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Elise Service Manual for $25 from LCU.

137K views 391 replies 175 participants last post by  DWilde 
#1 ·
The Service Manual for the Federal Elise is available on the Lotus Cars USA website. You must pay a membership fee of $25 for one day, $300 for a month, or a huge amount for a year to gain access to the site. Once on the site you can download individual chapters from the Service Manual.

I purchased a one day access for $25 and proceeded to download all the sections that were available. I have not checked to see if they are as complete or are the same as the paper manual I purchased several months ago. First glance suggests all the chapters are there.

The Toyota manuals are separate and can be purchased at your local Lotus dealership. The site does include a listing of what these manuals include and the price.

Terms of Agreement prevent the uploading of the material and only license you to have one copy. Please do not ask me for a copy of my material. $25 is inexpensive.

Michael

edit to add-
I've had consistent trouble with the plain www.lotustechinfo.com link.

This one http://www.lotustechinfo.com/subscriber_new_terms.asp however has always worked for me.

YMMV.
 
#78 ·
#80 ·
Server is up running Linux but only open port is SSH. Web server is not running. I suspect the webmaster is not monitoring the site; probably not a Lotus employee. Server appears to be housed at an SBC server farm. Probably need to get someone at Lotus USA to notice.
 
#81 ·
CALtd said:
Server is up running Linux but only open port is SSH. Web server is not running. I suspect the webmaster is not monitoring the site; probably not a Lotus employee. Server appears to be housed at an SBC server farm. Probably need to get someone at Lotus USA to notice.
I have no idea what most of this means, but it doesn't sound good. :crazyeyes
 
#88 ·
Does anyone have a current list of the technical service bulletins? My car is due for a 7500 mile service, and I am wondering if I should bring up some of the bulletins. The only bulletins I have actually seen are:

2004/18 Rectification of sticking gear lever lift tube.
2004/21 Hose connection checks on North American Elise with front mounted oil coolers.
2004/27 Rectification of water ingress via sunvisor brackets.
2005/05 Oil cooler fitment change.

I would just prefer to not spend $25 again to find out if there are any service bulletins that I should care about.
 
#89 ·
Contact for Lotus Tech Site?

I tried to sign up on the tech site to download the manuals. Never could get them to recognize my subscription even after paying twice through PayPal. Turns out their contact email is also not working... ended up cancelling both paypal payments.

Does anyone have a good contact email or phone number for the administrator of the tech web site?

While I'm on the topic, does it strike anyone else as extremely lame that we have to pay for manuals and tech bulletins? Maybe I'm naive, but after waiting forever and spending nearly 50 large for the car, not to mention the fact that the car requires a LOT of mechanical attention, it seems like Lotus is nickel and diming their customers.

Love the car, hate the red tape. Any pointers appreciated!
 
#91 ·
Miguel said:
Hopefully last post before downloading everything tomorrow.

I found all the toyota engine and transmission manuals at the european site:

http://techdoc.toyota-europe.com/find_SM.asp?&d=1&lang=En

Access for one day is 16 euros, I don't think they don't do the separate subscriptions toyota vs lexus, you can access both.

Lotus name: Elise/Exige 6 Speed Engine Manual
Lotus part: B120T0327J
Toyota name: English Repair Manual ENGINE (1999-->) vehicle id: ZZT230
Toyota part: RM733E
Toyota name: English Repair Manual ENGINE (2000-->) vehicle id: ZZT231
Toyota part: RM733E
Both links take you to the same document.
Both Available when you search for Celica/English and it will be under Repair Manual/Engine.


Lotus name: Elise/Exige 6 Speed Engine Supplement
Lotus part: C120T0327J
Toyota name: English Repair Manual ENGINE (2001-->) vehicle id: ZZE123 From Oct. 2001 production.
Toyota part: RM929E
Strange too, the description is for a Main Manual not a supplement. But it's the right manual
Available when you search for Corolla/English and it will be under Repair Manual/Engine.


Lotus name: Elise/Exige 6 Speed Transmission
Lotus part: D120T0327J
Toyota name: English Repair Manual CHASSIS + BODY (2001-->) vehicle id: ZZE123 C64 Manual Transaxle
Toyota part: RM930E
Another strange one, they didn't put the document under the transmission. But also the right manual.
Available also doing a search for Corolla/English and it will be under Repair Manual/Chassis+Body


You don't have to pay to do the searches, and 16 euros is not that much money. (around $25) Anyway tomorrow I'm going to try to create a one day account, hopefully they allow access from the US, or I'll have to use my parent's address in Spain and pay taxes I guess.
Still looking for engine & tranny manuals online. The above site shows no manuals for Elise/Exige or Celica. Guessing they've been pulled or I'm doing something wrong - Any idea where to get them?
 
#92 ·
The tranny manuals were still there when I checked about a week ago, but the engine manuals were gone.


I've downloaded the Celica manuals from the US Toyota site, but it's tedious and I haven't check if they are the right ones yet. The price is $10 a day access.

As for Lotus charging $25 to download the manuals, that a huge deal. For every other car I've owned, I've had to pay $100 - $500 for paper copies of the manuals. I'll happily pay the $25 and print my own copy. Lotus is doing good by us.

By the way, in the "Letters to the CEO", I mentioned that it would be nice if the TSBs were on line in an "open" area so everyone could access them and check for new ones. He indicated that he though it was a good idea and would look into it - so someday, it may actually happen...
 
#93 ·
mrldcty said:
I tried to sign up on the tech site to download the manuals. Never could get them to recognize my subscription even after paying twice through PayPal. Turns out their contact email is also not working... ended up cancelling both paypal payments.

Does anyone have a good contact email or phone number for the administrator of the tech web site?

While I'm on the topic, does it strike anyone else as extremely lame that we have to pay for manuals and tech bulletins? Maybe I'm naive, but after waiting forever and spending nearly 50 large for the car, not to mention the fact that the car requires a LOT of mechanical attention, it seems like Lotus is nickel and diming their customers.

Love the car, hate the red tape. Any pointers appreciated!
I had the same problem. I also emailed "warranty@lotuscars.com" and did get a reponse. They are having problems with ther password generator server. They refunded my money through paypal and said to wait for further word for when their server will be fixed. Hence, no access to the site anymore. I am sure they will refund your money as well. They will probably ask you to forward them your paypal email receipts for the payments.
 
#94 ·
Lotus Tech Web Site

ChrisH said:
I had the same problem. I also emailed "warranty@lotuscars.com" and did get a reponse. They are having problems with ther password generator server. They refunded my money through paypal and said to wait for further word for when their server will be fixed. Hence, no access to the site anymore. I am sure they will refund your money as well. They will probably ask you to forward them your paypal email receipts for the payments.
My cancellations of the paypal transactions were successful, so they didn't have to refund. They also asked me to try again, but I'm waiting for a block of time to get everything downloaded.

I guess I'm just naive about having to pay for the manuals and bulletins. On the other hand, I've never owned a new car that required this much attention. Oh well, I still grin everytime I drive it on or off the track!
 
#95 ·
OOPS! I should have read the END of this thread. I just sent my $25... no luck. Can't retrieve my password. Guess I'll preemptively send my paypal receipt. I wonder why that portion of the site up while the password generator is downTADTS
 
#96 · (Edited)
What you have to do is: UPDATED.. I found out more info..

1. click on signup
2. click on 1 day, then enter your name and e-mail
3. hit continue
4. cancel at the paypal screen and go back to the Lotus site
5. Click on Login
6. In Lost Password field just enter your e-mail address and click: Get Password
7. Wait for e-mail
8. go back to site once it arrives and login using that info
9. select your product and click order
10. pay via paypal
11. go back to the site and you will see under payment history your subscription
12. click on the link that says: 1 day [24 hour] subscription under your subscriptions
13. When it asks for username and PW, use the same from step 4.
14. Enjoy!

You guys are most welcome!
 
#97 ·
Genjuro said:
What you have to do is:

1. Click on Login
2. In Lost Password field just enter your e-mail address and click: Get Password
3. Wait for e-mail
4. go back to site once it arrives and login using that info
5. select your product and click order
6. pay via paypal
7. go back to the site and you will see under payment history your subscription
8. click on the link that says: 1 day [24 hour] subscription under your subscriptions
9. Enjoy!

You guys are most welcome!
We know how to do it. The problem is the Lotus password server isn't working (they admit it), nor is the email address they say to use for contact. (Unless, of course, they recently fixed it.) They said they would let me know when it was fixed. I got the impression they weren't in any hurry.
 
#100 ·
ChrisH said:
Great!! It looks like they fixed it. Do you mind giving us a list of the numbers and titles of the current technical service bulletins?
It wasn't working if you don't create an account and then log in to that account. If you go right to paying for it.. it still doesn't work.

You have PM.
 
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