MY LOTUS STORY,THE LOTUS FROM HELL,EVERYONE READ
Discussion
HERE IS MY STORY....
I BOUGHT MY 1990 ESPRIT SE WITH 30,000 MILES ON IT FROM EBAY.I paid what you normally should for this car. This was last December,so it hasnt been a year yet....The car was listed with alot of pictures and the history seemed decent.
I live in NC and the car gets delivered from Michigan.I get the car and it wont even crank....So I have it towed to the Ferrari dealership.They put new rear brakes,new A/C belt,Motor mounts,plugs and wires,ALT belt.Total:1437 dollars.
Car runs awful......I look in the rear fuse box and see that the Secondary injector resistor is unplugged.....I plug it back in.....Car runs ok,not too fast though.
Oh and there is a horrible clacking noise.....The flowmaster exhuast came lose and ripped the exhaust studs out of the manifold....Take it to a different place that works on Jaguars and the like.They replace the studs and reweld the exhaust back on.....1600 dollars.
The welding breaks..I take it back ...Free of charge..I also tell them to check the car over....They add gear fluid in the transmission, Change some fluids,oil change and some other various things.....650 dollars.
Car is slow to me,so I take it back for them to look at it again...
They check electrical and fuel injectors and boost...They also change the plugs again....And i buy a MOMO shift Knob.....238 dollars.
Car still is slow to me......
I buy new tires Yokohama AVS sport......700 dollars....
I take the car down to the Lotus dealer in Charlotte and tell them to fix everything that is broken no matter what...New radiator fan shroud shield...New mirror glass in left side.(it fell off on the drive) New outside door handles.C servioe.New timing belt.Upper and lower cam housing boxes.Gaskets and seals.various missing bolts.New motor mounts,Engine mounting brackets,Front brake pads,Both upper ball joints,Tie rods,gearshift assembly and shift knob(revers collar was broken),New spark plugs,chargecooler impeller and pump.Total:5981 dollars...
Car seems to run ok,but doesnt seem fast to me....
I drive the car for a week......clutch goes to the floor...
70 dollars for rebuild of slave and master cylinder kits,100 for a second steel braided line,the old one had a leak....
Come to find out the clutch fork Where the slave cylinder connects is broke...
Also the gas tank leaks extremely bad.The leather in my front seat is eaten up by gas.....Have no idea how,but it is.And it is not a filler hose leaking through the seatbelt.And this is where i cam now...Oh i forgot,I bought a blow off valve and installed it myself...169 dollars.
Oh and the rear decklid is faded,the rear bumper is poorly painted.The front spoiler needs painting.Some more cosmetics need to be redone too...So this is where i am at now......Lets see,I HAVE SPENT 10,945 IN LESS THAN A YEAR......THE TRANSMISSION NEEDS TO BE DROPPED,THE GAS TANK REPLACED THE LEATHER REDONE..........THIS IS WHY AM I RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE....IVE DECIDED TO DO THE REST MYSELF...WITH THE HELP OF YOU GUYS HOPEFULLY..NOW CAN YOU SEE MY FRUSTRATIONS....I DONT BELIEVE IN HALF ASSING THINGS,BUT IVE SPENT ALOT ON THIS THING AND I HAVENT REALLY EVEN GOTTEN TO ENJOY A TRIP IN IT!!!!SORRY FOR THE RANT.....I FEEL A BIT BETTER......TIME TO GO AND PUSH THE CAR OFF THE JACK STANDS AND BEAT IT WITH A HAMMER..(JUST KIDDING,BUT I FEEL LIKE IT!!!)
ADAM
"LOTUS FROM HELL"
I BOUGHT MY 1990 ESPRIT SE WITH 30,000 MILES ON IT FROM EBAY.I paid what you normally should for this car. This was last December,so it hasnt been a year yet....The car was listed with alot of pictures and the history seemed decent.
I live in NC and the car gets delivered from Michigan.I get the car and it wont even crank....So I have it towed to the Ferrari dealership.They put new rear brakes,new A/C belt,Motor mounts,plugs and wires,ALT belt.Total:1437 dollars.
Car runs awful......I look in the rear fuse box and see that the Secondary injector resistor is unplugged.....I plug it back in.....Car runs ok,not too fast though.
Oh and there is a horrible clacking noise.....The flowmaster exhuast came lose and ripped the exhaust studs out of the manifold....Take it to a different place that works on Jaguars and the like.They replace the studs and reweld the exhaust back on.....1600 dollars.
The welding breaks..I take it back ...Free of charge..I also tell them to check the car over....They add gear fluid in the transmission, Change some fluids,oil change and some other various things.....650 dollars.
Car is slow to me,so I take it back for them to look at it again...
They check electrical and fuel injectors and boost...They also change the plugs again....And i buy a MOMO shift Knob.....238 dollars.
Car still is slow to me......
I buy new tires Yokohama AVS sport......700 dollars....
I take the car down to the Lotus dealer in Charlotte and tell them to fix everything that is broken no matter what...New radiator fan shroud shield...New mirror glass in left side.(it fell off on the drive) New outside door handles.C servioe.New timing belt.Upper and lower cam housing boxes.Gaskets and seals.various missing bolts.New motor mounts,Engine mounting brackets,Front brake pads,Both upper ball joints,Tie rods,gearshift assembly and shift knob(revers collar was broken),New spark plugs,chargecooler impeller and pump.Total:5981 dollars...
Car seems to run ok,but doesnt seem fast to me....
I drive the car for a week......clutch goes to the floor...
70 dollars for rebuild of slave and master cylinder kits,100 for a second steel braided line,the old one had a leak....
Come to find out the clutch fork Where the slave cylinder connects is broke...
Also the gas tank leaks extremely bad.The leather in my front seat is eaten up by gas.....Have no idea how,but it is.And it is not a filler hose leaking through the seatbelt.And this is where i cam now...Oh i forgot,I bought a blow off valve and installed it myself...169 dollars.
Oh and the rear decklid is faded,the rear bumper is poorly painted.The front spoiler needs painting.Some more cosmetics need to be redone too...So this is where i am at now......Lets see,I HAVE SPENT 10,945 IN LESS THAN A YEAR......THE TRANSMISSION NEEDS TO BE DROPPED,THE GAS TANK REPLACED THE LEATHER REDONE..........THIS IS WHY AM I RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE....IVE DECIDED TO DO THE REST MYSELF...WITH THE HELP OF YOU GUYS HOPEFULLY..NOW CAN YOU SEE MY FRUSTRATIONS....I DONT BELIEVE IN HALF ASSING THINGS,BUT IVE SPENT ALOT ON THIS THING AND I HAVENT REALLY EVEN GOTTEN TO ENJOY A TRIP IN IT!!!!SORRY FOR THE RANT.....I FEEL A BIT BETTER......TIME TO GO AND PUSH THE CAR OFF THE JACK STANDS AND BEAT IT WITH A HAMMER..(JUST KIDDING,BUT I FEEL LIKE IT!!!)
ADAM
"LOTUS FROM HELL"
NEVER buy (especially from e-bay) without checking out the car first. If it makes you feel any better, I have spent more than that in the last year and a half. But if you read your own story, everything was really just "routine maintenance" the previous owner never did. Mine was also. Just when I was getting sick of it too (April 2002) it has run perfect every since. That is not to say I haven't spent money on things I chose to have done additional which were not necessary, but that was not the cars fault. Did you realize both the Ferrari dealership and the Lotus dealership replaced your engine mounts? How do you know the car is slow unless you drove a similar car to compare it to? Remember there is not much torque down low. All the repairs you had done had nothing to do with increasing performance. I don't want to scare you but I have heard nightmare stories about the cost of removing fuel tanks. Unless you can do it yourself, get a price quote from someone who can do it before you spend more money on other stuff. Good luck.
Adam,
I would suggest that you call Lotus Cars USA in Atlanta. You can schedule the car in for their top Tech to go over the car. He is based in California and is only in Atlanta every few weeks. He can go over the car mechaniclly and will tell you the straight story. My experiance with Dealers is that they view guys like you as a profit opportunity. I would not take the car to a non-Lotus Dealer unless you find a good shop in your area that has worked on other Lotus's or simular british cars. If you look you can find some good shops out there.
Sorry for the issues you are having. If it makes you fell better, I have owned many Lotus's and have not spent that much money on all of them combined, unless you include performance upgrades.
Roy
[url=www.lotussource.com/My%20Lotus.htm]My Cars[/url]
I would suggest that you call Lotus Cars USA in Atlanta. You can schedule the car in for their top Tech to go over the car. He is based in California and is only in Atlanta every few weeks. He can go over the car mechaniclly and will tell you the straight story. My experiance with Dealers is that they view guys like you as a profit opportunity. I would not take the car to a non-Lotus Dealer unless you find a good shop in your area that has worked on other Lotus's or simular british cars. If you look you can find some good shops out there.
Sorry for the issues you are having. If it makes you fell better, I have owned many Lotus's and have not spent that much money on all of them combined, unless you include performance upgrades.
Roy
[url=www.lotussource.com/My%20Lotus.htm]My Cars[/url]
Ohhhh. So you are the one that bought the car from Michigan that was relisted a few times. I remeber that car. There was a post about that one from a turbo Esprit list member. All potentinal owners the proper steps at buy an Esprit are as follows:
Locate the local club nearest the vehicle and ask for assistance from that club.
In the absense of a local club use the Turbo Esprit list of Samaritans. They have names, addresses, phone numbers, of people not commonly known to most and are very well known and connected in the Lotus community. Through their contacts with other exotic car clubs someone will be able to have a look at the car. There is even a chance they know the car personally or know someone who does.
If you are unable to inspect the car yourself, do not have the knowledge to, or to have someone trusted to do so. Use a third party mechanic to inspect the car.
Fix things that will prevent or hamper the drive home.
Then fly out, pick up your car, and have the time of your life driving it home. For many it is a once in life time event to pick and drive the car home that many just dream of doing. Enjoy the hobby it is a good one.
Regards,
Calvin 90 SE
Locate the local club nearest the vehicle and ask for assistance from that club.
In the absense of a local club use the Turbo Esprit list of Samaritans. They have names, addresses, phone numbers, of people not commonly known to most and are very well known and connected in the Lotus community. Through their contacts with other exotic car clubs someone will be able to have a look at the car. There is even a chance they know the car personally or know someone who does.
If you are unable to inspect the car yourself, do not have the knowledge to, or to have someone trusted to do so. Use a third party mechanic to inspect the car.
Fix things that will prevent or hamper the drive home.
Then fly out, pick up your car, and have the time of your life driving it home. For many it is a once in life time event to pick and drive the car home that many just dream of doing. Enjoy the hobby it is a good one.
Regards,
Calvin 90 SE
I just wanted to say that one of the greatest parts of owning a Lotus for me has been working on the car myself. I have never worked on any car in my life until my Lotus. There are so many resources available to you on this web site and in repair books. I have completed many tasks myself (40+ so far), including new SS Braided clutch lines, rebuild clutch slave cyl., turbo replacement (no small task), vac system trouble shooting, new Spax shocks, drilled rotors and brake pads, O2 sensor, TPS, and soon a new ECM. This is where half the fun is, getting to know your car from the inside out.
I take my Mercedes to the shop, but the Lotus is the car that I own just for the purpose of getting in tune with owning a true sports car. Mine was not in the best of condition when I got it, but over time, I will turn it back into the car it was meant to be. As I make improvements, I take it for test drives. The car is at least 40% quicker than when I purchased it, there is so much satisfaction in knowing that I did all of this myself.
I wish you the best with your car, but I am proof that working on my own Lotus is simply a state of mind. I am no mechanic, but not all-together stupid either. Good luck to you in whatever path you choose for maintaining your Lotus. -ryan
I take my Mercedes to the shop, but the Lotus is the car that I own just for the purpose of getting in tune with owning a true sports car. Mine was not in the best of condition when I got it, but over time, I will turn it back into the car it was meant to be. As I make improvements, I take it for test drives. The car is at least 40% quicker than when I purchased it, there is so much satisfaction in knowing that I did all of this myself.
I wish you the best with your car, but I am proof that working on my own Lotus is simply a state of mind. I am no mechanic, but not all-together stupid either. Good luck to you in whatever path you choose for maintaining your Lotus. -ryan
Way to go Ryan!!!
Become one with the car and it will make you a better driver/owner. Never just take a Esprit to the dealer and say I don't know if there is anything wrong with it but do whatever is required. An blank check is a bad thing to give some of these people and many will regard that particular person as a profit center. After all you must be loaded if you have Lotus right??? I don't know if I would take my car to a Ferrari place, many of those owners do not even wash their own cars and are used to paying over priced service because it is a Ferrari. For the most part we are just regular working guys. Do as much as you can yourself it's part of the hobby for a what I consider a true car guy. A true car guy also lives by unspoken code we all know and live by. Once indentified as such I have not yet had to worry about their trustworthness. I found and met many such people at the Lotus gathering with the right stuff, many were mechanics, dealers, sales people.
Calvin 90 SE
Become one with the car and it will make you a better driver/owner. Never just take a Esprit to the dealer and say I don't know if there is anything wrong with it but do whatever is required. An blank check is a bad thing to give some of these people and many will regard that particular person as a profit center. After all you must be loaded if you have Lotus right??? I don't know if I would take my car to a Ferrari place, many of those owners do not even wash their own cars and are used to paying over priced service because it is a Ferrari. For the most part we are just regular working guys. Do as much as you can yourself it's part of the hobby for a what I consider a true car guy. A true car guy also lives by unspoken code we all know and live by. Once indentified as such I have not yet had to worry about their trustworthness. I found and met many such people at the Lotus gathering with the right stuff, many were mechanics, dealers, sales people.
Calvin 90 SE
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