Took delivery of 2003

[lotusstv]

I took delivery last week of a 2003 Inferno / Magnolia with 1700 miles. Prior Loti include a 79 S2 & 89SE. This car is unreal. The v8 is a blast. Naturally a minor problem right off the bat. The a/c not blowing cold. Palm Beach Motor Cars tells me that it need a hose. Car is still under wty, so i am not really concerned, but is the a/c problematic on these cars? Also does anybody know where i can buy the aluminum dash knobs for the a/c controls?

Steve

[ErnestM]

Never had a problem with the AC on my '98.

The aluminum dash knobs are not an exact fit. You either have to attempt to drill out the aluminum knobs (the hole is too shallow) or file down the "pins" that the knobs fit over. Not difficult but could be time consuming...

ErnestM

[kmaier]

Hi, I'm also in Palm Beach County and have had my V8 repaired at PBMC with numerous A/C problems under warranty, also from near new. Unfortunately, the V8 is known for certain A/C problems. Generally the manifold pipe assembly leaks at the welds or the O-rings start to leak. It's a problem of sourcing parts... they get a load of bad ones and you'll know it.

For the most part, the V8 is well sorted but should be checked and maintained well. There's also a good size Lotus club here so be sure to check out the FloridaLotusClub on Yahoo groups. Oddly, there is a large population of Esprit V8 cars around now... hmmm.

Best of luck with the Esprit... if I can be of any assistance, don't hesitate to contact me.

Regards, KM
2000 V8

[ErnestM]

Small world - I purchased my V8 from Palm Beach in 2001

ErnestM

[kmaier]

ErnestM said:

Small world - I purchased my V8 from Palm Beach in 2001 ErnestM

Hmmm, didn't know that. I actually purchased mine from Symbolic in LaJolla in 2001, just had the waranty work done at PBMC.

Regards, KM
2000 V8

[rlearp]

I'm a Lotus owner of course, but it never ceases to amaze me that Lotus, who has been building cars for many years, still can't produce a car that has cold AC after 3 years. If Ford/GM/Toyota/Honda/ etc. had this problem they'd be out of business in no time flat. Heck, even us "self builder/kit car/rod builders" put together cars in which the AC blows cold five year after the fact. No hack on Lotus, but just an observation.

R

>> Edited by rlearp on Sunday 16th May 03:20

[dr.hess]

Hey rleap,
It is my observation that the English, and Lotus in particular, have a problem with fixing known issues. Like the TC water pump, Europa shift linkage, V8 AC, "The Red Hose," the speedometer, those button type electrical connectors, etc. They know there is a problem, virtually every single car has these things go wrong, but they refuse to address it. Harley had this problem and it almost destroyed the company, with the 1979 model year being the nadir ("Lets experiment with valve guides. Send out X thousand with each type and let's see how many motors blow up".) Eventually it was rescued and they started fixing stuff so that non-die hards could own one and the company took off.
The Esprit is in fact much much better than previous English cars with much evidence of improvement, so maybe they are catching on. It is a rather sad statement that using GM parts is an improvement, but it does show they were trying. Picking a Toyota drive train for the Elise is further evidence.
I guess what we need is for someone to design a bolt in replacement for the V8 AC using a Sanyo compressor and manifold. Any takers?

Dr.Hess