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Evora IPS with BOE TEK Solenoid Issue

8K views 24 replies 10 participants last post by  ShadowWulf369 
#1 · (Edited)
UPDATE (10/5/19): Issue Resolved - ***When the TEK kit was installed, the transmission oil filter was replaced. This replacement oil filter was defective and caused aeration. This aeration caused all issues described below. The defective filter was replaced and the transmission was refilled and all issues were resolved.***

Basic car info: 2013 Evora N/A IPS with about 35,000 miles. I purchased the BOE Transmission Enhancement Kit (TEK) and had it installed at the end of July 2019 by Glenview Luxury Imports. For the most part, all I've gotten to do is drive on highways to and from a few car shows as well as back from the dealership. I've put about 1,500 miles on the transmission since the kit was installed.

Has anyone else installed this kit? I'm curious if anyone else had a change in sound from the transmission. Even at idle, the transmission makes almost a bit of a hissing noise that was only present after the install. Just a bit of a curiosity on that one.

Anyway, car was shifting fine right after the install but I was easy on it as the car was in learning mode for the shift points. The car has sit for the past month, only going on short trips once every two weeks. Two weeks ago, the transmission stumbled a bit on 2nd going into 3rd right out of the garage, so everything was cold. The car sorted itself without any lights or further trouble. The car has been sitting in the garage on the battery tender since.

Last night, not so lucky. The car stumbled form 2nd to 3rd again and got a check engine light as well as the transmission malfunction indicator light. I read the codes, and they are as follows:

P0700 (Appears to be a generic transmission fault code)
P0761 Shift Solenoid "C" Performance or Stuck Off
P1613 Forced Mechanical Limp Home Position

I took the car for a short drive after reading the codes and the car seemed okay until I got to a stop sign and it was stuck in 3rd and wouldn't shift to any gear, according to the dash. I could hear the car shift to park when I hit P, but the dash didn't recognize it. When shifting back to drive, the car had no power, so I put it back in P and shut it off. When I restarted, it seemed okay and the dash registered the shifting from park to drive, as well as R and N, then back to D. I was able to shift up to 5th on the road I was on but it would not shift into 6th automatically or with the paddle shifter. I came to a stop sign and I was stuck in 5th. Put the car in park and shut down. Restarted, and then had no more issues with performance. The car would automatically shift from 1st through 6th and back down, and I was able to use the paddles to shift through all gears. My CEL is still on as well as the MIL.

Big questions:
1. If the car doesn't have any issues for a certain number of restarts, will the MIL turn off or does it need to be reset by a reader or dealer?
2. I have to store my car in a week and a half in a garage that's 600 miles away (don't ask why). If the transmission is shifting okay after potentially another rough cold start, is it okay to drive with the warning lights or will it hurt the transmission in any way?
3. Has anyone else installed the BOE TEK on their Evora and had any better or worse luck? No body seems to talk about this kit.

FYI: Nearest dealer is 360 miles away (Minneapolis, MN), nearest good dealer is 710 miles away (Glenview, IL).
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Sorry, I don't speak Automatic, PO700 is generic in the sense that it states MIL triggered due to Transmission control having an impact on emissions, i.e. could be as simple as computer says the car is not in correct gear for this speed and load. The other two codes are not in the Lotus Service Notes.

Is the good dealer at 710 miles in similar direction as the storage unit at 600 miles??
 
#6 ·
Storage will occur in Green Bay, WI, and is moving in the right direction from Warroad, MN, which is where I am right now. From Green Bay, Glenview Luxury Imports is about 190 miles south. Glenview is where I had the kit installed.
 
#3 ·
Hi there,

Several kits installed in the US and over seas. Our shop has certainly done it the most. lol. ONe of my personal cars has it as well as local one... I mention the local two as we've had the opportunity to take a look at the install after daily driven miles, etc... A couple over seas are regularly tracked and at least 1 I know of in the states is tracked often... The others I don't have use data, but have had a lot of positive feedback.

Nevertheless, while it's obvious that there are not hundreds in circulation due to the low number of evoras in general, there are plenty to know that the kit is proven and sound.

So with that said, you either have an installation issue or the fluid level wasn't correct... or both...

The trouble codes don't really help a lot at this stage. You need to pull it apart and go through the the installation step by step, look for places the installation was done incorrectly and so on...

The fact that the trans was loud after the install sounds like the fluid level was wrong from the on-set or you had an internal leak. The issue may have manifested into other issues, or maybe not.

Hope that helps,

Phil


Basic car info: 2013 Evora N/A IPS with about 35,000 miles. I purchased the BOE Transmission Enhancement Kit (TEK) and had it installed at the end of July 2019 by Glenview Luxury Imports. For the most part, all I've gotten to do is drive on highways to and from a few car shows as well as back from the dealership. I've put about 1,500 miles on the transmission since the kit was installed.

Has anyone else installed this kit? I'm curious if anyone else had a change in sound from the transmission. Even at idle, the transmission makes almost a bit of a hissing noise that was only present after the install. Just a bit of a curiosity on that one.

Anyway, car was shifting fine right after the install but I was easy on it as the car was in learning mode for the shift points. The car has sit for the past month, only going on short trips once every two weeks. Two weeks ago, the transmission stumbled a bit on 2nd going into 3rd right out of the garage, so everything was cold. The car sorted itself without any lights or further trouble. The car has been sitting in the garage on the battery tender since.

Last night, not so lucky. The car stumbled form 2nd to 3rd again and got a check engine light as well as the transmission malfunction indicator light. I read the codes, and they are as follows:

P0700 (Appears to be a generic transmission fault code)
P0761 Shift Solenoid "C" Performance or Stuck Off
P1613 Forced Mechanical Limp Home Position

I took the car for a short drive after reading the codes and the car seemed okay until I got to a stop sign and it was stuck in 3rd and wouldn't shift to any gear, according to the dash. I could hear the car shift to park when I hit P, but the dash didn't recognize it. When shifting back to drive, the car had no power, so I put it back in P and shut it off. When I restarted, it seemed okay and the dash registered the shifting from park to drive, as well as R and N, then back to D. I was able to shift up to 5th on the road I was on but it would not shift into 6th automatically or with the paddle shifter. I came to a stop sign and I was stuck in 5th. Put the car in park and shut down. Restarted, and then had no more issues with performance. The car would automatically shift from 1st through 6th and back down, and I was able to use the paddles to shift through all gears. My CEL is still on as well as the MIL.

Big questions:
1. If the car doesn't have any issues for a certain number of restarts, will the MIL turn off or does it need to be reset by a reader or dealer?
2. I have to store my car in a week and a half in a garage that's 600 miles away (don't ask why). If the transmission is shifting okay after potentially another rough cold start, is it okay to drive with the warning lights or will it hurt the transmission in any way?
3. Has anyone else installed the BOE TEK on their Evora and had any better or worse luck? No body seems to talk about this kit.

FYI: Nearest dealer is 360 miles away (Minneapolis, MN), nearest good dealer is 710 miles away (Glenview, IL).
 
#7 ·
I don't know exactly how the install went, as I paid to have it installed. Because I live in an apartment with a small garage, I can't even change my own oil. I don't have access to a lift or even the knowledge set required to pull a transmission apart. I'm going to be relying on a dealer or shop at this point.

My thought right now is that I need to get the car back to Green Bay, where it will be stored for the next 7 months. I'll have time to set funds aside to have it sent somewhere to have it looked at. If it's a possibility, I might even see if I can get the car down to BOE to have it diagnosed. I have the box of original parts that were removed after the kit and even there, I don't know what I'm looking at. Long story short, I'll be needing help.

Does anyone know if the "C" solenoid corresponds to one of the solenoids that was replaced in the kit? From the instructions that came with the TEK, it looks like solenoid 2 and 4 were replaced, so the engine code is "C", and there's a possibility of A, B, C, and D. From that, I'd almost guess the solenoid that's being flaky isn't one of the new ones. But I'm not sure. Thoughts?
 
#10 ·
Update on the progress of my car. I took the time off of work to have the car looked at before winter storage. Got the car down to Glenview and they got back to me today. Turns out the transmission filter was defective and was aerating the oil, which was causing the sound. The aerated oil also was causing the solenoids to appear (to the computer) as though they were sticking. The filter was replaced with a new non defective one and the noise is gone.

The car was able to be driven all the way down to the dealership and was honestly shifting fine the whole way. All the codes even turned off after one of my fuel stops, so I don’t really have any fear that the kit or the install was at fault. I don’t even think any solenoids are performing poorly, the system just wasn’t liking the aerated transmission oil.

Glenview is going to verify the fluid level is still correct in the morning, but then I’ll have my car back by tomorrow. So a big shout out to Glenview Luxury Imports for performing the initial install and then helping me diagnose the defective filter issue! I’m excited to get the car back tomorrow, and it’s too bad I have to store it the next day. Luckily, she’ll be good to go next spring when I reunite with her after the long slumber.
 
#12 ·
I've added the resolution to the top of the first post for anyone who finds this in the future.

I got the car back yesterday and I can confirm that yes, the car no longer makes the hissing noise it did with the defective filter. On the way home, I had a few opportunities to open up the car and I can also say that the car is now shifting much quicker than stock. With the aerated transmission oil issue resolved, I have my 'creep' back in first gear (as before it was replaced, I had to give the car gas just to move from a stand still, even on flat ground). All is great and I'm thrilled with how everything turned out.

As a result, I would recommend the BOE TEK to any Evora IPS owner who isn't so happy with the shift times as this quickens the lag. My car is now performing as BOE describes and I think it's a great mod. I'll get a better chance to test it out next year, as this driving season is over for me as of today. All I have to do now is wait for spring!!

And again, big thanks to Glenview Luxury Imports for performing the install and the repair. I couldn't have had the kit installed or the issue diagnosed and repaired without you.
 
#16 ·
I'll definitely follow up next spring when I get her on some back roads. As far as how long the install takes, BOE estimates between 8-10 hours. I was billed for 10 hours if I remember correctly. Glenview mentioned that it was also handy to have a copy of the Lotus transmission service manual during the install; this wasn't necessarily needed, but was nice to have while putting things back together.
 
#20 ·
read this thread and my brain thinks defective filter or defective installation of filter.....?
 
#24 ·
That’s an interesting thought that I didn’t have at the time. The dealership replaced the filter and made me aware of the issue. The defective filter was then returned to the manufacturer for reimbursement by the dealership, so they didn’t keep it and I never saw it. What they told me was that some sort of plastic weld between the filter material and the sidewall didn’t hold, so oil was allowed to pass by the filtration material. That’s all I have to go off of.
 
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