NA SR Hot start issue

[Kilmany]

Hi all, as it a Sunday and the dealer I bought the car from is closed, does anyone have any suggestions for a hot starting issue? 

After a gap of 1-20 minutes the car will start, run badly and then die. 

Seems to fix itself if left for a longer period so I'm wondering if it is heat build up. OAT is 13 deg and I've just blasted up the A68 from Newcastle to Edinburgh.  Currently sitting in a car park feeling silly.... problem started last night and has happened once already today. 

Car absolutely perfect driving up the A1 yesterday. Lots of stops, petrol etc. Hotter day, no issues. 

 

Thanks 

Keith 

[jep]

Annoying. Sorry, I never experienced this with my NA. Sounds ECU or electronic rather than plugs or leads. 

Justin 

[C8RKH]

Could it be the coil pack/ignition coil(s) failing?  I had an NA for 5 years and never had an issue like this, though did have a similar sounding issue on the VX, and that was the coil pack. Issue is I think the Evora has six separate ignition coils.

[jep]

Coils on each spark plug is the modern way. Caused me numerous issues on my Twingo 2. Usually the car would start and run but would misfire eventually, engine management light would appear. 

Aftermarket ones to be avoided.

So could be coils but that won't help you today. 

[Kilmany]

Coils issue makes sense. The car starts on 2nd or 3rd attempt.  It is also very wet today so I'm thinking there might be some damp too. Unless the car is just allergic to Scotland....😁.

In days of old (Triumph, MG, Jag, TVR) I'd just liberally spray WD40 everywhere but I'll just call the dealer tomorrow for suggested fixes.

Many thanks guys

[jep]

Evora love Scotland,  no issue there.

Don't be disheartened,  Evora are truly reliable and a very special driving experience, the niggles will go.

Justin 

[mik]

Do you have a code reader Keith? Any faults thrown?

[Kilmany]

No, not got an OBD, but it is on the list of kit to buy. Car was bought on Friday,  200 miles driven up the A1 yesterday was perfect. Only started causing problems during the last 100 miles in the wet today. I'll be calling the dealer first thing tomorrow.  Car has a comprehensive warranty so hopefully will be resolved.

The plea for help was while stuck in Edinburgh in the rain. Now finally home and I'm a bit more chilled 😌.  Having checked the servicing history, the battery is 6 years old so although it cranks fine, I'm wondering if a new battery would be a fix.

I'm currently reading the battery thread and will be sourcing a new Varta silver E38 tomorrow.

[mik]

FWIW - I can do more with my OBD2 WiFi dongle and the “car scanner” app than I could with a plug in code reader.

Possibly worth a call to Craig Moncrieff in the morning - if this is a known fault (I haven’t heard folks talking about this issue before) than I expect he’s aware of it.

[Colin P]

10 hours ago, Kilmany said:

 Car was bought on Friday,  200 miles driven up the A1 yesterday was perfect. 

You can’t have been too far into the drive when we bumped into each other in MaccyDs. Nice car and nice colour. Hope you get this sorted so you can properly enjoy these fantastic cars. 

[Kilmany]

Update. Issue is a cold start too as Evora took 3 attempts to start this morning. Battery put on charge and was half flat which it shouldn't be after 300+ miles driven in 2 days.

Got it 90% charged and at a local garage getting a new 74Ah battery fitted (with 30 min disconnect wait). Allon White are being very good and paying for the new battery.  Another 20 mins now and we will know if it really was the 6 yr old battery....

 

 

[Bibs]

Deffo worth a bet on it being a duff battery, the Evora does get through them! 

[Kilmany]

So apologies if I'm coming accross like a hypochondriac but we are still not 100% there as the new battery wasn't fully charged. Car started 2nd time and when I got home I put thr new battery on charge.  Will leave it on all evening and see what tomorrow brings. 

Of note, while charging the new battery I sat in the car for 20 mins playing with the after market Sony head unit. I can't get android working (I'll post in the ancillary thread) but Bluetooth pairing and DAB fine. Was surprised to see the battery had lost even more charge so the head unit must draw a lot more than I thought. Note to self, don't mess around with the head unit unless the engine is running....

[Bruss]

Yep, head unit draws a lot from the battery.

 

 

[DH2]

I inspected this car at Allon White for one of our customers - who opted not to purchase, obviously.  I recall it drove nicely.  Hope they gave it a good valet before you got it!

Dave

[Kilmany]

Hi Dave, 

Phil said someone from Hangar 111 did a report but the sale did not go ahead. If you have a copy of the report I'd be happy to pay for it.

Apart from the starting (and what may be a slipping clutch now), I think the car is sublime. I've just had an epic drive from St Andrews to Fort William and apart from being stuck for an hour waiting for the engine to work again (and oddly, a slipping clutch in the rain that has miraculously fixed itself in the dry), the car was brilliant.

Now waiting on a resolution plan with Allon White (who are being very helpful). Looks like the NW Scotland holiday will be abandoned and I'll have to limp back home 😔

[DH2]

Hi Keith.

When the car won't restart, is it that it won't start at all? It sounds like it starts, then dies?  How long will it run for?  Sounds like it also did it from cold?

Does it feel like it has plenty of cranking power?  i.e. the engine turns over fairly lively, not sluggish.

Slipping clutch only in the wet is a new one on me!  Can't think how that might happen... Missing sealing boot on the clutch arm?  Clutch arm or slave cylinder binding?  Bellhousing drain hole blocked?

Unfortunately these things can be quite tricky to diagnose remotely, unless they are giving very clear symptoms.

Drop an email to Hangar re the inspection report.

Dave

[Kilmany]

Cheers Dave, will do.

1. Starting. New battery has 100% charge. Energetic cranking, engine fires immediately but then has a lumpy tick over and dies after 3-5 seconds.  Using sport button or any throttle pedal makes it worse. If within 45 mins of being driven, a restart is almost impossible (makes getting petrol entertaining, plus fear of stalling in town 😱). Whe  cold, usually fires up as normal on 3rd or 4th go.

2. Clutch.  Weird, acts like a bad CVT gearbox in 3rd or 4th gear, medium load from 2000+ rpm. Has only happened in the wet. When the road is dry, clutch fixes itself and works fine in all gears, rev ranges throttle loads. 

Car is evidently a good example,  but hasn't done many miles for the last 6 months. In three days it has done 600 miles of motorway, fast A roads and Highland Scotland. It may just be in shock that it is actually being driven...😁

[mg4lotus]

Clutch slipping in the wet? or could it be the tyres spinning? 🤣

[Kilmany]

You raise a good point and I'm racking my memory of how it happened to see if that was the case. I wasn't aware of any of the usual signs of the tyres losing traction; traction control light on, scrabbling for grip, back end stepping out, axel tramp or even a quiver through the steering wheel.

To check (when the car sorted itself) I did a 1st gear full power acceleration in damp conditions and there was engine management intervention but also a deeply impressive grip, and a shove forward with minimal drama.

When the 3rd and 4th gear "slip" happened it was at normal road speed, following normal traffic with a "flex" of the throttle as opposed to flooring it. It felt like the revving of a CVT gearbox.

Dry conditions today, another 100 miles to do, and then another 250 miles at the end of the week with wet weather forecast so we will see if re-occurs or if I was just going mad....!

 

[MatB]

Unless your SR has alot more power than mine or very old brittle tyres I wouod be suprised if you can get the wheels spinning without some serious provoking! 
 

Odd to only be doing that only in the wet! Does the clutch pedal feel consistent? Its not a bad master cylinder?

[Kilmany]

Car had now covered another 60 miles in mixed damp and dry conditions and been perfect (although I never switched the engine off for fear of it not restarting). Can only think that the "clutch slip" was some diesel spill on the road that contaminated the tyre for 1/2 mile. Still wondering why traction control did not step in. 

Clutch feel consistent. Hyd reservoir full. Perhaps on the few occasions it happened the diaphragm spring did not return the clutch plate fully in contact with the flywheel. Seems OK now....

Original starting problem still remains. Waiting on a plan from the Dealer for some resolution.

[mik]

It could be a number of things, but if you want to try a MAF sensor - I have one that I swapped out of my car a couple of years ago when I was chasing an issue. New one made no difference, so the original was clearly working fine - I just left the new one in though.

Very easy to swap over (2 small screws and the electrical plug). I'm west of Glasgow, but could also post it to you to try if you want? Not looking for any money for it.

Edited October 9 by mik

[Al]

Hi Keith just reading this for the first time.  Are you familiar with Craig Moncrief Cars in Edinburgh if you are new to Lotus?  He is a Lotus (& Volvo) specialist and many of us trust our toys to him. He, or he and his boys, have a wealth of knowledge on all things Lotus as he used to be Murray Lotus Aftersales/Service Manager before branching out on his own.  I appreciate that you are working through Allon White however at the moment.  If you get to the point pushed to take it to somebody else use Craig every time before Park's in Hamilton.  I'd have suggested a call to him even if just for ideas of things to check or try as he has seen most things that can go wrong on Evoras at some point (mostly on the 4 Evora's I owned!! 🤣) but he is out of the country for another 12 days or so on holiday.  Back in on 21st.

[Kilmany]

Hi Al, 

Thanks for the suggestion.  Allon White are doing everything they can so I'm happy to let them organise. Unless something significant happens I'll go quiet on this thread and when there is a resolution I will post it here.

Cheers

Keith