Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

andyhay wrote:It was the white wire in this photo (not my car - photo from google search)

IMG_3278.JPG

That's the wire from the starter switch to operate the solenoid. That solenoid does not have the ballast coil extra contact.

Maybe you also slid the big brown wire to & fro on its contact and cleaned the connection without realising it. As prezoom said, since that is the main feed to & from the battery, dirty contacts there could make strange effects.

I gave all the wires a wiggle and a push. So could the brown wire have caused the low altenator charge symptoms ?

Yes
If you had a high resistance join from the alternator brown wire to the main battery cable you could get the symptoms you had. You may want to remove the connections on the top of the solenoid and clean and reinstall them ensuring they are all tight.

cheers
Rohan

Will do

Thanks again to everyone for all the help.

Andy

rgh0 wrote:Yes
If you had a high resistance join from the alternator brown wire to the main battery cable you could get the symptoms you had. You may want to remove the connections on the top of the solenoid and clean and reinstall them ensuring they are all tight.

cheers
Rohan

CAREFULLY..!!

Disconnect the battery first because that big fat black leads goes straight to the battery terminal.

Be sure to check the connection at the alternator as well.

I know this may sound a little odd but have a look what size Bulb you have in your Ignition tell tail light. I was having all sorts of problems with my Alt doing strange things and it turned out it didn't like the 2.2w bulb, fitted a 5w and it works as intended now (14v at 1000rpm idle and 14.4v at anything over 1200 rpm)