Exige 410 engine cut out and instrument cluster reset

[Marbles]

Hey all - 

Hoping someone may have had or know of someone that's had a similar issue. It's an intermittent electrical issue and hoping to get some advice before I take it to a workshop as sod's law they won't be able to replicate and I'm nervous of spending loads of time trying to get this diagnosed....

Below is the sequence of what happens when driving. This tends to happen on track or when the car has been exercised, but aside from that no obvious pattern. On track this week it happened 5 times in two hours, but not once on the road:

• Instrument cluster goes blank: all the lights go off, clock goes dark revs and speedo go to zero
• Engine cuts out (engine cut out lasts for 2-5 seconds)
• Instrument cluster appears to reset - speedo and revs go to max, all lights come on, then it starts to display speed / revs again
• Engine restarts
• Clock goes from 00:00 to the correct time
• Everything back to normal except for TC settings  e.g. 'Sport' have been turned off
• Sometimes a yellow spanner stays on the dash for a further 30 seconds, sometimes not

I have checked battery connectors (although it has the factory lithium battery which has loads of cables and connectors), but can't think of any other obvious things to check.

So the $64k question - has anyone got any experience of this type of issue or have any idea what it could be?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice or thoughts!

Ben

[DH2]

That sounds like a power issue.  Check all positive terminals and main earths in the first instance - there is a positive terminal box in the engine bay on the opposite side of the boot bulkhead to the battery.  Rear chassis earth point is low down under the airbox. Check _all_ of the connections on the battery and battery manager device.  Positive and earth points in the front under the service hatch - the spurs from these are a bit harder to get to (there's a positive terminal box buried in the dash), but as the engine dies, seem less likely cause.

Dave

[Marbles]

Thanks Dave - that's massively helpful - I'll have a root around and see if anything is loose.

[Simon Bateman]

7 hours ago, Marbles said:

Hey all - 

Hoping someone may have had or know of someone that's had a similar issue. It's an intermittent electrical issue and hoping to get some advice before I take it to a workshop as sod's law they won't be able to replicate and I'm nervous of spending loads of time trying to get this diagnosed....

Below is the sequence of what happens when driving. This tends to happen on track or when the car has been exercised, but aside from that no obvious pattern. On track this week it happened 5 times in two hours, but not once on the road:

• Instrument cluster goes blank: all the lights go off, clock goes dark revs and speedo go to zero
• Engine cuts out (engine cut out lasts for 2-5 seconds)
• Instrument cluster appears to reset - speedo and revs go to max, all lights come on, then it starts to display speed / revs again
• Engine restarts
• Clock goes from 00:00 to the correct time
• Everything back to normal except for TC settings  e.g. 'Sport' have been turned off
• Sometimes a yellow spanner stays on the dash for a further 30 seconds, sometimes not

I have checked battery connectors (although it has the factory lithium battery which has loads of cables and connectors), but can't think of any other obvious things to check.

So the $64k question - has anyone got any experience of this type of issue or have any idea what it could be?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice or thoughts!

Ben

You may also want to check the main fuse plates/cable running from the battery connector cables.

I had the exact same problem as you with my Evora 400 and Silverstone found the issue. They also check these now as part of their pre sales list on all vehicles.

Mine first happened after a spirited drive along some Alpine passes and was very intermittent thereafter.

I assume the Exige has a similar set up in this aspect to the Evora 400.

[Marbles]

Thanks for the replies on this - some initial digging around hasn't reveled any obvious loose connections so have it booked in at Stratton in September.

I have a factory lithium battery fitted and there is an absolute rats nest of cables around that and the voltage protector so given the car is losing all power, it is probably something in that area or ignition related.

Will update when I hopefully get somewhere....

[jimbob907]

Did you make any progress with this marbles? I’ve had this accelerating into a dip on a road, I suspect a bad earth somewhere probably main engine one but wanted to check what fixed yours. 

[Marbles]

Hey - to update the thread.

Car has been in the workshop for a couple of weeks. They believe they have identified the issue - basically linked to the rats nest of cables around the lithium battery / voltage protector etc. It seems like some of the connections on the positive side were not as secure as they should be.

I got the car back to test yet but the mechanic is confident that was the source of the issues.