[CrazyCarl]

I've been having the following problem with my '11 Evora since a couple of weeks after I got it. Any tips would be appreciated.

The pre-cursors to the symptoms have changed, but the essence of the problem is this: occasionally, when I try to start the car, there is a total loss of electrical power. It is as if someone has disconnected the battery: the speedometer and tach freeze wherever they happened to be, I can't open the glove box, I can't unlock/lock doors, etc. I will turn the ignition to 'on' and it will go through its typical self-tests normally. When I turn the key to start, one of two things happens: (1) the car immediately dies, or (2) the starter tries to fire a couple times (there is the clicking sound that occurs when your battery is too low to start the car) and the car dies.

The car eventually comes back to life after some period of time between 10 seconds and 20 minutes. However - if I close a door or otherwise jostle the car, electric power is restored. Sometimes. The most recent occurrence was last week I tried to start it in the morning and it died. I opened and closed the driver's door and power came back, tried again and it died. No luck with the door trick, so I took a different car to work. That night when I got home, the car was still dead. I opened and closed the door and it came back to life. Tada. I've been driving it this weekend and it's been fine.

Initially, this would only happen after the car had been driven for a significant distance (say >50 miles) continuously, irrespective of whether I was driving it hard or in the right lane on the highway on cruise control. I took it in to the dealer and they found that the main relay connection was loose, and they tightened it. Since this has only ever happened sporadically, it's hard to say whether it has helped.

My thoughts:
- some other loose connection(s) somewhere
- nearly-drained battery
- gremlins

I have tried resetting the inertial switch while the car was dead to no effect. It appears to be something else.

I need to confirm, but the car was built in fall 2010 and I picked it up Jan. 2, 2012. I know the car has higher-than-normal current draw while off, so any thoughts on maybe an undervoltage to the ECU or something else that's triggering the cut-off?

Anyhow, it's going back in to the dealer on Monday, but I'd appreciate any thoughts on what might be causing the problem.

 

[tbd_Evora]

Sound like a potential problem with the ground wiring from the battery.

 

[Chhirowolf]

Sound like a potential problem with the ground wiring from the battery.

I would go with Gremlins. if I learned anything from Looney Tunes Cartoons that there wer alot fo Gremlins left over from WWII.
Look for a little guy about 10 inches talll with a propeller hat. In extreame cases you may have to consult Bugs Bunnny.-eek-

actually i agree with poor ground issue

 

[doc308]

Make sure that you don't have a defective battery first. If it's OK, get a wiring diagram and track down every major ground point on the car. Disconnect each one, clean thoroughly and retighten. This truly does sound like a battery ground issue. Check where the negative ground wire on the battery actually grounds on the car's chassis. I would definitely start there. Good luck and let us known the solution.

 

[brgelise]

Stock batteries have been junk. Most cars have sat around with dead batteries and cells are failing. Mine has an Interstate as thats what Valenti told me about the batteries. Pretty common with the Eliges too. May be a corroded connection which is equivalent to a ground issue.

 

[JLSELISE]

Make sure that you don't have a defective battery first. If it's OK, get a wiring diagram and track down every major ground point on the car. Disconnect each one, clean thoroughly and retighten. This truly does sound like a battery ground issue. Check where the negative ground wire on the battery actually grounds on the car's chassis. I would definitely start there. Good luck and let us known the solution.

+1--a load test of the battery (outside the car) might be revealing.
Also, it might be worth having the dealer check the ECU for any recorded fault codes. It's possible the computer is recording some data related to the problem even if there is no CEL.

 

[squidward]

I'm pretty certain this is just a case of a bad battery. Your battery is probably severely sulfinated.

I have a couple of theories around why the power is restored when you close the door or jostle the car.

When the door is open interior lighting is designed to stay on, however by closing the door they go out, thereby are reducing the load on the battery just enough to restoring enough available amps to power all of the electrical components.

As for jostling the car, this is more of a stretch, but it's plausible, in my opinion, that in doing so, the stirred the battery acid may have sloughed off some of the sulfinated deposits on the plates, thereby exposing more surface area allowing more current to be drawn out of the electrolyte. Sounds nuts but it's just a theory

Anyway good luck. Sorry to hear you have problems with your Evora. TADTS.

 

[DanS]

Think logically.
No power. Battery bad, possible but not likely if it keeps coming back.
Bad connection, very likely.
Two connections (weak, i.e., high resistance) at the battery.
One at the ground.
Then, unfortunately many more connections/ terminals.

 

[West-of-Hethel]

Anyhow, it's going back in to the dealer on Monday, but I'd appreciate any thoughts on what might be causing the problem.

Update?

 

[Flash G]

I has this problem with my Elise, which sat around in the garage a lot - constantly draining the battery. It would die intermittently.

I would change out the battery.

 

[SirLotus]

Look for lead sulfate corrosion at the battery terminals.
Michael

 

[CrazyCarl]

Update?

None so far. The dealer had it for a week and didn't find anything. From talking with them, it's not clear to me what all they did, though they said that the computer threw no codes and that they checked all the connections in the fuse box and didn't find anything. They weren't able to reproduce the problem.

I'm going to take a look at the battery connections for corrosion or any other potential issues tonight. It may be that pulling the fuse box and doing basic connection checks and tightening everything fixed the problem. I'll let you all know if we do uncover anything.

 

[West-of-Hethel]

I'm going to take a look at the battery connections for corrosion or any other potential issues tonight. It may be that pulling the fuse box and doing basic connection checks and tightening everything fixed the problem. I'll let you all know if we do uncover anything.

There's probably no need to actually remove the fusebox. If it isn't a bad connection at the battery-- loose cable is my guess, but corrosion's a possibility too-- then it's likely a bad ground somewhere. DanS had it right in his post above (and TBD, and doc308...).

The workshop manual has a map to all ground connections, but if you just check some of the principal cables it will likely be obvious. I'm betting you won't get that far, though, because that battery connection is the only one likely to have come loose or become gunked, given that we're talking about a new car.

Good luck!

 

[anthonyseven]

My 2010 had a bad seal on a sensor which caused intermittent problems. Fluid would seep past the seal and wick through the harness. It took months for it to reach the ECU, at which point it caused the car to go into limp mode and other strange symptoms. I was lucky to have a determined mechanic who quickly found the problem.

Good luck finding the problem.

 

[squidward]

My 2010 had a bad seal on a sensor which caused intermittent problems. Fluid would seep past the seal and wick through the harness. It took months for it to reach the ECU, at which point it caused the car to go into limp mode and other strange symptoms. I was lucky to have a determined mechanic who quickly found the problem.

Good luck finding the problem.

wow.. didn't know something like that could ever happen! I'm having limp mode issues a the moment, so this gives me yet another possibility to look at. thanks..

anyway which sensor are you talking about and how would I spot this condition if I was looking for it?

 

[anthonyseven]

wow.. didn't know something like that could ever happen! I'm having limp mode issues a the moment, so this gives me yet another possibility to look at. thanks..

anyway which sensor are you talking about and how would I spot this condition if I was looking for it?

It was a temperature sensor. I don't know which one, but I presumed it was water temperature.

The mechanic told me that when he disconnected the harness connector at the ECU, he found evidence of moisture.

 

[CrazyCarl]

Just a brief update: the problem seems to have vanished after the last trip to the dealer. They kept it for a week but reported they weren't able to find anything.

However, before picking it up, I spoke with the rep on the phone and asked if they had checked the various ground connections, the fuse box, etc. He said he'd have to ask the tech. 90 minutes later calls back and says "yep, checked all that and didn't find anything." No idea if they found something and didn't tell me (because they found it after I called) or they just tightened everything and inadvertently fixed the problem.

If the problem returns, I'll report again, but for now it seems to be in good shape.

 

[Bware]

Can anyone help!
I had my car serviced at a Lotus dealership on Wednesday and drove it home 120+ miles. It ran fine when parking it the garage I tried to lock the car, the car alarm made two chirps and the doors wouldn't lock. I left the car in the garage until to day(Saturday) due to rain went out to start the car and nothing! Not even a click! No light on the dash the car is totally dead.
I did a load test on the battery and it's fine!
Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[squidward]

Can anyone help!
I had my car serviced at a Lotus dealership on Wednesday and drove it home 120+ miles. It ran fine when parking it the garage I tried to lock the car, the car alarm made two chirps and the doors wouldn't lock. I left the car in the garage until to day(Saturday) due to rain went out to start the car and nothing! Not even a click! No light on the dash the car is totally dead.
I did a load test on the battery and it's fine!
Does anyone have any suggestions?

When the car chirped twice, it means something was left ajar, either one of the doors or the rear lid. I'm not sure if this alone would run the battery down, as the dome lights would turn off automatically after a certain period of time.

Your load test showed that the battery is okay, so the only explanation I can think of at the moment is perhaps a blown fuse...

 

[anthonyseven]

Can anyone help!
I had my car serviced at a Lotus dealership on Wednesday and drove it home 120+ miles. It ran fine when parking it the garage I tried to lock the car, the car alarm made two chirps and the doors wouldn't lock. I left the car in the garage until to day(Saturday) due to rain went out to start the car and nothing! Not even a click! No light on the dash the car is totally dead.
I did a load test on the battery and it's fine!
Does anyone have any suggestions?

I have left my rear hatch ajar while a battery tender was connected. The "parked" load combined with the boot lamp was enough to overpower the battery tender and drain the battery. Considering my experience and your symptoms, I'd suggest you check that the boot lamp switch is working properly.

What kind of load test did you do on the battery? Evoras draw a relatively high load when parked. I'm still suspicious of the battery. I've been tricked before into thinking that bad batteries were good. :shrug: