86 Esprit Turbo Engine Stalling

[ksoufi]

Greetings, I just purchased a 1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo with 61K miles. The first four hours of driving this car were a blast. I felt like a kid again. Then something went wrong. If I release the throttle, the RPM goes to idle speed (around 1000) then the engine stalls. I cannot re-start the car right away. I must wait for 2 minutes before the cars starts again. I was able to drive the car back home, but with difficulty since I had to make sure that the RPM is high enough so that the engine does not stall. I also smell strong fuel smell in the car while driving home after the problem occurred. While driving the car back home, I noticed the following: under 3000 RPM, the engine is not running smoothly. Under acceleration, the car first shows signs of too much fuel in engine, hesitates a little bit, until the turbo kicks in and the engine RPM reaches 4-5k, the problem disappear and the car accelerate like usual. Is the problem due to faulty ECM or Fuel By-Pass? Any suggestion? Any suggestions on where I can order parts (other than the dealer)? Also, please let me know if I can post your reply on a web page dedicated to this problem (which I will setup very soon). Thank You

[ksoufi]

Thanks Juddy. I too had a faulty relay. I replaced it but that did not fix the problem. For now, I adjusted teh throttle cable so that the RPM is over 1500. The next think I am replacing is the Oxygen sensor. I will let you know if this fixes the problem. Karim

[DBW]

I have a V8 so the problem might not be the same but the symptoms are. Turned out to be a stuck lifter. Check coolant pressure too, this appeared to be a related problem with coolant leaking onto the lifters. D Hate it - lurv it!

[jimflip]

I have an '83 - You didn't mention whether you have carbs or Fuel injection - just a suggestion, look at the wiring from the inversion switch (black box near battery) to a 4 flanged box situated next to the battery (I'll check the manual for the proper name later). If the connection is bad, your revs will be all over the place & car will cut out unexpectedly - luckily an easy fix. If not drop me another mail - Hope this helps. Regards James ([e-mail])