I've got a waste gate and I wanna use it!

[Stimpy]

Mini - off the road (my idea to sort the electrics - hilarious story, maybe for another time)

Free petrol - I asked.  They didn't seem to care.  Of course I could jump in and the yellow light comes up from the previous courteseee (as it were).  That would be 'D'oh' generated.

Yes - I'm in the process of looking back through the recommendations however in the last 5 minutes I've fired 2 emails off to the well known ones !  :-)

Congrats at the hawk eye quick response there!!!! 

[Stimpy]

A result.

 

Clutch AND flywheel for less than 1k.  

 

Thanks for your collective influence  - I've just saved about £2.3k.  Enough for a full tank of petrol !!!  

[Bibs]

Why are you buying a flywheel?

[dodge1979]

Yea as above..why is a flywheel needed. In reality some blueing if the flywheel is fine and will not affect the performance of the clutch if it was groved or pitted or rutted yes rework or replace but in reality some marking will be acceptable. Really what you want is someone to replace the clutch with parts supplied by yourself at a cost your happy with..

[Stimpy]

My thinking - it's £250.

 

Knowing the history (or ironically 'lack of history') about this car I would go to the 'comprehensive ' change for a price like that.

 

All the seals will be replaced at the same time too.

 

I guess it's a gamble but right now I feel more comfortable with a replacement mentality regarding areas of (ab)use.

 

Not sure I've explained that well but I think I'll be more comfortable with 'new serviceable bits'.

 

Either that or there'll be a nice new flywheel on ebay! 

 

Just to clarify - I will be purchasing the items via post and taking car+bits to Taff.  

[TAR]

I think for peace of mind and for £250, I would change the flywheel as well.

 

[sailorbob]

I'm guessing the flywheel was the one just sold on eBay

[Simon350S]

If your old stuff is rubbish, feel free to pack them up and send them off to Wales for recycling

[Stimpy]

You jest!

 

 

 

Croeso 

 

Taff has been collecting the bits that have gone wrong / were broken / needed replacing / etc in a clear industrial strength bag.  The bag is getting bigger and heavier.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Stimpy

[Sparky]

Yup, send me the 'crap' flywheel. I'll do you a huge favour and give you £15 for it.

[Stimpy]

In all honesty you did me a huge favour by testing out my car some months ago and in effect I got a training course out of you!

 

For that reason alone I would be more than happy to let you have it

 

But before that my plan is to let SGT do the work - ad if they say the old flywheel is perfectly ok and leave it there then it will be a different story.

 

If - on balance - they opt for fitting it then I'll have a good think about paying for that training with the old one.  Or something like that.

[Stimpy]

Update on the story of a car that's actually become a restoration job rather than getting stuff to work,

 

I got my car back last Wednesday!

 

Loads of work done (as well as the clutch stuff).

 

Hedge End said that they had done a C-service.  Most of Taff's work (apart from swapping ECUs for tests and the clutch itself) was replacing bolts, tightening nuts - that sort of thing.  If there was a C-service it would have been impossible to leave the car in that state.

 

So we now enter the next chapter.  Yes there is one.  And this is big.  Nothing to do with waste gates so I'll start a new thread called 'Bloody bobbins'

[fflyingdog]

Please don't .

[Stimpy]

Too late LOL

[Chillidoggy]

 Keep calm and carry on...

[Stimpy]

I posted a comment on the Hedge End 'sub-site' which - while it was a 'taster' for the social comms I will be doing - never made it to the site.  i.e. it was not approved.

 

I notice today that the site has a link to this site.

 

Does anyone know why my post - which truthfully pointed out how they cost me thousands *so far* - was not 'approved' to the site? After all - people are encouraged to post their findings, wether positive or not  - take a look at amazon reviews (amazon don't delete posts less than 3 stars!)

 

Any ideas?

[pete]

perhaps they thought you didn`t give them enough of a chance to solve your problems?

[Qavion]

Stimpy, did you actually confirm that they disconnected the CEL? Or was the sudden lack of illumination due to a further degradation of the CPU? (coincidental with their maintenance)

 

If it was proven that the CEL was disconnected as part of their "rectification", I'm not surprised that they blocked Stimpy's feedback. This borders on criminality. But looking through the rest of this thread, I'm sure Stimpy has enough ammunition without this.

 

We don't know who's doing the vetting though. I'm wondering if their management knows what's going on in their servicing department?

[Stimpy]

Oh multiple bollox!  I did a big post here and must've forgotten to hit post.  Most annoying.  Tip: Don't write to a thread whilst almost asleep.

 

Ok - from memory...

 

pete:"Perhaps they thought you didn`t give them enough of a chance to solve your problems?"

 

First Problem  - deposit down - over 1 month till pick up - then drove down ono to find it wasn't ready

Second problem - car would not start on occasions - sometimes it took up to half an hour to start.  

Back to Hedge end

​Pump replaced then "replacement to pump over-run" to which someone here said "thats bollox - there's no such thing"

Another load of time lost

Some weeks later  - in Ealing - gear stick base disintegrated 

Decided to take it to Taff at SGT because - get this - "I wanted to drive my car" (based upon my addiction to the car).  Plus warranty running out due to time taken over past events.

At this point I can give you a list of why happened next - but I'll save you the problem - unless you desire a cure for insomnia.

 

 

Qavion:

"Stimpy, did you actually confirm that they disconnected the CEL? Or was the sudden lack of illumination due to a further degradation of the CPU? (coincidental with their maintenance)"

 

There's no way that I can prove that they disconnected the CEL however - check out how I discovered this:

 

1) Needed a new waste gate - which is fine - I got one and fitted it

​2) The host remained low and the car was missing something

3) Someone here asked me if the CEL came on

4) I said no

5) Someone asked me if the CEL lint came on at IGN time (car not running) - No.

 

So - the CEL was 'not working' due to - well - possibly a blown bulb or something

 

6) sat on drivers seat upside down and worked upside down into the back of the dash to check the bulb

7) Feeling around - I found a double female socket instead of a cable

8) Feeling around the place I found the male counterpart and plugged it into the female.

 

9) Sitting the correct way around I started the engine. 20 seconds later ..... CEL!!

 

The plug was stuck on some tacky stuff behind the dash.

 

How does the jury plea?

 

Well here's a possible theory:-

 

the plug worked its way loose (and unlit) whilst driving

then it fell of the connection

then it defied gravity and worked its way up to a sticky substance that was only on one area 

Funnily enough the power of the anti gravitational pull pressed it nice and tight onto the goo.

 

If the above is true then the CEL decided to come on just at the moment that the plug and socket came loose.

 

When re-attaching the plug to socket it was a nice tough grip - so whatever made it work loose must have pushed one hell of a lot of G-force.

 

BTW - I'm not having a pop at anyone - just showing how farcical the whole thing was.

 

This is one item of many items that have cost me thousands over the months.

I really want people to know so I'm targeting head office to tell them what one dealer is willing to do then the rest goes to social media.  I haven't finished the letter yet as it's so long!

------------------------------------

 

Either I forgot to hit 'Post' for the above or my post was deleted.  I suspect I fell asleep before hitting post (I have done it before)

[Qavion]

... and on top of this, you had a faulty clutch and  (as I understand it) a faulty chargecooler pump (which was subsequently changed to an electric pump by someone)? Who changed the pump? Hedge End? Was this free of charge?

[Bibs]

Either I forgot to hit 'Post' for the above or my post was deleted.  I suspect I fell asleep before hitting post (I have done it before)

 

We don't delete posts on here without a hugely good reason, it's happened half a dozen times in more than ten years I'm sure. Even then, they're kept in a special moderator/admin area for review and your post isn't there. 

 

Please don't point the finger at the staff or this website if you forgot to press 'post'. It's not a nice thing to suggest, this isn't North Korea.

[fflyingdog]

Oh this is getting better and better..............now i'm not one to stir....................but its utterly amazing how much bad luck one single person can have. All the makings of a thriller ,intrigue ,death, money ..........but no sex.....as yet !!!!!!!!!!!

[Advantage]

I don't know. It could be said the car is f**ked.

[Sparky]

I saw it quite a while back.  I touched it a bit but not in that way, I swear.

[Vanya]

When I bought my Turbo SE I told the dealer that the sale was contingent of their workshop rectifying the issue with the ABS as the warning light was flashing during the test drive.

 

They did rectify this.....by unplugging the bulb from the instrument cluster and wrapping it in black tape and black cloth so it wouldn't shine through.

 

So....stuff like this does happen.

 

But would Hedge End, who stock Lotus cars, actually do something like this? That's another question... 

 

However some stuff like a faulty chargecooler is standard fare when buying an Esprit judging by what's been reported on this forum...