Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Some water will settle out and thats what you first see, of the remainer the volume of the water is massively increased by being emulsified just like real mayonnaise, if it is too low an oil temperature then the more miles you drive the more oil turns to mayonnaise.

You have not answered whether you have a thermostat fitted in the oil cooler lines and whether this new engine has done a lot of short runs which is often the case.

chancer there's no thermostat installed (i have a fan switch on my dash) and the engine has run 2 x 3 min. at the shop and a 5min drive home; that's it! sandy .......... at least it seams the internal cracks are/would be simple to fix, as the outer ones don^t exist and they would be visible as i just looked at a load of cracked heads!

I reckon that someone dropped a bollock on the rebuild, initially filled the cooling system and wondered where all the water was going, , found and fixed the leak, possibly front cover without realising that the dry sump pan contained say a litre of water.

On start up the scavenge rotor will have emulsified the water with the fresh oil being pushed through from the pressure stage.

I would purge it through again with 50/50 oil and paraffin, run it up to operating temperature and fast idle for another 20 minutes before draining and refilling with fresh oil, its what I did before storing my elan and I do it again every 5 years or so.

Then keep a close look to see if there is any more significant emulsification.

will do..... just have to get some oil and clean the rest as good as possible. i hope this works --- im usually less lucky cheers sandy

Sandy, I would strongly suggest removing the pan and pressurizing the cooling system to see if you have a leak.

This may sound disgusting, but have you tasted the water/mayo?! Antifreeze/coolant has a strong bittering chemical (Bitrex) to stop people drinking it. If the water is coolant, you will taste the bitterness.This also works on odd drips from an engine. Compare the taste with your actual coolant. Obviously this is just a fingertip's worth & don't try it if the colour is yellow....

Jeremy