everybody who wrote back with advise “THANKS”…i’m now on 500 miles …and admit… YES i’ve been giving it some death but can honestly say engine sounds fine! SECOND CAM is awesome! i promise i’ll keep you all posted to the outcome of the first service…warranty…speed of car…ect …once again thanks for all your comments!
Its your choice buy personaly I think you are completely fcuking mad to rag it before its had its first service.
I know the Toyota engine is very reliable but if anything does go wrong Lotus will just get a print out of the details from your ECU and tell you to sod off!
Do you really think its worth the risk for the sake of 1000 miles which you could put on the car in a week or so?
As I said its your decision but I think you need your head read.
Sean,
Are you a member of the factory club LCI??
Nick Adams has just entered a lengthy post on this very topic on the grouplotus web site.
A little high cam use is acceptable befor the first service…but ONLY A LITTLE
Tim.
You don’t get this problem with a Porsche, they’re run-in on a dyno!
Ian
Maybe, IDG…but this website isn’t big enough to fit in all my Porsche ‘hates’.
A Porsche on a dyno?? It’s the safest place for 'em
Tim
It was more a dig at Lotus about delivering a sportscar ready to go.
Although I guess there are handy safety aspects to forcing people to take it steady for a week or so.
Ian
In theory all new cars shouldnt need to be run in.
I went to the Ferrari factory 2 years ago and saw all of the newly assembled engines bolted to a bench and run at full revs for 45 minutes before being put into the cars.
But if Lotus say you need to run it in in accordance with our instructions or we will tear up your warranty what are you going to do?
I picked my S2 Exige from the dealers today after its aftercare service. The service manager handed me a printout about a meter long showing all the data they had downloaded from the ECU before they sent it off to Hethel.
It had everything on it, top 5 0-60 times, top 5 0-100 times, top 5 max revs used, top 5 top speeds and also the number of ‘standing starts’ (reading 0 for me ) )
As has been said before you may end up with a slightly faster car if you rag it from day one (but probably only a marginal gain)but you will have paid over �30K for a car which no longer has a warranty. If I was buying a second hand Exige still in the warranty period I would check with Lotus to confirm it is still valid.
But what about demo cars that get spanked from day one, when i test drove the S2 the dealer was telling me to" go on, give it some "with only 300 on the clock.
Then they are sold with full Lotus Warranty.
I am still on 350 miles. Been under 4000 revs for most of the time occasionally up to 4500 and have been up to about 5000 once. not hit cam yet.
What constitutes a standing start?
What constitutes a standing start?
I’d say, side-stepping the clutch from 6000+revs.
Ian
hi tim!.. no i am not a member of lci… the method in my madness goes back 20 years to the “mark 1 escort days”…ile do a full explantion later!
Nightfall, Is that you Ruggs?? )
I guss standing starts is just nailing it to second cam in first then second, third etc.
I have to say I just love the car once its run in. Second cam is great and sounds fantastic. Roll on Stage 1 Exhaust.
Yes, Nightfall = Ruggs
Now on 680 miles, 1st Service Saturday (get car back Monday night) with stage 2 exhaust.
STILL havent been on the second cam have had revs up to 5200, once but only after I cleared 600 miles.
Cant get anywhere near the 6200 as I have to only use half the pedal travel… subsequently I’m driving like a homo and getting tw4ts in Audi A6’s cutting in front of me thinking they’re Aryton Senna. Roll on Tuesday
Another drive tonight after the cinema. (war of the worlds : very good) STILL cant get near to cam, although I held it at 5K revs for 25 seconds then dropped back.
And I dont think you can get near to 6,200 if your using half the throttle pedal travel. (which I reckon is about an inch and a half) I tried but didnt have the nerve
703 miles now, a mixture of twisties motorway and town. mainly twisties and town. Question : Why, when running in, is it a good idea to keep the revs at different levels within the 4500 limit
Running is just that, it’s getting all the surfaces to mate to each other, any minor manufacturing imperfections to be worn off and carried off in the oil and filter so ideally you end with an engine that everything fit !
The give it death principle is to get the engine a little looser so there’s be sime extra power (very minor nowadays)…
The whole thing is pretty different now, wasn’t it something like 3000 miles to run in an old car or something?
Ruggs you can go onto the second cam after 600 miles but not too often or for too long. Have a look in the manual about running in.
You should start going on the 2nd cam now and again after you have completed 600miles and start using full peddle travel. If not you may not run it in properly. You can run cars in to SOFT!
Read the book on this before I started. Mine says I cant use full throttle until first 1000 miles service. but it does say I can use more of the rev range but I just cant do it by using full pedal travel. Full pedal travel can only be used after 1000 mile service
Done another 145 miles tonight . Haywards Heath to Worthing, to portsmouth, up the A3 to M25 then back home
knackered.
Its amazing how tentative Lotus are with their ‘running in regulations.’ The engine is built for Toyota by Yamaha and is based on the 1.8 VTi Homda unit used for the 5dr Civic Vti and then tuned for the Integra Type R (Honda sold Toyota the rights to the VTEC design when they moved onto I-VTEC). The technology is sound, 2 million VTEC units built never a failure of the unit ! Honda state in their manuals that you should avoid full throttle openings and heavy loading of the engine for the first 500 miles, i.e low speed, heavy throttle…keep the revs up !!
The running in procedure is probably down to Lotus worrying about their engine management system rather than the integrity of the motor itself, or how much they are paying for the gearbox and motor from Toyota. I am a Honda dealer and we don’t have a ‘running in’ service for S2000 - 2.0 litre 240 bhp or the Civic Type R - 2.0 lire 200 bhp, and they rev higher than the Exige spec Toyota lump ??
Good old fashioned mineral oil for the first year or 9,000 miles (S2000) or 12,500 miles (Type R), and they don’t recommend fully synthetic oil until these mileages.
All seems a bit strange to me ???
on the subject of low revs etc, it does say dont let the engine labour in too low a gear. My running in has been 60-85mph in 5th 6th, so always around the 3000-4500 range. been up to 5000 once or twice after 600 miles but only by accident. Also used pedal travel over 1/2 once when I was adjusting myself inthe set. foot straight off. No standing starts etc.
I intend to keep my exige, I love it. I just want it right so am doing everything by the book