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I was driving out to show a friend another lake we have here in Prescott today, it's about 15 miles out of town (20 from my house) and in the middle of the national forest. The two way road to the lake had a terrible pump in it all the way across both lanes just as it goes over an old bridge, my car hit that pump and it jarred everything from my teeth to the things I had in my trunk, I thought it was harsh enough to bend or crack my wheels but fortunately they are still okay. Within 50 yards the car started to slow down and the engine began to stall, pulled over and it would not start again. Sat around for a few minutes and tried to start it again, it would act like it wanted to start but then just shake and die again. Waited another 15 minutes and tried again, it acted like it wasn't getting gas. After a good hour passed I called AAA and asked them to come tow my new Evora home, it just wouldn't start. Over two hours later the flat bed tow truck finally arrived, I installed my front eye hook and a cable pulled it onto the bed of the truck, the guy was very careful and didn't scrape anything loading it.
After having my new car shipped out from new Jersey and receiving it roughly three weeks ago, I found my cruise control was dead, my subwoofer was dead and a right rear fender light was dead, now I hit a bump and the whole car is dead??????? I was wondering if this car is jinxed? As the tow truck headed back to my home about 20 miles away, I mentioned to the driver how the car went dead when I hit that pump in the road, he said some cars have an automatic kill switch on the gas line when they have any kind of impact, he had towed several cars over the years with this problem. I said that's what it sounds like but didn't know if the Lotus has one or not, I've learned it pays to read the whole "Owners Manual" before driving this car!?!?! :facepalm
My car was unloaded with the same care as he loaded it and I rolled it into my garage which is about 8 feet lower than the street. I went directly into my house and started reading my owners manual, sure enough it mentions an "Inertia Switch" to shut the gas off to protect the car from catching fire should it get in a collision and the gas line is ruptured. It shows a picture of it in the engine compartment to the far left behind the air filter box, it says to simply press the top rubber cap to reset it. As soon as I pressed it I could feel the switch click and lock in a down position. So I get in the car, turn the key and walla, it started. Just about then I feel like an idiot for not reading that owners manual more thoroughly! It doesn't take a collision to cause that Inertia switch to go off, a hard pump will set it off and cause the car to run out of gas within 50 yards!
After I started the car, the "engine warning" light would not go off, I was wondering what could be wrong now?????? :facepalm Well, I assumed from trying to start the car 10 to 15 times while it was stuck on the road, it might have messed up the computers mixture reading, the manual warns about not running the car out of gas as it can ruin the cats. I'm thinking oh no, did I ruin the cat converters trying to start the car with the little bit of gas left in the injector lines? Well, it seem to run fine so I took it for a little ride down to the store to get something I needed. After driving 4 miles the engine light was still on. I go into the store, come back out and start the car and walla, the light was off. Evidently the car needed to drive a few miles, be shut down and then restarted, that verified the sensors were probably being reset.
Anyhow, I'm thankful my friend was with me because he had a Premium AAA Membership card and I only had the basic card which only tows the car 5 miles, every mile after that is $5 a mile. It would have cost me $75 to learn this lesson but thankfully it only cost 4 hours of my time and the humiliation I felt for not reading and knowing my owners manual a little bit better.
anic:
Conclusion to this story, if any Evora's out there hit a pump or encounter some event where your car just seems to run out of gas when you know you still have plenty in the tank, simply open your engine compartment, look for that little 2 inch wound dark can to the far left behind the air filter and press the button on top. I can't imagine if this would have happened on one of my hundred mile driveouts in the back mountains of Arizona and my friend hadn't been there with his Premium AAA card (200 mile towing). I'm going to change to a Premium membership this coming Monday! :wave:
After having my new car shipped out from new Jersey and receiving it roughly three weeks ago, I found my cruise control was dead, my subwoofer was dead and a right rear fender light was dead, now I hit a bump and the whole car is dead??????? I was wondering if this car is jinxed? As the tow truck headed back to my home about 20 miles away, I mentioned to the driver how the car went dead when I hit that pump in the road, he said some cars have an automatic kill switch on the gas line when they have any kind of impact, he had towed several cars over the years with this problem. I said that's what it sounds like but didn't know if the Lotus has one or not, I've learned it pays to read the whole "Owners Manual" before driving this car!?!?! :facepalm
My car was unloaded with the same care as he loaded it and I rolled it into my garage which is about 8 feet lower than the street. I went directly into my house and started reading my owners manual, sure enough it mentions an "Inertia Switch" to shut the gas off to protect the car from catching fire should it get in a collision and the gas line is ruptured. It shows a picture of it in the engine compartment to the far left behind the air filter box, it says to simply press the top rubber cap to reset it. As soon as I pressed it I could feel the switch click and lock in a down position. So I get in the car, turn the key and walla, it started. Just about then I feel like an idiot for not reading that owners manual more thoroughly! It doesn't take a collision to cause that Inertia switch to go off, a hard pump will set it off and cause the car to run out of gas within 50 yards!
After I started the car, the "engine warning" light would not go off, I was wondering what could be wrong now?????? :facepalm Well, I assumed from trying to start the car 10 to 15 times while it was stuck on the road, it might have messed up the computers mixture reading, the manual warns about not running the car out of gas as it can ruin the cats. I'm thinking oh no, did I ruin the cat converters trying to start the car with the little bit of gas left in the injector lines? Well, it seem to run fine so I took it for a little ride down to the store to get something I needed. After driving 4 miles the engine light was still on. I go into the store, come back out and start the car and walla, the light was off. Evidently the car needed to drive a few miles, be shut down and then restarted, that verified the sensors were probably being reset.
Anyhow, I'm thankful my friend was with me because he had a Premium AAA Membership card and I only had the basic card which only tows the car 5 miles, every mile after that is $5 a mile. It would have cost me $75 to learn this lesson but thankfully it only cost 4 hours of my time and the humiliation I felt for not reading and knowing my owners manual a little bit better.
anic:Conclusion to this story, if any Evora's out there hit a pump or encounter some event where your car just seems to run out of gas when you know you still have plenty in the tank, simply open your engine compartment, look for that little 2 inch wound dark can to the far left behind the air filter and press the button on top. I can't imagine if this would have happened on one of my hundred mile driveouts in the back mountains of Arizona and my friend hadn't been there with his Premium AAA card (200 mile towing). I'm going to change to a Premium membership this coming Monday! :wave:
