Delivery day!

[thom_77]

Hi everyone... My '85 Turbo Esprit was finally dropped off today, and it looks absolutely great. I also seem to fail at driving it. But more about that later.

A few things though... Before it was loaded onto the truck, the dealer called me to tell me that there was an unidentified noise coming from the motor, but they didn't have time to examine it closely. I have a service appointment at my local Lotus dealer on Monday, but I was wondering if anyone has any ideas... I attached a quick video I took so you can hear it for yourselves. It's not coming from the engine bay itself... when I open up the cover its no more noticeable, but you hear it most around the rear wheel wells. It sounds like it may be exhaust related, but I really have no idea. It's also slightly more high-pitched than the video lets on. Ideas?

Next, it seems like the e-brake doesn't seem to be fully disengaging. The indicator light never really goes off, and sometimes when I try to get it into first it just stalls right out because the brake is on a bit. If I fiddle with it somewhat, I can get it off, but it's kinda an issue. Also, it seems to be idling a bit rough.. what is the normal idle RPM?

Ok and finally, is this car supposed to be super hard to drive? I do need to take some time to get used to it, particularly the manual transmission... my dad had an old porsche turbo, and my aunt had a BMW 3 series manual that I learned on a bunch of years ago, but this seems to be a whole new level. I stalled like 8 or 9 times on my way home... I'm a little concerned that I'm gonna fry the clutch sooner rather than later. Is that a possibility?

Anyway... I attached a youtube link to the vid... I wanted to attach a few good pics of the delivery, but it doesn't seem to be working... enjoy, and any help would be appreciated

vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sit3hVMcKj0

[USAndretti42]

Listened to the video. It sounded like the knock you get from the tappets which is a normal sound for the 907 but it was louder than normal and I don't know why it was equally loud on both sides of the car.

The car shouldn't be difficult to drive. The e-brake light switch may be out of adjustment, Try stopping on a hill, nose down preferably and taking the car out of gear. Then remove your foot from the brake and see how easily the car rolls down the hill. Or just try pushing it on a level road or parking lot. You should be able to push it fairly easily.

Your gearshift may need new bushes (an easy job and the new bushes are cheap) or the crossgate linkage need adjusting, again a simple job. You may be going into 3rd instead of 1st when you are stalling. Like any car, you can burn out the clutch but the Esprit isn't any more prone to this than any other car. A properly set up gearshift should be really sweet, quick and easy, needing only a finger and thumb to slot between gears with a flick of the wrist.

[910Esprit]

What's your hot oil pressure like? Sounds to me like a distinct knock to me (maybe bottom end or piston related). I would get an engine stethescope and start prodding around.

Conversely it could be as simple as a problem with one of the ancilliary items, or belt, at the front of the engine. it does't sound like a cracked/leaking manifold (in my experience these 'tick'), but as you say, vidoes always sound different from live sound.

It seems odd to deliver a car to a customer with such an undiagnosed issue.

Hope all goes well

Steve

[MPx]

Sounds to me like a mechanical knock in the sense of two solid objects touching on each rev. I once had one of the pulley wheels put on backwards by a Lotus Dealer (with the woodruff key reversed!) which left it flapping about and knocking on the block which sounded very similar. (It was the bottom crank one shown in Steve's avatar). If you can get it on a ramp, have a look at all the pulley wheels on the front of the engine and see if there's any movement in any of them.

Edited July 15, 2009 by MPx

[thom_77]

Thanks guys - The oil pressure is reading fine, although the engine temperature seems to run slightly hot (just hovering below the last 1/4 on the gauge sometimes). Its making good power too. You really can't hear it in the engine bay itself, just through the rear wheel wells. And it's a bit higher pictch than the vid lets on.

I have a service appointment with the Lotus dealer in Manhattan on Monday, and the dealer I bought it from knew about the appointment in advance and told me they'd work with me on whatever it was, so I'm not too worried about it... I just don't want to keep driving it if its something thats going to make the car explode

Oh and the emergency brake finally gave out altogether. So thats on the list for monday too.

And one last thing... how normal is it to smell fuel in the cabin?

[fjmuurling]

The fuel smell is not normal but can be solved. It probably (and hopefully) is a perished hose. See the follwing article on LEW. Fuel Smell

Freek

[lotusvette]

hi, if i were you ,i would give that straight back to the guys you got it from to sort out, and let them stand any costs, its a awkward piece of kit if anything is major wrong, --nothing wrong with a good esprit, but they can easily turn into a money pit, i think hearing the noise from both sides low down sounds to me like bottom end ish, get under it and put a screwdriver to your ear , and touch various parts of engine, and listen, you will pinpoint the noise quickly, hope it all turns out well though, it might be nothing, steve

[shawty_82]

Congratulations on the purchase of your new Esprit!

A shame you've experienced problems so early, I do hope the dealer sorts it out for you! Esprit ownership generally isn't like that.

Just a thought, if the car is running a little hot, perhaps the noise you can hear is the water pump in its death throes? From what I can remember (it may be very warped memory lol) the water pump is on the lower-front part of the engine. Not a hugely expensive thing to sort, as long as it doesn't finally break, of course!

Dunno how it is over there, but the dealer should definitely sorted it out! Before it was even delivered!

[thom_77]

As it turns out, the noise was really nothing... the mechanic said it was the tappets, and they were being particularly noisy because the car hadn't been run for a while. The noise is almost gone now after a week or so. He did a diagnostic on the car, and aside from a bad catalytic converter and a couple of other minor issues, everything checked out fine.

Hopefully we can get whatever parts are necessary is fairly short order and I can be back on the road next week.

[shawty_82]

Excellent glad you finally managed to get to the bottom of it!