Lotus battery, oil, and wheel bearings.

Last Wednesday I drove the Lotus to work. On the way home I stopped to pick up something, and it would not start. All along it has been weird about starting. At best the starter seems to drag for a moment, making a grinding sound, then it will catch and crank with gusto. Sometimes, when the car has not run in a couple weeks, the sagging and grinding last a lot longer, but eventually it will catch. So it seems like a voltage thing. Except that sometimes during a ride, after a stop for lunch or a little shopping, it struggles.

Wednesday was the third time it failed to start. Each time it would not even try to crank. The fuel pump was running, if a bit slow, but when I turned the key to the start position nothing happened. The first time, about a year ago, a nearby service station jumped it with a starter battery. The second time it happened after refueling at Kahala Shell. Last Wednesday a nice young guy from Kaimuki Shell tried to jump start it, but his battery did not help at all and we ended up doing a push start. I drove start home, about a mile.

At this point my theory was that heat from the stainless steel headers was overheating the battery. After a long run and a short stop, it would not produce enough voltage to crank the motor.

This morning I made an elaborate plan to work on the battery. I did not have enough tools to remove the battery, so plan A was to drive the Lotus to the shop and put the battery on the charger. I assumed it would not start. The question was whether or not I could jump start it with the Toyota. If that did not work, plan B was to take the van and bring the tools home, then charge the batter with my own charger. After loading the Lotus with the things I would need to work on the E9 -- mostly paint and the POR-15 stuff -- I decided that according to my theory it it should start without a boost. It did.

As I was driving to work I realized that I might have multiple problems. The overheating might be true, but that did not explain to total failure. That could have been the result of too much stop-and-go driving. The Europa drives the alternator off the back of the intake cam, and the pulley arrangement results in the alternator not putting out enough juice at idle. You might say I have been conducting a long-running experiment, with this premise: the current drain during idle is small and easily replaced as soon as the motor is up at speed. Lately I have been driving in a lot of stop-and-go traffic, during which the battery is discharging. On Wednesday the entire trip home was like that, creeping along in first gear. The failure was a combination of heat and low charge. This morning that car started because the batter was stone cold, but it still could be low. The booster battery did not help because it, too, was flat.

When I arrived at the shop I got the news that the air compressor was out. I also forgot my camera. I hooked up a charger at set it to low, then looked for something to do on the E9 that did not require air. Easier said than done. I was planning how to make the patch to fill the gap at the rear on the new patch I welded in last time. I was bothered by the way the area seemed to be pushed in, like old collision damage. Only this whole area has a lot of body filler, and the low spot could just be where I had ground it away. Before I set about pounding out the dent I needed to remove more filler to reveal the extent of the damage. I might even restore the original shape. But, no air, no grinder, no sander. I could have used my Makita polisher, but it was back home and I have not purchased any sanding disks for it yet.

What I did accomplish was the removal of the trunk latch. Two 10MM bolts hold the catch, and a large threaded ring holds the spring loaded button to the rear panel. It took me awhile to figure out how to remove the ring without the special tool. I ended up using a large slip-lock pliers, very gently.

I already had oil and a filter for the Lotus, so I decided to change the oil and check out the squeak that has appeared, coming from the right rear. Sure enough, with the rear end off the ground I could rock the right rear wheel, ever so slightly, up and down. This is indicator for worn wheel bearings. No more long drives until they are changed.

As for the battery, time will tell. I did some research on replacements and discovered something new, Braille Batteries. The best looking match would be a Carbon Fiber B2015C. Expensive, but small, extremely light, and much better at withstanding heat. Sexy looking, too, so I might just get one on general principle.