📓 Journals London to the French Alps

[Pugwash]

Sorry to hear that. This may be a granny and sucking eggs comment but have you tried the lock up and come back in 20 mins approach? Seems to clear spurious issues sometimes.

 

[EFE]

The trip was going super good … until bang engine management light and power restricted mode … sad times

I am on the phone to breakdown - called the UK number they transferred to the AA Europe… lotus have no contract with the AA france apparently so they have been calling “Arc breakdown” who are not answering .

At least I’m at a hotel.

Will write up an awesome day later once I know someone is coming to fix the car.

We had exactly the same issue in France and no one answered the phone. We were broken down with the Emira on a busy and dangerous place. Eventually we got the nearest Lotus dealer to recover us. We were then told we would not be covered for cost or courtesy car as we had not used Lotus recovery. Document everything as you might have a battle later.

Two months on and we still have not had any costs covered by Lotus and we lost three days of our holiday with the car off the road with engine warning light and limp mode shortly before spluttering to a stop and not re starting.

We know what you are going though and wish you the best

 

[EFE]

The trip was going super good … until bang engine management light and power restricted mode … sad times

I am on the phone to breakdown - called the UK number they transferred to the AA Europe… lotus have no contract with the AA france apparently so they have been calling “Arc breakdown” who are not answering .

At least I’m at a hotel.

Will write up an awesome day later once I know someone is coming to fix the car.

If you are now in Switzerland, I can recommend Kumschick Sports Cars (Lotus Zentrum Luzern) They were amazing when our Emira died in a similar way earlier in the summer. If you get an opportunity to have it transported to a dealer then you could not be in better hands.

 

[AndyC]

I’m in the Alps near Chamonix, at a beautiful hotel, after an awesome day! don’t feel bad for me … I’m sure we can sort something.

I’ll balance this

With this…

 

[AndyC]

Sorry to hear that. This may be a granny and sucking eggs comment but have you tried the lock up and come back in 20 mins approach? Seems to clear spurious issues sometimes.

Hmmm post a beverage and still waiting thought I’d go turn the car on and as if by magic the light is gone !! This is normal though as typically the DTC has to fire in order to trip the light.

I’m supposed to have a 1000km drive tomorrow… not sure I should be chancing it. Last time this happened to me the turbo on my 1 year old discovery went (last month) so probably not a great idea to be driving it as it will be ok until it needed power.

 

[Kimmax]

Hmmm post a beverage and still waiting thought I’d go turn the car on and as if by magic the light is gone !! This is normal though as typically the DTC has to fire in order to trip the light.

I’m supposed to have a 1000km drive tomorrow… not sure I should be chancing it. Last time this happened to me the turbo on my 1 year old discovery went (last month) so probably not a great idea to be driving it as it will be ok until it needed power.

Find the nearest shop with an OBD scanner, it'll tell what's up.
Don't listen when Lotus Roadside Assitance starts throwing hands because "You didn't get it towed by us". Argue with them, tell them it's not your problem and you want them to deal with it, escalate it, whatever is needed. I've been through this 4 times now, always the same. They absolutely can organize a loaner for you if needed.
Personally, I don't leave without an OBD scanner in the port anymore It's too convenient and a cheap investment well worth it. You also don't need to be a mechanic to figure out how to use it, codes are easily googled for a quick first decision.

 

[Eagle7]

I'm wondering for these people that are having these random issues where the car suddenly goes into limp mode, and after awhile you can restart it and it appears fine, if it's an issue of the ECU overheating? That sounds like the behavior of an overheating unit that has a thermal shutdown feature, and when it cools down enough, it works again.

Anybody have a picture of the engine compartment that shows where the ECU is located? Do the ECU's have a heat sink on them? If the heat sink is attached on top of the ECU (it's not part of the casing itself) it could possibly be an issue of the thermal paste between the ECU and heatsink is either not there, there isn't enough, or it needs re-applying.

The ECU could either possibly be getting overheated because of external temperatures, or overheating internally itself. Or maybe some of both. If anybody can post a picture of the ECU and where it's attached, that would help a lot to diagnose a possible thermal issue.

 

[Superplus]

Nice trip

 

[Gary67]

The trip was going super good … until bang engine management light and power restricted mode … sad times

I am on the phone to breakdown - called the UK number they transferred to the AA Europe… lotus have no contract with the AA france apparently so they have been calling “Arc breakdown” who are not answering .

At least I’m at a hotel.

Will write up an awesome day later once I know someone is coming to fix the car.

Nooooo! It's hard to get an objective view of what's going on with Lotus when reading the stuff on here, so I was hoping that your trip would be able to provide some positive balance, but...

Reading this is probably the final nail in the coffin for my Emira journey. Despite being a huge Lotus fan I dont think I could live with the unreliability of (a) the car, (b) the service (or lack of). I am so disappointed . It looks like it's an F-type for me....

Andy, I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip and the car behaves itself!

 

[Andy H]

So sorry to read this as I was feeling really positive about your trip and imagining myself doing something similar next year. I hope you're able to get things sorted and covered by Lotus.

 

[Kimmax]

I'm wondering for these people that are having these random issues where the car suddenly goes into limp mode, and after awhile you can restart it and it appears fine, if it's an issue of the ECU overheating? That sounds like the behavior of an overheating unit that has a thermal shutdown feature, and when it cools down enough, it works again.

Anybody have a picture of the engine compartment that shows where the ECU is located? Do the ECU's have a heat sink on them? If the heat sink is attached on top of the ECU (it's not part of the casing itself) it could possibly be an issue of the thermal paste between the ECU and heatsink is either not there, there isn't enough, or it needs re-applying.

The ECU could either possibly be getting overheated because of external temperatures, or overheating internally itself. Or maybe some of both. If anybody can post a picture of the ECU and where it's attached, that would help a lot to diagnose a possible thermal issue.

Pretty sure if the ECU were to shutdown in the Emira the car wouldn't be moving at all

 

[Eagle7]

Pretty sure if the ECU were to shutdown in the Emira the car wouldn't be moving at all

Are you now lol. It could very easily have a default low performance setting which is limp mode, or even an emergency backup processor so the car can safely get over to the side of the road under limp mode, when the main CPU has shut down.

 

[Toomanyloti]

i have a 10mm ratchet spanner casually thrown in the boot.
Last time it played silly buggers i took a terminal off the battery for ten mins, restarted it and locked and unlocked it...

Hey presto back in business

 

[ADC]

i have a 10mm ratchet spanner casually thrown in the boot.
Last time it played silly buggers i took a terminal off the battery for ten mins, restarted it and locked and unlocked it...

Hey presto back in business

When I was at the dealers a couple of weeks back (having a "refresher" test drive), I joked to them it'd be a neat idea to just wire in a toggle switch in the boot to quickly disconnect the battery terminal for stuff like this... feels less like a joke every time these anecdotes pop up

 

[Tokion]

Here’s the video on the m20!!

Definitely sports suspension

 

[EFE]

When I was at the dealers a couple of weeks back (having a "refresher" test drive), I joked to them it'd be a neat idea to just wire in a toggle switch in the boot to quickly disconnect the battery terminal for stuff like this... feels less like a joke every time these anecdote

How about one of these from Amazon?

 

[Porter]

Anybody have a picture of the engine compartment that shows where the ECU is located? Do the ECU's have a heat sink on them?

I believe it's thereabouts

FYI that's the ECM (Engine Control Module). There's also the CEM (Central Electronic Module) which is sort of the main computer and handles the OBD interface. That unit is larger and located behind the passenger footrest inside the cabin.

 

[EspritGuy]

I believe it's thereabouts
View attachment 29813


FYI that's the ECM (Engine Control Module). There's also the CEM (Central Electronic Module) which is sort of the main computer and handles the OBD interface. That unit is larger and located behind the passenger footrest inside the cabin.

Exactly how bad did that ECU overheat?

 

[AndyC]

Sooo TBF Lotus have been awesome!!!

I’ll keep the timeline going … and report as I go… posts to follow with updates to Emira owners on the quality service

 

[eriegz]

Sooo TBF Lotus have been awesome!!!

I’ll keep the timeline going … and report as I go… posts to follow with updates to Emira owners on the quality service

This is all I could hope to hear from someone in your situation.