[phantom germany]

Hi

I have to introduce myself.
I'm coming from germany, am 35 years old and I picked up my new Elise SC last weekend.

Here's a short vid of the car.

YouTube - 100 1706


After driving slowly about 300km the car starts to stuck a bit. The throttleresponse had a delay of 1 second. After arriving at home the supercharger had no wind and no power.
I brought the car to my dealer, and a field-engineer from lotus checked the car. He couldn't find a problem stored in the ecu.
Now he's telling me, that the Larini-Sports-SE i installed shall be the problem. Wrong backpressure and so the ecu gets wrong informations.

That sounds a bit strange to me, because there is a catalyst in front of the exhaust and i don't believe that that's the problem.

What do you think.
Is there anybody out there who had similar problems with his SC or the Larini?

Thanks for helping,
Chris

 

[Darth G-F]

The exhaust is NOT the problem. You are being taken for a ride.

If anything, the exhaust helps the engine/supercharger by making it breath better.

Best of luck!

 

[Dragon]

The bypass valve on the super charger could be stuck open. Do you have a boost gauge so that you can see what it's doing under load?

The Exhaust is not the issue.

 

[spectre]

I'm not an expert in that area but have recently installed a larini clubsport. My sense is that it really does change the driving dynamics. The low end power is not as good as stock and the cam switch is now apparant. So I do think back pressure has changed but what I can't tell is if the exhaust makes up for it on high rpm. I maybe going back to stock but want to give time for ecu to learn the condition..

 

[Demonized]

I'm not an expert in that area but have recently installed a larini clubsport. My sense is that it really does change the driving dynamics. The low end power is not as good as stock and the cam switch is now apparant. So I do think back pressure has changed but what I can't tell is if the exhaust makes up for it on high rpm. I maybe going back to stock but want to give time for ecu to learn the condition..

The exhaust couldn't cause his supercharger to fail.

 

[phantom germany]

I talked to Larini now. They told me, that they sold 50 SE's for the SC and had no probs. I don't understand it.

The valve was my first idea too, but they didn't find a recording for a problem in the ecu...

 

[spectre]

The exhaust couldn't cause his supercharger to fail.

Is it really a supercharger fail or just an instance of a new car learning and with a new exhaust trying to learn that also? I have not heard of a supercharger failing because of exhaust change but have heard of them not running as efficient or performing as well.

All I wanted to put out there was that it does change the dynamics and takes time to learn for the new dynamic.

Did you test drive the car prior to purchase?
If so, did it pull strong?
Does it make a different sound when running besides no supercharger whine?
What specifically came back on the diagnostics?

 

[Darth G-F]

I talked to Larini now. They told me, that they sold 50 SE's for the SC and had no probs. I don't understand it.

The valve was my first idea too, but they didn't find a recording for a problem in the ecu...

Dude, maybe you should investigate the exhaust problem a bit more, you know, just to make sure.

I mean, exhaust CAN be faulty. Try the stocker and see how it does.

 

[CosmosMpower]

Make sure the belt for the supercharger didn't snap. If you're not getting any power and it's not whining it's probably not being spun anymore.

 

[charliex]

i've had problems with the larini too, but it's difficult to say whats really going on with your car since there is no real diagnostic information.

Put it on a dyno.

 

[spectre]

Charliex what have you run into with Larini?
From my current experience down low grunt to 4000 is not the same as stock exhaust and now a harsh cam switch. So what I can't grasp is if Im losing power low and gaining back on top or if the back pressure is all out of wack now causing harsh cam switch.

 

[charliex]

They're been causing fault codes and causing the cars to run improperly.

 

[phantom germany]

We gonna mount the original exhaust tommorrow and see how the car will behave.

The problem is, that I like the Larini because of its sound and look.
Well. We'll see tommorrow

 

[charliex]

Remember you have to reset the ecu back to stock, let it settle and then retest it, changing the exhaust and not resetting it or allowing it to settle isn't enough of a test.

 

[phantom germany]

Remember you have to reset the ecu back to stock, let it settle and then retest it, changing the exhaust and not resetting it or allowing it to settle isn't enough of a test.

Yes I know

 

[Stale_Hotdog]

What fault codes have you been seeing charlie?

 

[charliex]

the fuel trims have been off, so mostly fuelling codes.

 

[spectre]

We gonna mount the original exhaust tommorrow and see how the car will behave.

The problem is, that I like the Larini because of its sound and look.
Well. We'll see tommorrow

I agree with you on that. It's less weight, sounds great but the drivability is not right. I don't want to be an alarmist or anything but I would have thought between the different companies involved that you would not have these issues if they are tested for these cars.

 

[intofx]

Hi

I have to introduce myself.
I'm coming from germany, am 35 years old and I picked up my new Elise SC last weekend.

Here's a short vid of the car.




After driving slowly about 300km the car starts to stuck a bit. The throttleresponse had a delay of 1 second. After arriving at home the supercharger had no wind and no power.
I brought the car to my dealer, and a field-engineer from lotus checked the car. He couldn't find a problem stored in the ecu.
Now he's telling me, that the Larini-Sports-SE i installed shall be the problem. Wrong backpressure and so the ecu gets wrong informations.

That sounds a bit strange to me, because there is a catalyst in front of the exhaust and i don't believe that that's the problem.

What do you think.
Is there anybody out there who had similar problems with his SC or the Larini?

Thanks for helping,
Chris

I had the Larini with SE tips and sport cat. The exhaust failed following a supercharger installation. Following the failure of the exhaust, I threw a lean code. I replaced the Larini under warranty with the 6" Larini, cleared the code and it has not come back but I have a strange "flat spot" between 6000 and 7000 rpm in 2nd gear (maybe others but I'm not willing to push it). It is as if the rev limiter is kicking in for a moment and then goes away. Still no lean code, though. I did get a slow O2 sensor code once. I've cleared it and the code has not returned. I'm waiting for the SoCal rains to pass so I can get the car looked at. The car idles fine and runs well everywhere else. Very strange. Report back if you get any answers and I will do the same.

 

[phantom germany]

I had the Larini with SE tips and sport cat. The exhaust failed following a supercharger installation. Following the failure of the exhaust, I threw a lean code. I replaced the Larini under warranty with the 6" Larini, cleared the code and it has not come back but I have a strange "flat spot" between 6000 and 7000 rpm in 2nd gear (maybe others but I'm not willing to push it). It is as if the rev limiter is kicking in for a moment and then goes away. Still no lean code, though. I did get a slow O2 sensor code once. I've cleared it and the code has not returned. I'm waiting for the SoCal rains to pass so I can get the car looked at. The car idles fine and runs well everywhere else. Very strange. Report back if you get any answers and I will do the same.

The strange thing is, that the ecu has absolutely no failure code.
But you say, that you had a hole like the rev limiter is kickin in. Thats the same as it fellt with mine.

Now I'm thinking to by a stage 3 by lotus because I dont get warranty-problems.