CAM FAILURE ISSUE -2 faulty cars found in 24hrs

I’ll wait until I get my car back in satisfactory condition before divulging who it is (dont bite the hand …)

Now what do I do??? They are trying to palm my car off on the bodyshop now to replace the rear clam after I was pranged back in october. I doubt they can take it just like that. I haven’t driven my car (other than taking it to paintshops or garages) since october 13th.

Bob
If it is the dealer I think it is from your location do not go within a million miles of the bodyshop (which is not local to them anyway)!

Rob

We’re not talking about Perfect Paint are you…

They were recommended by somebody on here. The insurance company have already approved them to do the repair…

We’re not talking about Perfect Paint are you…

They were recommended by somebody on here. The insurance company have already approved them to do the repair…

No not Perfect Paint who I also remember had a good reference.

Phew.

So what was the outcome? It seems the boys on www.Lotus Talk are having the same issues…and then some…

Well I’ve done about 4000miles since the new cams went in and all’s well. I’m now running it on Silkolene Pro S 5W/40 fully synth oil with a good moly content. I think the failure of my cams may have been caused by oil surge on a track day momentarily shutting down the cam spray jets and initiating the damage to the surface of the cam which then wears rapidly.

At what milage does Lotus recommend a valve check and adjustment ?

I dont think they have any guidelines for clearance checks. I’ll check the big black book later.

I no longer have my car, but the suspicion that my car was never really sorted was a contributing factor in its departure.
I put approx. 4k miles post repair and had the cams and valve clearances checked only a couple of hundred miles before its departure and all was fine, BUT the car still exhibited the same tendency to be super smooth when cold and tappy when hot especially after a couple of trips on to the high cam.

The possibility that the spray bar was not correct in my old car and this was a cause of my problems makes a lot of sense to me, as i said above i was never truly happy that the issue was resolved only that the resulting damage had been repaired.

Phil G

Sorry to hear that Phil. I hope you’re happy with the replacement!

Just to confirm - there is no mention of checking the valve clearances at any point in the workshop manual service schedule.

Right you are Toyota has no set milage check for clearance…Ok an up date from a respected source at Toyota today, he states that it may be a heat related issue due to reduced oil flow from the cam cover shower being misaligned or it may be due to reduced oil pressure from the long oil cooler runs to the front off the car and back to the engine under track conditions…hard cornering and high rpms…throw in a little valve float while on the limiter and there ya go… The Celica guys do not have this problem even with high milage…

Here is a quote from a buddy at Toyota :

You know, I’m looking at the wear on the tip of the rocker and its very a-typical.

That rocker was engaging the valve tip WAY past the edge of the normally machined area on the underside of the rocker which makes me wonder if that valve wasn’t mushroomed and standing too tall, which is something you see on the stock valves when you run them too high in the rev range for too long.

So I have to ask - are you maybe a member of over-revers anonymous or the rev-limit-riders club?

My car has been more tappety when hot since day one, Lotus say its normal. However I seem to have lots of other issues they say are normal too.

Boothy

It makes sense that it is more tappety when hot. The oil is thinner when hot.

FWIW both my old 1ZZ (Elise S engine) and current 2ZZ do the same. Never had any problems.

It seem that many 2ZZ powered Lotus owners try to stay on the rev limiter too long when up shifting in order to stay on the high lift cam…Shifting too early would drop you out of the high lift power band on the up shift…

I’d highly recomend the Lotus sport lower switch point ECU to prevent riding the rev limiter…

Just my two penny worth albeit being an S1 ricer owner My company barge is a Celica T Sport with obviously the VVTL installed. Its been tappety when hot for as long as I can remember, now nearing 70k miles, plenty of which have been spent on the high lift with no discernable ill effects.

sounds like this :

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driving a celica since 2001. and know about 50 plus 2zz owners. so far have not notice any cam failure on those celica. even on those hardcore owners who does 7 plus 8K rpm sustained.

Remember this is posted as a track day issue on Lotus Talk and I know a few of the guys and yes they do stay on the rev limiter from time to time on the track… .

Yeah, it sounds like Toyota signed the engine off on their vehicle and Lotus just fitted it as is. Increasing cornering loads and sustained high revs will lead to oil aeration, reducing pressure and the oil squirt jets missing their targets…