S4s rolling restoration project

[tomcattom]

Thanks both. I wonder if the flow is weak also because the oil cooler and lines are still filling?

Does anyone know how much oil is needed for a completely dry fill for me to get a feel if the lines and cooler are full yet? I reckon somewhere around 7 litres has gone in it so far.

[Chillidoggy]

10 minutes ago, tomcattom said:

Thanks both. I wonder if the flow is weak also because the oil cooler and lines are still filling?

Does anyone know how much oil is needed for a completely dry fill for me to get a feel if the lines and cooler are full yet? I reckon somewhere around 7 litres has gone in it so far.

 

The flow is weak because it's not pushing against anything, and remember the engine is only at cranking revs. Try doing what I suggested, and after you've tightened the turbo pipe, crank it again and once you see the oil pressure gauge just start to move, that's it, go for a start.

You have an oilstat, so theoretically the cooler pipes should resist filling until the stat opens but it's possible there could be a bit of leakage.

I measured just over 7 litres total oil capacity including filter and oil cooler lines. You have more than enough oil in the sump ATM.

 

[tomcattom]

I'll give what you suggest a try at lunchtime @Chillidoggy and see if I get signs of movement on the pressure gauge.

When I examined the Setrab oil stat before fitting, it looked to have a normally open bypass in the sandwich plate that below operating temperature allows oil to bypass the cooler lines and go straight through the filter in preference to going via the oil coolers first. The route into the oil lines doesn't appear to be blocked by the stat in anyway at any time so I would expect it to be able to fill to some degree. When it reaches operating temperature it looks like the stat closes the bypass between the two sides of the sandwich plate forcing the oil through the coolers before entering the filter.

[Chillidoggy]

Good luck, we’re counting on you!

[tomcattom]

I did as you suggested @Chillidoggy. I backed the turbo feed fitting off slightly and I got oil dribble out on cranking; I didn't really doubt that would happen based on the video from yesterday. I then tightened it back up and after several more extended hits of the starter the needle slowly began to move north and into the red. On all the previous attempts yesterday there was quite a bit of space between the top of the needle and the bottom of the red and no visible movement from the needle at all.

I think I'm now in the clear to start it. Just need to put the exhaust downpipe back on and I'll need to pop up the petrol station to get some fuel for it - that is essential travel isn't it? 🤔

Thanks for the input and advice everyone I'm quite happy working on a car, but the Esprit is still pretty unfamiliar to me so I've not got the specific experience to know what to expect on every task. Thank god for internet forums, because I really don't want to destroy my investment by rushing anything.

[drdoom]

I'd be wary of empty cooler lines beyond the stat. It could take some vigorous usage for the stat to open then what do we have running back into the system other than air bubbles?

[tomcattom]

I'm hoping there won't be too much air up there now. I pre-filled the lines as best I could when I fitted the oil stat and as I've been trying to build oil pressure over the past two days the oil has required topping up so I'm hoping that is a good sign that at least some oil has made its way into the cooler loop. Regardless I'll be keeping a watchful eye on the the gauges and the oil level itself between runs, when it gets to the stage of having an MOT and being able to actually drive it that is.

[cweeden]

I'm watching this thread with interest (and fingers crossed for you it all goes well). I am wondering if there are any opinions regarding the use (and value of using) an oil accumulator?

cheers

-Chris

[tomcattom]

IT RUNS!!!!

Chucked five litres of fuel in it and initially it wouldn't start. Was a bit slow off the mark to realise the fuel inertia switch needed resetting. Once it did start I quickly got up to about 4.5bar on the oil pressure gauge at idle, so I think that's sound.

Next problem to solve is that after about a minute of running the idle got really lumpy and then it stalled on me 🤔

[Chillidoggy]

15 hours ago, cweeden said:

I'm watching this thread with interest (and fingers crossed for you it all goes well). I am wondering if there are any opinions regarding the use (and value of using) an oil accumulator?

cheers

-Chris

 

If the oiling system is 'wet' then it should build pressure quickly. As Tom has demonstrated, the 910 is a little more involved if the system has been in bits, but the priming method he used is proven to work. IMO an accumulator is a piece of kit that costs money, takes up space, adds weight, and has connections from which oil may leak.

[tomcattom]

Well I've worked out what the cause of my poor running is, my replacement ECU doesn't work 😞😠

I spent most of a day testing all the wiring to find no faults in that, all the voltages and earths were sound, but I just couldn't get the ECU to talk to Freescan or Espritmon. I finally decided to try the paper clip trick between pins A&B on the ALDL connector to check that it wasn't my diagnostic cable at fault and even that didn't result in the expected CEL light code flashing. I then swapped the ECU out for my original one, which has a faulty QDM on it and low and behold the ALDL connection works and the car runs so much smoother, albeit without the ability to run the fans (the reason why I replaced it over a year ago in the first place). Instead of buying another ECM module from the states as I did last time I think I'll send my original one off to see if it can be repaired.

Seeing as I can't do much else on the engine side of things until the ECU is sorted I decided to tie up a few loose ends on the front of the car.

I fitted some rubber edging strip around the radiator tray and air duct to protect the chargecooler hoses from chafing.

 

My new horns have been installed.

 

Then I had a right battle trying to get the corner undertrays and the lower bib spoilers to fit. None of the holes seem to want to line up without a fight. Are they prone to suffering shrinkage with age? This was the best I could manage after half a day of fighting it. The two pieces don't meet very nicely in the middle either, but again becase the bumper is trashed it's not really worth me wasting much more time on it if I'm going to replace the bumper anyway.

 

The car is slowly beginning to regain its identity

[sailorbob]

Where did you get the replacement ECU from? Another forum member bought two Cardone 're-manufactured' ECU's that were DOA.

[tomcattom]

I got it from ebay @sailorbob. It came in a Cardone box but it did work upon arrival, but between me last running it that one and only time (about 12 months ago now) and the last week when I finished the engine work it has developed a fault.

The main symptoms are it running really rough at idle (almost as if its only running on three cylinders), the fans come on after 30-60 second and stay on (no CEL light) and the ALDL connection refuses to work from either connector.

[sailorbob]

I was wrong about both Cardone ECU's being DOA, only the second one was but the first one lasted less than 100 miles.

[tomcattom]

Sounds like Cardone remanufactured ECM are to be avoided then.

[tomcattom]

While I wait for the ECM situation to get sorted out I'm doing some of the little odd-jobs on the car.

First up was to clean and straighten the rear wheel heat shield and replace the shock absorber heatshield which was crumbling away.

New alongside what's left of the old shock top heat shield.

The new one required a little trimming to get it to fit.

All back in place after a little panel beating to straighten out the main heat shield.

 

I also fitted the tinted indicator lenses that my wife kindly bought me for my birthday

 

Then after nipping up a few weeping brake unions and re-bleeding the brakes I fit the front wheels with their nice grippy new rubber.

My sparkly calipers show up quite nicely behind the Futuras   Shame the state of the rims let it down 🤦‍♂️

 

Almost ready to land back on the deck again...

[TAR]

I think that heatshield is asbestos, please be careful what you do with it. 🙂

[tomcattom]

I've been struggling to find anyone who I feel comfortable to send my old ECM off for repair with and in a timely manner. I've not done an exhaustive search yet, but I've taken a risk and bought another ECM from the states; I might dust of my electronics skills in due course and look at my original myself.

This time I've stayed away from Cardone branded refurbished units since evidence would seem to suggest they're not reliable and gone for an AC Delco Professional branded one which has a 24 month and 24,000 mile warranty on it and will actually work out cheaper than the Cardone one I bought previously, once I've returned the faulty Cardone unit to them to reclaim the exchange surcharge. They're probably all refurbished at that same place I expect 😆

 

Before I even plugged it into the car I checked the ECM section of the manual and identified all the connections on the ECM that relate to the QDMs and then set about methodically checking continuity of all the associated wiring and tested all the relays, solenoids and resistors etc just to be sure it wasn't something on the car that killed the last replacement. Luckily everything was fine, although I did discover that Lotus have wired up several of the relay operating contacts in the rear fuse box the reverse of how it's shown in the wiring diagrams 🤦‍♂️ It doesn't affect the running of the car, but did cause some brief head scratching when I was tracing the wiring through with the diagrams. The ECM is now installed and the car has been run up and all seems to be well, the idle is a LOT better although moments after I recorded the video below it did have a couple of wobbles where the idle almost dropped to the point of stalling before the ECM caught it. Something I'll look at another day.

After that brief five minute run I whipped out the plugs and turned the engine to 30 degrees BTDC to check the belt tension again, as per the manual's guidance following the belt change and the measurement came back as 98Hz. Its a little on the low side, but I don't think 2Hz is going to make enough of a difference to warrant doing anything about it!

 

I then ground out all the knackered rivnuts for the undertray and replaced them with new. A couple had to go up a size to M8 because the hole in the body had opened up. Undertray was then slipped on. Some of the bolts are missing because I ran out while fitting it, so I've got extras on order 🙄

 

I also sorted out the chassis protection near the Alunox as recommended to me by several people earlier in the thread. I managed to find some nice heat resistance material with velcro on it that was the perfect size to wrap around the chassis tubes.

A metre length was perfect to do what you see here

 

Finally I ran the car again to start bleeding the coolant system and while I was doing that the oil temperature gauge started to work, so I know that modification works

[Chillidoggy]

Remember the ECU will have a period of learning, and it will adjust the IAC during the process. Idle sounds good to me. Congrats on the oil temp gauge!

Please don't mention anything about belt tension, you'll set another long-winded cam belt thread off before you know it.........

[cweeden]

Hi Tom.

Where did you get the heat proofing from?

cheers

-Chris

[tomcattom]

This is what I bought @cweeden

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182858917928

I went for the 38mm inside diameter which was a perfect fit for the chassis tubes.

[drdoom]

Looks like a good solution for shielding the chassis tubes but I fear the Velcro may perish from the heat. Perhaps supplement with S/S tie straps?

[tomcattom]

Time will tell how reliable the velcro is @drdoom. It is stiched on so glue failure shouldn't be a problem.

Anyway, after nearly two years and two months off the road the Esprit has finally broken cover. Still plenty to do before its ready for an MOT, but its a big milestone having it in a drivable condition again

While idling on the driveway it kept stalling and it took me a while to realise it was due to be a lack of fuel. The weird thing was the low fuel warning light wasn't on and I know that works because it was illuminated before I put fuel back into it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. Obviously not that reliable at indicating low fuel I guess 😕

[Barrykearley]

Well done chap - that’s a proper milestone 

[cweeden]

That's a huge step forward. Well done.