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February 08, 2012, 11:20:05 PM *
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Author Topic: A funny thing happen on the way to an oil change... a week and a half ago..  (Read 2567 times)
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MikeW
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Location: Summerfield, NC
Name: Mike
Car #1: 08 Lotus Elise California (Yellow)
Car #2: 08 MB 450GL
Posts: 60



« Reply #15 on: March 30, 2009, 09:17:03 PM »

Thanks Glueshoe, is this an analysis of the SC vs other aftermarket SC or stock? 
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Burple_X
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Age: 55
Name: Gary
Car #1: 2008 Lotus Elise
Car #2: 2004 Corvette
Posts: 884



« Reply #16 on: March 30, 2009, 09:52:50 PM »

Mike, it happened again.  Saturday evening we were leaving downtown Winston.  I fired up the Lotus and pulled off the curb then noticed that I was turning 6500 RPMs... and I was only going about 5mph!  So, I stopped at the next light to see what was going on.  At idle, the tach was reading 4500 RPM.  I pulled over, shut off the car, waited a minute and restarted it.  Same thing.  I had to take it easy all the way home to keep from wringing the needle off the tach.  Pretty cool to see it whiz past 9k and never slow down  tongue3

Sunday, I pulled the battery out of it's hole, disconnected the ground and let it sit for a few minutes.  Hooked it all back up and all is well again.. for the moment.  Now I'm not sure what to do.  I am seriously thinking about installing a disconnect on the ground cable.  Looks like this is going to be an on going problem.  A quick disconnect is a simple solution. 
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MikeW
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Location: Summerfield, NC
Name: Mike
Car #1: 08 Lotus Elise California (Yellow)
Car #2: 08 MB 450GL
Posts: 60



« Reply #17 on: March 31, 2009, 08:14:03 AM »

Sorry to hear.... I have not driven mine since the drive home last week from LoD.  It really seems to be a problem with '08's.  LoD said that the software update that they did should take care of it and that they had not had any problems once they got the update installed.  I would hate to have to put in a disconect to fix a Lotus problem!

How many miles have do you have on yours?  Just wondering if I have been lucky or just not put enough miles on it.

Is your running Lotus software or just a slightly tweeked Lotus software since the supercharger?
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Burple_X
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Age: 55
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Car #1: 2008 Lotus Elise
Car #2: 2004 Corvette
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« Reply #18 on: March 31, 2009, 01:19:44 PM »

My wife drove the car today.  Her Corvette was in the shop for service.  She just called to tell me that as soon as she turned on the blower this morning, the speedo stopped and the tach jumped to 4500 RPM.  This is getting real old, real fast.

My car has 6600+/- miles on it.   Of course the software has been tweaked with the addition of the super charger.  And I am sure I'll hear that from Lotus when I call them.   
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MikeW
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Location: Summerfield, NC
Name: Mike
Car #1: 08 Lotus Elise California (Yellow)
Car #2: 08 MB 450GL
Posts: 60



« Reply #19 on: March 31, 2009, 09:57:20 PM »

It definitely is a lotus issue, hopefully they will work with you on it.  Or I wonder if CharleX will be of any help.  Good luck!  I am hoping for some decent weather to be able to take mine out and give it a good run and see if I can tell a difference or lock it up.  I am sure ours came off the line at the same time so we will see. 

Let me know what Lotus says.

I have to give them a call about the alarm.. surprise they have not called back!


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Burple_X
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« Reply #20 on: March 31, 2009, 10:34:11 PM »

I called and talked to Ralph this afternoon.  I made sure he understood that you and I were friends and that I knew we had the same problems.  Then I asked him about what part of the ECU the supposed upgrade affected and  I told him about the supercharger.  He agreed that the dash pod problem was not part of the supercharger programming but my latest problem is new to them.  No one else has yet had the dash go coo-coo when the fan was turned on.  But then again, how many people do you think have figured out that the dome light causes the alarm to false???

I'm starting to get a little ticked off about all these electronic problems and I'm going to talk to the factory rep as soon as I can track him down.  It is getting expensive taking time off of work and driving back and forth to Durham for an issue they have known about for over a year. 
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MikeW
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Location: Summerfield, NC
Name: Mike
Car #1: 08 Lotus Elise California (Yellow)
Car #2: 08 MB 450GL
Posts: 60



« Reply #21 on: March 31, 2009, 11:30:11 PM »

It is a total pain and based on what LoD said they and Lotus are not 100% sure what all the problems are with the ECU.  They need to get to the bottom of it sooner rather than later.  I had a similar issue with my previous daily driver VW Touareg , it is a great car but I bought it the first year pre January (which later I found out was the date which made the difference).  That Car had a 101 electronic glitches.  When the warranty ran out I sold it and went back to a new RL.

 


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talon
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Car #1: 2001 Lotus Esprit V8
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« Reply #22 on: April 03, 2009, 11:30:35 AM »

I called and talked to Ralph this afternoon.  I made sure he understood that you and I were friends and that I knew we had the same problems.  Then I asked him about what part of the ECU the supposed upgrade affected and  I told him about the supercharger.  He agreed that the dash pod problem was not part of the supercharger programming but my latest problem is new to them.  No one else has yet had the dash go coo-coo when the fan was turned on.  But then again, how many people do you think have figured out that the dome light causes the alarm to false???

I'm starting to get a little ticked off about all these electronic problems and I'm going to talk to the factory rep as soon as I can track him down.  It is getting expensive taking time off of work and driving back and forth to Durham for an issue they have known about for over a year. 

You may want to talk to Dave Simkin from Lotus USA. I have his # if you don't.
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I put the FUN in dysfunctional!
MikeW
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Location: Summerfield, NC
Name: Mike
Car #1: 08 Lotus Elise California (Yellow)
Car #2: 08 MB 450GL
Posts: 60



« Reply #23 on: April 07, 2009, 09:08:32 PM »

Gary and news on your saga?   I am getting ready to start tracking Ralph again on the alarm issue... see what they say.
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Burple_X
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Car #1: 2008 Lotus Elise
Car #2: 2004 Corvette
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« Reply #24 on: April 07, 2009, 09:38:09 PM »

No, I haven't had time to mess with it.  My truck got his last week and I've been trying to get all that sorted out.  Right now I'm driving a Toyota Camry rental car  blushing

Just FYI, it took two times unhooking the battery ground to clear this last episode with the fan control.  The first time, I unhooked it and let it sit for 15-20 minutes.  When I restarted the engine, the tach reset itself to an indicated 1000 rpm at ignition OFF.  We were going out to dinner so I drove it that way.  Came home, unhooked it again and left it for a couple of days.  This time, everything reset properly.  I guess I am good until I have to turn on the A/C or defrost. 

I really enjoy this car and now that I have the soft top back on it, I really, really enjoy it.  But I get stressed out every time I have to do anything in it but turn the steering wheel, mash the gas or hit the brake.   Undecided
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MikeW
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Location: Summerfield, NC
Name: Mike
Car #1: 08 Lotus Elise California (Yellow)
Car #2: 08 MB 450GL
Posts: 60



« Reply #25 on: May 04, 2009, 09:15:16 PM »

Gary, just wondering if you had any luck fixing your issue or are you still unhooking the battery everytime.  I have not driven mine in about 3 weeks going through definite withdraw. 
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Burple_X
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Age: 55
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Car #1: 2008 Lotus Elise
Car #2: 2004 Corvette
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« Reply #26 on: May 04, 2009, 10:11:00 PM »

Gary, just wondering if you had any luck fixing your issue or are you still unhooking the battery everytime.  I have not driven mine in about 3 weeks going through definite withdraw. 

Mike, I am the worlds worst at taking a car back to a dealership.  I avoid it as long as I can (1) because I really don't have the time (2) they usually futz something else up while they have it and (3) they usually don't have a clue what's wrong so they throw a 'hale Mary' at it and lie to you about what they did.  That being said, I have not been able to duplicate the event again.  We drove the car to the mountains a couple of weeks ago (150+ mile round trip) without incident.  I waited until I got almost home before I tried turning the A/C on.  And I have tried unsuccessfully a couple of other times to make the tach futz up, each time without success.  WHat I "think" happened is, I left the A/C on when I turned off the car and either that buggered the dash software or it did it when I tried to start the car again.  Apparently the ECU is sensitive to anything that disrupts electrical flow, as when something is drawing current .  That is just my theory, but it seems to fit. 

We drive the car as often as possible.  I take it to work at least once a week and we usually take it out on the weekends if we go out to eat or to a movie.  I love to drive it and with the new found power, I catch a lot of muscle cars sleeping at stop lights. 

Thursdays are usually bike night for us, but maybe all of us locals can get together and do the Thursday night car show (Let's Talk Cars) in High Point or the Friday night gathering at the Sonic in G'boro?
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