I am having what seems to be an endless hell with my car, its my third lotus and in theory should be the one I want to drive the most but it sits in the garage as I would rather drive my van.
Right now I will not go into all the details but would ask if people can have a look at their pullys for me, basically on tickover my pully closest to the rear of the car wobbles (I will take a pic and post it up) its the one thats more of a gold pasivated colour.
I have looked at JohnO’s and his was fine, whilst in at the dealer this pully was changed for one off another car and on my car the replacement wobbles again (they did not let me see it on the other car) this tells me that something else must be causing it. However the dealer never has another S to look at or drive when I am there, they are saying that they must all wobble which currently I am not convinced by obviously as Johns dosnt.
One of the issues I have is that on its first trip in the belt was changed and since then I have a ticking noise from over my right shoulder all the time I am on power and the revs are up. It sounds like something on the belt fluttering but the belt has been off twice since and they say there is nothing wrong with it.
So I would be greatful for any feedback that other owners can give me, at least I will then know if wobbly pullys are normal or if that could be one of the reasons for all of my trouble.
Belts and pulley wheels should be smooth and completely unobtrusive in there operation. If there not I think there may be a problem with your tensioning piston. Or the bearing on the gold wheel is shot.
Mine doesn’t wobble around, that can’t be right… pulleys generaly run straight and true. Where are you based there must be someone near you with a car you can look at?
Now that is the kinda pic I needed
Its the gold pully that wobbles, I saw them change it for another and with the new pully on it still wobbles, this was done with one of the lotus field engineers.
Its a long story but from new I always said the car just sounded wrong to me, the supercharger has always made very harsh noises on lifting off and under some loads. Also when under heavy load almost labouring (say 50mph in 6th) the whole thing makes a clattering noise like its coming apart.
On its first visit to the dealer for various bits the belt was changed, after this I now have a constant ticking noise behind my right ear that gets louder and quicker as the revs climb and the other noises have gone worse.
It went back to the dealer twice for it and I was assured I have the best exige S they have ever driven (bet a few of you have heard that one before )
I took the car to another garage and the pully was spotted within five mins. After this I met up with JohnO who has an exige S and we compaired the two, his ran true and obviously mine wobbles, after a ride out in both we agreed mine just does not sound as it should.
After this it went back to the dealer for an arranged visit with the lotus field engineer, when I showed him the pully he said it did not look right, so they changed it for one off another car, when this wobbled they just said oh they must all do it.
My car also has a constant grinding noise when the revs are held at about 3.5k, you can hear it when driving.
They spent a day looking but cant find it (at one point they were going to change the full supercharger then changed their minds) the final word on that was that if its critical it will break at some point and then we will know what it is…
As you guys say the wobbly pully must be a start and I am sure its something to do with the ticking noise, if its not that pully causing it then the belt or another pully must be?
The car has now done a shade over 4k miles but this has been ongoing from new
I must admit I will be more tuned to it as I know how it was before although the roads we used were not the best to highlight it, normally the best way to see it is on long straights like motorways, plus I did not want to scare Mr Pesky as I know he is not used to going fast
A very good way to fine odd noises is to get one of Machine Marts mechanics stethoscopes. There �5.86 and worth every penny. Its got a long probe that will enable you to listen to the supercharger with no problem at all. If you could get another �S� to listen to you will be able to diagnose the problem within 10 mins. I still think it may be related to your tensioning piston, the black thing in the picture with M7 written on it. If that�s U.S. the belt will be chattering and possibly wearing the bearing out on the gold wheel.
You’re not really resolving anything on this & other forums. Put pen to paper with some very well considered & constructed words & send it off to Lotus. You won’t even have to be threatening. If your chosen dealer(s) has tried various options without success its time for the next move. Let the dealer know what you are doing & even copy the letter to them. Then wait.
I’m sure Lotus will be very understanding & have the car back at Hethel…& get it put right.
When you’ve been married for 31 years, crap hearing is a valuable asset
What ? What ?..I know what you mean, I got ya beat by 7yrs…
Boothy my idler pulley had a very slight wobble, just have the dealer replace it…Make sure you replace the belt also as they will strech slightly over time…also have them check the tenisioner, they do go bad…
You’re not really resolving anything on this & other forums. Put pen to paper with some very well considered & constructed words & send it off to Lotus. You won’t even have to be threatening. If your chosen dealer(s) has tried various options without success its time for the next move. Let the dealer know what you are doing & even copy the letter to them. Then wait.
I’m sure Lotus will be very understanding & have the car back at Hethel…& get it put right.
Tim Since writing on other forums the car HAS been back into the dealer and I HAVE been there with lotus and discussed sending back to Hethel, the upshot is they wont do anything and wont take it back to Hethel until it breaks, Lotus will review it in July… This is no use to me and frankly I am pissed off with it. What I am trying to establish here is if I am being sold another load of BS by Lotus and the dealer which it looks like I am.
If I write a letter now they will just tell me they are going to review it in july, in the mean time I have to drive round it, what I need is proof of facts because the dealer has offered to take the car back again and if its not sorted I AM going to be writing letters and I need ammo and proof.
I am not sure of your point really as you dont have full facts of what I have been going through and the lengths I have gone too to get this problem resolved. All I have done hear is ask a simple question of other exige S owners as Lotus themselfs told me that they all wobble!
I am quite aware that by asking this here and getting an answer when I next walk outside my problem wont be fixed but what I do hope to gain is the ability to say no they dont all wobble so please can you fix it.
I will try to video mine when I get it back later this week and send you the clip?
Ade, that would be great cheers
Tim sorry for outburst above, I am just abit fed up with it and I have gone down the Lotus route since the last time I posted anything, I cant really write any letters as the dealer wants the car back again and says they think they can sort it thus preventing any letter writing as I cant really complain if they are still doing things to try and sort it, as stated above the whole point of this topic is to establish if wobbling pullys is normal or acceptable because on my last visit to the dealer when I met the lotus engineer, after firstly saying it did not look right they swapped the gold pully for one off another car, when it still wobbled they said ‘oh they must all do it’ then said ‘we just looked at another and that does it too’ however they would not let me look at it on another car to compair myself. At that point I could not say anything more because I might of been wrong.
Anyhow on another note, I am now on my third map and second ecu after various untraceable niggles, this latest seems to have a new problem (at least I think its ecu???) Its done it once before and started today again, basically lag between putting foot down and the car responding maybe 2 seconds, it has only happened after car has been running for over say 45mins suddenly I get this lag, there is a burble from the exhaust as it lags and sort of trys to go then suddenly its off…
Has anyone else had/got this? could it be related to the other problem or does it sound like ecu?
I do hope you get it sorted. I’m relating to problems I had with a previous car, which involved the dealer & factory field eng visits. It was only after all that I took issue with the factory direct, from which point I then couln’t fault what Lotus did for me/the car.
Good luck, there’s nothing worse (in motoring) than loosing faith in yer mota.
Boothy - been there done that, and appreciate the frustration (mine was various niggles but also a leaking roof). Got there in the end, so just stay patient and keep the pressure up on the dealer/Lotus - after all you paid your entry fee so make sure you get your money’s worth
