[Cthulhu]

Hi all,

I am in such a ****ty mood.

So the previous owner of my car replaced the battery and left it loose, which i was unaware of, until my first hard acceleration along an on ramp.

VROOO-CRUNCH-M



There goes my left turn signal. The plastic mount for the turn signal chipped, but I can still twist the bulb retainer in. I'll put that on the list of things to buy for my car, behind all the more important maintenance things. I don't even know how much the new housing will cost but will find out when I take it in for the warranty checkup and recall work.

So I spent most of today fabricating an aluminum bracket identical to the battery retainer on the Elise, painted it, re-cutting the threading on a bolt, drilling out a washer, and mounting my battery. Then, as I'm bolting down the battery, I notice that there is an open connector in my trunk.

It's a female jack with 2 pins sticking out inside. One wire is green with a magenta/purple stripe running along both sides, and the other is black. It is on the left side of the trunk and seems to follow the other cables into the left fender of the car. Does anyone know what this goes to? Rear fog lamp? Nothing? I can't find a mating plug.

So I remove all the carpeting and the foam pad to check if something got ripped loose and guess what I found. The freakin' battery retainer (with no bolt or washer anywhere) and the little black rubber ridged thing that goes under the battery...

I also have noticed that I have no reverse lights, while the Elise does. I'm not sure if the green/purple-stripe jack is related to this or not. Upon much inspection, I noticed that the ring of diodes is wired in parallel with this black heat sink on the back of the inside lights, but that it doesn't look like anything goes into the CENTER of the inside rear light housing. It's just black plastic on the inside, with dummy holes on the top and bottom. If I shine a light into the center of the inside rear lights, it looks like it's all mirrors... Is this a dummy assembly with no reverse lights? Will this pass inspection in New York???

Please help

I have the full service manual in PDFs, but it doesn't have schematics for the Exige, specifically. I can't find the green/purple-strip and black connector on the schematic. I also haven't been able to find out whether or not there are reverse lights on this model. Thanks, guys and gals!

 

[Cthulhu]

Bumpo the Bufo says "Bump-bump!"

Lotus/Acura dealership has no idea what the extra wire is or if the car even has reverse lights. :shrug:

 

[RoadDad]

That wiring and harness that you speak of are for the Elise 3rd brake light. It is unused in the Exige and just sits dangling. The Elise has the Exige 3rd brake light wiring/harness at the back of the boot also unused and dangling.

 

[Cthulhu]

Thanks! My Exige has a third brake light below the spoiler, mounted on the top-back of the clam. It's right above the LOTUS letters and it's functional. I know the wire colors seem the same, I'll have to see if it has the purple stripe. I guess it's hardwired and wrapped up in tape on the Exige, but plugs in to a different location on the Elise.

Do you know if the 2007 Exige has backup-lights? I'm thinking it just has dummy inserts with a mirrored inside.