S1 Exige 192.
On my way home on Tuesday had a brief flash from the battery light, then a rattle until all systems stop. When I got the car recovered back home it had thrown the cam belt. The car went to SGT on Wednesday and initial inspection has shown that the cam pulley bolt came loose and finally fell out, allowing the cam belt to chew through the cam cover and lunch the engine.
Not heard of this one before. The car is still under warranty so hopefully I’m covered. Anyone out there familiar with this type of failure?
I think this is the last straw for Exige ownership. Car has the 5500rpm from when I bought and the garage haven’t been able to fix it, despite going in twice and now this!
Car has been serviced by Lotus from when I bought it and surely its not too much to expect a bit more than this!!
Wow! sorry to hear that.
But the good thing is that it has to be fixed under warranty.
It could be the perfect opportunity to put the engine straight too.
Demand that the whole new engine is balanced by Vib-free, send the head to be fixed by DVA so it retirns better than what it was, etc.
And of course, fit an Emerald to cure the 5500 rpm stutter.
You just might find the way to get a much better car for free!
Sorry to hear that Dave.
How many miles has the car done?
If you’ve never had it above 5500rpm yet you haven’t really experienced it! At the very least get them to fix it and learn how special it is before deciding to pass it on.
Ian
I agree with Ian there!
But I had the 5.5k misfire for yonks! Really really frustrating!
Try swapping the wheel speed sensor ont he drivers side. Also get the ECU read for errors.
The other thing is it’s a wire from there to the main loom that goes, so a pretty easy fix.
Otherwise just drop an Emerald ECU and you’ll be revving like you’ve never revved before
Sorry to hear this Dave -
How many miles on the clock snce the 190 conversion? and which pully came loose ? - if it was the inlet then maybe whoever did the 190 conversion didnt tighten enough ( or too much … )
As far as the 5500 misfire goes the dealer should fix it under warranty - as RL sayes, either with changing sensors or wires etc
I had the misfire after the 190 conversion and ECU upgade but the dealer couldnt fix it - it was a poor connection on the sensor … so sometimes its an easy fix !
Dave
sorry to hear your bad news and also that the car has been frustrating you for a while… as others say above… its possibly an oppertunity and if it was the inlet pulley then it should be an argument to say the dealer needs to fix it due not fitting it properly at the 190 conversion…
I hope you get it all worked out to your satisfaction whatever you decide…
The trouble with the Exige is that the engine is basically a race engine which means that it needs to be looked after very carefully and it can be unreliable. Don’t loose faith though there are ways of improveing things by either going to the right K-series specialists or changing to a production type engine (Honda or Audi).
Car has done 19900 miles now and of this I’ve only done 3.5k
The 5.5rpm thing is intermittent and usually I just pull over and stop / start to get it going again.
As for the pulley issue I don’t know if it was the inlet yet but wil find out on Monday.
The car had the 190 conversion when I bought it but I don’t know when it was done.
Thanks for the advice on the wheel speed sensor. I’ll pass the info over to the dealer on Monday. As for engine care and servicing my hands are tied until the warranty expires but after this period I was planning on using Paul Matty as I’m not too far from Bromsgrove.
Dave
For servicing can I suggest Mike at Horizon Motorsport in Cradely Heath - they know the modern Lotus better than Paul Matty and are very friendly and helpful as well - highly recommended.
Dont forget that Nick Whale have now moved to Bromsgrove now, although they will be more expensive than Horizon!