[OneFastLotus]

I know this has been discussed, but I didnt see the thread anymore so Im posting here.

Our car, when coming to a light or stopsign, sometimes acts as though its going to die. The car is so quiet it's sometimes hard to tell, but you can hear/feel it trying to buck off it's idle. Yesterday I was pulling into a parking spot ( in front of my parents who know we just purchased the car and LOVE it so it was embarassing) and it died on me. Our car now has 830 miles on it. The bizarre part is that the car didnt do this early on but has just now started. I thought some of the other folks had trouble with this when they first got their cars and it went away...ours was fine early on, but now it seems to be getting quirky. It's not dying all the time, its only actually died once, but yesterday it was acting like it was going to die quite alot.

Also, when I first drove the car yesterday it was driving poorly, as if it were "missing". It was running so poorly that I took it out of gear and coasted to the side of the road. It did this for half a block and then straightened out. I had the air on, so I thought maybe it was because it wasnt completely warmed up yet AND I had the air on. I turned the air off and sat by the side of the road for a bit and revved the motor a little bit and it got better which is when I took off and it seemed fine.

Anyone else ( closer to their dealer) experienced this?

 

[cerven]

This is not good news.

 

[eliseowner2b]

Mine idles a little rough for the first minute or so. When I bought the car, I left the dealer with the a/c on (hot Atlanta) and at the first light it stalled. I shut the a/c off and restarted it without problem. A minute later I turned the a/c back on and I've never had a problem since. Im assuming your car has very low miles so your ECU might be learning it's new home.

 

[Robert Puertas]

Several UK 111R owners have reported similar experiences. It seems like they've all cleared up after the 1000 mile service.

 

[OneFastLotus]

cerven, I dont *think* my problems are any different than the ones that others have had and that Lotus has acknowledged. I admit it concerns me which is why I asked, but Im hoping that during my first service these issues can be addressed. Got to give Lotus the time to fix the problem if there is indeed a problem. (fingers crossed)

 

[OneFastLotus]

Several UK 111R owners have reported similar experiences. It seems like they've all cleared up after the 1000 mile service.

Didnt know that. I need to read SELOC more often. Thanks for the info! I too am hoping that after our first service things will be hunky dory.

 

[Stan]

It's a learning ECU...so give it 10-15 seconds after startup and the same before shut down won't hurt. From a normal, warmed up idle, switching the AC on should result in a slight increase in the idle RPMs. Normal non-ac idle is at around 850 Rs.

 

[adamant]

Obvious answer, but could it be some bad Gas?

 

[OneFastLotus]

I highly doubt it. I use premium from the same location each time. Ive never had a problem with gas in my 14 year driving career....but there's always a first time I guess.

 

[Randy Chase]

My car has stumbled a couple times. That is all.

 

[James A]

It may take the ECU a few hundred miles to get enough data to operate correctly. My Seven took almost 700 miles to start operating correctly, and it's a Ford PCU. It would stall at stop lights idle at 1500 RPM all kinds of crazy stuff now it runs just fine with 1600 miles on it.

 

[00 scrub]

The idle stumble/dip is common with many Celica GT-S. I have no idea what causes it, but it sometimes manifests it self at stoplights after pushing the car a bit (doesn't even have to be over 6000rpm). It doesn't ever seem to be a problem. I have no idea what causes it. It has happened stock and with mods.

 

[martinm1]

Same thing with mine. Have about 300 miles on it; has never died, but felt like it was going to a number of times. I have felt the need to give it a bit of gas a few times.

 

[Allan Gibbs]

I think Tech-KO report a similar problem with his Elise about a month ago.

Here's part of the thread:

On Friday, I met with LCUSA's field service manager when I picked up my car from service at Princeton. We had a very good discussion about a number of things. Here are a few highlights before I get to the details of the ECU download: Engine idle is a learned ECU behavior. The car needs to cycle through several normal driving situations and sit and idle afterwards. It wasn't clear how long the car needs to sit and idle, but he mentioned that there would be a communication to dealers on this shortly.

Here's a link to that thread:

http://www.elisetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=76347#post76347

 

[thegit]

This apparently happens to the 111R in Europe.
Some claim to have cured the problem by starting the car without touching the throttle, letting it idle for 25mins then driving the car as you normally would
This argueably allows the ECU to "baseline" running parameters for the engine.

I would experiment using shorter idle period and going through all the motions as if you are "programming" the ECU. I would set aside a couple of hour to work on the procedure and drive it for half an hour as well.

It is frequent that ECU's need to reset on many cars since OBD1 if the car has been in for service and the battery was disconnected.
I try stuff myself as I typically and historically have had dealer service return my car in worse running condition than when taken in for warranty work.
m.

 

[Patricko]

I have not had this problem and I never touch the throttle when starting and I let it idle for about 15-30 sec after I start it and before I turn it off.

 

[TOPGUN750]

This has happened to my car the past two nights I have gone to take it out. Once the oil temp came up the problem went away but for the first couple of stop signs it was not pretty. Press clutch in approaching sign and wham revs drop to 0 and it stalled with the oil, engine and battery lights coming on. This never occured early on. The car now has nearly 600 miles on it and has stalled multiple times from this issue. I never had idling issues cold or warm engine prior to these past two times. I am wondering if my car needs another quart of oil and maybe that will solve the problem. The oil seemed low but was hard to tell looking at it in my garage slightly warm. Could this be it? I am very concerned.

 

[pianomaniac]

I don't think that these motors are prone to using oil during break-in.....so you may want to have it checked out. It may be leaking at some juncture. I check my oil every day before I take it out.

If it has only stalled once or twice,I wouldn't worry but ,by all means, bring it up to the technician at the first service.

BTW....mine has never stalled.(not that this will make you feel any better....but just for point of reference.)

 

[MattG]

Doesn't sound like an oil problem, just sounds like the same idle problem many owners are reporting. In your case, sounds like you're starting out at some rpm, press the clutch in and get out of gear, so the rpm is then shooting down and the ECU doesn't catch it before it stalls. Pretty similar to what I've heard described elsewhere (quick deceleration of the engine leading to a stall). Have you tried other slowdown techniques, such as downshifting and using engine braking until rpms are lower (~2k)?

With that many miles on the car, it does sound like something that should be brought up at your 1k checkup, I'd say this is not acceptable behavior for a 21st century automobile.

 

[xxxotic]

What is the procedure for the ECU to learn the correct idle speed?

On my other car I have to do something crazy like drive for 20 minutes in stop and go traffic coming to 6 complete stops and then go over 25 mph for more than 3 minutes and then drive for 15 minutes and not go under 60 mph for the engine to relearn the program after the battery is disconnected.