Electrics help

[Pete]

Okay. So I have got the car running. The volt reader bounces like crazy tho.
The indicators work. When you pull full beam headlights they come on. Oil warning light comes on and the indicator warning light comes on.  But no other electrics work. Normal lights don’t. Interior lights don’t. Electric windows or radio don’t work.

I’m not sure where to start.

Any thoughts?

[jbcollier]

First check the fuse block.  Clean all its connections and the fuses.  If it's bad, consider replacing it.

Then use the wiring diagram and work through all the ground points next.

After that, use the wiring diagram and work your way through each circuit.

[Pete]

Where will I find the fuse block? I did find a brand new one on the work bench with a load of new fuses and clips in a bag.

[BDA]

The fuse block is on the tunnel just behind the dash. On a US car, it is on the passenger side. I don't know if that changes for the Brit cars.

[Pete]

Cheers.
I’ll take a look tomorrow.
This forum. Is extremely useful for a complete novice Lotus owner/ mechanic. Lol

[EuropaTC]

Do you have the manual & wiring diagrams ?

wiring diagram for the S2

http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/misc/electrical/s2-diagc.gif

loads of electrical stuff here, scroll down the page

http://lotus-europa.com/manuals/index.htm

Are you measuring voltage at the battery when you say the voltage fluctuates or do you mean the ammeter swings about when the engine is running ?

With the non working circuits you have so many that John's suggestion of the fuse box sounds like the best starting point to see firstly if you're getting a live feed to those circuits into and out of the fusebox.

After that, the biggest problem most of us seem to find with these cars is down to earthing. It's well worth making up a decent heavier duty wire for the earth circuits and  making sure every item has a good connection to it. You could even go fault finding with an earth lead to see if things light up !

Brian

[jbcollier]

90% of all electrical issues are ground problems... and that is on steel bodied cars!  Fibreglass is worse!  Anytime you get a I turn "this" on and "that" lights up, it's invariably a ground issue.

[Pete]

Thanks Brian. I have two workshop manuals for the Europa. Lol. And some for other lotus cars

[EuropaTC]

Thanks Brian. I have two workshop manuals for the Europa. Lol. And some for other lotus cars

I've got one of those very early Elan manuals as well, it's interesting just how much detail Lotus expected their owners to have in those days. (probably because they didn't want to be bothered fixing the cars    )

Brian