wern Posted November 28, 2007 Report Share Posted November 28, 2007 Hi All, a day off so what better time to play around. Firstly success, refitted the speedo after overhaul (by JDO thanks James!) and no more bouncing! Then on to the annual go at the heater (its that time of year you know!). Firstly check out everything ....vacuum OK because the fresh air flap works OK,check all hoses connected (see chiropractor tomorrow) no problems, check actuator valves move properly,check heater matrix is hot ....all working OK except the mode flap refuses to move as usual.GGGGGRRRRR! Cant understand,if there is a leak the vacuum would not operate the fresh air flap as they are fed by the same hose. Anyway not to be beaten again I resorted to good old British ingenuity... I have attached a pair of Mole grips to the mode flap arm under the passenger dash and run a wire from it and attached it to the passengers seat belt clip!!! So with minor adjustments of the wire I can now direct warm air in the right directions for the first time in seven years!!!! I know its not Kosher but the GF will keep quiet for a while and it gives me a small amount of satisfaction until the next attempt, onlly have to replace the green wire with a black one so it is not so obvious!! Cheers Paul (I can now throw the string back gloves away!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
f1karting Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 (edited) Nice... Edited December 3, 2007 by f1karting Quote If you set no goals you shall surely reach them.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wern Posted December 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 (edited) I know its not pretty (even though you cant see it!) but has anyone got any other better suggestions? It would help if you could actually get to the heater itself. It is very frustrating when it all appears to work.Does anyone know if there are two matrix(s)? in the heater as I now get really hot air on the screen but only luke warm everywhere else no matter what position the mode flap is now in, with my Heath Robinson arrangement? The diagram that Wayne posted seems to show two,in which case I suppose the larger one could be blocked. Stupid question this but has anyone attempted to remove the heater unit?! I suppose the whole dash has to be removed, next question how difficult is it and how long does it take? Roll on summer and I can shut the vents up! Cheers Paul. Whoops, it wasnt Waynes diagram but the service notes that shows the internal layout of the heater! Just checked again and its the evaporator for air conditioned cars that I was looking at (which I dont have!) so back to the drawing board! Edited December 3, 2007 by wern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andycs3 Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 on my heater issues page, there was someone who mentioned they had completely fixed their heater... could pm and ask..... ....im still trying to find someone with an outside tap to flush my system Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USAndretti42 Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 May be a daft question but is the pipe to take the air from the heater to your tootsies connected to the heater? Or is it pointing in the wrong direction? Stick your hand over the end of the tube with the engine, heater and fan on and see how hot the air is. On my S2, for some reason I haven't worked out, there is a hole on the side of the heater near where the pipe to the dashboard fresh air vent connects so unheated air from outside blows into the footwell, even more so when the vent is closed as the air has no other escape. Quote S4 Elan, Elan +2S, Federal-spec, World Championship Edition S2 Esprit #42, S1 Elise, Excel SE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wern Posted December 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 All pipes appear to be connected but will have another check at the weekend. The hole you refer to is on mine as well, it is shown on the service notes diagram, but like most things on the Esprit heater it seems a bit useless. Is it right that Lotus bought a job lot of car heaters and said lets build a car around it and make it as inaccessible as possible!?? Cheers Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteyg Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 I've always wondered about that hole too! Other thing to note, not sure if it's the same on all cars but my heater only blows well when the car is revving. At idle there is very little air flow but at 1500+ rpm she blows hot! Pete Quote Pete '79 S2 LEW Miss September 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dodgy Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 i have always wondered why - when the car is driven at speed, i get cold feet , literaly now i have looked at the heater diagram, those strange small vent holes (pre heater matrix) look like the culprits. so as they were deleated in mid 86, i am going to cover them to see what effect they have. Maybe it will stop air being bled off and channal more hot air to the screen and footwells where we want it. Quote Лотос - для тех которые знают разницу ENIGMA for those who are paranoid or download one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lionelmac Posted December 11, 2007 Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 All pipes appear to be connected but will have another check at the weekend. The hole you refer to is on mine as well, it is shown on the service notes diagram, but like most things on the Esprit heater it seems a bit useless. Is it right that Lotus bought a job lot of car heaters and said lets build a car around it and make it as inaccessible as possible!?? Cheers Paul. Hi Paul Mine is an S1 & I had the dash out specificaly to fit an air conditioning unit - yes big job. I used an aircon unit that is normaly fitted into a Header or Grader or farm implement, the units are made to do big cabs and the have a heater integrated into them. The best part is the whole damn thing is smaller than a Lotus heater - they are huge. The trickiest part was working out how to have either fresh air or recirculated air. I would suggest amputating the top part of the Lotus heater & grafting it into the system for this. The only cutting we had to do was to the front bulkhead, the hole needed widening a bit. The plastic access cover in the front is then too small, so we flopped it in fibreglass made two copies of it, cut & joined them to make one bigger one as in the pic. We then added a couple of Escort diffusers to the dash to give the passenger a share. Then there is only the easy part - fitting compressor/hoses/evaporator/etc. etc. etc ha ha. B) ...............................xisab Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wern Posted December 11, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 11, 2007 Hi Lionel. Good grief I think it would be easier for me to move back to Oz and forget about the heater,I am surprised you need one in Perth anyway! Thanks for the info but I think I will wait until I give up work next year and have more time! Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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