't retract when I push back the vaccum control. I can hear hissing at the control but the headlights stay up. And they go on even if I don't activate the headlamps switch... Any explanations? Many thanks!

[alexblack13]

Hello ?,

You have a vacuum leak at the pull switch switch. That is what you hear leaking /hissing..

The lamps are controlled by two micro switches, one on each headlamp 'pod'. When you wish to 'flash' your headlamps, one only needs to pull the vac' switch to lift the lamps. The headlamps should then flash on /off by themselves but often just light up and stay lit up until the vac' switch is pushed to off / lower and the lamps go down where they contact the micro (actually a door / courtesy light switch) and the lamps go off.

The other 'micro switch' is a safety feature to prevent your headlights from being put away 'lit'. If you forget to switch them off and lower them they can get somewhat hot and may possibly cause a fire. The micro just switches them off. So..Two micro switches. One on each 'pod'. One for flashing your lights (via a relay) and one for safety which prevents headlamp operation with pods down. OK?

With any luck your Vac' leak will be a perished rubber connector pipe and it sounds like its right by the pull switch. You can remove this easily to check it out.

Don't you have a manual?

Alex B....

[MyLotus]

Thanks Alex. I'll check and let you know. Yes, I do have a shop manual.

I'm also having issues with ignition after having replaced the Lucas distributor (faulty advance ) with a Pertronix dist. and coil. Worked well at first but then no spark... There was no current at the + wire to the coil. Went direct to the coil from the fuse box and the engine starts. Then I found out about the tachomoter not being compatible with electronic igition. So went back to the Lucas coil and feed through the tach and it works. So I'm keeping the Pertronix dist. with the Lucas coil. Cheers

Alain

[TurbineHeli]

I've got a couple of questions on headlight assembly.

1. Are the headlight bowl pivot bolts supposed to be secured to the bowls with both flat and lock washers? The bowls would then pivot on the threads in the body bobbins. The workshop manual is silent on this issue.
2. I can't visualize the internal construction of the vacuum cylinders but wouldn't moisture easily enter from the top, causing them to rust internally? Mine are approx 47yrs old and still hold vacuum but will leak down from 5psi to zero overnight.
3. The springs have a number of coils, I forget exactly how many, but on one of the coils on each side is a small clip with a hole in it. Any idea what this was for or where it is supposed to attach?

Thanks,

AMA
Too many questions, so little time....

[types26/36]

I've got a couple of questions on headlight assembly.

1. Are the headlight bowl pivot bolts supposed to be secured to the bowls with both flat and lock washers? The bowls would then pivot on the threads in the body bobbins. The workshop manual is silent on this issue.
2. I can't visualize the internal construction of the vacuum cylinders but wouldn't moisture easily enter from the top, causing them to rust internally? Mine are approx 47yrs old and still hold vacuum but will leak down from 5psi to zero overnight.
3. The springs have a number of coils, I forget exactly how many, but on one of the coils on each side is a small clip with a hole in it. Any idea what this was for or where it is supposed to attach?
.

1. Yes the bowls pivot on the bolt threads.
2. elan-plus-f13/vacuum-pod-repair-t25234.html
3. The early cars did not not have the micro switches, the clip you refer to has a spring attached to it which connects to a "swivel" switch mounted on the body, when the headlight raised the spring operated the swivel switch.

[Quart Meg Miles]

I'm also having issues with ignition after having replaced the Lucas distributor ..... Worked well at first but then no spark... There was no current at the + wire to the coil. Went direct to the coil from the fuse box and the engine starts. Then I found out about the tachomoter not being compatible with electronic igition. So went back to the Lucas coil and feed through the tach and it works.

The tachometer (S4) is almost a short-circuit between a pair of bullet connectors, there is nothing to interrupt the current flow. On the S1/2 the wire is not even interrupted! The compatibility issue is that the tachometer doesn't always work depending on the type of electronic ignition but the coil is unaffected (and did work for you, at first, as noted).

So you must have had a dodgy connection onto the coil or somewhere else in the wiring and you need to find it or it will return and bite you.


On my S1/2 the headlamp spring joins through a linear spring to a crude slide switch, one of which still operates the lamp relay directly (the other one activated the crazy headlamp flasher, now disconnected) and I use the second lamp switch position for a rear fog lamp.

[YellowS4DHC]

The haelights do come up but they won't retract when I push back the vaccum control. I can hear hissing at the control but the headlights stay up. And they go on even if I don't activate the headlamps switch... Any explanations? Many thanks!

Alain,
welcome to the land of Lotus where wonder and mystery abound.

From Alex's reply you should know that the Elan has, essentially, two headlamp systems. One flashes the headlamps when the light pods are raised. The other system is the more used system where you raise the pods and power-on the lights with the dash switch. If wired correctly, the lights will always start flashing once the pods are raised until you switch on the headlamps, giving you hi and lo beams. As Alex noted, each system has its own microswitch, one on the left pod, the other on the right.

Your headlamp flasher relay may be faulty, causing your lights to stay on when you raise the pods. I think a poor ground at the microswitch (I forget which pod) might also cause this problem. You might check to make sure both microswitches work properly (i.e., minimal resistance when contacts are closed); they are kind of cheesy and I had to rework mine to get them to work consistently. It's a good first step.

If your pods are not retracting once the vacuum is released, you might want to check the pod return springs and pivots. The pods should be easy to raise by hand but should provide resistance as you raise them (you can feel this, it isn't subtle). If there isn't some resistance when you pull them up, I would suspect the springs.

Hope this helps. Good luck

Rick

'72 Europa TC
'69 Elan S4 DHC
'67 S800 Coupe
'57 T1 Speedster