Chargecooler Impeller Life

[Riddlemr2]

I'm about to relocate to North Carolina which is far, far away from my favorite mechanic. About the only thing I haven't done to the car is rebuild the chargecooler pump. I have 23,000 miles...is it time for a new one? Just brainstorming on all the things I should have an expert handle before I leave.

[incautious]

about 15,000 miles. After running your car to operating temp, you can see if your chargecooler is working by feeling the top charger cooler with your hand( careful it may be hot) It should be cool to the touch( the same temp as the outside air). if not ,it's shot. I would replaced with an electric as it should last the life of the car.

[Paul93Lotus]

I think PUK makes a polyurethane type plastic one that supposedly will last A LOT longer than the stock piece. Check out their website.

[chandrab]

I'd just bypass it all together and replac it with an electric pump. No fuss for 100K miles. Easy to do, and not that expensive either.

I used a common Mercedes Aux Water pump.

-Chandra

91SE

[Paula&Marcus]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for mentioning this one ...

Yes, for all owners who donot like to mess around with an electric pump and like to keep the engine original in terms of layout and performance, we now have a Polyurethane impeller for the original pump.

This new impeller should last very very long

Cheers

Marcus

www.PUKesprit.de

PS: IMHO if the stock pump's impeller is fine, the c/cooler efficiency keeps well up (or even surpasses) the performance of an electrical one.

I think PUK makes a polyurethane type plastic one that supposedly will last A LOT longer than the stock piece. Check out their website.

Edited June 20, 2007 by Paula&Marcus

[s4simon]

My car's still on its original Lotus Impellor. 48k miles and 13 years. And yes the top still remains cool after a good run. Maybe mine was fitted with a special titanium rotary thingy.

[Riddlemr2]

I wish there was an easier way to tell if the thing was still working. In the middle of the summer in South Florida, the definition of "cool" is highly debatable. If it were "cooling" the water to ambient, and if it had even a normal amount of hot air blown through it, it could still feel "hot" if it was working perfectly. Would it be a bad idea if I temporarily disconnected the hoses (and plugged the charge cooler of course) to see if it was flowing?

While I'm at it, here's a stupid question...where is the charge cooler reservoir? It's 100 degrees out and I don't feel like wasting time trying to find it Thanks!

[Tentenths]

1. Take the car out for a longish/hardish drive so the engine/bay gets really hot.

2. Stop and leave the car parked for 10-15 mins. The chargecooler will then become quite warm through heatsoak.

3. Carefully touch chargecooler and gauge temperature.

4. Repeat step 1

5. Stop car.

6. Immediately repeat step 3. If the chargecooler pump has been functioning correctly the chargecooler should now be noticeably cooler (almost cold ) to the touch.

Edited June 20, 2007 by Tentenths

[Dermot]

A freescan logfile is the way to determine of your pump is working and how efficiently it is performing. Plotting the rate of cooling (delta temp/delta time) measures the heat transfer efficiency.

[Riddlemr2]

A freescan logfile is the way to determine of your pump is working and how efficiently it is performing. Plotting the rate of cooling (delta temp/delta time) measures the heat transfer efficiency.

Yeah, I really need to get Freescan going, but with trying to sell/pack/relocate I haven't had as much time to devote to the Esprit as I wish, but it is high on my list of things to do.

I just took it for a drive which was not even very spirited and touched the chargecooler and I almost burned my hand. I'm convinced the pump is bad so I'm going to have it rebuilt. I'll go for a mechanical rebuild rather than electric in the interest of time and simplicity.

Still wondering where the reservoir is....

Thanks again!

[t70]

your reservoir is attached to your coolant resevoir on the passengers side... other than that... I just picked up an electric water pump for $15 off of ebay... That's what I'm going to use for my chargecooler.

[Artie]

Yeah, I really need to get Freescan going, but with trying to sell/pack/relocate I haven't had as much time to devote to the Esprit as I wish, but it is high on my list of things to do.

I just took it for a drive which was not even very spirited and touched the chargecooler and I almost burned my hand. I'm convinced the pump is bad so I'm going to have it rebuilt. I'll go for a mechanical rebuild rather than electric in the interest of time and simplicity.

Still wondering where the reservoir is....

Thanks again!

I'd say go with an electric pump. Constant flow at revs and easy to replace/fix if it goes out. Easy to tell if it's still working too! Just touch the pump and you'll feel it vibrating. If your CC is hot then the pump is shot for sho! Email John Welch he has an electric pump and block plate. Or you could do the Polyurethane unit the Marcus now offers, which if I had originally had an impeller/chargecooled car I would replace with the mechanical pump to reduce drain on the electrical system. Heck, just changing my fans to 12" electric slimline fans gave me 12 amps of usable load for my fuel system!

Artie

[DBredS4]

I had the WC Eng pump fitted and all is fine after my impeller stopped working. The problem wasn't the rubber failing it was the shaft through it just turned the metal shaft inside the rubber part (does that make sense) so the pump turned but the rubber was stationary. daft really. anyway, no worries now.

Edited June 21, 2007 by DBredS4

[bzguy]

your reservoir is attached to your coolant resevoir on the passengers side... other than that... I just picked up an electric water pump for $15 off of ebay... That's what I'm going to use for my chargecooler.

do you have a link for that pump Marc ?

[esprits4de]

No matter what you choose to do, a really neat solution is this :

A looking glass to be mounted jus before the CC on the entry side. You can easyly tell if there are bubbles in the coolant or if the coolant is moving at all.

It looks neat too !

Installed in my car....

Edited June 24, 2007 by esprits4de

[swift]

Dave , If you do not mind can you give me the name of your tech? My car is On stands in my shop in Pompano

[Riddlemr2]

Dave , If you do not mind can you give me the name of your tech? My car is On stands in my shop in Pompano

I go to Paul at Foreign Toys in Oakland Park (heading there in 20 minutes actually to get the chargecooler pump rebuilt). They are Lotus specialists. Here's their website:

www.foreigntoysusa.com

Are you on the FL Lotus yahoo group? Shoot me an email off the board and I'll get you info on joining if you're not already on the list. Our yearly meet is coming up on July 7th.

[rens914]

make sure you really flush the sytem right

i yust had a blocked flow in my chargecooler after installing my electrical pump 8 month's ago

rens