HI ROBBO
I WAS THINKING THAT IT MIGHT BE WORTH TAKING YOUR WARRANTY DOCUMENTS TO THE CITIZEN ADVICE BUREAU ESPECIALLY IF IT CANT BE PROVED THAT THE FALIURE OF THE THROTTLE BODIES WAS DUE TO THE HEAD GASKET.???
Brendan
Heathcliffe is still there and is UK salesmanager i believe. He may not take much to do with servicing type issues, but he seems to be a good-up guy and most helpfull.
Ian, Brendan, 1111, Rox,
Thanks for the help / advice
Im stuck for the next few weeks finishing off my degree work!
I need a clear head and I’m fed up talking with the muppets at Lotus and Warranty holdings
When I’m free Im going to get in touch with trading standards, Watchdog etc and Im also going to get them looked at elsewhere
Thanks again guys
I’ll keep you posted!
I had my throttle body stick when my Exige was new!!! It was the second time I used it on the track and it stuck going into the uphill at Lime Rock. Luckily there was a chicane to pull into. It had nothing at all to do with the cable. It was the basic design. There was not enough room between some moving parts and we had them refinished and it has been troulbe free ever since…Hope that helps…
A big UP !
A friend with a 340r called me yesterday, he had the same problem happening to his car and was lucky to escape an accident in a hill road.
It also happened to another friend on a track in his 340r. I was following him when he lost control and ended up in the fence tyres… After recovering the car to the pits, the accelerator was stuck full throttle. Cost him quite a lot on repairs…
I have 2 VHPDs (in 2x340r) and in both cars it happened to me. On the fisrt one it happened quite a few times, everytime I was lucky enough to escape damage. On the second one, had the same for the fist time after one month of ownership. To cut a long story short, I could simply have died. Happened to me when I overtook a car, getting back on my lane, then released the accel pedal and it stayed on full gas just when a corner was arriving… Applied strong braking, locked wheels, cold tires and weather, crossed the road, bang in a side wall, went up on the wall and came back on road. Could have been a car, a truck or a motorbike coming in front, or, 20 meters after the wall was a ravine (hill road) Could have simply DIE for a stupid piece of s…t that lotus or whoever designed
I asked on the spot for a “sollicitor” to make a report that the accellerator was blocked full throttle. He came and stated the fact he started the engine 4 times (3 hours after the accident) and witnessed the problm. Then he did put some legal stuff making the engine bay impossible to open without breaking the law…
Well the car is being at the mechanic for two months now, experts have come a week ago: guess what: Lotus expert said: “car is 6 years old (9 000 KMS not even Miles) and the intake has already been undone and redone, so it is not in an original state (what proof can he have of this ??) so we are not responsible for this…”
IT IS A WELL KNOWN PROBLEM BASTA…D !!!
Anyway, back to business, the car has to be repaired by my insurance, I already paid more than 1 000 euros in legal witness, I will have to pay the 1 000 euros excess, and, finally, I will have to bear the “malus insurance” ratio for all my other cars as well
You can’t sue Lotus, or yon can indeed, but you’ll lose. Of course as ther is no official importer in France, I would have to sue Lotus all in English in UK. Can’t imagine the lawyers bill for an almost sure losing case for me…
I have had quite a few lotus, I am now really pi…ed off with this brand and customer care…
Anyhow what would be the solution to repair this before it happens again please ?
Thanks.
Hi there,
Sorry to here you’ve had trouble too!
I had loads of trouble with mine and in the end the only way to fix it was to have a complete set of new throttle bodies, IACV and thottle cable
Im not aware of anyone finding a fix for the problem other than replacing them! Sorry
Lotus are aware there have been problems with throttle bodies sticking though. It might be worth contacting them!
Mine were sticking at some point but not at full throttle, more like 3/4.
It was the slotted face that links the two banks L-R, sorted it by spraying grease from the underside of the TB’s (can’t reach the spot from above) and it’s been Ok ever since.
Could it be the same we’re talking about?
I had ‘stuck wide open throttle’ problems, notably doing down the Craner Curves with my old K series engine.
Try searching my posts pre-audi.
Hi Uldis,
Its probably related but mine was sticking everytime the car was left to cool down. They would stick shut so tight I had knock them free everytime I started the car.
From what I was told it was the butterflies becoming wedged in the tb ports. I seemed to be the only one who had them stuck shut. Everyone else seemed to have them stick open.
I guess its the same problem just the other edge of the butterflies.
After a lot of arguing Lotus took mine back at the factory but it took them 3 months to find a solution. I was never told what they found and I recieved a lengthy letter from their lawyers stating no faults were ever found!
Hi Uldis,
Its probably related but mine was sticking everytime the car was left to cool down. They would stick shut so tight I had knock them free everytime I started the car.
Do you mean the throttle pedal was tight when you got in the car after leaving it for a while? Mine is sometimes like this and takes a little extra effort pushing to overcome the resistance, then its fine.
BTW, does anybody sell spares for the TBs?
Mine have been fine, must be lucky
Steve,
Yes that’s exactly how it was but it got to the point of getting so stuck solid I thought the cable would go snap sooner or later.
In the end I had to rest a screwdriwer on the pulley and knock it free everytime I started it.
They were rebuilt at NW’s and at the factory several times but with no luck unfortunately
Thanks for answers guys. Will let you know the outcome (except errrr “buy a porsche”)
No Steve, it’s not luck. I had the throttle bodies replaced about 3 times before I arrived at a set that wouldn’t stick. The last ones (a reconditioned set) jammed wide open as I was appoaching a small roundabout at 120mph At least the Exige has no brake servo, power steering etc, so it’s safe to switch the engine off in these conditions.
Brendan, I rememeber now Ian at NW’s telling me about yours. He helped me out loads but unfortunately they had mine reconditioned and tried a another reconditioned set but they all kept sticking shut.
In the end the factory came up with some revised fitting method. They suggested it was something to do with the alignment of the two TB’s. It took them 2 months to sort out in the end and that was on top of the time NW’s spent on it!!!
No Steve, it’s not luck. I had the throttle bodies replaced about 3 times before I arrived at a set that wouldn’t stick. The last ones (a reconditioned set) jammed wide open as I was appoaching a small roundabout at 120mph At least the Exige has no brake servo, power steering etc, so it’s safe to switch the engine off in these conditions.
Didn’t see that in the pile of invoices I have. I was shocked enough when I put all the equipment costs into my MLOC garage. Now it’s looking like you almost could have bought a second Exige for the money you spent on it
Steve, I didn’t pay for the TBs, it was a warranty job. My original one was always a bit sticky, but it never jammed. I remember how weird it felt; if I came off the power quickly, my foot would lift off the pedal, and then the pedal would suddenly spring up. Rather tended to unsettle the car going into corners! Don’t remind me how much I spent on that car, I must have been crazy! Hope it’s going alright now BTW.
Robbo, Ian was great about trying to get it fixed, but it annoyed me that they kept sending the car back to me saying it was fixed although it was usually worse than the last time. Good service, good mechanics, but they needed a good test driver. Got me wondering if that might be a good line of work for me