Car “bricked” after losing earth

[Pete]

I had the car for a week and drove it 20 miles on Tuesday before getting to a stop off. When I went to restart the car it was totally dead. No electronics, nothing. Couldn’t even lock it or even open the boot initially as that also requires power (though there is an emergency release loop in a panel behind the passenger seat. Got the AA out and they realised it came to life when they earthed the battery. He couldn’t see where the other end of the earth cable was going so I said I was happy for him to rig another earth cable into the engine bay so I could get on my way. Having now been to a dealer it seems the other end of the earth cable connects to the chassis somewhere near the front left wheel but requires to go on ramps etc so booked in for August. Guessing it wasn’t tightened properly in the factory and rattled off as I was driving.

Lotus dealer hadn’t heard of this happening before but thought I’d share it so people would know what could be the problem if they run into similar issues.

Besides this I’m still loving the car and just taking this as part of the Lotus experience

 

[TomE]

Thanks for posting this info. There are a few owners who have previously reported issues that might have been related to earthing, but were ECU warning lights or temporary power reduction rather that total loss.

I know one dealer had a demo car that displayed faults and later bricked, where it was proven to be a faulty earth.

Hopefully this info helps other owners with similar issues to track down the cause. And hopefully Lotus will adjust their QC to check this on cars being built.

 

[virtualmacho]

He couldn’t see where the other end of the earth cable was going so I said I was happy for him to rig another earth cable into the engine bay so I could get on my way.

Glad you were able to get going again. Can you provide details on how you rigged the temporary earth cable? Assuming one end went to the battery terminal, where was the other end connected to?

 

[Hethel Merman]

It will be interesting to hear more detail from you dealer.

 

[Pete]

Glad you were able to get going again. Can you provide details on how you rigged the temporary earth cable? Assuming one end went to the battery terminal, where was the other end connected to?

 

[virtualmacho]

Thank you !

 

[Panda47]

I had the car for a week and drove it 20 miles on Tuesday before getting to a stop off. When I went to restart the car it was totally dead. No electronics, nothing. Couldn’t even lock it or even open the boot initially as that also requires power (though there is an emergency release loop in a panel behind the passenger seat. Got the AA out and they realised it came to life when they earthed the battery. He couldn’t see where the other end of the earth cable was going so I said I was happy for him to rig another earth cable into the engine bay so I could get on my way. Having now been to a dealer it seems the other end of the earth cable connects to the chassis somewhere near the front left wheel but requires to go on ramps etc so booked in for August. Guessing it wasn’t tightened properly in the factory and rattled off as I was driving.

Lotus dealer hadn’t heard of this happening before but thought I’d share it so people would know what could be the problem if they run into similar issues.

Besides this I’m still loving the car and just taking this as part of the Lotus experience

I can't believe the dealer didn't fix it there and then,that's shocking service to wait till next month