[EspritNOOB]

Who here has the highest miles on their Esprit whether S1 or V8 and if you have had a rebuilt? I am asking because I have 91K miles and car still runs strong feels tight!

91K miles on an S4 original engine.

Trying to gauge how much time I have left before a rebuild. :facepalm

 

[Vulcan Grey]

I took my engine apart at 74k. The bearings were just showing signs of wearing through the lead. The compression was just getting to the lower limit for my altitude. And the Nikasil cylinders showed a tiny bit of wear.

 

[89.5 Esprit SE]

Short of blowing something up, or not caring for the car, the bearings should be fine. Liners and pistons the same. Valve seats may start to leak. As long as you have good compression there is no need to get into the engine too far. However seals, water pump, exhaust manifold, and most other peripherals may be on borrowed time.

Randy

 

[maxvelocity]

There are cars that have made it into the 130K or bit more that were very tired but still ran but you could tell they had problems and sold at the very low end on the scale as expected. Hard to say as I know very little of the how the car was driven its entire life. but one must assume robust driving as with any Lotus. There are many that ran well around the 100K mark till something cut loose. Not only the engine but the tranny will need to be refreshed in the near future as well as any part the has mechanical wear.. You are probably the one who will end up doing it as I would think at your current mileage you will face difficulty selling the car at good price even if it was running correctly. Start saving money and/or start learning how to do the work yourself. You going to try it yourself or send it out when the time comes? If you send it out I think it would test the limits of your check book

 

[EspritNOOB]

Start saving money and/or start learning how to do the work yourself. You going to try it yourself or send it out when the time comes? If you send it out I think it would test the limits of your check book

I can wrench with bolt ons turbos supercharger etc on Jap cars but not about to even try with this one. More likely send it out should the engine require a rebuild. As of now maybe I am just lucky, car runs great with no issues I am aware of. Just last night after I filled up my tank first time in a long time I smelled a little bit of fuel on the way home. I am hoping that I got some on my shoes or something and not that my one of my tanks are starting to leak. If it did it seems like it is on the top somewhere. Didn't smell til yesterday. Will check it out this weekend.

Thanks for the input fellas.

 

[maxvelocity]

When something cuts loose on the inside of the engine it usually does a lot more damage rather then a voluntary take down like when Travis took his engine apart. From some of your posts it seems like you are on a budget as many of us are on. For now just enjoy the car and if something should happen you have a choice on what to do. It's either fix it or sell it as a roller. I would think a major engine/tranny out overhaul would be in the 10K range maybe more if tranny work and other parts were needed as well. Anyone know how much shop time costs in the LA area? I know Claudius is not cheap and Viking is an unknown factor these days. What is the alternative these days?

 

[EspritNOOB]

When something cuts loose on the inside of the engine it usually does a lot more damage rather then a voluntary take down like when Travis took his engine apart. From some of your posts it seems like you are on a budget as many of us are on. For now just enjoy the car and if something should happen you have a choice on what to do. It's either fix it or sell it as a roller. I would think a major engine/tranny out overhaul would be in the 10K range maybe more if tranny work and other parts were needed as well. Anyone know how much shop time costs in the LA area? I know Claudius is not cheap and Viking is an unknown factor these days. What is the alternative these days?

Yup baller on a budget here. Claudius charges $100/hour so that is about average around here so not tooo bad. Priced up a rebuild and is about $10K.

 

[maxvelocity]

Is that 10K for just the engine refresh? That 10K rebuild price is what makes it hard. If you did the labor it would be about 50% or somewhere around there so there would be no question about a rebuild. A 10K deduct from what you were asking for the car a while ago is in the ballpark range of a roller with bad engine. It seems very close to a wash either way. I suppose it all depends on how attached to your car you are. Either way enjoy the car for the time being as the cars have different times and conditions when something mechanical wears out or goes wrong. Just make your penance and offerings to the Lotus gods and I'm sure everything will work out fine.

 

[EspritNOOB]

Is that 10K for just the engine refresh? That 10K rebuild price is what makes it hard. If you did the labor it would be about 50% or somewhere around there so there would be no question about a rebuild. A 10K deduct from what you were asking for the car a while ago is in the ballpark range of a roller with bad engine. It seems very close to a wash either way. I suppose it all depends on how attached to your car you are. Either way enjoy the car for the time being as the cars have different times and conditions when something mechanical wears out or goes wrong. Just make your penance and offerings to the Lotus gods and I'm sure everything will work out fine.

Thanks for your input. Nothing wrong with the engine now just trying see what the expectancy is for my S4. Car runs great and although with minor issues in the past all has been ironed out and running very well. I have only put 2000 miles on it since I purchased it over a year ago. Since then have made many repairs and made a ton of preventative maintnenance upgrades. Next on the list is either an impeller for the chargecoller pump or upgrade to an electric unit.

Thanks to the gents here for direction and trouble shooting.

 

[WayneB]

My 1983 Turbo Esprit had 40,000 kms on it when I rebuilt the engine and pretty much did a total resto on it (14 years ago)

Previous owner did lots of things to it that he thought were improvements that led to the car running and sounding like ****, so I just bit the bullet and went through the whole car returning it to as close to as originally Lotus built it as I could.

P.O. had traded it in at a Lamborghini Dealer in for a Ferrari Mondial, he probably ruined that too.

When I dismantled the engine, the bearings were shot, one of the pistons was new (I presume the original had melted), the other 3 were peppered in detonation marks (he had raised the boost)

Cast iron liners were scored, but honed out OK.

Head wasn't too bad, put new valves in.

Spent about $10,000 in parts for the whole car.

Originally paid $15,000 for it which seemed like a bargain at the time (2000), If I hadn't have come along it would probably still be in the underground parking lot at the dealership today.

 

[e-spree]

I saw an S4s yesterday w/112K on it. First time I saw that car but met the owner before at a Club gathering. He bought it w/105K five six years ago and he's had no problems w/it. Not modified. Encouraging.

 

[maxvelocity]

Wow bought at 105K wonder if that is original miles or had past work done? When most buy at that range the buyers expect to do some work. Lotus is a quirky company that did not advertise small changes here and there. I have not seen many TSB's but I am not on their distribution list either. The early turbo cars were pretty much N/A cars with a turbo stuck on it. Kind of unknown territory back then. Much like when people boost N/A cars today. But Lotus did strengthen engine parts as the years went by. There have been times when we all huddle when someone says "hey check this out this part its different". I can tell the difference between an SE exhaust manifold (type A) and an S4s part (type C). I'm trying to figure out which car got the type B part and what made them go to C. I'm pretty sure Noob's car has the chromoly followers but not sure if he got the long skirt version. The Chromoly still fail but take a lot longer crack. I think if he treats his car well it will be ok for a bit more miles.

 

[EspritNOOB]

I can tell the difference between an SE exhaust manifold (type A) and an S4s part (type C). I'm trying to figure out which car got the type B part and what made them go to C. I'm pretty sure Noob's car has the chromoly followers but not sure if he got the long skirt version. The Chromoly still fail but take a lot longer crack. I think if he treats his car well it will be ok for a bit more miles.

Learning something new everyday...