Ecu For A 1988 Lotus Esprit Turbo

[gerruiz]

Hi,

A long while ago, my Esprit went kind of agonic: the engine starts, but basically has no power, accelerates and decelerates continuously, etc. I bought the car in the US, 8 years ago, where I lived, and now, I am back in my home country, Spain. I could not find any local mechanic to tell me what was wrong, so I took the car to the nearest Lotus dealer, which is located in France (Pau/Tarbes) (I live very close to the French border). Amazingly enough, the dealer had the car for over one year, not finding what was wrong and telling me all kind of crap, blaming the problem on the fact that it was a Bosch injection system, only used for cars exported to the US.

I got hold of Lotus Cars UK support team (really helpful!!). In their opinion, the problem is the ECU that went wrong. They gave me the reference A910E7015F. I raised a complaint with them about this dealer, but they told me there is nothing they can do. The car is still sitting idle, so I will need to bring it home. But since the dealer is not going to repair it, and I cannot order the part directly from Lotus......, does anybody know what I can do? Has anybody had any similar experience with the ECU? PLeassssssse, I need advice on this.

thank you very much.

Gerardo R.

[Bibs]

Hi Gerado - It's sounds like you have an Esprit S which are very rare, I think only a couple of hundred were made for export to the USA.

If I were you, I'd get the car back home on a trailer, get someone to test the ECU and if it is found to be at fault, order the replacement part from Lotus.

Whatever you do, good luck!

[sandwer]

Hi Gerado - It's sounds like you have an Esprit S which are very rare, I think only a couple of hundred were made for export to the USA.

If I were you, I'd get the car back home on a trailer, get someone to test the ECU and if it is found to be at fault, order the replacement part from Lotus.

Whatever you do, good luck!

The 'S' is the citroen gearboxed variant, right?

Bibs, isn't this part made of unobtanium? I've got a horrible feeling that there are none left at Lotus and, IIRC, there haven't been for some years. I hope for Geraldo's sake that I'm wrong and that my memory is playing tricks. Wouldn;t be the first time

Geraldo - did Lotus say that you couldn't order it directly from them because they didn't have it in stock - or some other reason? If Lotus don't have it (SJ sportscars don't have it either, I checked) then maybe thats why the garage can't fix it, because they can't get the part. It sounds like the ECU is running in 'get you home' mode - and maybe the dealer doesn't have access to the ECU tool to reset or reprogram it. Its not the same one that a 'normal' SE Esprit would use - they had the GM Delco system IIRC. I'm sure there were documents knocking around years ago that detailed how to read that ECU via a laptop, and I have a mate in the US who has the same car as you. I'll see what he knows and get back to you...

We'll get there...!

Rich

[sandwer]

The 'S' is the citroen gearboxed variant, right?

Bibs, isn't this part made of unobtanium? I've got a horrible feeling that there are none left at Lotus and, IIRC, there haven't been for some years. I hope for Geraldo's sake that I'm wrong and that my memory is playing tricks. Wouldn;t be the first time

Geraldo - did Lotus say that you couldn't order it directly from them because they didn't have it in stock - or some other reason? If Lotus don't have it (SJ sportscars don't have it either, I checked) then maybe thats why the garage can't fix it, because they can't get the part. It sounds like the ECU is running in 'get you home' mode - and maybe the dealer doesn't have access to the ECU tool to reset or reprogram it. Its not the same one that a 'normal' SE Esprit would use - they had the GM Delco system IIRC. I'm sure there were documents knocking around years ago that detailed how to read that ECU via a laptop, and I have a mate in the US who has the same car as you. I'll see what he knows and get back to you...

We'll get there...!

Rich

Apparently, its not programmable like the Delco unit. You probably need to find a new ECU, and I suspect the only place you might find them are in the US - but I stand to be corrected if anyone knows any better.

Anyway - its possible its not the ECU, and that its the fuel pressure. See here....

http://lotusracer.home.mchsi.com/lotustipspage2.htm (about halfway down the page)

Ed has the same car as you - and recommends that the relays get checked....could be cheaper than an ECU?

Rich

[wiseraven]

Is this the relatively slim, bare aluminium cased ECU? If so, South West Lotus had one on the stand at Donington this year. It was still there when they were packing up. Apparently, they've had it for ages because there are so few cars that use that ECU, so chances are they've still got it.

[kccparis]

Apparently, its not programmable like the Delco unit. You probably need to find a new ECU, and I suspect the only place you might find them are in the US - but I stand to be corrected if anyone knows any better.

Anyway - its possible its not the ECU, and that its the fuel pressure. See here....

http://lotusracer.home.mchsi.com/lotustipspage2.htm (about halfway down the page)

Ed has the same car as you - and recommends that the relays get checked....could be cheaper than an ECU?

Rich

Personally I would speak to Macus at PUK - Germany...Esprit ECU's are his specialty as he programmes and creates his own chips...worth a free phone call anyway if nothing else....

[gerruiz]

HI guys,

First of all, THANK YOU so much for the prompt reply. Let me include here the answer I got from Lotus Cars UK:

"I have again looked into your inquiry and the vin number you gave me a few

weeks ago and I am surprised to see that the dealer in question is now

trying to order an ECM for a Delco fuel system and not a Bosch K Jetronic as

I previously quoted. Looking at the model year and date of build I certainly

would still suggest that your car should have the Bosch unit although 89

Model Year onwards we did start fitting the later Delco unit which is what

the dealer is trying to order.

Firstly I would get the garage concerned to double check which system your

car is fitted with by physically looking at the fuel injection system and

the ECU. If it is the Delco ECU they need then they can order this by using

part number A910E7015F, note the suffix letter has changed to 'F' from 'S'

hence why they may not have been able to order this part. Also please note

that this ECU is now supplied without the plug in Mems Cal chip due to

unatainability and the customers existing Mems Cal will need to be used."

In some other e-mail, they told me that Lotus would not sell me directly the part. It had to be through a dealer. That was the reason for my asking for a different source to get the part. The dealer I am using in France is not......., let's say helpful. As for some other comments that you guys included:

1) I did replace the fuel pumps in the Lotus dealer in Miami before moving back to Spain. Actually, I started having the current problem around 6 months later.

2) the gearbox is Citroen, as far as I know (not really happy with it, but don't know what other options I have)

3) Is it easy to check the ECU?? it doesn't have to be a specialized Lotus workshop?

thanks again, everybody

[Dermot]

Take a picture of the ECU in the car and post it on here. The DELCO ECU are readily available (I have a spare) and can be recognised very easily.

[gerruiz]

I will post a picture of the delco, but before I need to bring the car back.

thanks Dermot,

[rydning]

If this is with bosch k-jetronik.Its a mecanical injections system and the "ecu" controls the timing and to a smal degree the fuel metering by overriding the mecanical injections system.

Its very rare that a ECU goes wrong,its more normal that: sensors,coils,fuelpump,fuses etc goes wrong and is the main problem.

It can sound like you not get enough fuel? clogged fuel filter after storing the car for a long time.

Do you have current in to your ECU??

It was a lot of german cars that came with k-jetronic in 1980-1990 like Audi,Bmw,Mercedes ask "old" mecanics that was used to this at that time to solve this for you.

If its a Delco its much easyer with the blink codes or freescan.

Post a pic of your engine bay to comfirm.

[fleeto]

Hi,

A long while ago, my Esprit went kind of agonic: the engine starts, but basically has no power, accelerates and decelerates continuously, etc. I bought the car in the US, 8 years ago, where I lived, and now, I am back in my home country, Spain. I could not find any local mechanic to tell me what was wrong, so I took the car to the nearest Lotus dealer, which is located in France (Pau/Tarbes) (I live very close to the French border). Amazingly enough, the dealer had the car for over one year, not finding what was wrong and telling me all kind of crap, blaming the problem on the fact that it was a Bosch injection system, only used for cars exported to the US.

I got hold of Lotus Cars UK support team (really helpful!!). In their opinion, the problem is the ECU that went wrong. They gave me the reference A910E7015F. I raised a complaint with them about this dealer, but they told me there is nothing they can do. The car is still sitting idle, so I will need to bring it home. But since the dealer is not going to repair it, and I cannot order the part directly from Lotus......, does anybody know what I can do? Has anybody had any similar experience with the ECU? PLeassssssse, I need advice on this.

thank you very much.

Gerardo R.

Hi,

Have you seen the Brand New ECU and Men-cal on E-Bay the Number is 150123289048 this may be of some help to you, They do not give a part number but it is from a S4 hope this is some help worth a phone call or e mail

regards Paul

[gerruiz]

thank you very much for the tip. I am contacting the sellet now to find out which injection system is, if the Bosch or the GM one. I'll let you know how it goes.

[gerruiz]

I finally spoke to the seller. The item he has is for the GM one, not the Boshc I need (;-(

[wander12lust]

All the 88 cars in the US did come with Bosch injection from my understanding. When Lotus switched to Delco, they also switched to the Renault transmission for the US. Lotus was kind enough to sell all the Bosch ECUs they had left in the big public sale they had a few months back. I would make a strong bet that Dave Bean Engineering or JAE has a new ECU in stock. If not Sports Car World only has used Lotus parts and a large number at that. All of them are easy to find on the web. Hope this helps!

Lee

[t70]

there is a fuel pump relay and main fuse in the relay panel in the back of the car behind the engine... Check that... I will have a look for the part number and tell you how to check it if you like.. The next step is your warm-up regulator... that's on top of the intake plenum closest to the front of the engine with two black fuel lines attached to it with banjo bolts. Take this apart (be sure to ensure that you know EXACTLY how it goes back together) and clean the components... then re-assemble it... If the warm up regulator does not work properly, you will not be able to start the car without a lot of screwing around.... the system is not actually k-jetronic.. it's KE-Jetronic. KE-jetronic was also used on the Porsche 928 and several volkswagens. You will probably be able to get a VW mechanic to quicker solve the issue than a lotus one. Check out this site on how to rebuild the regulator:

http://members.rennlist.com/pirtle/zfi_home_WUR_rebuild.txt

Also, look at this page.... under fuel injection:

http://members.rennlist.com/pirtle/z0_keep_main.html

Then look up CIS and Bosch KE-Jetronic fuel injection system...

you can call me if you like -- (403) 581-6875

as a basic breakdown.... the system works by constantly injecting fuel into the intake plenum... How much fuel is regulated by the air flow meter... as the airflow increases... a valve in the fuel distributor regulates how much fuel flows... this valve is more like a piston and is held closed by fuel pressure... the more the fuel pressure the less the fuel flows compared to the air... the less the fuel pressure... the more fuel flows (I know it sounds backwards) but during warm up.. you need to have less fuel pressure to the "piston" in order to create a richer mixture... I can explain more if necessary....