Throwing codes

[jamesbxxx]

Let the car dry / the ecu settle and shutdown. Lock and keep the key away at good distance. Come back 30mins later and it should start.
Alternatively disconnect ground at the battery, but DONT FORGET TO UNLOCK THE CAR before doing so. Otherwise the alarm will trigger and it's a blast to hear while scrambling to reconnect the terminal (not)

It’s all fine again, but why did it happen? Is it a dealer issue to look at?

 

[EyeFour Eemeerah!]

Let the car dry / the ecu settle and shutdown. Lock and keep the key away at good distance. Come back 30mins later and it should start.
Alternatively disconnect ground at the battery, but DONT FORGET TO UNLOCK THE CAR before doing so. Otherwise the alarm will trigger and it's a blast to hear while scrambling to reconnect the terminal (not)

Good lord, the hits just keep coming don’t they??

 

[Kimmax]

It’s all fine again, but why did it happen? Is it a dealer issue to look at?

Probably, but you can also sit it out until my car is done. It'll go in on the 11th of next month and will be checked for any water damage/intrusion points.

I've had your exact problem before plus one of my O2 sensors blows every time I wash the car - confirmed, not speculated. I suspect there are multiple points of water entry in the wiring loom and the general (rear?) ABS/brake sensor area, which would explain _a lot_ of problems reported here again and again.

I think one non-waterproof box was confirmed by others already under the front bonnet. I think it's a box for AC-related stuff.

 

[Toomanyloti]

I've just got the same parking brake error (after a hose pipe wash) and the car won't start. Was there a cause and fix identified?

Sorry just found your post.
I think I disconnected the battery overnight. I suspected it was part of the raft of codes i got after running out of fuel.
I’m going to regret typing this but…. Its been fine since
Ps i also thought i had hit a cable whilst using a wheel brush but i think that was a coincidence. I have powerwashed the wheels several times since with no issue

 

[Kimmax]

So high pressure is definitely not THE factor. After keeping the car dry (absolutely no washing ) for more than 2 months now I had to keep it outside for two days. Colder nights and moisture in the air.. O2 sensor went bongo again. Same behavior like after a wash - car runs fine initially, you park it, start again after a few minutes and the sensor is fried.
This time I also was greeted with many other errors at a later time, car almost not drivable in limp mode. Two ECU restarts later got it home again..

I can confirm the misfires, car definitely drove and sounded like it was on it’s last breath. Almost stalled after going from throttle to idle. I have an appointment for the 11th and will not drive the car till then. Probably will miss the last real summer week here….

 

[EyeFour Eemeerah!]

Man this rollout for them keeps getting worse!! I would be curious to know the percentage of flawed/issue plagued/rejects of total cars delivered is? While this forum is a small sampling of Emira owners, it is still a good representative cross section.

 

[Concept24]

Definitely not a good sign for those expecting their Emiras within the next 6 months. I'm close to pulling the plug.

 

[TomE]

Man this rollout for them keeps getting worse!! I would be curious to know the percentage of flawed/issue plagued/rejects of total cars delivered is? While this forum is a small sampling of Emira owners, it is still a good representative cross section.

I don’t think we can draw too many conclusions about how representative the forum is. I’ve met probably 15-20 Emira owners at car events who aren’t on here and roughly 75% of them have had no major problems with their cars.

You always getting reporting bias on forums, because the people who don’t have problems are out there enjoying their cars.

 

[Concept24]

I don’t think we can draw too many conclusions about how representative the forum is. I’ve met probably 15-20 Emira owners at car events who aren’t on here and roughly 75% of them have had no major problems with their cars.

You always getting reporting bias on forums, because the people who don’t have problems are out there enjoying their cars.

I think we can agree that even 10% is a scary number, much less 25%. Imagine if you bought a Lexus LC500 or 500h and 10% of owners had serious issues. Perhaps I'd be less concerned if a dealership were 20 minutes away.

 

[Porter]

I don’t think we can draw too many conclusions about how representative the forum is. I’ve met probably 15-20 Emira owners at car events who aren’t on here and roughly 75% of them have had no major problems with their cars.

You always getting reporting bias on forums, because the people who don’t have problems are out there enjoying their cars.

Right but if this was a one-off or a result of a bad batch of wiring looms, they would have just replaced the harness on Kimmax's car and solved the problem.

It's the fact that Lotus doesn't seem to know HOW to fix these problems that is the concern, not the fact that they've occurred.

 

[kitkat]

I don’t think we can draw too many conclusions about how representative the forum is. I’ve met probably 15-20 Emira owners at car events who aren’t on here and roughly 75% of them have had no major problems with their cars.

You always getting reporting bias on forums, because the people who don’t have problems are out there enjoying their cars.

So one in four have major problems? Shit.

 

[digilotus]

We don't have the data as to the percentage cars with major issues, so all of this is speculation from a small sample size.

If you want some comparisons to P-car reliability:

• Early 991.1 GT3s had to have their engines replaced and many GT3s still suffer from bore score issues.
• IMS bearing failures are ticking time bombs.
• Early GT4s had their 3rd gear welded to the drive shaft. The welds would give way and third gear would fail. This was later recalled with a transmission replacement to change from a weld to a spline for 3rd gear.
• All 718 GT4s/GTS 4.0L engines still have aluminum variocam bolts that randomly unscrew themselves and munch up the engine. This includes new 2023 cars. Porsche learnt nothing from the Cayenne recall for the same issue. Some customers replace these bolts with steel ones as a preventative measure at their own cost.
• Early 718 4.0L engines GT4s/GTs had to have engines replaced/reconditioned due to conrod failures.
• Internal PDK seal leaks and electronics failures.
• Cracked 718 strut towers.

I could go on...

However the key differentiator is the level of after sales service which is chalk and cheese. Customers are more tolerant of critical failures if they can get the issues rectified promptly and without much stress. Unfortunately that's the biggest issue we're seeing here with Lotus. It's not so much major mechanical issues, rather patchy, elongated and frustrating after sales service.

 

[EyeFour Eemeerah!]

We don't have the data as to the percentage cars with major issues, so all of this is speculation from a small sample size.

If you want some comparisons to P-car reliability:

• Early 991.1 GT3s had to have their engines replaced and many GT3s still suffer from bore score issues.
• IMS bearing failures are ticking time bombs.
• Early GT4s had their 3rd gear welded to the drive shaft. The welds would give way and third gear would fail. This was later recalled with a transmission replacement to change from a weld to a spline for 3rd gear.
• All 718 GT4s/GTS 4.0L engines still have aluminum variocam bolts that randomly unscrew themselves and munch up the engine. This includes new 2023 cars. Porsche learnt nothing from the Cayenne recall for the same issue. Some customers replace these bolts with steel ones as a preventative measure at their own cost.
• Early 718 4.0L engines GT4s/GTs had to have engines replaced/reconditioned due to conrod failures.
• Internal PDK seal leaks and electronics failures.
• Cracked 718 strut towers.

I could go on...

However the key differentiator is the level of after sales service which is chalk and cheese. Customers are more tolerant of critical failures if they can get the issues rectified promptly and without much stress. Unfortunately that's the biggest issue we're seeing here with Lotus. It's not so much major mechanical issues, rather patchy, elongated and frustrating after sales service.

Then again, using TomE’s methodology of using people he’s met in car meets and functions as a watermark, I have personally come across zero Porsche owners which have had any issue of those you list. In addition, the sheer selection of vehicles and iterations of each model they produce is vastly superior to Lotus. For all intent and purpose, they produce a whopping ONE!! Realize this was to be be their Hail Mary reintroduction to the market and US expansion, and without the infrastructure in place here PRIOR TO DELIVERIES, they are destined for catastrophic failure. A pig in a dress is still a pig. The car looks beautiful, but with the issues surrounding it, let alone a tranche system and pricing faux pas, and service centers justifying flaws simply because, well, that’s how they make’m?? Painful to watch unfold to be sure.

 

[Hethel Merman]

If they maintain these estimated percentages across the 100K Eletres they're hoping to sell each year, their customer service people will be very busy.

 

[Kimmax]

Car is back home!

A gap was found in the body work. On the hatch, left side where the body meets the area with the mashed vents. That’s right on top of the ECU. They did some tests and loads of water ended up right on top of the ECU and presumably in the ECU (can’t open the box to check without destroying it).
It’s been cleaned as good as possible, temporarily made waterproof (new ECU ordered but will take time to arrive). Gap has been sealed, broken O2 sensor changed yet again.
I’m not quite sure how it'd always break the same sensor if the whole ECU is being wet, but maybe it always hits the exact spot..
I've washed the car and it held up till now, usually would be broken already. Fingers crossed we found the issue!

Additionally software was updated but didn’t notice any big changes yet, except for the car self locking now after 3ish minutes. I’m pretty sure it didn’t before. There’s no setting related to this whatsoever, I’ll hear around.

 

[MrLD]

Is it the same bank for everyone reporting this issue? It would be worthwhile to see how close the VIN numbers are between those reporting this problem, because not everyone is having it. Bad batch of sensors? ECUs? When were the cars built that are showing this symptom? Same day? Same shift?

For there to be only a certain number of people to be having the same problem, there has to be something in common about their builds.

I see this thread is a few months old now, but interested to know if you ever found a fix?

 

[tnbuilder]

I see this thread is a few months old now, but interested to know if you ever found a fix?

Yes...I second this. Watching anything that has to do with these cars and water.

 

[Kimmax]

Mine is "fixed". Took 5 or 6 O2-Sensors to figure out what’s going on. After the 4th sensor I correlated the O2 sensor going bad with water exposure. Further testing revealed that water would enter the ECU and somehow would always fry a O2 sensor at the same position. My mechanic water proofed the ECU and it never happened again.
I don’t think there is a official recall or technical bulletin for this.. One of many water related issues on the Emira

 

[tnbuilder]

Guess I will need to look at where the ECU is and maybe what can be done for it.

 

[Nick in Sydney]

One of many water related issues on the Emira

Turns out that there is a drawback to all the wonderful "porosity" that the Lotus design and engineering team wanted!