Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

...separate the motor from the mounting plate to aid removal?

My drivers window is in the closed position and ive tested the electrics making sure that I have a good supply and earth but all I get is a fine clicking from the motor.

So to test it/repair/replace Im looking to take the assembly out of the door. However, what concerns me is that if I remove the motor from the mounting plate, the spring is going to unwind and cause damage whilst inside the door. (remember the motor was jammed in the window fully up position which I assume is going to set the arm/spring in its most coiled position as its carrying the weight of the glass??)

so, can I separate these 2 whilst in the door as I cant see me getting it out without doing so?

Thanks

I should have added that I cannot align the arm/hole in plate to hold the tension as the motor was stuck in the fully up position...

Is this a +2 your talking about?

Sorry... Yes plus 2

Mr Chaos

When you say "ive tested the electrics making sure that I have a good supply and earth but all I get is a fine clicking from the motor.". are you sure you've applied the 12V to the down wire and earth to the frame ?

John

Hi john

I've tried both...the motor is licking which makes me think something has jammed rather than the motor failing. Hence I thought I'd take it all out.

Am I ok to take the motor off the mounting plate ?... I'm worried about the spring

With the window in its up position the spring will be at its weakest,never done it before,good luck.

John

Hi not much fun removing the motor, I would try to find a way of keeping the tension in the spring it is very strong I had a similar problem on mine recently but fortunately after releasing the whole assembly I could reach top of the motor and reattach the power feed so avoiding removing the whole unit. However I do recall removing the motor from the arm whilst it was on the bench and nearly loosing a finger. so treat with great care David

One thing you might check before disassembly is really how many volts you have right at that connection, with the clicking making me think that perhaps there's enough voltage/amps to click it but not run the motor. Gordon Sauer

Gordon

I too think its not mechanical...im going to revisit the wiring again...

still no answer to whether its ok to remove the motor from the mounting plate whilst in the door.

I had to look at the parts book to refresh my memory but on my Esprit set up just like this I recently pulled the motor from the assembly and what I did was clamp the arm with C clamps to the baseplate in a couple places to make sure it would not move from that spot and then I removed the motor with no problem and put it back on; The gear on the motor is the only thing that keeps that arm from going wherever it wants to. I did do the relay adaption on my +2 windows and it makes a huge difference in their movement. Gordon Sauer

Don't remove the tor without first securing the arm there is to much tension in the spring. The c clamps are a good idea

Ok,,,thanks all

Captain, I also am trying to recall how I did this, as I had them out several times.

IIRC the whole assembly including the motor and arm come out as one piece. I recall once it was out and on the bench kind of cocking the arm and spring and inserting a bolt or similar to hold tension on the spring, and then removing after bolting in position. I can't recall if I inserted the bolt to remove the whole assembly though. I think just having the window taped up and carefully undoing the bolts I was able to manually relieve the spring tension by moving the assembly around.

Take a peek at this thread as we posted quite a bit of detailed info and pictures. There is also info on replacement motors if required. If I am reading the info from several years ago correctly, it looks like with the window in the correct position you can insert the retaining bolt; however this may assume the darned lifts are working to get everything lined up!

lotus-electrical-f38/fitting-window-motor-assemblies-t24949.html

HTH. Wish I could be more definitive.

Stu