jp3105 Posted May 11, 2012 Posted May 11, 2012 Jut had an advisory on the MOT - play developing in the steering. Guy said it was about 3mm on one side and 5-6mm on the drivers side. The track rod ends were replaced 11 months ago , he says its play at the inner end of the steering arms. I must admit that since I had the geo done 4 months ago ( by a Lotus specialist ) i have noticed very light steering compared to before , surely they would have spotted this much play though? Am I looking at a new rack or is this something that the dealer can fix without having to get a complete new rack?
richbk Posted May 11, 2012 Posted May 11, 2012 not sure if same on S1, but on my S2, the column was 2 sections bolted together, i think near base of the drivers footwell and mine was looser than it should have been, giving "play" particulary around the straight ahead when moving at low / medium speeds. a straighforward tightening of these removed all the play. if found at MOT i assume its from them moving the wheels rather than steering column, but worth a check before you go down the replacement route?? richbk
Martin R Posted May 11, 2012 Posted May 11, 2012 If its the inner end of the steering arms its probably the plastic cups. You can get them refurbished but it has to come out.
Elise+Imp Posted May 11, 2012 Posted May 11, 2012 likely to be wear in the end bushes/cups of the rack, titan can recondition the rack if it has the plastic cups, if they're bronze i don't think it's as easy/cheap. hopefully someone whos had one done will give you more info
KingK_series Posted May 13, 2012 Posted May 13, 2012 Jut had an advisory on the MOT - play developing in the steering. Guy said it was about 3mm on one side and 5-6mm on the drivers side. The track rod ends were replaced 11 months ago , he says its play at the inner end of the steering arms. I must admit that since I had the geo done 4 months ago ( by a Lotus specialist ) i have noticed very light steering compared to before , surely they would have spotted this much play though? Am I looking at a new rack or is this something that the dealer can fix without having to get a complete new rack? I have refurbed several racks now - initially because I wanted to fit my own bar and pinions for a faster rack, but I learn't that 1/ water can ingress the castings past the boots and corrode the bars 2/ the nylon tensioner can get very scored when that happens - the tensioner sets the "weight" of the rack 3 and finally the nylon cups that seat the track rod ends crack very commonly. This latter fault is most likely to be the cause of your play. I have found on S2's using the Titan rack a small stainless steel washer was placed behind the cups to make it less prone to breaking, but really they are better replaced by a phosphor bronze part. Don't know if anyone makes it in the correct material - I had mine made especially. The cups are made in nylon to make the car more "refined" believe it or not, in a similar drive to reduce NVH the rack sleeve bearings [made in phosphor bronze] were replaced with nylon sleeves in the S2 at Lotus's request. Bizzare but true. I am afraid sorting this is a rack out job which is a bit of pain, however if you want advice or even parts drop me a line and I'll see what I can do - good luck
jp3105 Posted May 22, 2012 Author Posted May 22, 2012 Well finally got round to sorting the rack out , in the end I didn't have the time to refurbish the rack myself so got Christopher Neil to do it. They only had the car for 1/2 day and I was quite pleasantly surprised at the cost - refurb rack £125 ( gave me £100 for the old one ) , all in with the labour and a few other bits it cost £380. On the way home down the country lanes it was like picking the car up for the first time again , massive confidence in the twisty bits again and a massive grin back on my face :-) Still amazed at how sensitive the Elise is to a few mm play here and there.
KingK_series Posted May 29, 2012 Posted May 29, 2012 Well finally got round to sorting the rack out , in the end I didn't have the time to refurbish the rack myself so got Christopher Neil to do it. They only had the car for 1/2 day and I was quite pleasantly surprised at the cost - refurb rack £125 ( gave me £100 for the old one ) , all in with the labour and a few other bits it cost £380. On the way home down the country lanes it was like picking the car up for the first time again , massive confidence in the twisty bits again and a massive grin back on my face :-) Still amazed at how sensitive the Elise is to a few mm play here and there. With you there! did you ask how it was refurbed?, or what was wrong with your old rack - it's always useful to know. I found the rack and pinion worn on one of mine, but the plastic cups seem to have a very short service life.
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