Oh b****er

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I have a suspicion my car is not well. I’ve just been out for a short drive and the temperature guage was up towards 120. Not good. The heater has stopped blowing hot air at all. And it looks like coolant has been blown out of the top of the coolant resevoir. Obviously it’ll be going straight back to SGT on Monday. But in the meantime, has anyone got any ideas as to how serious this is likely to be?

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Sounds quiet serious, I am not sure if it is the head gasket or something similar. I wouldn’t drive it to the dealer until being sure though! Probably best to speak to the dealer or get Lotus Assistance out!Good LuckPeter

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I forgot to mention that the coolant has disappeared at a fairly phenominal rate too.It did occur to me that the head gasket might have gone. There’s no water in the oil, but that could be it.And I definitely won’t be driving it to SGT - they can come and get it!Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/frown.gif[/image]

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The Lotus Assist chap has just left. He put a ‘sniffer’ in the coolant reservoir and detected exhaust gases coming through, so that means it’s almost definitely a blown head gasket. SGT reckon they’re too busy to do anything about it at the moment. How fuggin’ marvellous. Just in time for Christmas too.Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/frown.gif[/image]

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I waved goodbye to my car this morning - it went back to SGT on the back of a lorry. Will I ever see it again? If so, when?I’m just hoping they’ll lend me a car in the meantime - Christmas with no wheels isn’t going to be good.Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/frown.gif[/image]

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Is it going to make you happier or sader if I bring mine over around Christmas?You could try out the smaller removable wheel and see if you fit better?Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image] & [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/frown.gif[/image]

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SGT loaned me an alfa GTV the last time my car was in there not an Exige but better than a mondeo! Speak nicely to Jane the sales manager and i am sure she will sort you out, She is a good girl.Kee [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]

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We’ve missed you Kee!

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I thought I’d better bring you guys up to date with my ongoing tale of woe…SGT had the car for four days. They said they’d checked it out, found a small leak in the coolant system (which they’d fixed), but could find no evidence of a blown head gasket. So I collected the car last Thursday.By Saturday, after driving about 60 miles, I noticed the car had already “consumed” about 1/2 litre of coolant. I telephoned SGT who said they couldn’t do much before Christmas, but if I took it in on Monday they’d have a look.Monday (Christmas Eve) I was at work in the morning and then going off to see my family in the afternoon - I planned to drop in on SGT on the way.But the car just would not start - it would turn over, but would not fire. Of course, eventually the battery gave up and that was that. SGT had by this time closed up for Christmas (until 2nd January I believe), so I had no transport for Christmas - not even a loan car.You can rest assured I will be having words with the MD of SGT when they re-open in the New Year.Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/frown.gif[/image][This message has been edited by IPJ (edited 28 December 2001).]

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Really sorry to hear your story [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/frown.gif[/image]The “not starting” sounds like the problem that Roy had with his car. I think it was diagnosed as a faulty immobiliser, which in turn cut off the fuel pump.Hope SGT sort it out for you early doors!

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Each time I turned the ignition off and on again, I could hear the fuel pump whirring - I don’t know if Roy’s car did that. Also, it was trying to fire from time to time, but just would not actually start up.My own theory is that there is a breach between the bores and the water jacket at the head gasket. This would fit in with the “consumption” of coolant, and also the excessive amount of steam the car was producing from the exhaust (when it was running). If this is the case, it wouldn’t start up because the plugs are probably damp!It doesn’t fit in with SGT saying they couldn’t detect a blown head gasket, but it does fit in with what the AA chap discovered - one wonders what SGT actually did for those four days…Ian.

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All the way over here in Australia, I picked up my brand new Lotus Exige about 2 months ago now … since then it has been in back to the dealers for many problems. One of which was the Air Conditioning unit. I appreciate that the air cond. is not the greatest … incidently when it was under repair, the mech. informed me that I must keep an eye on the guage as I should not be driving it in if the tempreture goes over 100.Can anyone shede some light as to what would be the ideal temp range that the car should be running in?

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If you’ll either have a 82 (if you’ve had the 190 upgrade) or 86 degree thermo.My dealer said it’d run between 80 and 90. I think the ‘not above 100’ is a good suggestion.Apparently, they run the race cars in the high 60s!Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image][This message has been edited by IDG (edited 29 December 2001).]

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SGT are closed until the New Year, so I decided to get the Lotus Assist chappie to come back and see if he could get my car going. After taking the plugs out and drying them we got the car started. So then he decides to do the ‘sniffer’ test again. As before, there was loads of pressure in the coolant resevoir, and as before, the sniffer detected chemicals in the steam coming out of the resevoir. He said it has to be something like a head gasket, or even a cracked/porous cylinder head.So what the **** were SGT playing at when they looked at my car? Did they just top up the coolant and give it back?I am absolutely fuming now - it took both AA guys a matter of minutes to perform that test, yet SGT had the car four days and don’t appear to have done anything.I understand my warranty entitles me to take the car to any UK dealer - my next nearest dealer is Bell & Colville who seem to have a good reputation. Unless SGT can give me a very good reason why I shouldn’t, I’ll be going to B&C for the warranty work, all future servicing work, and my next car!Ian. (Still very ****ed off)PS - IDG, I’ll definitely let you know when I’m going to be around for a meet up! I’m currently trying to make it up to all the relatives I didn’t get to see over Christmas!

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Well I can’t comment on B&C’s service yet but they have just sent me a very nice letter.Their number is 01483 281000Christopher Monk - Service ManagerMike Clapham - Senior Service AdvisorPeter Leith - Service AdvisorThey like 7-10 days notice and are available from 8am till 6:30pm during the week and 12:30 on Sat.I’m sure they’ll cock-up occationally but one would hope being the biggest in the UK they should be better than most (although I doubt as good as Pit Lane, you lucky lucky Northerners!).Good luck Ian, happy relativing!ps. if the road is clear its quite a nice drive off the A3. Let me know if you go as there’s a little catch getting off the A3 when coming from Guildford.

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My car went to Bell & Colvill last week for treatment. They’ve confirmed that the head gasket has blown and will commence replacement of said item tomorrow.I still can’t understand how SGT could find nothing wrong with the car.Unless of course they didn’t actually look at it…Ian.

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quote:Originally posted by IPJ:My car went to Bell & Colvill last week for treatment.Get them to fit a removable wheel while it’s there! You know your knees (and palms) will thank you.Have a look at mine first if you want.Ian [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image][This message has been edited by IDG (edited 10 January 2002).]