Robbo
Do you need to borrow a set ?
hmmmm Never noticed any smells from my catch tank, even when i empty it (which is not that often) it only contains water with a tiny tiny amount of oil.
Mine also is just vented into the engine bay.
The top of the tank had a fair bit of oil and water on it which was exactly as you described it, as did the top of the air filter pipe. The inlet hose was a real poor fit into the tank which would explain it so Ive put a hose clip on it.
The mixture did smell pretty similar to the smells Ive been having so I’ll have to wait and see. Touch wood
PS - By the way I did mean ‘sweeter smelling’ above in my previous post not ‘sweatier’…I hope
PPS - Thanks again Andy
Well I never got chance to test my oil smell theory this morning…
Blasted thing wouldnt start again!
Had to leave it at home and I was nearly an hour late for work… Again I Bet it fires up straight away when I get home though
Hope my luck changes soon
The joys of Lotus ownership…
In over three years I have only been unable to start it twice - both times my fault, leaving the lights on…
Maybe you are due three years good luck now ??
Cheers Mike.
I’ve been in touch with the garage today who I bought the car off because I remember them telling me when I went to have a look at it that they had had problems starting it too.
It turns out that while it was sat in their showroom it had failed to start twice on two separate occasions. Both times were the same where the engine would turn over but the plugs and injectors would not fire (As the RAC chap found out a couple of weeks ago when it stranded me)
The garage at the time got an auto electrician out who spent 2 hours fiddling, only to end up phoning a local Lotus dealer.
They said it was a ‘Known problem’ and was the fault of the immobiliser not recognising the signal from the key properly!
The Lotus dealer said the sure way of fixing it is to disconnect the battery, leave for 30seconds and re-connect and hey presto they said it worked both times.
Im going to try it later when I get home but wondered if anyone else had had the same advice from their local dealers?
On another point, I know there is a detailed post on here somewhere about the starting problem relative to cranking power etc of the battery and the Exige battery being right on the threshold of whether or not the ECU recognizes that there is enough power to start the car but when I had my Elise and the battery went, The RAC said at the time that their computers recommended a battery with a minimum 450ish amps, rather than the standard one fitted to the car.
Has anybody fitted a bigger battery. (I did to my Elise… I think it was about 400amps from Halfords and made loads of difference) But it would have because my other one was knackered.
And the other thing if disconnecting the battery does solve the problem, do you think it would be a good idea to fit a battery cut off switch on the battery so you could simply turn the power off and then back on resetting the system without the need for spanners.
Sorry for the long post…
Hope some of you are still awake after all that
They said it was a ‘Known problem’ and was the fault of the immobiliser not recognising the signal from the key properly!
I guess that’s the typical answer from someone that doesn’t have a clue.
Not true.
On another point, I know there is a detailed post on here somewhere about the starting problem relative to cranking power etc of the battery and the Exige battery being right on the threshold of whether or not the ECU recognizes that there is enough power to start the car but when I had my Elise and the battery went, The RAC said at the time that their computers recommended a battery with a minimum 450ish amps, rather than the standard one fitted to the car.
There you may be to something.
If you look at the archives, there are a few that had that same problem and it went away replacing the battery.
I can’t comment as it hasn’t happened to me (yet)
But if I was you, I would make the dealer replace the battery with a bigger one (at their cost)
Take a look at the archives.
Uldis
Cheers Uldis,
Yep the disconnecting the battery one was a load of rubbish
Just tried it and nothing.
Ive also just tried everything else that the RAC tried last time, ie plugs, leads, crank sensor etc etc etc etc etc, Unplugged the loom under the header tank… Still nothing.
Wiggled everything
It nearly fired once but now the battery is starting to lose power
So I did the only obvious thing to do…
Came inside for a beer
I’ll sort it out tommorrow
I can now understand why its only done 7000miles in over 3years… It wouldnt start the rest of the time
Hiya Chaps,
Finally got it sorted I think… I hope!
Ive been investigating the battery situation a fair bit over the last week to try and get my beast back on the road.
Even though the battery in my car appeared ok, a few things people had said and Marks post got me thinking.
The RAC had also mentioned to me when I had my Elise that they list a much higher amp battery than standard.
Anyway, the thing that may interest some of you is that in Auto Express (about 2 weeks ago) there was a test on batteries. It happens that they had decided to test about 12 different type 063 batteries and report on all sorts of details including the CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) of each battery.
The top 2 in the test, even though they were excellent still had a CCA similar or less than standard (380amps) but the 3rd placed one was the Bosch Silver Plus 4PT battery which was rated at 480amps, the same size as original (if not a little smaller) and seemed the best choice.
I had a right nightmare trying to get hold of one because most of the places I tried either said it would take about 10days to get one or they said I should fit a type 065 or 075, But both are bigger and quite a bit heavier (A few kg’s) than a type 063.
I paid �35 in the end from ‘Truckstop Hawkes’ in Redditch and fitted it last night on my drive in the fog!
I tried to start it before and nothing (turning over quite happily but not starting) but after fitting, it roared into life… after a few coughs and splutters and one almighty backfire. Or was that a fire work
Anyway it has made loads of difference so lets hope its finally sorted.
Might be worth investigating the next time your’s wont start.
Robbo
PS - and its silver and matches my car
Great news Robbo!
So, better AND smaller? (lighter?) what else can you ask!
Uldis
Yeah Robbo
Thanks for the research on batteries
I replaced mine about 18 months ago with a Halfords 063, but if it goes again, I’ll source one of those Bosch jobbies. In the meantime, I leave the car on “trickle charge”
Forgot to mention about my fumes
Ever since Ive got my car sorted and back on the road after replacing the tyres, battery, oil and filter…Eventually,
The fumes coming into the cabin have been cut by about half.
I dont know if its down to changing the oil or fitting the breather pipe from the catch tank to the underside of the car as I mentioned above but its made a massive difference.
And I’ve still got to seal up all the holes behind the seats that Uldis mentioned.
The cars getting better by the day
How’s that new battery doing, Robbo?
Guess why I’m asking…
My poxy car wouldn’t start this morning. Engine’s turning over, but not a hint of firing. I hope it’s just the battery being a bit low but I won’t know till I get home tonight and get it on charge for a couple of hours.
Yep it was absolutely fine starting this morning. Roared into life! Hardly had to turn the key
They were exactly the same symptoms as mine! Turning over quite happily but not firing.
If you click on the Bosch link above you’ll be able to find the nearest dealer to yourself. Definately worth it.
And it was that cold outside last night I even had to scrape the ice off the inside of my windows this morning!!!
Bet its even colder oop north though… Is it snowing yet lads?
Not snowing yet, but it’s white in the mornings with frost and ice.
Definitely taking it very easy driving around these days (on any car)
Cheers Robbo, that makes me feel much better
I gave it 30 mins on the charger this evening, and it fired up no probs.
I’ll try to get myself a Bosch and see how I get on.
I was thinking about getting a battery cut-off switch to stop the alarm draining the battery. Has anybody tried this?
Brendan,
Not sure where abouts you live, but if its of any help when I bought mine the place had another one in stock sat on the shelf.
Robbo
Thanks Robbo, but I’ve found somewhere just down road from me with one on the shelf.
Unforunately, when I went to buy it half an hour ago, they gave me a normal silver rather than a silver plus
I’ve got to go again tomorrow. At least it was a good run down the road to help top up my battery
So is a silver not powerful enough to get the car started?
I’ve just changed it to a silver (didn’t have a silver plus) and thought that should be ok, still being a 063 and all but just changed it and now it’s exactly as it was last night, still turns but just will not fire!
I’d have thought the standard silver properly charged would be more than adequate to get the car started. I bought the silver plus just because it might be better in extreme conditions.