Hammer59

Damn. Sod's law strikes again as I haven't been able to replicate the issue more than once since wanting to try some of the suggestions given. It does have an old fashioned immobiliser which has always worked fine. When it did play up, I did as Mike suggested and waited a few seconds before trying again. This made no difference and it was fine after I disconnected and reconnected the battery.

Hi Filip. Thanks for that. Yes, I guess the starter would still rotate even if the cut-out switch had been activated. No, I've never tried starting it again immediately. I'll do that next time. I have an isolator on the battery so it's always been easy enough to just disconnect and reconnect. The fact that it always fixes the problem would suggest it's unlikely it has no effect, but I'll have a better idea when it next happens. I had the whole electrical system gone through a year ago, with special attention paid to earthing. Alternator was also reconditioned. Starter wiring would have been attended to if required. I'll post when I can dig into it further. Thanks for your help. Cheers.

Hi all. '89 SE. Occasionally, when turning on the ignition and then turning the key to 'start', there would be a click and the starter wouldn't engage. By disconnecting the battery and re-connecting, it would always sort the problem. It only happened rarely so I didn't worry too much about it. It's now happening more frequently and the last time it did it I thought I'd press the reset on the fuel cut-out switch. It didn't seem to 'click down', but it worked and the car started normally and was fine. A couple of questions: if the fuel cut-out switch activates, should the starter motor still work? In my scenario it doesn't. Also, manual says switch should activate if the car has been in a shunt. Does it sound like there's an issue with a motion detector? Any advice if this is where I should start looking or is this a more common problem with some other part of the system. Thanks in advance.

Great advice. Thanks. The previous owner had thoughtfully replaced the seat nuts with galvanised or stainless nuts and washers so that should be an easy job.

Interesting. I've had a long term problem with the throttle 'hanging' intermittently and suspected a vacuum leak. Previous handbrake light issue would suggest it is the microswitch, though.

Thanks for the input. Didn't realise the picture would come out so big - thought it would be thumbnail size. I'll see if I can access the handbrake lever mechanism and go from there. Colour is Mitsubishi Red Diamond. Had it painted earlier this year. Used to be Calypso Red. Went all-in and had the stripes painted too (not stick-ons). Had previously had the wheels refurbished and went for the gold but it didn't really go with the original red, therefore the complete respray. (Yeah, just to match the wheels - the things we do...!). Here's a couple more pics:

Hi all. Warning light stays on. I always used to have to release the handbrake with a two-stage motion to get the light to go out but now it stays on all the time. Because of its previous idiosyncrasy, I'm pretty convinced its just a dodgy switch. Does anyone know where the actual switch is and how to access it? I started to try to pull the carpet away from the handbrake but it's stuck on with some pretty heavy-duty glue so thought I'd check to make sure I'm heading in the right direction. Thanks in advance

Only for us Antipodeans.

I considered it but that would have meant taking everything out of my boot, including the battery charger that was doing its thing at the time. Also, my Phd in spatial 3-D geometry has lapsed. Thought I'd save that challenge for another time.

I've had the v8 shocks in the car for a few weeks now. They are just in as a stop gap as my leaky adjustables are away in the big smoke (Auckland) waiting to get refurbished. As Steve from SJ warned me, they are WAY too stiff for the SE. Perfect for a track day but it really highlights how beautifully damped it was before - soaked up the bumps but great in the corners too. It has to be said that the v8 shocks weren't in the best of condition, but they got me through the WOF (MOT). I wouldn't advise anyone to change to v8 shocks for everyday driving. My plan of action is to wait for the quote on the refurb. If it's silly money I'll order a pair of new ones from Steve. On a totally different note, I took my sunroof out for the first time today. I know the previous owner had never taken it off so it would have been at least 25 years since it was off. Was surprised that everything was in good nick. Will take the beast out topless as soon as I get over covid. At least it's given me time to catch up on a few little things on the Esprit. Also had the wheels refurbed and painted gold a few weeks back. Opinions?

Thanks Erik. That's what I was hoping to hear. I'll give it a try.

Hi all. Both my rear dampers are shot and I've had the offer of a pair of used dampers out of a mate's V8. He replaced his with high-end adjustables. It looks like replacement is pretty straightforward so won't have wasted much time if they turn out to be of no use. Anyone with any knowledge in this area? Cheers.

Had vacuum pipes checked and no leaks found. At a bit of a loss as to the cause of this hanging throttle.

Thanks Andy. When replacing the fuel pressure regulator, I noticed the vacuum line had come off the regulator. It looked original and had split. I was actually convinced that I had found the hanging throttle problem source but it turned out that replacement of the pipe cured the hot-start issue (unless it was a regulator problem) and not the one I was expecting. I'll probably get my friendly neighbourhood mechanic to do the smokey test thing to see if another air leak presents itself. I'm pretty sure I had the problem before I replaced the injectors.

Thanks John. I'll give that a go.