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I did a little research and learned quite a bit about its cooling system

 

Complicated, yes indeed. The central brain of the system is the thermostat housing with feeds for coolant tank, throttle body warming, heater core, turbocharger cooling and main cooling circuit. That’s where I have had troubles as the thermostat tends to stick open or closed. The gauge does reflect that, which is why I haven’t blown up my engine yet. I’ve changed it a couple times, lowered the opening temp from 180 to 160. The biggest help is the super cooling fluid which is essential in my other Elan.

IN addition to what’s shown here are the two other radiators — one for engine oil, and the other for charge cooling. They all compete for air flow and dump more heat into the front of the car.



The thermostat housing is IN-conveniently locate right next to the cam sensor which is another weak point, as it doesn’t like moisture or too much heat.



On Rest-of-world Cars, air flow for A/C and Coolant radiators is straight thru





Due to USA bumper systems, the air flow is not as nice as the others





Hoses are no longer available but can be assembled from other model bits and pieces











Mike

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Roundabout the Reservoirs

 
By: cazalea : May 10th, 2025-20:11
To celebrate passing our smog test, and having a charged battery, full radiator, 3/4 full fuel tank, ABR on wrist and mobile cell phone for emergencies, we headed off for a drive this morning. The Lotus still has dirty glass from dew and dust as that was ...  

Another wonderful adventure 👍🏻😊

 
By: KMII : May 11th, 2025-02:51
A bit surprised by the overheating issue. I thought the Isuzu sourced engine was relatively bullet proof? 🤷🏻‍♂️ But then you do have it a tad warmer in California 😁

Yes the engine is tough

 
By: cazalea : May 11th, 2025-02:59
But I’ve replaced the thermostat twice in 50,000 miles and many of the hoses. Lotus re-routed and cobbled the cooling system together. Mine has been flushed 3 times and still has some rusty color. I think it’s an alloy radiator so why? Plus there’s a cool... 

I did a little research and learned quite a bit about its cooling system

 
By: cazalea : May 13th, 2025-21:53
Complicated, yes indeed. The central brain of the system is the thermostat housing with feeds for coolant tank, throttle body warming, heater core, turbocharger cooling and main cooling circuit. That’s where I have had troubles as the thermostat tends to ...