[ulao]

Well I brought it to my buddy that has a lift, he put it up and decided more harm may come if he drops the under plate. He suggest to look in to the clamps under the sill cover. He thinks I may be able to pound them out and get access but was only a guess. I'll wait for guidance before trying anything like that.

 

[ageshelin]

ac lines

Stop!!!!

Take the car to someone that can do this. There is no way to get to the lines through the sills. You will destroy the chassis .I.e. like totalling the car.

The AC lines run through the extruded chassis,

If this is a joke,you got me!!!

Anton

 

[ulao]

Na I just got this advice reading on the forums. Though thx for the warning, but I don't think I would have tried anything I was not 100% sure about. Sir Lotus and many other talked about sliding a foam tube down the pipes from "some" opening. I dont see why anyone would recommend that if there was any danger?

Here is the under try method some one mentioned.

I fixed the rattle by removing the undertray, you can see the lines coming from the engine bay and enter the sill just in front of the rear wheel, a few tie wraps and some of that foam ac tube insulation stuffed into the sill cured it.

and the other

I suggest you access the pipes where they exit the sill at either the front or back and push some foam insulation between them.

Still thx for the warning.

 

[rwbronco]

if the second advice is to be taken - it's akin to what you see after you take off the interior sills when doing the oil line fix

You have to remove the headlight switch plate, then the black interior plastic sill. From there in the front and back you'll have small access to the lines that run through the sills. The Oil lines are in some white plastic ring-clips and I imagine you'll see your AC lines in there as well. I don't remember seeing them but that's mainly because I wasn't actively looking for them.

There's no harm in removing your interior sills

 

[ulao]

I had the sill's off and from the back I saw the access to the pipe area but could not find the pipes. From what I'm told the clips are closer to the front. I could not see in from the front (maybe I need to take off the wheel well ?).

One suggestion that was made was spraying "stuff" in the opening in hopes it would hold the pipes together but that seemed like a real rig job to me.

 

[aschen]

are the AC lines hardlines in the sills? I absolutely shudder at the prospect of finding and fixing a leak in the sills.

 

[ulao]

Wow I sure hope not, imaging that job...

hmm looks like a few conjunctions there.

I'd hate to work on a leak issue. Though this does help put my issue in to perspective. If I could put a spacer on each end, that would do it I think.

 

[sprocket3]

Ok...

There are hard lines that run the same route at the passenger side oil lines. So just imagine two tubes in there next to your oil line for the AC. If one of the hard lines get damaged lotus has a rubber hose kit that can replace this line. Or I would think any hose maker could fab up the kit to replace the AC lines that run in the sill.

You feed them in from the back near the rear wheel and pull them out in the front fender area. It would make sense once you got under the car and everything opened up.

There is almost no access to that area without removing the SILL BODY PANEL. Not just the sill cover that takes 2 minutes on the top of the frame beam. So that's why you have to feed the rubber hose through. It's a special lotus repair part.

 

[Kengine]

What kind of rattle is it? Have you checked your seat rail? The bearing will tend to rattle in our cars. Move the seat back and forth quickly and you'll be able to hear it. You can pack a part of the rail with grease and it'll stop if it is.

 

[ulao]

Its a known issue, this page talks about it. With the cover off there is no doubt its the AC line in there banging the side of the sill or maybe banging on the oil line..