URGENT - Massive/Sudden Coolant Leak - Possible Service Bulletin

[lotus54]

Originally Posted by Hiroprotaganist

This has gotten off track - to be VERY specific, I was driving on level ground behind no traffic and was not accelerating. I fail to see ANY causal connection between driving in 6th gear at relatively modest RPMs and a complete discharge of coolant. If there is a causal connection, then please share.

I don't believe there is the slightest connection at all. I also don't buy that it will damage the engine under such use (very, very light loading and light throttle).

But maybe that is just me.

[glb]

Originally Posted by lotus54

I don't believe there is the slightest connection at all. I also don't buy that it will damage the engine under such use (very, very light loading and light throttle).

But maybe that is just me.

I agree...again.

[Hiroprotaganist]

Originally Posted by LWK

I had identical situation to my 07' S (blk radiator) too, after pulled aside I found the coolant bottle seems empty, I poured half bottle of water in and it runs fine again. Took it in to the dealer last week, they found out the radiator has minor leak due to this problem.

Thank you for the feedback.

Would you mind describing/providing a bit more detail as to the circumstances surrounding what happened? Did the dealer discuss the root cause of the matter - and what did they do to fix it?

Thanks!

[Hiroprotaganist]

Originally Posted by Patricko

Yes you should SB did not teach me to drive like that at Laguna Seca when I did the 3 day race school in January

This may come as a surprise to - but your reputation doesn't precede yourself. Other than making clear that you have some level of prowess at the track (I don't think we're debating skill level in this thread), I still haven't seen/heard any causal connection between light-load driving and the issue at hand. So - in all seriousness because my sole goal in posting is to learn more about the problem - why do you really think there is a connection?

Thanks!

[Opel]

Does the Elise/Exige still have the plastic header tanks on the radiator, or have they now switched to an all-alloy design? These used to split quite often, and was quite a big problem on the VX220/Opel Speedster, but also on the Lotus cars. Without warning you had a sudden, complete loss of coolant (often in the form of a beautiful, windshield-filling geyser). Eliseparts in Europe offers an all-alloy radiator/cooler which is bombproof.

If they are still using the plastic/alloy radiator, I would check the connection between the body of the radiator and the header tanks.

[Patricko]

Originally Posted by Hiroprotaganist

This may come as a surprise to - but your reputation doesn't precede yourself. Other than making clear that you have some level of prowess at the track (I don't think we're debating skill level in this thread), I still haven't seen/heard any causal connection between light-load driving and the issue at hand. So - in all seriousness because my sole goal in posting is to learn more about the problem - why do you really think there is a connection?

Thanks!

That was an attempt at humor and you are correct we are not debating skill level

I just did something that I have not done before. I drove my Exige in 6th gear at 50MPH and I would have to agree that the engine was not laboring. I thought that may have been a contributor and now I think not, sorry

believe it or not a few of us here know a thing or two about these cars (I noticed that you have done about 1,000 miles in your new Exige S).

I am sure that Lotus will have you sorted in no time.

[Hiroprotaganist]

Originally Posted by Patricko

That was an attempt at humor and you are correct we are not debating skill level

I just did something that I have not done before. I drove my Exige in 6th gear at 50MPH and I would have to agree that the engine was not laboring. I thought that may have been a contributor and now I think not, sorry

believe it or not a few of us here know a thing or two about these cars (I noticed that you have done about 1,000 miles in your new Exige S).

I am sure that Lotus will have you sorted in no time.

No worries at all - I appreciate that. I certainly have a lot to learn about the car - this seems like a great community thus far and I certainly look forward to meeting with folks in the near future. I will (hopefully) hear from the dealer tomorrow and shall let everyone know the results.....

[GAJ]

Fascinating how a thread can go so far off-topic.

[shay2nak]

it's easy to tell when the engine is laboring (or lagging). When it's lagging as you try to accelerate it sounds like you're choking the engine -too low an RPM. Sometimes even 3k is too low. The Exige S naturally likes around 3500-4000.

[ace10]

Originally Posted by Hiroprotaganist

No worries at all - I appreciate that. I certainly have a lot to learn about the car - this seems like a great community thus far and I certainly look forward to meeting with folks in the near future. I will (hopefully) hear from the dealer tomorrow and shall let everyone know the results.....

so the place in maryland has had the car for a couple of days now.... what's the word?

[Hiroprotaganist]

Originally Posted by ace10

so the place in maryland has had the car for a couple of days now.... what's the word?

Just picked it up this evening - all good/all fixed. Evidently, there is a service bulletin out on this issue but because I picked the car up so late in the evening the tech wasn't there to give me the details otherwise I would certainly pass them along. Coolant hose came undone under the front end and basically there was a full ejection. Luckily, I shut it down in time and there was no damage. Dealer did full system flush and checked everything out - all feels/appears normal during my brief ride home. They washed the car and did a damm good job too.

And I happened to have some SS brake lines installed with some Motul for a Watkins Glen run in about 2 weeks too!

Thanks again to everyone.....

[Rob T]

What does a service bulletin mean under these circumstances? Can anyone with an Exige S just take the car in to the dealer and have them check the coolant hoses? For free?

[jhnmdahl]

Originally Posted by Rob T

What does a service bulletin mean under these circumstances? Can anyone with an Exige S just take the car in to the dealer and have them check the coolant hoses? For free?

That's the real question. We still don't know what actually went wrong, whether there is a service bulletin related to it, what cars it affects, etc.

[Rob T]

Originally Posted by jhnmdahl

That's the real question. We still don't know what actually went wrong, whether there is a service bulletin related to it, what cars it affects, etc.

How do we find out? Would we get anywhere by calling our local dealer?

[ace10]

Originally Posted by Hiroprotaganist

Just picked it up this evening - all good/all fixed. Evidently, there is a service bulletin out on this issue but because I picked the car up so late in the evening the tech wasn't there to give me the details otherwise I would certainly pass them along. Coolant hose came undone under the front end and basically there was a full ejection. Luckily, I shut it down in time and there was no damage. Dealer did full system flush and checked everything out - all feels/appears normal during my brief ride home. They washed the car and did a damm good job too.

And I happened to have some SS brake lines installed with some Motul for a Watkins Glen run in about 2 weeks too!

Thanks again to everyone.....

in your first post you reported a "metal clanging sound" and that the car was "smoking badly"

did the place in maryland re-use the same connector or a new one?

if it were my nearly-new car, i'd want to know what exactly they did to check it out. metal clanging and smoke is not good, and i understand you shut her down as quickly as possible thereby limiting the potential for damage, but please, for the benefit of the community, describe the details of the repair/inspect in more detail. a coolant hose can come loose due to a fastener slipping or a fastener breaking. which happened? details my man, details. please.

and don't loose that service slip. i hope it documented the conditions in fair detail and the remedies they undertook.

[J-Son]

today this happened to me.
i went to the gas station to fill up and someone said "hey, your front end is leaking badly"...i touched the fluid and it was antifreeze.
i quickly jumped into the car and tried to drive home as fast as possible (only about 1 mile from home). the engine temp went to 245 and as i picked up speed it dropped.
i got into my garage and the massive amount of antifreeze dumped onto my garage floor.

i have to call Manhattan Motorcars to come pick it up but hope its just a hose.

i have an unmodified low milage 2005 elise

[Benjamin]

This same thing happened to me in my 07 S a few weeks back. I think it took 2 weeks to go from leak to gusher. On occasion I would pick up the smell of Anti-Freeze in the cabin - at the time I assumed it was left on the road via another car. Then one day I let her rip pulling out of the driveway - coolant comes pouring over the windshield. Fortunately I was to home when it happened. The dealer took care of it under warranty - said a hose had come loose - and apparently quite a job to get to it. I did have to flatbed it up there (1:15hr drive) - $450. Should have taken it there with the first scent of Anti-Freeze.