Lotus Indies Kent

[Pied Piper]

Just had a great blast in the car over the bank holiday. 3 days hooning around normandy and on the last day the engine management light comes on and is still on.

Nothing seems wrong with the car and it still starts and runs ok.

Is there an Indie in the Sussex/Kent area anyone?

I just want to them to give the car a quick check over and reset the light.

[TonyHetherington]

I'm the first but I sure as hell won't be the last to recommend Miles at Fibreglassservices (easy to find in google).

Don't expect a glamorous glass sided showroom but he is (believe it or not) an official Lotus dealer, and one of the few people I trust my pride and joy with! Excellent excellent prices too.

Oh, and I should say, your MIL light coming on; do youhave a cat replacement pipe? If not, have you been hooning it about at all? On bad petrol? Mine came on during a trip to Italy when I was forced to use poor quality petrol. So long as the light's not flashing (very bad) then it should turn off in a few days (after so many restarts I think)

[TonyHetherington]

Just re-read; YES you've been hooning.

Don't worry about the MIL light, it will turn off in a couple of days - but I still recommend to you Miles!

[S Works]

Depending on where you are in SE London you have a few choices.

Lakeside are over to the SW.
Maidstone Sports Cars are just outside of Headcorn.
Sinclaires are in Romford.

Then further afield you have Plans Motorsport near Guildford, and Miles down near the coast.

[Pied Piper]

TonyHetherington said:

Just re-read; YES you've been hooning. Don't worry about the MIL light, it will turn off in a couple of days - but I still recommend to you Miles!

Thanks Tony, De-Cat and poor petrol (95 ron) I guess, I'll leave it a couple of days and see if it clears.

[Mrs Boggy]

Pied Piper said:

Just had a great blast in the car over the bank holiday. 3 days hooning around normandy and on the last day the engine management light comes on and is still on. Nothing seems wrong with the car and it still starts and runs ok. Is there an Indie in the Sussex/Kent area anyone? I just want to them to give the car a quick check over and reset the light.

Have you had any mods done to your Elise, Induction Kit or Pipe? Not sure if you saw the threads but Boggy and I had a big problem with the EML as it kept coming on and we had to keep going back to Wilsons in Romford to have it reset.. Like Tony said, if it isn't flashing its no major problem just a pain in the ar*e!!!

[boggy]

Mrs Boggy said:

Pied Piper said: Just had a great blast in the car over the bank holiday. 3 days hooning around normandy and on the last day the engine management light comes on and is still on. Nothing seems wrong with the car and it still starts and runs ok. Is there an Indie in the Sussex/Kent area anyone? I just want to them to give the car a quick check over and reset the light. Have you had any mods done to your Elise, Induction Kit or Pipe? Not sure if you saw the threads but Boggy and I had a big problem with the EML as it kept coming on and we had to keep going back to Wilsons in Romford to have it reset.. Like Tony said, if it isn't flashing its no major problem just a pain in the ar*e!!!

My wife's the Daddy

Only one problem it's not a Toyota Engine

Boggy

[Joe - Exige S]

How do they reset the MIL out of interest?

Special diagnostics equipment or is it as simple as say holding the mile trip reset button whilst starting it etc etc...... Just a guess

Obviously it's always best to get the fault checked with the diagnostics, but I was just wondering

>> Edited by Joe - Exige S on Wednesday 31st May 13:34

[boggy]

Joe - Exige S said:

How do they reset the MIL out of interest? Special diagnostics equipment or is it as simple as say holding the mile trip reset button whilst starting it etc etc...... Just a guess Obviously it's always best to get the fault checked with the diagnostics, but I was just wondering >> Edited by Joe - Exige S on Wednesday 31st May 13:34

I'm a bit of an Expert on this Joe

They have to use a diagnostic tool, it also gives them all the information they need (in theory) P Code's, the manner in which the Car has been been driven, fuel, etc etc etc. It's normally only official Lotus Service Centre's that have the most up to date tool's I.e. for the R, Exige, S, Europa etc, It's the same as any other really just has a different set of program's/Attachment's loaded onto it. My Issue turned out to be that the wrong program was loaded onto the Ecu all sorted now, I also had a good response from Lotus UK we will be buying another Lotus now no Question

Boggy

>> Edited by boggy on Wednesday 31st May 15:05

[Joe - Exige S]

Cheers Boggy
The reason I ask is that on Sunday my flatmate's Elise 02 S2's (with Janspeed & Pipercross) MIL light started flashing and now stays on constantly, also a serious lack of power (probably ECU in limp home mode?).

The car was collected yesterday and he is now nervously waiting for the diagnostics.

PS: The car was serviced a month ago with the Janspeed & Pipercross on. ie he hasn't just fitted them.

Cheers

>> Edited by Joe - Exige S on Wednesday 31st May 16:01

[boggy]

Joe - Exige S said:

Cheers Boggy The reason I ask is that on Sunday my flatmate's Elise 02 S2's (with Janspeed & Pipercross) MIL light started flashing and now stays on constantly, also a serious lack of power (probably ECU in limp home mode?). The car was collected yesterday and he is now nervously waiting for the diagnostics. PS: The car was serviced a month ago with the Janspeed & Pipercross on. ie he hasn't just fitted them. Cheers >> Edited by Joe - Exige S on Wednesday 31st May 16:01

I don't think it will be the same issue as mine, it's a different engine (Rover) but you never know, I'm sure the tolerance would be a fair bit more then the 5% they allow on the Toyota around 10% on a Rover engine, may be Bogie would be the best man to comment ? he's done as much as can be with the older block as far as I know ? I can't believe that this Combo would cause the Misfire but then again I'm not an engineer

Boggy

[TonyHetherington]

The flashing (on the K-series) means there's a mis-fire which would explain the loss of power. It could be caused by something as daft as a dicky plug so it needn't be anything serious at all (although the plugs aren't cheap!).

My MIL light (with de-cat pipe and K&N) comes on only when I give the car a proper sunday-morning-popping-out-for-some-milk-hoon and it goes off after (I think) 4 x restarts. Never has any detrimental affect to the car (bar running a bit figdety at low revs in traffic). This has only started since the de-cat's been on.

[S Works]

As Tony noted, could be something minor that's tripped it over to limp-home-mode. My cat is now back on and the car is running better as a result. I do miss the minor explosions on the overrun though

[Joe - Exige S]

Cheers for the advice guys!

I'll pass the info on

[Joe - Exige S]

Cheers for the advice guys!

I passed it on to James who has just got the results back

Reason:
Mis-fire due to dodgy sparkplug or connection.

Good work with the diagnosis Tony!

All sorted!