Lotus Excel specialist repairer in London/Reading area

[iangotts]

I have leant my Excel to my brother whilst I am abroad, and there is an electrical problem - he cant get it started. He is not technical so needs to find someone who can look at it. LotusBits (Warwick) is busy until November!! Any recommendations?

[amarshall]

What are the symptoms? - it might be an easy one to fix.

[tonypoll]

Ian,
Many years (~12) ago I used Steve Williams, Maidenhead. I.e. about half way between London & Reading.
http://www.swlotus.com/
Steve is a Lotus specialist and seemed to know what he was doing
Else I might be able to help with a workshop manual and part manual, which includes a wiring diagram.
I'm 15 miles SE of Reading, but there are others on this forum who know a lot more than me!!

Tony

[iangotts]

Thanks for the suggestions. I could probably chase the problem down. I have a copy of the wiring diagram. But I am 6,000 miles away.

The problem is that the battery drains very slowly. When I was last back I pulled every fuse to see which circuit had current flowing, but none seemed to. Now the car won't start, even with a fully charged battery.

Sadly my brother is not able to give it the love, and more importantly - regular driving - that the car needs. It was completely trouble free for the 2 years that I used it when I lived in the UK. It got through its MOT without an issue. It started and ran beautifully.

So I think the plan is
- get the car fixed
- sell it / give it away

[amarshall]

I'd guess that it has an immobiliser - they seem to kill batteries horribly quickly. A full disconnect often resets them, but aftermarket immobilisers on Excels (there was no factory fitted option) are getting a bit long in the tooth now and may well fail.

Does it turn over ? If so - suspect the rev. limiter first - easy to disconnect for testing, then the AB14 and/or black wire from the distributor. Neither of those are jobs for someone who doesn't want to know about cars.

If it doesn't turn over - suspect the immobiliser, starter motor or start drop-out relay. The relay is the easy one to test for - swap it for an equivalent. If that doesn't do it - it's not a job for someone who doesn't enjoy a challenge.