[ringmeister]

Sorry if this has been discussed, I looked around for it but haven't seen any posts....

When my Elise is at operating temp. and I'm driving and come to a stop with clutch in, the idle drops and the car almost stalls. Sometimes it actually does stall but most times it will catch and bump back up obly to drop down and almost stall again.

Also, anyone have problems with the LSS wheels? When I took delivery the anodized coating was worn off in spots. Dealer said they would call Lotus on it but I still haven't heard anything.

FWIW, I also have an off-center steering wheel, horrible wax job with lots of swirl marks (specifically told dealer not to touch it). Also when filling the tank, the pump will click off at 1/2 full so you never really know how much gas is in the car.

 

[Ancient Wedgie]

This seems to be the answer:
The owner's manual says to let the car idle before shutting her off. Apparently as little as 10 seconds is all that is required. The object is to let the computer learn how to handle low rpm.

My conjecture is that when an owner gets in the habit of coming to a stop and shutting off the engine, the computer learns that the rpm drops to zero. Hence, when you slow to any stop it gets in the habit of slowing the engine to zero. Apparently by letting the engine idle occasionally, the computer learns that slowing doesn't always mean drop to zero rpm.

 

[ringmeister]

Yeah, I've been trying that but no luck. I did just find where folks are talking about the problem on the Maintenance board. Seems pretty common. It's a little frustrating for sure.

 

[zvezdah1]

As AW says, the car needs to idle ten seconds after start and before shutting off, every once in a blue moon my idle will drop briefly but only stalled a couple times after I first got it.

The swirl marks, dealer prep issue,

The wheel coating, off center wheel, dealer needs to address these.

BTW> Wondering you seemed quite unhappy with LSS when you first got it as in too rough a ride for NE roads, have you gotten used to it?

Chris

 

[Z3convert]

Coating on LSS wheels

I was told by my dealer not to wash the wheels with anything other than soap and water. The dealer said that the finish is very sensative to cleaning chemicals and they will stain.

The dealer said that the first car they prepped they actually ruined the finish on the wheels by using a wheel cleaning chemical. They replaced all four for the customer. Very expensive lesson.

Sounds like this may have happened to you.

 

[Stan]

>>The dealer said that the finish is very sensative to cleaning chemicals and they will stain.<<

The stock wheels appear to be powder coated, the LSS are supposed to be clear anodized. The latter is extremely sensitive to harsh wheel cleaning chemicals. Stains in one brief episode are possible. That happened to me when a car wash used such a chemical on my M3. The wheels were fine but the gold anodized brake calipers were stained.

Use soap and water. If you Rejex the wheels, the brake dust practically falls right off.

 

[doma]

It's a daily ritual for me ... drive the 12 miles to work, put in the clutch as I drift into my parking spot and the car stalls. *shrug*

I see a software mod in the future.

-doma

 

[LotusLust]

i seem to remember a thread addressing that issue some months ago. i have never had it stall but i have noted that by allowing the 10 second period (and i am betting 5 or 7 seconds is adewuate, they just buffer it) at start up and before shut down does seem to mean smoother running. maybe i am deceiving myself

 

[ringmeister]

Thanks for the replies. I was the second or third car at the dealer so I am sure they probably screwed up the wheels when they prepped the car. This is exactly why I told them specifically to leave it alone which they didn't do. I read in the manual about the soap and water so that's all I've used. They haven't gotten any worse at least.

As for the rough ride with the LSS, I have gotten use to it but I still find myself darting around trying to miss all the sizeable imperfections in the roads... thank got for the Elise's lightning quick steering.