lotus turbo 85

[lotus-andy]

hi i have an 1985 esprit turbo which unfortuntely i dont driva as much as i like but am currently in the process of getting it back on the road. i seem to have a problem which i think is fuel related. when idling the car ticks over fine but when i drive it it seem to cut out like there is some sort of fuel starvation and it wont always start again although does at some point, if i am at standstill and start to slowly rev the enginge at about 4000 rpm it goes spluttery fpr some reason. i have had a new filter amd jets cleaned out but was told sometimes the carbs need to be reset and balanced act? also there is a blow in the exhaust at one of the flexi joints near the back which i will replace!! would this cause it? any ideas would be great thx andy

[tbeggan]

Andy,

The exhaust hole wouldn't cause what you've described. My immediate response is that it sounds familiar, and that it could likely be three things:

1. Fuel Pump is getting weak. It can handle the demands of your engine at lower RPMs, including the start-up cycle, but when it needs more fuel volume, there's a problem. On a carbureted car, I "think" there's only one fuel pump, and it's not high pressure. I'd certainly look there.

2. Fuel Filter is cloggged and putting too much resistance into the system. If this is the case, the car would likely run well and low RPMs and choke out at higher RPMs. It's a fairly cheap piece and if I would imaging it "should" be easy to access from underneath the car (near the fuel pump).

3. Distributor Cap & Rotor. I had a very similar problem with my 87 HCi a few years back, where it would run perfectly well until I hit 4,500 RPMs or higher; at which point it would start to stammer. It turned out to be a problem with a loose Rotor inside the Distributor Cap. It was wiggling around, doing alright until the sheer centrifugal force stepped in and made it skip. The inside of the cap looked like a war zone when I finally figured it out and got in there. New Cap & Rotor fixed the issue totally.

If these hints don't pan out, keep the information flowing here and I'll see what else I can dream up.

good luck,

Tom Beggan

87 HCi

New Hampshire (USA)

[bigsi]

hi matey.

i gcurrently have this as well, i will be starting to pull away from mydrive and its like the power just drops away, if i back off then push the throttle hard she s prings to life.

first check the spark from your coil pull your king lead off your dizy and put a sparkplug in the end, rest on head and see what the spark is like, i bet its either weak or not there, i replaced mine and i have no more problems with mine, but i also changed the spark plugs, for racing iridium spark plugs with a 0.4 gap and new pro quality ht leads.

i also have a new fuel filter and shortly a pump to fit, that will cure the lot in one go! and its sensible to do it.

also if its old fuel then get rid of it, and fill with fresh.

[fenton]

just check that the air feed pipe hasn't fallin off the air intake on the driver side. its difficult to see but if you stand by the nearside rear wing and look across with your head at the level of the engine bay, you should see it.. its white about 4 inch dia. it took me three weeks to realise that it was causing a mis fire on mine , if its not connected it will suck itself flat , the more rpm the worse it gets.

sj sports cars will replace the flexible section for