Electrical Problems - Please help :(
1974
3
I have recently bought a 2007 Elise R but I'm having a few issues which I'm sure is a minor problem. As follows;
1. When starting the car for the first time at the dock, I noticed that the idling was uneven, revving slowly up and dow in abaout a 2 second intervall. After manually revving the engine a few times, it evened out.
2. Driving it home, after about 13 miles, the engine light went on. I drove the car home, without any noticable further symptoms, everything felt normal. Diagnostics at the local Lotus specialist showed error code P0133, something with the oxymeter then? The code was cancelled at the garage and the car was driven around for a few miles by the mechanic with no signs of trouble.
3. I then collected the car from the garage and drove i about 3 miles to my work. Before I got there the engine started to run jerky on low revs, with slow throttle respons. Then the window wiper came on by itself and couldn´t be shut off with the switch, and then the hazard lights came on by themselves. When putting in the reverse gear, the engine stalled, same thing repeated itself after restarting the engine several times.
The car then got towed back to the Lotus garage again. Diagnose there showed no error codes.
1. When starting the car for the first time at the dock, I noticed that the idling was uneven, revving slowly up and dow in abaout a 2 second intervall. After manually revving the engine a few times, it evened out.
2. Driving it home, after about 13 miles, the engine light went on. I drove the car home, without any noticable further symptoms, everything felt normal. Diagnostics at the local Lotus specialist showed error code P0133, something with the oxymeter then? The code was cancelled at the garage and the car was driven around for a few miles by the mechanic with no signs of trouble.
3. I then collected the car from the garage and drove i about 3 miles to my work. Before I got there the engine started to run jerky on low revs, with slow throttle respons. Then the window wiper came on by itself and couldn´t be shut off with the switch, and then the hazard lights came on by themselves. When putting in the reverse gear, the engine stalled, same thing repeated itself after restarting the engine several times.
The car then got towed back to the Lotus garage again. Diagnose there showed no error codes.
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Your suspicion of "electrical problems" is good gut instinct. Not through my Elise (yet) but I can relate through two other vehicles that I still own that have been "possessed" by electrical gremlins. My truck was doing the idle symptom with a failing alternator. It became obvious once the battery died from insufficient charge. The output from the alternator was fluctuating even causing a load to the battery at times. Check for even voltage above 13.6 vdc.
My commuter car had the other symptom of accessories coming on and going off, engine stalled when braking or the radio would reset. Bad chassis ground connection in two places. The battery ground cable connector had developed a high resistance on the battery side and the chassis connection was no longer clean and shiny as was the ground connector from the fuse panel to the sheet metal body. (Florida humidity = corrosion).
I would believe our cars have more discrete ground wiring than ordinary cars because of their fiberglass body's but I'll bet they are using the aluminum tub for ground distribution from the battery although I haven't had to check into this yet for myself. Please let us know what you find. A cheap volt meter from Harbor Freight can tell you what's going on in this area. It will have Ohm's function to check resistances on ground paths too. Good luck! These kinds of problems are really annoying but you can find it.
My commuter car had the other symptom of accessories coming on and going off, engine stalled when braking or the radio would reset. Bad chassis ground connection in two places. The battery ground cable connector had developed a high resistance on the battery side and the chassis connection was no longer clean and shiny as was the ground connector from the fuse panel to the sheet metal body. (Florida humidity = corrosion).
I would believe our cars have more discrete ground wiring than ordinary cars because of their fiberglass body's but I'll bet they are using the aluminum tub for ground distribution from the battery although I haven't had to check into this yet for myself. Please let us know what you find. A cheap volt meter from Harbor Freight can tell you what's going on in this area. It will have Ohm's function to check resistances on ground paths too. Good luck! These kinds of problems are really annoying but you can find it.
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25 Posts
I notice a slightly uneven idle when my engine is cold. Usually disappears after I head down the block. I had just chalked that up to an aggressive ecu tune by lotus (needs to be warmed up for efficient burn in the piston).
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