Hedgehogfromhell

Dave, Unfortunately yes.

That's clear. For clarity I have had to hire a car to get to where I am currently and the car is parked in Kent so there's not an additional 450mi of devastation post event - I have recovery available to get it to whomever will be repairing.

I appreciate the offer mate but I don't have many movements coming up that can't be sorted out otherwise luckily. Arregueti, yeah the car is parked and hasn't moved since this occurred. I'm expecting a similar outcome to you - although the mere fact that I clearly had work performed on the 'box prior to it failing may offer a slight glimmer. At the moment I seem to be swinging through days with a "fix it and keep it" and "get rid and move on" mood unfortunately.

With the advice of a friend i've written to Lotus Customer Support to see whether they think that a gearbox should fail like this at 78,000mi. If nothing else it will give a good understanding of their mindset regarding the cars. Still waiting on Hangar111 and Essex Autosport to come back with a quote. Currently the car is sat 450mi away and i'm not going to be able to get on with anything until the end of the month due to work commitments. Apparently 111 are now quoting £900 for the replacement of a clutch on an Exige - which would be promising..... Really infuriating due to the fact this is my daily driver, not a second car. It's never been an issue before but it might be time to get a banger to run alongside.

Agree with the naming convention, but i like the less fussy front end design. I feel it's more cohesive than the 400's black blade that seems a bit of an oddity in the overall styling. JayEmm is also on to something wrt the monthly cost - although you could argue that the Lotus is the better buy for running costs. Nice cars, i'd prefer a full fat GT430 - but that's because I'm an aero whore.

It's an EA60 from the Avensis to name but one application. The D4 150 is close in ratio to a standard 'box. Mine has the CR 'box fitted which has custom lotus ratios fitted to 3/4/5/6.

That's an option! Depending on shipping costs. Thanks.

01/01/2011 was my registration date according to the paperwork from Lipscomb. Youre 100% right - it's never got a look in on track - even at Silverstone GP I only made it to 5th, 6th has only ever been used In conjunction with the cruise control on motorways. It's failed literally bang on 78,000mi.

Cheers Andy. That's actually one of the original threads I read during my "what can go epically wrong" research. Thanks for the quote. My friends are asking about the sequentials like true petrolheads and trying to tell me "upgrade a part so it doesn't die again" as you would expect. Another is saying get the gearset dogged lol. Helpful bunch.

We were going to sit around and bitch about how unreliable men and their cars are whilst drinking lots of tea...

It's been quoted at c.£3000-£3500 to renew 6th. Quite frankly i don't have that money. I've decided that regardless of the outcome of the quotes coming in i'll be most likely stripping the car down at home via VSI guidance and some friends taking photos/helping (so we know how to put it back together again - one is a race mech and the other has done loads of engine work at home) and pulling the engine. Once it's out i'll either split it myself and send the 'box on for reconditioning or send it as a power unit and take the hit there. I literally had done 5 miles since my new exhaust had been fabricated and fitted. I enjoyed about 20 minutes of trouble free lotus motoring and without warning a single light load, cruise control enabled gear change has buggered me. I came close to WBAC out of anger yesterday evening. As for the problem itself - i'd done the research prior to buying, seen that it only seemed to occur in launch cars (bearings failed on 4 cars in the US i'd noticed and on a few Toyota cars too) and saw the clutch as a bigger concern than the gearset in the MY2011 range (any potential buyer reading this, that statement is clearly incorrect). My car did suffer an oil leak c.December last year that was traced to a nylon plug and the seal at the gear change lever input but that was rectified under warranty and 'no oil was lost' from the overall amount in the box - i took that to say that it had been overfilled in the past. It will be interesting to say the least when i drain the gearbox oil. It'll be done on video and the amount will be counted to affirm if this is/was the case. I'll post the video up shortly - its got a lot of swarf going around in there and sounds like children rummaging through Lego.

Once it's going it's pretty quiet until I have to change gear! 1-5 is totally fine. My new exhaust helps, fabricated at Fast Road Conversions this morning ? The 400 was making a lovely noise! Nice to be reminded of how it looks from the outside compared to the other cars too!

So en route to the festival today I had a loud whirr followed by a crunch and then poof! 6th was gone! I'm assuming the bearing and possibly the layshaft that hold 6th have died a bit of a death - has anyone priced up this sort of repair?

Never a problem, if I'm about, ill help! See you tomorrow!

As discussed earlier Andy ill hopefully be only a few hours getting the new exhaust fitted and be on the stand as soon as possible.