99 V8 Esprit ECU Flash Emissions

[Mike001]

Greetings, searched the forum to see if this had already been asked but didn't see a reference.

I have a 99 Esprit V8 with 9k miles. Two years ago I attempted to have an emissions test done, and the car did not pass. The local Lotus authorized dealer told me that Lotus USA was aware of this problem, but there was no solution.

Last week I decided to put the car back on the road, and had the dealer flash the ECU with new code in order for my State emissions guys to be able to read emissions status. The flash is complete, but the service manager is now telling me that the car must be driven 50-100 miles before the computer will allow itself to be "read" for another emissions test.

This will be challenging since the car has an '02 tag sticker on it, and you're all aware how low profile we are around police when we drive around town.

Does anyone have any information on the truth of the 50-100 mile drive requirement?

Any help appreciated,
Mike

[arium]

Hi Mike:

Although I do not totally understand why your ECU would need to be reflashed to meet emissions since the old one did straight from the factory; there is a lot of truth in running a car for a few hours after resetting the ECU. The computers in todays cars 'learn' as they go along. Some settings are reset to a middle of the road figure and then tweaked as you put the miles on. You will generally run a bit rich while the ECU learns and this would be reflected in testing. Unless perhaps you are located in a state that has an enhanced form of OBDII testing that is non federal that would make the diag machine puke out the plug upon connection. That'd be odd for an 1999 tho. My OBDII vehicles never even get dynoed; just plugged in and quick passed a minute later (so far).

You don't state if you aren't meeting emissions output or whether you can't be tested. I'd think that if you are not meeting more than likely your emissions woes have to do with your cats. Rumour has it that cats do not have a great shelf life in a Lotus. Mine failed emissions on the first go around too but with 25K. Cat replacement brought emissions down to something immeasurable without driving for a few hours. Mind you, it was a beautiful little bit of art that went in. I live in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and we are getting worse than California for testing standards.

Steve

P.S. Can't you get a 1 or 3 day permit to allow your car on the road? Might seem like a bargain if you end up having a oops that ends up your fault. Up here ours cost about $30 CDN a day but give you full liability coverage.


>> Edited by arium on Thursday 31st March 04:42

[Mike001]

Thank you kindly for your response.

I had an A service done at my closest Lotus dealer in '03, and at the time I asked them to also have the emissions check done (figured it was best to have the dealer do it so the car was with them to be fixed if a problem was found.) The test was all OBD plug-in, and it failed every test. Stated reason from the dealer was that the emissions check system could not read the OBD in the car. Service manager said he was familiar with the problem, he had spoken to Lotus USA previously about it, and at that time there was no solution except to request an exemption from the State. I procrastinated that course of action, and here we are two years later.

I spoke to the same service manager three weeks ago, reminded him of the emissions problem, and he told me there was new ECU code that addressed it. He has dealt fairly with me in the past, charged reasonable rates, and has fixed minor problems without charging me for them, so I have a level of trust with him. The franchise was purchased by a new company last year, however, and even though this gentleman is employed by the new owners, I don't have any confidence in his coworkers as they mainly focus on Ferrari and Lamborghini.

I will contact the local tag office and check on a short-term pass, thanks for that suggestion. It would get me past the "drive it 50 miles" part of the saga, and if there's still an issue I'll investigate the cats. Looks like I have some "what goes wrong with cats" reading to do on the web :-)

Appreciate your help once again, I'll post the final results when the car is back on the road and legal.

Mike

P.S. This dealer recently became a Spyker dealer, not sure if any of you have seen one but they are breathtaking. I've never seen a price for one though.