Battery...

skellyjohn · Post by **skellyjohn** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:42 am

I remember hearing that replacing the battery is a bit of a nightmare (s1).

Can anyone recommend anybody in Glasgow that can do the job?

robin · Post by **robin** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 7:33 am

skellyjohn wrote:I remember hearing that replacing the battery is a bit of a nightmare (s1).

Can anyone recommend anybody in Glasgow that can do the job?

It isn't really that bad - why not give it a go first!

Cheers,
Robin

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:39 am

You must have too much money

Will a garage will do a better job than yourself? The YTS lad will lean over into the front access and pull out the battery, you will then be £30 lighter

Go on have a go yourself!

Rich

ninja · Post by **ninja** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 9:43 am

halfrauds out at braehead put mine in. took them about an hour tho! lol

ninja

Post by **ironside** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:29 pm

It's easy, just take off the radiator cowling before you pull the battery out.

Simon

skellyjohn · Post by **skellyjohn** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:33 pm

I think I'm going to prefix my name with 'HOPELESS'.

Radiator cowling could be of a spaceship for all I know! I can put petrol in the car, screen wash and that's about it. I've even managed to overfill my oil so I can't really say that I can do that.

But if I was to give it a go myself.... What kind of battery should I buy?

Thanks for the replies.

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:38 pm

skellyjohn wrote:I think I'm going to prefix my name with 'HOPELESS'.

Radiator cowling could be of a spaceship for all I know! I can put petrol in the car, screen wash and that's about it. I've even managed to overfill my oil so I can't really say that I can do that.

But if I was to give it a go myself.... What kind of battery should I buy?

Thanks for the replies.

Ah the Ed school of mechanics....

Easy job, not too taxing just fiddly. IIRC the halfrauds battery chart is wrong, and it won't fit... Dunno on the best sort.

ninja · Post by **ninja** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:38 pm

halfords have a guide

from memory there's only one choice for the lotus elise.

it's £35 i think for the standard battery, there's no heavy duty option unfortunately.

ninja

ninja · Post by **ninja** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:39 pm

RICHARDHUMBLE wrote:
Easy job, not too taxing just fiddly. IIRC the halfrauds battery chart is wrong, and it won't fit... Dunno on the best sort.

worked fine in my car but then i've got the S2.

bugger

ninja

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:40 pm

Could be wrong. Check out SELC*CK tech. It's pretty good. (The rest is sh*t!)

skellyjohn · Post by **skellyjohn** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:48 pm

I found this in SELOC...

just did this (change the battery) for the first time on my S1 this morning...
the job is not as difficult as it first seems. And yes, once a battery has been discharged (gone flat) it can sometimes never recover properly.

You need a type 063 battery (Halfords - £39.95) and this is what you do...

1. Open front cover and hold/prop it open;
2. Pull the windscreen washer bottle from it bracket and place to one side (be careful if using the radiator as a tray);
3. Unscrew the three 10mm bolts holding the battery clamp/washer bottle mount in place and pull the clamp out;
4. using a 13mm spanner undo and disconnect the battery leads (neg first) - the alarm will go off at this point;
5. Disconect the battery overflow pipe from the current battery;
6. Pull the battery up and out of the car - this is the hardest part as all the wires and radiator + bits and pieces are in the way, it requires a lot of jiggling and juggling but it will come out.

Then in typical Haynes fashion do everything in reverse order to get the new battery in. If you are replacing an original battery with a new (Halfords) type one, which is slightly smaller, then the battery clamp will not fit it properly and a bit of inventive engineering is needed to clamp in securely in place - but if you want it done right then you can get a different battery clamp from your Lotus dealer for about £8.

In all, it took me 10 minutes and only a bit of swearing..

MIGHT give it a go - or wait until it's at the garage this week to get the oil changed after my over fill balls up.
For those that are interested, I bought the car in 2004 for £11.8k and have spent more than that now on repairs. My mechanic has a lovely house in the South of France!

Rich H · Post by **Rich H** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:52 pm

If its in the garage anyway then let them do it. But DIY is the way forward!

If you do it yourself get a box of plasters on standby and be careful with the battery leads on diconnect/reconect and keep them away from the chassis!

Post by **Shug** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 3:57 pm

Worth pointing out that if you get everything loose, disarm the immobiliser and then quickly take off the neg lead from the battery before the immob arms itself again, the alarm will not go off.

Baggy · Post by **Baggy** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:04 pm

Bosche silver top 4P available from costco for £25.25. Comes with a handle too.

The_Rossatron · Post by **The_Rossatron** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 4:56 pm

Baggy wrote:Bosche silver top 4P available from costco for £25.25. Comes with a handle too.

2nd that. Same for S1 and S2 and all rover 218s too apparently.

Scottish Elises

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