Gearbox sync and great customer services

[rafphillips]

Bare with me this turned into a long post..

Dropped my car off at Williams on Sat with a small snagging list of warranty items before it runs out in Nov. Rear chrome surrounds starting to pit, rattle, new lotus badge etc just so it's ready for summer.

Been trying to make my mind up if I should upgrade to a sport racer so was also good to have the car niggle free in case I decide to sell. The below will def mean even if I don't upgrade this year will def stick with the Lotus brand for the forseeable future and be singing Lotus praises for their approach to issues (i have already switched a coxster driver to an Evora one). Some manufactures will do anything to get out of warranty items which doesnt attract brand loyalty.

Anyway one of the warranty list items was something that has been there for 6 months or so but I didn't think it was anything much.

Symptoms were after new gear cables at 11k miles (gears were very stiff) at about 11.5k started noticing a slight graunch / crunch into 2nd when cold. Also sometimes notchy in 2nd and 3rd when car was warm so I was always quite aware of making slow and deliberate changes into 2nd especially.

I had gotten into the habit of going from 1st to 3rd until car was warm and thought it was related to the gear cables needing adjustment - nice small job.

Andy French came down yesterday to take a look at mine and another car and he noticed the issue on the test drive. Good news is not me being a spazz or overly anal as I can be ;-)

Had a call from Mike at Williams earlier to say they initially tried a gearbox fluid change to see if that resolved it. Turns out that it made it better but doesn't look like it solved it completely.

Sounds like one or two others may have had the issue before and that it relates to the sync in 2nd and 3rd. Upshot is that Lotus has authorised an engine out repair, when its out Mike also suggested that I have a new clutch assembly fitted given the cost to take the engine out and relatively low price of the clutch (£400 ish).

Bad news is its a 35- 40 hour labour job, will need the car for 1 to 2 werks, good news is Lotus will pick up the tab as the car hasn't quite hit 14k miles.

Pick up on sat and will re-book it in for the work at a later date when they have a continuos 40 hr slot free.

Just thought I would share the experience of the issue, symptom and excellent customer service.

Cheers

Edited March 5, 2013 by rafphillips

[Whitey]

Another vote for the Williams team here - did my service a couple of warranty items (inc new rear black light surrounds and reflash) when the car was 2 yrs old in Oct.

[Bibs]

Steve, you can leave them a review if you liked them, let others know that they're good eggs

 

http://www.thelotusforums.com/reviews/listings/williams-automobiles-ltd/#reviews

[JamesMac]

What a coincidence I have just had the same issue approved by Bell & Colvill today. I would have thought it would have been cheaper for them to replace the box

[rafphillips]

Yes that is! What miles and year are you?

They didn't actually specify they would strip the gearbox or replace I will ask when I collect on Sat and re-book in. The boxes on deRoure are nearly £5k so probably cheaper for them to repair if it's less than a few hours to replace the synchro, even of the cost to them is only 20% of what deRoure charge.

Are you going for new clutch when it's apart?

[JamesMac]

Mine is a 2010 N/A with 10,000 miles on the clock. They replaced the gear cables on mine as it was really stiff between 1st and 2nd. The cables improved the change but I'm now getting an intermittent crunch between 1st and 2nd.

B&C told me today that I will need to book in for the fix which will be replacing 1st and 2nd gears. I wonder if they can change the rest of the gears to match the close ratio box?

[rafphillips]

Snap mine is a Nov NA 2010

No harm in asking whilst they are in there! They are doing my clutch at cost to me for parts just for peace of mind!

[jig]

I've got the same problem, had the cables changed etc etc. Dealer doesn't seem too interested now that car is on 20k. Warranty expires this weekend and so if I get future problems, I expect a big argument as they have potentially left me with a faulty car.

[TBD]

There have been quite a few Evora with this issue. In my case it got so bad the car would actually crawl in 1st with a depressed clutch.

It seems to be the result of an assembly problem. Only thing we found was a very sticky throw out bearing. You will likely get a new gearbox, as that is covered by Toyota.

[rafphillips]

Lotus now seem to just change the sync / gears rather than whole box (prob had too many to do!). The parts are all at Williams. Did consider leaving it with them while I go to Vegas for 2 weeks in July. Mainly stop my dad from driving it as parents are looking after the kids whilst i go away as I feared the temptation to drive it may be too much for him.

Opted to get it done ASAP to make sure I put as many miles on as poss pre warranty expiry to ensure there is no reoccurrence. So mine goes in tmrw ready for them to start first thing Monday. I will post some pics up and keep the clutch so we have another example of wear for info as not much data about on that.

Jig I would kick off whilst its still in warranty mate - if the dealer isn't interested call Lotus and back it up with a letter so you have a record that the issue was there pre warranty expiry. I think there are enough examples of it occurring to suggest the product you have is inherently defective.

I find Lotus good with warranty issues so perhaps your dealer is just a being a bit knob ish!

20k miles is nothing mine is only 6k less than that at 14k miles, been driving the car allot of late and def noticed the crunch is getting gradually worse so glad they are doing mine.

[rafphillips]

Dropped car off yesterday and had a quick rummage in the parts box they had for the gear box and clutch.

Can confirm for the crunch they replace the gear cogs also. They had all gears bar 5th and 6th in the box of bits, 1st gear itself is huge. Was quite a long parts list, I quicky scanned the parts price section and was north of £600 plus the labour.

Was also very surprised how thin the clutch is (not much material on it) and how heavy the whole NA clutch assembley is, the flywheel especially.

They also insisted I take one of their new Morgan plus 8's, what a lovely noise that makes!

Edited April 14, 2013 by rafphillips

[Squidward]

You mean this lovely car??!http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/motoringvideo/article9727841.ece#ooid=5qYmRnNzpeoBXxdxeHKEApxv4UFC0eee

There have been quite a few Evora with this issue. In my case it got so bad the car would actually crawl in 1st with a depressed clutch.

It seems to be the result of an assembly problem. Only thing we found was a very sticky throw out bearing. You will likely get a new gearbox, as that is covered by Toyota.

This was my case as well. Throwout bearing was at fault. It would get stuck and release abruptly, affecting the synchro between 1st and 2nd, resulting in the car jerking, and in turn caused my entire body(including my foot) to lunge forward in my seat, and consequently slamming on the accelerator, which would then slamming me back in my seat each time almost like getting punched in the back. Man, it was not fun to experience and my wife named the car "Whiplash". It happened several times a week and the only way to avoid it was to shift REALLY slowly. Ultimately the whole entire clutch was replaced (as it caused unusual wear on the rest of the system). Edited April 15, 2013 by Squidward

[rafphillips]

That's the one Squid, it was damp so didn't push it too much but it's certainly rapid in a straight line

[rafphillips]

Car back together, better than before by sounds of it as the engineer spotted a few bits not properly done up from factory etc.

Pics and old clutch measurements to follow as I will pop up and collect the car on Friday.

[Bibs]