Radiator return pipe coolant leak

[Mr_Belowski]

I got my S1 111s back on the road thanks to some excellent service from Gav at unit 4, but a stubborn coolant leak has been really grinding my gears, and my feeble attempts at fixing it have made it worse

The rubber hose connecting the radiator return pipe to the metal pipe next to the gear box here:
 

just won't seal at the end. It's been like this for ages, an occasional drip. Enough to want fixing but not enough to justify mangling the old rubber 90 degree piece by tightening the hose clip and adding another hose clip. After a couple of miserable hours under the car it's worse than it was before and I really think this rubber section needs replacing.

Is this a clam-off job to get the access to the other end of the hose? It disappears into the chassis in front of the wheel with no obvious way to access the other side of this joining piece. Or is there another way to get the thing water tight? The hose is a bit crumbly and the clips have kinda torn into it, and yes, I know should have left it alone

[Lithopsian]

Clam off won't help.  The pipe goes through the chassis rail and the rubber section on the end sits partly inside the chassis rail.  Which end of the 90 degree hose is weeping?  Which clip have you tightened?  Are you certain it is coming from the joint and not running down the pipe from somewhere invisible?

The 90 degree hose goes through the side of the chassis rail, but you have some access to it through the open rear end of the rail.  There is also access to the hose clip screw head through a small hole on the underside of the rail.  Very fiddly, but then what isn't on the Elise.  You may be able to squeeze your hand down inside the rail, but you won't be able to do a lot with it.  Or it might not fit at all and you'll be doing everything from a distance.

Here's a diagram from the service manual, looking from the rear of the car straight forwards.  Not exactly to scale, but should be useful.

[MrWill]

On 11/06/2023 at 21:21, Mr_Belowski said:

I got my S1 111s back on the road thanks to some excellent service from Gav at unit 4, but a stubborn coolant leak has been really grinding my gears, and my feeble attempts at fixing it have made it worse

The rubber hose connecting the radiator return pipe to the metal pipe next to the gear box here:
 

just won't seal at the end. It's been like this for ages, an occasional drip. Enough to want fixing but not enough to justify mangling the old rubber 90 degree piece by tightening the hose clip and adding another hose clip. After a couple of miserable hours under the car it's worse than it was before and I really think this rubber section needs replacing.

Is this a clam-off job to get the access to the other end of the hose? It disappears into the chassis in front of the wheel with no obvious way to access the other side of this joining piece. Or is there another way to get the thing water tight? The hose is a bit crumbly and the clips have kinda torn into it, and yes, I know should have left it alone

Hopefully you're now sorted. Depending on the state of the pipe you could try a suitably sized mikalor hose clip which is much wider and will clamp, more than cut into, the pipe. Might just get a seal...

Good luck 👍 

Mr Will

[Mr_Belowski]

thanks for the responses guys, i appreciate it

the current state is that with an additional clip on the end it's now sealed. It's mangled, there are 3 clips on it, it's embarrassing and a mess. Next time this pipe has to come of for a coolant drain it's going to be unpleasant.

I'll pick up some better clamps but the rubber's much wider at the end so getting a correct sized clamp onto it is difficult without being able to fully split the clamp.

 

Anyway, it's not leaking right now, it's sunny, it can be safely ignored for the time being, whereby solving the problem once and for all. Not looking forward to fixing it properly though

[Lithopsian]

Out of sight, out of mind