Stuck throttle, wide open
7432
41
Just 2 minutes ago I pulled out in first gear shifted to second and my throttle stayed pegged to the floor, bouncing off the rev limiter the whole way. I have an entire out-door restaurant as a witness. The gas pedal was in the returned position and there wasn't any floor mat intervention. I had one foot firmly on the brake and one on the clutch. The engine was wide open bouncing off the rev limiter. All I could do was turn the key to off. I gave it a moment and restarted, only the have the engine pegged bouncing off the limiter. I sat for another few minutes and heard a spring loaded pedal click, only the pedal didn't move. Started this time as normal. When this happened I was at full throttle on a busy downtown street. Extremely dangerous and embarrassing to say the least midday on a Sunday. Greenville Lotus sold me the car with a bad master cylinder and slave cylinder and I have a video of the clutch pedal failing- this throttle pedal sounded the exact same- I had it immediately fixed by Lotus Atlanta. I just got the car back. Closest dealer is 400 miles away. What do I do?
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DON'T drive it/start it. Where is it parked? Are you far from home?
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actually it's a bit of luck to be easily repeatable. get it towed to a shop.
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I have it home now, I would coast with it off until I heard a click and restart it. I just lent my Mini Cooper out to someone very close to me for a few weeks so I was going to rely on this car. I'm glad its a stick because when it took off towards pedestrians the first time hitting the rev limiter and loosing traction, the clutch pedal, brakes, and my quick reaction were the only thing that saved me and them. My first thought was to call the police since I'm sure someone did, but I figured what could they do- I will though now so they aren't looking for me later.
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5,019 Posts
Any check engine light?
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2,271 Posts
Sorry to hear of your bad luck man, but thank God nothing happened to hurt someone.
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No check engine light and I do not have a sport package so there isn't a button. Thats just one other issue of many I had with buying a car online. Like I said nearest dealer is 400 miles away and the selling dealer lied on the buyers guide about which year the warranty expires so I might only have a short amount of time to get it fixed.
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3,593 Posts
Been there… done that. See:
http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f170/heres-new-one-114816/
And..... Lotus in Hethel knows about this issue.:crazyeyes
Ok, long story short, mine did the exact same thing. Scared the crap out of my passenger and myself. However, I tried to replicate it to video but could not. I did, though, contacted the dealer immediately. We agreed that since there was no CEL that bringing it to them immediately (1 ½ hours away) was useless. They contacted Lotus for assistance in figuring it out but there were only a few other cases reported and they had no clue what it was. (I know for a fact that it was not my floor mats as mine are secured to the seat adjusting bar so there is no way that it could get under the pedal.)
They flew Dave Simkin in to do an ECU dump and check some other things. It showed that it was bouncing off the rev limiter when it happened but he was not able to determine a cause. We then went to several conference calls over the next few months with power train engineers at Lotus in Hethel. A month or so later, they flew Dave Simkin back, along with two power train engineers from Hethel to look at my car.
Over several days, they replaced numerous things to include the ECU, pedal assembly, throttle body, cruise control (they thought it might have been tied to that but I know that my cruise was not on) etc. (I don’t remember everything they replaced off the top of my head) They took all of the parts they removed back to Hethel for testing. However, I was never advised as to what they found, if anything.
So, if they tell you this is the first they heard of it, that’s not true (well, maybe an individual dealer won’t know about it).
Lotus absolutely knows about this issue, as they tore my car apart to try to diagnose it.
I love my Lotus but this is clearly a safety issue that needs to be addressed. At least the good news (for me) is that it never happened to me a second time. (Did I jinx myself again? :facepalm)
http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f170/heres-new-one-114816/
And..... Lotus in Hethel knows about this issue.:crazyeyes
Ok, long story short, mine did the exact same thing. Scared the crap out of my passenger and myself. However, I tried to replicate it to video but could not. I did, though, contacted the dealer immediately. We agreed that since there was no CEL that bringing it to them immediately (1 ½ hours away) was useless. They contacted Lotus for assistance in figuring it out but there were only a few other cases reported and they had no clue what it was. (I know for a fact that it was not my floor mats as mine are secured to the seat adjusting bar so there is no way that it could get under the pedal.)
They flew Dave Simkin in to do an ECU dump and check some other things. It showed that it was bouncing off the rev limiter when it happened but he was not able to determine a cause. We then went to several conference calls over the next few months with power train engineers at Lotus in Hethel. A month or so later, they flew Dave Simkin back, along with two power train engineers from Hethel to look at my car.
Over several days, they replaced numerous things to include the ECU, pedal assembly, throttle body, cruise control (they thought it might have been tied to that but I know that my cruise was not on) etc. (I don’t remember everything they replaced off the top of my head) They took all of the parts they removed back to Hethel for testing. However, I was never advised as to what they found, if anything.
So, if they tell you this is the first they heard of it, that’s not true (well, maybe an individual dealer won’t know about it).
Lotus absolutely knows about this issue, as they tore my car apart to try to diagnose it.
I love my Lotus but this is clearly a safety issue that needs to be addressed. At least the good news (for me) is that it never happened to me a second time. (Did I jinx myself again? :facepalm)
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1,673 Posts
Took it out slowly to pick up some beer. It did it again. This time took several minutes and four attempts to restart until it was resolved. A friend was driving. We were on a two lane highway and had to wave people by. The throttle pedal isn't sticking down.
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3,593 Posts
My pedal was never stuck to the floor, but instead would not react to my foot as I stomped it trying to see if it was stuck and to get it to stop.
Since you can get it to occur repeatedly, please video tape it so there is documentation.
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5,019 Posts
Didn't someone else have a loose harness connector at the throttle body, where the plug goes into the stepper motor?
It does sound similar to the Toyota problem that doesn't exist... though I think the Evora uses a GM pedal assembly.
It does sound similar to the Toyota problem that doesn't exist... though I think the Evora uses a GM pedal assembly.
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658 Posts
post #3, #4, #5, #7
get it towed! accident waiting to happen and now with this public record you are exposing yourself to personal liability!
get it towed! accident waiting to happen and now with this public record you are exposing yourself to personal liability!
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961 Posts
He's got a 3rd pedal so I don't think it's such a concern, but personally I wouldn't be driving it anyways. It should getting towed to a Lotus dealer immediately regardless of how many miles away it is.
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