I picked up my new S2 yesterday and was looking forward to a weekend having some fun, and what do they tell me…
…for the first 1,000 miles keep the engine under 3,000rpm AAARRRGGGGHHHHH
At least I’ve only got another 635 to go - might do a couple of laps of the M25 later today to get a few miles closer to the 1,000.
So if anyone see’s a new black S2 on the road with a very frustrated looking chap behind the wheel and wonders why on Earth it’s being driven so slowly, please show some sympathy!!!
I picked up my new S2 yesterday and was looking forward to a weekend having some fun, and what do they tell me…
…for the first 1,000 miles keep the engine under 3,000rpm AAARRRGGGGHHHHH
At least I’ve only got another 635 to go - might do a couple of laps of the M25 later today to get a few miles closer to the 1,000.
So if anyone see’s a new black S2 on the road with a very frustrated looking chap behind the wheel and wonders why on Earth it’s being driven so slowly, please show some sympathy!!!
Craig
Get them cracked off tonight, mate and back at the Dealer 9am tomorrow morning. Job Done
I looked in the handbook, and it suggests keeping it below 4,500rpm for the first 600 (I think) miles. There is also something in there about the ECU logging the revs, and if you go over the 4,500 “limit” you’re likely to invalidate the warranty.
I looked on the Lotus site and couldn’t find any technical advice - is there a forum or something on there that I couldn’t track down?
Thinking I might push it up to 3,500 - 4,000 tomorrow…
Yes no more that 4,500 for the first 600 miles then after that you can go onto the second cam (up to about 7000rpm’s) for brief periods (a few seconds)
If you are too gentle with it the engine wont bed in properly.
I think it’s a bit confusing to be honest. I’m sure I read an article/letter in the Lotus Life by Nick Adams saying that in the last 400 miles of the running in you should run it through the whole range a few times, otherwise you’re not actually bedding anything in. Although, with the 240, I was implicitly told by Lotus Sport to keep it below 4,000 at all times - this was to stop the supercharger kicking though.
I’d give Lotus a ring if you’ve any doubts, get it from the horse’s mouth.
The handbook says something along the lines of ‘after 600 miles full revs / throttle openings can be used for brief periods but not until after the aftercare service should the cars full performance be used’
If you dont give it some beans the pistons wont bed in properly.
I used second can briefly on each journey adfter 600 miles and had no problem when the first service print outs were returned to Hethel.
Hi not sure if my hand book is different from everyone elses but it states “for the first 600 miles use no more than moderate throttle openings (about half the available pedal travel) and do not run the engine continuously at engine speeds over 4,500 rpm. Occational short bursts at wider throttle and higher rpm will be benificial…”
To me this means you can go over 4,500 rpm in the 1st 600 miles and even hit second cam but only for short sharp bursts, but only use about half the peddle travel. (my dealer even told me to hit second cam during this period).
“After 600 miles full throttle and/or max rpm may be used for short periods…”
To me this now means you can put your foot to the floor and hit max (7500-8000) rpm for short bursts.
After the 1000 miles service you can do as you like.
If ive misinterprated anything please tell me but im not sure where people have got this idea of keeping it under 4,500 or even 3000 rpm the whole time for the first 600 or 1000 miles?!
Olly’s quote above is spot on as far as my handbook goes.
My feeling on this situation is that I’ll probably aim to keep it under about 4,500 for the first 600 or so miles, with the odd burst over it after this period, but probably avoid going “on cam” until about 800 or so miles, and then only for fairly short periods until the first service.
Nope, ollies is what mine says. It says it can be used for short periods, not that it should. My dealer told me to keep it off the cam until the first service
At the end of the day I think its just to ensure that cars aren’t spanked daft from delivery to avoid having an engine full of bits a day later.
enough already here’s what NICK ADAMS said in the LCI mag Issue june 2005 :-
''You can use more revs! This is a common misconception that has spread on various elise chatrooms. The hand book clearly states…(read that bit yourself!).
We (Lotus) do ask you to refrain from running the engine continuously (ie nearly all the time) over 45oorpm, but you can occasionally go above that from the very start.Up to 600 miles you should certainly avoid using full throttle or hitting the rev limiter, but theres nothing to say you can’t take the car up onto the higher cams for a short time every now & then.
Once you have completed 600 miles you can also use full throttle & all of the revs for brief periods where road conditions allow. The intention is that you should take the car up onto the higher cams occasionally during the first 1000miles otherwise it won’t be run in at all when the first service is completed. All we ask is that you don’t thrash the engine all the time in its early life. We do monitor data from the ECM, & may in extreme circumstances consider whether the driver has abused the car so badly that the warranty on his engine & transmission may be affected, but a normal driver who hits the high-speed cams say 10 times in the first thousand miles won’t encounter any problems. In fact, we prefer the car to be used with a degree of enthusiasm; that is after all, what is has been designed for!‘’
yep thats exactly how i understood it. i think the handbook it pretty clear. i think the main idea is not to rev the nuts off it straight from new. however theres no need to drive it like miss daisy is your passenger for the first 1000 miles!