green george

Hi Garth, have you managed to,set the lights up? I would be interested to know how. Thanks

I have a GoPro3 Black and when I filmed from inside a saloon the advice was to switch the spot meter on due to the contrast between the dark interior and the bright exterior. As the Caterham is very much open to the elements should I leave the spot meter switched on or not?

Hi Jonathan, Thanks for the reply. I will give these ago, but am on my way to work. Re. 2. I will check the sensor / switch, but anticipate it is fine as the fan didn't come on immediately and when it did switched itself off apparently normally. Re. 3 I will take her for a drive and see what happens during a run. George

I was tinkering in the garage this morning and whilst doing so let the car warm up,as it hadn't been run for a while. The ambient temperature was only about 3C. After about 5 - 10 minutes I noticed that the radiator fan kicked in, but the indicated water temperature was still only just reading on the gauge so in the very low 40's. If that is correct the fan shouldn't have kicked in. I had a fiddle with the plug at the rear of the gauge without any change in teh reading; historically my water temperature gauge has intermittently read low but by moving the plug / wires has given a higher (presumably) correct reading. My 7 is a 2000MY 1.6 EU2 Super Sport K-Series engined car equipped with an Apollo tank so the water gauge also shows the oil temperature at a flick of a switch. The oil temperature was not even registering; which is what I would have expected as the car had not been running very long and the ambient temperature was low. Can anyone explain why this happened?

Thanks everyone job completed. For anyone wondering, the change lights plug into the bottom of the ACES Control unit and are easily removed.

Great news ECR that was what I was hoping. Thanks.

I know, I posted one set! Unfortunately no schematic / wiring diagram...

Planing to remove my scuttle and have ACES2 change lights fitted. Does anyone know if the change lights loom is disconnectable from the main unit? Am away from the car so cannot check myself.

With regard to the ACES unit this may help: http://www.aceserve.co.uk/new04/userguidess.html

Thanks for planting the seed for a removable scuttle! I now have a winter project! Can I just clarify you mean 12 rivnuts and not 24; having removed 24 rivets from the bulk head doesn't that mean I would need 24 rivnuts?

Message sent

Hi Bio, the engine is fine in normal driving but when stationary the gauge shows 100 degrees which is unusual for my car. Seven & Classics went over the engine today and gave it a clean bill of health.

Thank you for all your advice. This morning I carefully checked everything and found nothing untoward. So I rang Seven & Classics who suggested I popped in for them to have a look. What an excellent outfit they are. Brian Attwood examined the cooling system with the engine running and using an infra red thermometer confirmed that everything was working correctly including the fan switch. The conclusion was that the higher than normal reading was most likely due to the high ambient temperatures aggravated by being held stationary in traffic for a prolonged periods so that heat sink from exhaust primary(s) directly below the water temperature sender caused the under bonnet temperature to rise significantly.

Right! WIll check the fan tomorrow! Have ordered a new cap and sender unit; I found a post by SM25T indicating that the cylindrical sender connector uses the same connector but mounted at 90 degrees. DJ. - When moving the temperature sits at 80 degrees as normal. The front end was recently stripped down to have the suspension powder coated so will check the connection tomorrow. Jonathan - excuse my ignorance but where is the fan sender and how do I short it? Testing the fan: Presumably this is as simple as the fan should be blowing air from the rad into the engine bay and NOT back through the radiator?

Jonathan - Is the fan pushing the right way? I will check. Is the electrical connection two way; so it could be connected incorrectly reversing the motor? Will have a look tomorrow as I am currently nights. SM25T & Bio - The fan cycles apparently normally and comes on when the water temperature reads just over 80 degrees (presumably a 82 degree thermostat). I have ordered a new expansion bottle cap and will order a new water temperature sender although I need to speak to Caterham parts as the new sender unit uses a cylindrical connector as opposed to the usual blade one; and I am not sure what connector it now takes. I will check the hoses tomorrow, paying attention to the heater hoses. Thanks

My car is a EU2 1.6 K series SuperSport. I have noticed that in stop start traffic the water temperature is registering 100 degrees which I don't recall it doing before. The fan cuts in as normal but the temperature stays at 100 degrees until I move off and have airflow through the radiator again. I have noticed this twice lately on hot days. I initially put this down to the high ambient temperatures but just wanted to see what your thoughts are. The car was serviced recently, but the cooling system was not worked on to my knowledge. There are no obvious leaks with the coolant level as expected.

No problem at all Mucus 72.

Hi Jonathan, thanks for your reply. To answer your questions: The power drop is during cranking (that was what I was trying say but couldn't think of the word! - now edited); The car is garaged so I will disconnect one of the terminals and see if things improve; Don't know anything about Lithium batteries; Did a Google search for Powervamp ClubSport EP and couldn't find any information or prices; Spoke with Powervamp and they confirmed that the ClubSport EP is no more. This has been replaced with the ClubSport NP which is made by the ODYSSEY battery parent company and will have better support as a result. They anticipate that these will be on the Powervamp website from Friday 10/06/16. Interestingly, Powervamp advised me that the AGM batteries do not like deep cycling and they recommend disconnecting a terminal if the FIA switch does NOT disconnect everything - as in my case. I am currently using a Banner battery in the standard Caterham battery tray.

My 7 is kept in a garage without power and whilst my 7 is equipped with an FIA electrical cut off switch, some circuits stay live. Overtime I have noticed that the (Banner) battery discharges to such an extent I get a number of symptoms which disappear when the battery is charged / boosted / connected to another battery with jump leads. These include: Solenoid click but when the starter button is pressed again the car starts; Engine turns over but will not start - I have read somewhere that this and the next symptom is linked to a battery performance; Car starts but runs like a pig until warm. A multi-tester recently showed: 13.3v ish at the terminals with engine off; 14.4v with engine idling; Dropping to under 11v during cranking. I use a CTEK 4 stage charger at home and the battery quickly charges and settles into a maintenance program with no apparent issues detected by the charger. However where the battery would hold a charge without apparent issue for months when new, now the solenoid click appears within about a week of non-use; indicating a probable deterioration in battery health. It appears (to me) that the Banner battery does not like deep cycling and is now starting to fail. The battery is about 18 months old in which time the car has only covered 1300 miles. Before buying a new battery I just wanted to check my thinking is sound. Presuming it is, should I consider something like the ODYSSEY PC680 which apparently has an ability to cycle 400 times at 80% depth of discharge? The main thing which puts me off is having to change the battery cage and how I would secure the new cage in place of the old one. Has anyone done this?

Changed the low oil pressure sensor for a new one and the problem is cured. Upon starting the engine the low oil pressure light extinguishes immediately. Very relieved it wasn't electrical gremlins.

I have two aero screens, one of which is a carbon RIF which I like as it is higher than the Caterham one and therefore deflects more 'debris' and provides more protection. The problem I have is that the RIF is very thin and I find that the SPA wing mirrors vibrate on the move and therefore are very difficult to use. The thicker GRP aero screen offers less protection but the mirrors are rock steady. Has anyone else had this problem? Can anyone recommend how to dampen this vibration, please?

OAT is an acronym for Organic Acid (Additive) Technology which describes the type of materials responsible for the corrosion protection offered by a coolant of this type. OATs are Long Life Coolants (LLC), based on minimally depleting Carboxylate Technology. This technology provides superior protection to all components of the cooling system including those exotic materials like aluminum and magnesium found in the modern day engine.

Hi Jonathan, Still waiting for a new sender from Think Auto as they are on back order. I thought I would take a look so this afternoon I removed the sender, to find there was very little to see, so blew in the hole and put it back.... In answer to your question about whether the light was fully bright, I noticed that when I started the car having replaced the sender the light was initially much brighter than with the ignition on. It then started flickering. George

Thanks for your advice guys. Certainly looks do-able.

Mankee - spot on. Looks like a good option but I need to identify any pitfalls....