Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Hi Guys,
A bit of advise if I can, my pop up lights developed a mind of there own and after chasing down the leak (in the storage tank) I finished up by passing the tee joint and joining the two pipes together. At last check the lights have stayed up with the car turned off for the last hour. 68 +2 non-fail safe.
My question is, am i going to do any damage in leaving it like that? Hoping someone can advise.
Regards
Ken

You need to put it back as was and fix the leak in Chassis. Maybe you have rust in the Turrets.
If you run not using the Chassis as vacuum reservoir you risk to burn the Exhaust Valve on n? 1.
imho it looks like you have rust problems with a Turret. Or if you're lucky it was just the "T" connection that was leaking.
Alan

And if you fancy going for a night ride , you'll be in for a surprise whn you put your foot down...

John

Thanks guys for you feedback.
Ken

or you can use a separate vacuum tank in the meantime, like for the brakes on a number of Jaguars, while you attend to the crossmember leak (can take longer than it originally seemed...)

Assuming slight rust in a turret you and you want to put off the evil day of sorting that you could always blank off the vacuum outlet on the manifold to prevent weak mixture on No 1 cylinder, it may need a carb rebalance afterwards, and then fit an electric wiper conversion.

Thanks, both great options and the electric conversion would be great! maybe that's the future. I'm hoping it may be tee joint ( if only I could be that lucky)
Ken

Actually this works fine. I've been running this way for years. No issues during acceleration.

Frank

Thanks Frank
That's good to know, I found a small crack, no rust and used epoxy metal repair, seems to be working well and I'm now getting 3 minutes hang time after shutdown.
Thanks for all the advise guys, most appreciated.
Ken

If the lamps stay up with the engine off then it isn't going to be drawing air from the inlet manifold when the engine is running. It only needs to when you next raise the lamps but then it takes a lot for a short while rather than a little for a long while with a working tank.

Imho you need to pressure test the Chassis cross member by putting airline connection to where the "T" piece fits.
Remove the Vacuum Units and pressure test them also. In the past i have found Vacuum units rusted underneath. They can be repaired with grp and resin.
Alan

Alan
That's exactly how I found the leak. Thanks for the advise.
Regards
Ken

alan.barker wrote:. In the past i have found Vacuum units rusted underneath. They can be repaired with grp and resin.
Alan

Good grief, I never thought of that! I must get my fingers around the base of my RH side one which has been leaking for years! It seems better this year so perhaps it isn't the rubber perished after all.

On the actuating rod of the Headlamp Vacuuum unit there should be a large foam washer to stop water going down inside and rusting it out.
Alan

Yes Alan, but after 55 years and 280,000 miles the hole in the middle is bigger than the vacuum unit!

I think a large polythene bag or tube over the unit and tyrapped onto the pull rod might do the trick and I'll try something like that if I geta new vac unit. St Wilkins was quoting ?175 +VAT but still trying to get someone to make the cans a couple of months ago.