confusing lotus warranty recals

[Alex Carter]

so looking through my cars history it seems lotus had if for many years for servicing after it was sold .

but why if they had it did the liner seal recal not be done ? any ideas 

[larc]

That could because there never was a liner recal.

[Alex Carter]

Oh there was a friend has his esprit v8 redone for free and the engine documented by lotus

[Bibs]

Repairing a failed engine under warranty is different to a recall.

[rizla603104]

As I understand it for the few who used their Lotus' to the point the issue (in the early V8's) showed itself - Lotus repaired/replaced their engine. For the others who used it as a weekend - or special car - no such luck. The car went out of warrantee before it was detected. Which is why the issues the early V8's are synonymous with didn't show themselves for a good many years for many owners.

[Trevsked]

I'm not sure that is true. Is there anyone here that had to pay for an engine rebuild themselves? I thought the warranty was honoured for a very long time, enough for nearly all the cars to have been attended to that required it and also it didn't affect all V8's as a change of sealant once the problem had been discovered meant later engines weren't affected. Last engine I heard of with a problem with coolant was at one of the Hethel meets some years ago but can't remember if that was liner related or simply hose failure?

Trevor.

[rizla603104]

You're absolutely right Trev - this is all a loooong time ago. The person I heard it from worked at Lotus at the time - which is why I chipped in. And of course these were the earlier ones N and P reg. Or of course the cars were sold.

Edited December 1, 2013 by rizla603104

[Alex Carter]

This was my friend ross who owned one of the pair of gold v8s the car was at the lotus show at brands think the reg is a v8 gt or some thing similar anyway when ross had it he heard of the liner problem and confronted lotus about it no failure it was still working fine at the time .Basically they offered a replacement at an approved garage near him but this option was declined and he fought for the car to be done at the factory and properly documented by lotus. Im not after a freebee im just confused that as they had my car for a long time of servicing why would they not do it out of principle or do you have to fight and shout to have something done ? As for weekend toy maybe but mines servicing was constant and frequent by lotus not a once in a full moon thing .

[rizla603104]

Good point. Have you contacted Lotus just in case an invoice was misplaced?

[Trevsked]

Did your liner seals fail the Alex?

Trevor.

[Advantage]

Poignant question, Trevor. Not all the early V8s suffered a liner/sealer failure, it wasn't a given that just because your car was built with the early spec sealant that it would fail. There's minimal chance the engine would be pulled and rebuilt purely as a speculative preventative repair when being funded by the Factory or a Warranty company.

 

These days, if an engine was liable to suffer the liner sealant failure it would most likely have done it by now, unless it's fantastically miniscule mileage.

[Trevsked]

Yes from memory I thought it was a certain batch of sealant that failed rather than all sealant from a period.

Trevor.

[Bibs]

I think you'll struggle to get anyone to entertain a warranty claim on a 17+ year old car mate.

[Alex Carter]

No trev ive not had a liner failure I just thought that all the early v8s which mine is one had the wrong sealer used and the liners failed . This isnt me asking for a freebee and yes 17 year extended warranties arnt a bad idea . Im just aware that there is/was at the time a recal for liners and a defective bearing on the centre pullie . So I have no receipt of this being done and my history on the car is very good . Plus the fact that the previous owner did it himself indicated that lotus never did ! So my question was why dont they do it when the car is there and they know of an issue is there a way to check with the cars numbers with lotus what was done ?

[Bibs]

As said mate, it wasn't a recall, just repairs of failed units under warranty. Very different.

 

Lotus do keep warranty work information but I'm not sure for how long and I'm not sure it's publicly available.

[Alex Carter]

Oh ok fair enough

[Günter]

Alex -not meant to be offensive, but sometimes I have the impression you do not read what others say ..and just 'go with your head into the brick wall'

 

..if I look closer into you engine pictures, from my impression there on the liner base is lots of remains of the typical *lightbrown-yellowish * sealant all around -right !?

..think this is already what the 3400 sealant looks like, after it was in contact with coolant over years -so there already was a time in the history of your engine that it was (partly) rebuild or resealed.

 

..as for the 'all engines have got a recall'   -no, as I read the factory documentation (in LEW) about the sealant change it was just found that 'in case of an overheating / permanent temperature stress' -so in the way the engine was used -that those engines failed as for the natural expansion characteristics between liner & engine block, and that the older Loctite used per factory was not up to the job.  So if a car was used on track or running hotter than medium 'use & abuse' it failed, with other words you could own a early car and never suffer from it ..it all depents on type of use.

 

The term 'most if not all engines nowadays have got the later sealant in' means nothing else than -most if not all engines have got nowadays rebuilds in private hands within the engine live now. Some simply have got internal upgrades like pistons or head porting and some just failed on timing belts and intermediate-shaft issues. So in all those cases the advice was -if you put it all back together undo the liners and use Hylomar3400 now. 

 

It was not a general recall from factory  ..for example -on my 1998 production engine I found the same light-brown/yellowish sealant around the liners, as I rebuild it again in 2008/9 (rebuild as for the timing belt fail, caused by my own type of bad engine use).

From the history documents of my car it was one of those cars who had an engines that already failed early on after first registration -due to an intermediate shaft coming loose and that caused a serious timing issue with bend/broken valves and piston damage.

 

In previous owners hands the car was into service and repair on a regular contracted Lotus service point in those past days. My liner (bore) measurement showed that the Lotus garage had machined the liner/bore a little above factory specification and the sealant that I found those years later showed me that the liners have got this modification within this engine rework. But there is no note in the documents that the previous owner ever directly claimed a loss of water or a liner fail before this timing belt issue was solved -so it looks like it was just one of those early cars who have got a reseal within the process of other engine repairs. 

 

..and of course, for my rebuild I used again the yellowish Hylomar3400 sealant  -so far nothing to complain in terms of water loss  -if it runs hot on a trackday or traffic jam it does it for natural reasons, and everytime goes back to normal levels under constant driving

[CaptainBigleux]

As said mate, it wasn't a recall, just repairs of failed units under warranty. Very different.

 

Lotus do keep warranty work information but I'm not sure for how long and I'm not sure it's publicly available.

 

I wrote an email to Lotus warrany dept, to ask if they had history on my 1996 V8 about a possible liners/engine job, but they answered it was to hold to know.

[CaptainBigleux]

Too old to know... wrong spelling sorry.