wolf

I haven't been to the forum in years for the following reasons: First: I have a beautiful Lotus Esprit S1. Imperfect, but that's just how she is. I can accept all her weaknesses and have improved her significantly over the years, so that I can now go on longer tours without having to worry about a technical breakdown (although it still happens sometimes 😀) Secondly: I had a Lotus Evora. However, due to incurable problems with this vehicle, I had given up my trust in Lotus. After replacing the gearbox, I sold it cheaply and swore to myself that it was my last Lotus. The Evora era has been over for almost 10 years now. As a Lotus fan, you probably never lose interest in the way the Lotus company is run. You're pinning your hopes on the new management and perhaps thinking that time has healed all wounds. That's why I wanted to give Lotus one last and third chance and arranged a test drive for a Lotus Emira at the dealer two weeks ago. I will be there next Friday. For weeks now I have been intensively studying test reports, forum posts, videos, information from previous and current Lotus dealers, etc. in order to avoid further disappointment from Lotus. Third: Well, now that I've read that the customer service is still just as bad as my painful experience was, I'm wondering if it was a good idea to book a test drive. I think I'll still do the test drive, but then I'll probably have to look for another car manufacturer. Lotus seems incorrigible - that's a shame and I really hope they read these posts and decide to finally change things for the better. At least I still have my Esprit S1, so maybe I should give up the idea of selling her. Despite or perhaps because of its technical weaknesses, she still has the pure Lotus DNA in it and I can take care of the problems myself. I am therefore not dependent on customer service, which seems to go on forever without solving problems. It's a shame, I would have liked an Emira, but trust in the "Lotus quality" has now reached its lowest point again. 😐

Hi Dave, unfortunately that is "normal behaviour" for the IPS in cold state. I had a lot of issues with the IPS which could not be resolved, after a gearbox change I decided to sell the car. So perhaps you will also need to accept all the bad experiences with the gearbox - pity about the otherwise wonderful car. Cheers, Gernot

No, I am sorry because the parts have been replaced by the dealership.

I had exactly the same issue, took the car to the dealership but they couldn't find it. Fortunately the car was still there as they washed the car before I should pick it up when the electric lift motor was starting to burn and smoke. Now, with a new electric lift motor everything is working fine. So the issue was caused by water ingress...

I allowed me to send a PM too ...

Unfortunately I have neverending issues with the IPS gearbox. The issues started with self-shifting of the gearbox - let me explain in detail: Normally when driving in "Sportmode" with manually gear-selection the gear shoudn't be changed by the TCU or at least only when the rpm is getting to low. But for many times I have had situations when the gearbox was shifting itself without any reason, although the gearchanges never have been succesful, that means within 1-2 seconds the gear changed from e.g. the 4th to the 3rd and again back to the 4th. This process was usually followed by a scratching noise coming out of the gearbox and a tactile vibration. All my attempts to provoke this situations failed and therefore it was very difficult for me to explain this behaviour to the Lotus dealership. But last year in summer I had a really DANGEROUS SITUATION for the first time: Driving on the motorway at 150km/h in "Sportmode" with pre-selected 6th gear the transmission shifted itself from 6 to 3 in one step. I was terrified very much because the abrupt „braking“ was pushing me in front. If this had happened on a wet an curvy road this could have had devasting consequences ... I had to cancel my trip – the gearbox stuck in 3rd gear – and the car had to be moved by a towing company to the next Lotus dealer. The error log had stored a fault with a hydraulic control valve, indications lights for MIL, DPM, GEARBOX and WRENCHSYMBOL were all on. After some visits at my Lotus dealership a Lotus field engineer had a look at the car and (only) updated the TCU/ECU firmware. Nearly 2000km perfect AND !!!!!!! I was very happy to drive a firmware-updated IPS-gearbox as it should have been from the begining on when I suddenly had a déjà vu. The gearbox was again shifting itself on the motorway, fortunately this time from the 6th "only" to the 5th gear. In addition I managed to capture this situation on video (see http://www.atw.cc/lotus) Another visit of my dealership to check the fault codes, some wirings and connectors was due. This is the information stored in the TCU: 1 - TPMS - 0 Faults Read 2 - SRS - B1091 - Warning Lamp Fault - Sporadic 3 - SRS - B1092 - Passenger Airbag Deactivation Lamp fault - Sporadic 4 - ABS - 0 Faults Read 5 - TCU - P0766 - Shift Solenoid „D“ Performance or Stuck Off (SL4) - Confirmed 6 - TCU - P1613 - Forced Mechanical Limphome Position - Confirmed 7 - TCU - P172A - Forced Gear Neutral - Confirmed 8 - TCU - P1913 - Transmission Range Selector Motor Circuit High - Confirmed 9 - TCU - P2800 - Transmission Range Sensor „B“ Circuit (PRNDL Input) - Confirmed 0 - EMS - P0700 - TCU Requested MIL illumination - Confirmed We informed the field service engineer and I also mentioned again how dangerous the self-gearchanges of the IPS could be on a wet and curvy road but it seems to be impossible to be understood. So if anyone of you experienced similar situations and issues with the IPS gearbox please let me know. I really appreciate all your help - many thanks, Gernot

So here is the information for the installed versions on my Evora, got it today from my local Lotus dealer: TCU ... "E" ECU ... "H" should be the latest software version. IPS ... ImPerfectSolution

Yeahh, welcome to the club My local Lotus dealer already checked the ATF level and also changed it, replaced the transmission control box and updated to the newest TCU version (from "A" to "F") But I need to mention that I don't felt much difference between level "A" and "F". Tomorrow I will call my Lotus dealer and ask which ECU is installed, I don't know details, only know it is the newest one ... Eric, it would be great if you also could tell me yours ECU & TCU version. We did the "green learn" for minimum 4 times now, without any changes BUT I had something similar as you described it with the upshifts before we did the last "green learn" process. I did have no special problems from the 1st to 2nd, all gears had the same behaviour: By doing a hard acceleration in sports mode I felt that the 3 lights for the rev-control came to late, that means even if I shifted when the first led came it was too late. Sometimes the rev was running into the rev limiter, sometimes everything was o.k. except the engine sound (perhaps the sound of a "nearly" reached rev) but the shifting was very hard and abrupt. Since the last "green learn" everything is fine again, the shifting is possible without reaching the rev limiter. Perhaps you should start a new "green learn" process ... So after all this measures we have done we believe that all the problems are software related. Actually (at least since the last 500km) I have found a workaround for the "delay" problem: I was upshifting in sport mode and the delay was as we know it. The road was flat and I did only a slow acceleration. Knowing that the software is learning the shifting process all the time I was going to hold the velocitiy and was again downshifting, upshifting, downshifting ... I did that for about 5-15 times and experienced that it was getting better and better with every step. So I did this for all gears, since then I do not have any delays. But I still have two strange gearbox problems: A) is similar to yours, it is the delay between 3 to 4 gear, as also shown in my videos but this only happens once, only when I run the car with cold engine and transmission. In warm conditions it will not happen. B) This is something which makes me loosing my hair (at least my last one ) I was driving on the motorway with 130km/h in sports mode, without acceleration on a flat road. Before I have been shifting manually and therefore the transmission should not be able to change the gears. But without doing anything the gear was changed to 5, the rev was going up to nearly 6000rpm and in half of a second the 6th gear was set back again. Also I was hearing a short scratching noise out of the gearbox. This complete process lasted only 1 or 2 seconds. So I have two questions 1. Why was the rev going up to nearly 6000rpm, this can't be when driving 130km/h in gear 5 ? 2. Where did the scratching noise came from ? Thinking about this scenario could also happen when driving faster (more than 230km/h) will perhaps cause an engine collapse P.S. see you also at lotustalk

Hi Eric, a question to your second point - I think you are describing exactly what I am showing in my video, aren't you ? Could you please have a look at this post here in this forum: http://www.thelotusf...please-help-me/ Sounds crazy, but I would be happy if I found another member on this earth having the same problem as me. And because no one here seemed to have this behaviour I have been searching over the sea and found some IPS owners in their forum: http://www.lotustalk...ls-help-117326/

Oh BIbs, I am very sorry ... Haven't been here too long and saw your reply too late. But of course I will order these beautiful mugs the next time

Hi Bibs, I would like to order some goods but unfortunately there seems to be a problem with the delivery availability. Your help and reply would be great - many thanks.

Many thanks, did the job for me too

For a month I am a lucky owner of an Evora NA. The car came used (MY11) with nearly 7000km and in perfect condition. But soon I realized that there must be a problem with the IPS transmission. Shifting from gear 2 to 3 takes very long and the engine rpm is going up for a moment (nearly 500 rpm's too high). It is not only an "acoustic ugliness" but especially an unpleasant driving experience. Also I need to mention that with higher temperature of motor and transmission it is getting better. My local Lotus dealer already checked the fuel level of the oil, changed the transmission control box and updated motor and gearbox to the newest firmware ... During the last 1000km I experienced the gearshift was getting better and better and I thought the problems could be solved soon. But today it happened again. I was driving up a hill, the gearbox switched from 2 to 3 and the behaviour was again as described before. Since than I have the same situation with that long pause between 2 and 3. I can't believe that this is normal so I am asking for your help ... Please have a look at the videos I have uploaded to http://www.atw.cc/lotus Many thanks for your support - kind regards, Gernot

Yesterday I was on tour with my recently restored Esprit. Everthing went fine, I drove up a mountain pass (the Silvretta), drifted around the corners, had a Lotus Elise and a Lotus V8 in front and was chased by a Audi TT. At the top of the Silvretta storage lake (up to sea level 2000m) the engine got very hot, but still a good level at the temperature gauge. Surprisingly the expansion tank overboiled and I had to refill 3 litres of water. Then I checked for the oil level, it was good. Our tour continued, the engine ran perfect. Temperature and oil pressure was fine. Another stop in Lech am Arlberg went according to the plan. Then we started with our last drive back to the starting point of the tour. Our way brought us downwards the hill, but suddenly the engine stopped as we drove on the motorway at 120 km/h. The starter motor first wasn't able to turn the engine. After some other trials to get the engine started I tested again with starter motor. The drive belt turned and the engine nearly started up. But I heard a very hard knocking sound with every rotation of the engine. So I decided to stop and the car was towed off. In the following week I will check the situation, hoping the best for my Esprit ....

Happy birthday guys - have a nice day