Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hello All,

A plea for help from a clueless Plus Two owner

I always try and do one job at a time so if something goes wrong tracing the problem should be easy, but it?s not always possible to follow one?s own advice. I have just carried out the following:
New Dash
New Dash Loom
New ignition switch
Positive to Negative Earth swap
All fitted and wired but not yet connected the Indicator stalk??.

?and now things are not as they should be, very little of the electrics work.
Symptoms:
Ignition Off ? Everything is off as it should be.
Ignition click one: Nothing,
Ignition click Two: Heater, Fuel and Ammeter function
Ignition click Three ? Starter engages and Engine turns over but nothing else happens.

My car is an early 1968 Plus 2, only two fuses.
I would be very grateful if anyone can point me in the right direction before calling in an auto spark. I wonder does the Indicator stalk need to be connected to complete all circuits.
I have basic knowledge and test equipment and keen to resolve with the forums help.

Thank you all in advance.

Peter

Don't panic - yet! Simple step by step analysis will get you there.

No you do not need to connect the indicator loom yet (but check that the wires are not causing a short on anything).

Assuming you have a meter, then start by testing the wiring to the ignition switch. Depending on how it works (mine - same vintage Plus 2 - turns anti-clockwise one click to turn on the radio, one clockwise to turn on ignition and rest of circuits and against the spring to fire the starter. Yours sounds a little different.) you should test each position.

The most critical positions are the position before the sprung starter one and the starter one. It sounds like the latter is ok as all it does is fire the starter. On the former, the white feeds to the fuse should go live as should the red/green feeds to the instruments and the coil. The instruments sound fine but not the coil - if this is not live check the anti-theft switch in the glove box. At least one fuse is live as the heater fan works. The fuses also control the reversing light, the horn, the stop lights and the wipers.

Once you have sorter the switch, then all the other systems are a step by step process. Flick a switch, check what goes live or work out why it does not.

Oh - I assume you have the wiring diagram?

Anyway, best of luck and if you want more help then pm and we can talk on the phone.

Richard

Richard,

Thank you for your advice which i will apply tomorrow,

Please anticipate a pm.

Kind regards

Peter

Hi Peter , I did a similar job a few months ago on my s3 elan.

I found an extra wire in the loom that was intended for export models with reversing lights , that caused some worry for a while having something left over.

Also I found that if I connected both loom wires to the ignition coil I didnt get a spark , so the black coil wire was obsolete now.

If it's a dynamo , don,t forget to re polarise it otherwise it will be damaged.

And I also found my ignition switch sequence wrong. It looked like the original lotus swith but the 4 pin connections were in a different order. I found this by using a battery and bulb on a wire.

Good luck I am completely color blind so found it a real challenge but got there eventually
Steve

Thanks guys,

Armed with my wiring diagram and tester I will start at the ignition switch and take from there.

Fingers crossed it will be simple.

Peter

Richard

I have sent you a pm.

All the best,

Peter

Peter
I have an early dash complete with switches and instruments and original wiring loom attached. If you want to have a look or would like to see detailed photos of the physical connections, then do shout.
Mark

Mark,

That's a great offer, thank you. I did take lots of pictures, but not necessarily the right ones! and very confused with my predicament. Richard has offered to talk me through a few logic checks which hopefully will resolve matters, but if not I will ask.

Very much appreciated

Peter

All,

With the help of the forum members I have almost all the electrics up and running. My only problem is the electric windows. Both go up and down but the left switch operates the right window and the right switch the left.

Peering behind the dash it looks like the length of the wires determined which switch they went to but before I start swapping them around is there a more logical fix. Swapping the cables around will now be very fiddly and involve lengthening one side.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks in advance.

Peter

Hi Peter, I think you are right to think about extending one wire
I will soon be fitting new looms in my early Plus 2, could you tell me who's loom(s) you bought and how good you found them?
Thanks,
Kev.

It's a bit tight behind the dash, so it's got to come at least partway out to get to the rear of the switches comfortably. Then you may be able to re-route the wires to the switches and avoid the need to extend anything.
Peter

I decided to pull the dash forward enough to see the layout of the loom and guess what, it was my mistake. its a 50/50 call on which set of window wires to connect to each switch and I just called it wrong.

Note to self: next time test the loom to see which switch wires goes to the left and right!

BTW the loom came from Paul Matty, I cant fault it and would not hesitate to buy another. My advice if you are changing your loom, is take lots and lots of pictures, write detailed notes and make sure you have airing diagramme.

Peter