A&Q about Lotus
Q:
Originally Posted by GVD
Thanks for the suggestion. Can you direct me to where the ecu resides? Couldn't find in a search of this site.
It's in the engine compartment, bolted to the firewall, on the driver's side of the car.
A:
Originally Posted by AgentTripleX
I've run out of gas twice in the Lotus.
May I humbly suggest that you never take up SCUBA diving. Running out of "gas" will kill you.
A:
Originally Posted by GVD
Thanks for the suggestion. Can you direct me to where the ECU resides? Couldn't find in a search of this site.
It's the aluminum box on the front left of the engine compartment. It's bolted (vertically) to the "firewall", and at least on mine, has a Lotus logo "engraved" into the metal.
A:
Originally Posted by redbutt
May I humbly suggest that you never take up SCUBA diving. Running out of "gas" will kill you.
Not necessarily. I once had a tank with the valve assembled backward. When I ran out of air, I pulled the reserve only to find that I had already been on reserve. A 40 foot free assent without air is no big thing at all...
You just can't dilly dally alone the way...
A:
Originally Posted by TimMullen
Not necessarily. I once had a tank with the valve assembled backward. When I ran out of air, I pulled the reserve only to find that I had already been on reserve. A 40 foot free assent without air is no big thing at all...
You just can't dilly dally alone the way...
Did you get bent?
A:
Originally Posted by TimMullen
Not necessarily. I once had a tank with the valve assembled backward. When I ran out of air, I pulled the reserve only to find that I had already been on reserve. A 40 foot free assent without air is no big thing at all...
You just can't dilly dally alone the way...
I assume you exhaled the whole way up?
A:
When I picked up my 06 Elise I was seriously warned to NEVER NEVER EVER touch the throttle when starting the car. I was told that any action on the pedal could "crash the throttle" and the car would have to be towed for dealer service to get it running again.
A:
Originally Posted by TimMullen
Not necessarily. I once had a tank with the valve assembled backward. When I ran out of air, I pulled the reserve only to find that I had already been on reserve. A 40 foot free assent without air is no big thing at all...
You just can't dilly dally alone the way...
True...even a 60ft free ascent is no big deal (my advanced cert instructor felt like pushing me) if you know what you are doing...that's why the recreational beginner depth limit is 60ft. But, your case is rare, and for the most part, if you can't watch your gauges enough to know you are low on air...you are in trouble.
babak: It's really hard to get bent from 40ft...unless you REALLY messed up your dive table reading OR ignored your computer telling you to turn around.
SAElise: If you don't exhale the whole way, you will hurt yourself severely. That's why in cert dives, the instructor follows you as you demo the technique from 40ft. If they don't see bubbles comming out of your mouth the entire way you fail the test.
As a side note...it is a truely odd experience to continuously exhale for a VERY long time as you ascend and not run out of breath...physics can be so odd sometimes ;O)
I think I've hijacked this thread enough.
A:
Originally Posted by bmcnew
When I picked up my 06 Elise I was seriously warned to NEVER NEVER EVER touch the throttle when starting the car. I was told that any action on the pedal could "crash the throttle" and the car would have to be towed for dealer service to get it running again.
That sounds like a ringing endorsement of a well built car.
Q: "What happened?"
A: "My damn throttle gave me a blue screen."
A:
Originally Posted by babak
Did you get bent?
Na... With a single tank, you can't stay down far enough long enough to need decompressing. Most of my diving was around 30-40 feet, and at that depth, you have to be down for several tanks worth.
Originally Posted by SAElise
I assume you exhaled the whole way up?
Don't you always? For those that don't know, the air pressure is about double at around 30 ft. If you took a breath of air at 30 ft and swam to the surface, your lungs would expand to twice their size when you got to the surface. They would "explode" and you would die. Because of that, you exhale the whole way up, and still have lungs full of air as you reach the surface.
Originally Posted by redbutt
True...even a 60ft free ascent is no big deal (my advanced cert instructor felt like pushing me) if you know what you are doing...that's why the recreational beginner depth limit is 60ft. But, your case is rare, and for the most part, if you can't watch your gauges enough to know you are low on air...you are in trouble.
babak: It's really hard to get bent from 40ft...unless you REALLY messed up your dive table reading OR ignored your computer telling you to turn around.
Gauges? Computer? This was old school. Breath until you run out of air. Then pull the reserve rod that flips a valve on the regulator and lets out the last 300 PSI of air - good for a few minutes. But it was a borrowed tank and they had put the valve in backward - I was on "reserve" the whole time. I could suck out a bit of air, but when I pulled reserve, it was now trying to hold back the last 300 PSI - result was no air at all. I spent some time trying to figure it out, and leisurely went to the surface after a bit...
Then there was the time I got sea-sick in 40 ft. (very surgey). Nothing like pucking 40 ft below the surface and free ascending to the surface with the fish swimming in for the "chum".
Originally Posted by redbutt
I think I've hijacked this thread enough.
I think that was me...
A:
What's the current status of the car? Does it start now?
Here's a link I found that might help?
A:
GVD,
Have you gotten the fuel issue sorted yet??
A:
Originally Posted by zvezdah1
GVD,
Have you gotten the fuel issue sorted yet??
Yeah, what he said.
A:
I have a feeling this car went back to the dealer for re-sale.
A:
Originally Posted by zvezdah1
GVD,
Have you gotten the fuel issue sorted yet??
The short answer: Yes
Here's the long of it. After trying out all the suggestions from all the helpful souls on the ET forum the Elise still would not start. The engine would turn over but just wouldn't catch - not even close. I left it for a day then tried again (priming the fuel pump with the procedure suggested earlier in the thread). Still nothing. I again checked the ECU wires, the fuel pump fuse etc).
I called the dealership first thing Monday the 18th to get the name of a reputable tow company. While speaking with the Boardwalk service advisor, Bob, he mentioned that their main Lotus mechanic, Danny, was on vacation for a week but that he had another mechanic substituting for him.
I decided that in case I was dealing with an ongoing issue, possibly relating to a warranty that it may be nice to have some continuity with the work, plus Danny is solid and has worked on Lotus vehicles for many many years. So I sucked it up and decided to let the car sit for the rest of the week until he returned this Monday.
First thing this past Monday morning I called the towing company who said they would have a flatbed out in 45 minutes. I drove over to the house where the Elise had been sitting for the past week to take off the cover and intall the two hook and decided to give the engine another try while I waited.
It started immediately without hesitation. I shut it down and tried it again and it started up perfectly, again. I hurriedly canceled the tow truck.
Not knowing what went wrong I kind of wanted to have Boardwalk at least plug in to see if any error codes were thrown. That would mean another day without the Elise. Fine if I had to work but my wife and I have the week off and figured we could blow a day and have it checked out by Boardwalk or throw caution to the wind and take it out for a drive along the coast.
If it broke down then we could just have it towed at that point and the day would be blown anyway. If not then we'd burn through a couple tanks of gas and get some distance from whatever happened in the fuel line - and get in a day of driving. It turned out to be three days of driving so far as we put on 500 miles and it's been perfect. Turned off, restarted, hot, cold, low gas, full gas, steep uphills and downhills etc. Not a hint of anything wrong.
I have to assume it was not mechanical or electrical because they don't heal themselves while sitting untouched in a driveway. Only thing I can figure that it was something related to the 5 gallons of gas I added to the tank mixing with the fuel that was in there when this whole episode occurred. And I don't think it was bad gas because it would have been driving roughly which is not the case. I'm thinking it was some water separation or air in the fuel line. Any thoughts?
Thanks again to all for the assistance. I was too depressed all last week to even log onto ET Life has improved greatly in the past few days.
A:
Glad it got working again. One other thing which may have been related to the fuel pump is that if the pump was full of air, it may not have created enough of a vacuum to suck the gas through. And perhaps after sitting for a few days of warming and cooling, the gas expanded enough to get to the pump to take up any air holes.
Or it could have been sun spots.
Cheers!
A:
Confidence inspiring car.
After my throttle body issue, I learned never to go anywhere without a cell phone. I also pick my parking spots even more carefully. Not only do I park in a safe place where I won't get dinged, I try to park in a spot that would give adequate access to a flatbed.
I'm getting more comfortable again though. I now allow my wife to ride with me in the Lotus instead of following me in a chase/support vehicle.
A:
Originally Posted by Exigent
Confidence inspiring car.
After my throttle body issue, I learned never to go anywhere without a cell phone. I also pick my parking spots even more carefully. Not only do I park in a safe place where I won't get dinged, I try to park in a spot that would give adequate access to a flatbed.
Hey Exigent I read about your ordeal. Yikes. While this turned out to be far less involved it was still a bit disheartening.
But after reading these boards before purchase I knew that Elise ownership was going to be an adventure for better and worse so I can't complain. Even with this incident I've derived an infinitely greater amount joy than otherwise. Definitely a life changing purchase.
And ditto on the cell phone but otherwise you just got to let all the other stuff go and enjoy it or else it's time for a Cayman (which I pondered for a minute last week.
Anyway, I did learn that the Elise really is a light car as my wife and I were able to push it up an incline pretty easily...
A:
Great news!
That's the thing about my 06, I have that underlying worry that something will goof with the throttle by wire, I so much prefer the old fashioned cable on the 05s, less to go wrong.
A:
Just yesterday I experienced the lean to the right and run out of gas problem. I had no idea what was happening at first but I pushed the car up onto the road and cranked it again. It started and ran roughly at first then smoothed out and was fine.