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Service Bulletins

86K views 51 replies 30 participants last post by  VL3X  
#1 ·
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Attachments

#2 ·
EVORA S Clutch pedal failure

Saw the original SB, don't have a copy. I had this one done yesterday:

Applicability: Evora S
Issue: Clutch pedal falls to the floor, resp. loss of clutch action
Cause: Boiling hydraulic fluid due to overheating in the engine bay
Correction: There is an additional piece of thermal insulation, that should be mounted on the hydraulic line close to the clutch cylinder. The hydraulic line then has to be vented and refilled.

My clutch pedal fellt through when I started the car on Monday. After pulling it all the way back up I was able to return home (300 KM), but with a very soft pedal. Afterwards I recollected, that the pedal had become softer over time, I've done a lot of high speed driving, so the engine bay gets very hot in that area.

The dealer didn't have the riginal thermal covering, but he improvised. Draining the system was acutally the much bigger chore. Its really tight under that engine and the cluth only refills at the very top end of the pedal (which meant holding it up until all the air was out.
 
#6 ·
Saw the original SB, don't have a copy. I had this one done yesterday:

Applicability: Evora S
Issue: Clutch pedal falls to the floor, resp. loss of clutch action
Cause: Boiling hydraulic fluid due to overheating in the engine bay
Correction: There is an additional piece of thermal insulation, that should be mounted on the hydraulic line close to the clutch cylinder. The hydraulic line then has to be vented and refilled.

My clutch pedal fellt through when I started the car on Monday. After pulling it all the way back up I was able to return home (300 KM), but with a very soft pedal. Afterwards I recollected, that the pedal had become softer over time, I've done a lot of high speed driving, so the engine bay gets very hot in that area.

The dealer didn't have the riginal thermal covering, but he improvised. Draining the system was acutally the much bigger chore. Its really tight under that engine and the cluth only refills at the very top end of the pedal (which meant holding it up until all the air was out.
Here the original SB
 

Attachments

#4 ·
Will be interesting to see if half the clutch issues on the 2010's were caused by the same thing??? Once the throwout becomes inconsistent, it opens the doors for all other kinds of unintentional abuse like missed shifts, grinding, effectively "dropping the clutch" etc.
 
#5 ·
the esprit also suffered from clutch line problems, often referred to as "red hose problems" because the line was red. it was plastic/rubber and would expand when hot.
the solution was and is, to install a braided stainless steel line, available from the usual suspects.
tomas
87 esprit
 
#9 ·
Handful of cars. Mine has seen track duty with NO issues (NA)
Skip barber has a few for their driving school and none have had the issue either. They don't get much hotter than that. Anyone with fluids more than a year old should bleed their lines to get the coke colored fluids out! That's the real problem I bet.
 
#10 ·
The clutch problem is with all cars and it is hard to bleed pedal needs to be at the top to do it.
When the car is used worked hard in hot temperatures summer heat soak causes fluid to boil air stays in the system eventually causing pedal loss. the solution is to bleed replacing fluid with AP racing 600 fluid has higher boiling temp no problem after that even with heat shield it boils on original fluid when worked hard.
 
#15 ·
Motul RBF 600 is a DOT 4 fluid (as specd in owner manual) so Lotus can not hold it against warranty.
 
#18 ·
I dropped my car off at Manhattan Motorcars today. Towing into Manhattan from Jersey City was easier than I expected and the flatbed driver was great. I was able to get the clutch a bit of pressure after I pumped it 20 times or more, and was able to drive it out of the parking garage and up the bed of the tow truck.

I'm still waiting to hear the status from the dealer, but they confirmed there was a TSB for some clutch components and they said they might need to order some parts.
 
#19 ·
Beware manhatten Motorcaras. Look for our other poster with chronic issues at that dealership. Note anything not perfect before you give it to them ...
 
#20 ·
GM had this same problem when the new C6 Z06 came out in 2006 and I had one of the first early Z06's. The 427 engine just ran hotter than the smaller Corvette engine and if you lived in a hot area or raced the car a lot, the clutch would start to get spongy and fail. The problem was solved by changing the factory DOT 3 with DOT 4 fluid. I never experienced the problem myself but I changed the fluid just in case my engine was to get a little hotter during those summer days where we were all taking our cars to the limit on old Route 66! ;)

The Evora being a mid engine design with the master clutch cylinder in the back of the car is going to have to deal with a lot more heat, I would think Lotus would have learned from their racing experience this is problem with a mid engine design and put a clutch fluid cooler on the car as well as one for the trans fluid also. I believe there are some good aftermarket coolers for those who drive their car a little harder. ;)
 
#23 · (Edited)
After pulling the bottom engine pan and preparing to change to a Speed Bleeder on the clutch actuator, I noticed that the recall and added dealer insulation to the fluid pipe is totally inadequate, they only insulate 5 inches of a 20 inch metal pipe, no wonder owners still had problems after the so called dealer fix. That whole pipe needs to be insulated being deep down in the engine compartment where there is a tremendous amount of heat being generated. Only covering 5 inches closest to the heat shield is not going to stop the rest of the exposed pipe from heating up, thus the reason the dealer fix didn't do the job, it's like putting a 1/2 inch band-aid on a 5 inch wound, utterly ridiculous!

So I searched and found some high heat insulation made by a company called Helix Racing Products. It is a self adhesive 1 1/2 inch wide aluminum backed high heat insulator tape (3ft long piece) that can be cut to the length of the entire pipe, folded around and glued to itself, I added some nylon zip straps to make sure it'll never come off. This insulator tape is made for this exact application, covering pipes or other things that are close to exhaust manifolds. Adding the insulation to the entire pipe and going to high temperature (600+ degree) synthetic racing fluid should eliminate the problem for good, I doubt you would even need to change the fluid again unless perhaps you're doing some heavy racing.

Installing the Speed Bleeder was fairly easy once you know how to position your arm and hand to get to the clutch slave. I'll try to post a couple of pictures before and after the insulation was installed.

EFE EVS





 
#24 · (Edited)
***IMPORTANT UPDATE***

I finally got around to changing to the Speedbleeders on my brake calipers. After removing the stock bleeders from one caliper, I proceeded to install the SB1010 Speedbleeders but the first thing I noticed was the hex head screwed all the way down and bottomed out onto the brake caliper, this is not right. I continued to hook up the pressure tank and started to bleed the first caliper. That pressure tank actually allows you to bleed your stock bleeders without the need for the Speedbleeders, you just open the stock bleeders and the brake fluid flows easily, a one man job. But since I already purchased the Speedbleeders I figured I'd just install them. After draining the dark fluid and seeing my more clear racing fluid flowing, I closed the Speedbleeder. Then I noticed the bleeder leaking a little around the hex head, so I proceeded to tighten a little more, realizing the hex head was already bottomed out against the caliper. Then I knew the SB1010 was also a little too short for the Evora calipers, these weren't the shorter SB1010S but the longer SB1010. I released the pressure on the brake system and removed the Speedbleeders to compare them to the stock bleeders, my suspicion was correct, the SB1010 is a little shorter than the stock bleeder from the tip to the hex head, about 3/32 of an inch. So I reinstalled my stock bleeders, pressurized the system and bled the system again.

I called Whitney at Speedbleeder and notified her of the problem, hoping she had a bleeder that was a little bit longer, she didn't. She is going to talk to the engineers and see if they can cut a little of the hex head down, if not, she'll have to give me a refund.

Bottom line, the SB1010 will work but is not long enough to give clearance between the bottom of the hex head and the caliper it screws into. Whitney agreed, there should be at least 1/16 to 3/32 of an inch clearance and the hex head on the bleeder should not touch the caliper when screwed all the way down.

If you are all using a pressure tank on the system and not having to pump the brake pedal, there really isn't any need to buy Speedbleeders in the first place, the pressure tank eliminates the need to pump the brake pedal. You simply hook up the pressure tank, pressurize the system to about 15 pounds and open the stock bleeders, it's that simple! It'll save you $60 by not needing the Speedbleeders which really do not fit properly. :)

EFE EVS
 
#25 · (Edited)
Whitney at Speedbleeder just called and stated they are shaving the bottom of the hex head a little to make the SB1010 a little longer. They are sending me a new set of modified stainless steel bleeders that should work, I will install as soon as I receive them to make sure they work and confirm with them. Stay tuned!

EFE EVS
 
#27 ·
Perhaps this helps?

2012 Lotus Evora (pws) Service Bulletin 341509

NHTSA: Action Number: 10047599 Service Bulletin Number: 341509

Report Date:
Oct 19, 2012
Component:
(pws)


Summary: Lotus: the retaining clip is retrofitted for rh cylinder bank variable valve timing (vvt) pipe to increase durability and to retain engine assembly. Models 2012-2013 evora s and s-ips. *pe
 
#28 ·
Had to take my Evora to the dealer to have a new clutch master cylinder installed, the second unit replaced since the car was bought and only has 6500 miles on it. The dealer had changed the first one before the car even left the dealership. I changed to the racing fluid a few months ago thinking that would solve the problem but the clutch pedal started dropping again shortly after, even though I never race the car and drive it quite easy around town. I'm thinking the old fluid might have damaged the master cylinder seals before I changed to the new fluid. Within a few weeks of changing to the new fluid, the clutch pedal started dropping to the floor if I didn't drive the car for three or four days, I would have to pump the pedal a dozen times to get it to come back up. Then after a couple of months it started dropping to the floor every day after sitting overnight.

The new mc works great and when I change my engine oil from now on, I will probably bleed the clutch fluid at the same time, depending on how it looks. Since I found out the new clutch mc is plastic, that may be the reason why they won't take the heat from the hot fluid over time? I do believe the seals in the mc are probably getting damaged when the fluid boils and becomes corrosive. I hope Lotus gets smart and starts installing racing fluid from the factory. At least I have two more years of warranty in case another goes bad, I'm hoping they've improved the units. :rolleyes:
 
#37 ·
Going on my third clutch master cylindar!



In the last couple of months, Prescott has had hotter than normal temperatures (90-99 degrees during the day) but nowhere near as hot as Phoenix (105-112). It's been a little over a year since the clutch master cylinder was replaced (2nd one) and I installed the high temp fluid thinking this would solve the problem in the future, NOT! I only have 12k miles on the car and drive it pretty easy, no tracking or racing. Now the clutch is starting to fail again just as the last one did, the pedal is falling to the floor after the car has been driven and parked overnight. As this earlier thread entails, I even insulated the entire fluid line in the engine compartment so as to protect it from the high heat the engine puts out. I'm convinced the master clutch cylinders being used in the Evora are not handling the amount of heat produced in hotter areas of the country. I was told the last mc installed was an updated version but here is just one year later and this one is failing. I wonder if they improved it on the 400? I hope so and if so, perhaps they can put a newer improved version in my car? I'm still under warranty but now I'm worried this will be an ongoing problem even after my warranty runs out? Not only is the clutch mc shot again, but my air conditioning just instantly went out last week, the little wrench icon came on and indicates there is an electrical problem. Then my fuel gauge went dead and stopped working but has since came back on. I've got 8 more months of the factory warranty and if these all happened after the warranty ran out, this would be major expenses for a car with only 12k miles. I've loved the car but now am totally gun shy that the clutch mc will go out again after the warranty runs out. Has anybody else discovered a permanent fix for this problem? :frown2:
 
#30 ·
Not a problem so far. I think the heat may make them brittle but I don't think they melt. The insulation has self sticking adhesive on it but I'm not sure how well it would hold up if the tie wraps weren't around it. I'll give a report if the wraps don't hold up over time. :wave: