Most expensive repair

[mickythefish]

The initial message was deleted from this topic on 10 November 2024 at 15:18

[Dashnine]

mickythefish said:

Just watching a video on tiktok about a new lotus emira soneone bought, a bolt has sheared on the waste gate actuator value adjustment screw. Can't replace the screw, so 10k to replace supercharger, wow. Lotus aren't picking up the crab it seems.

Not surprised, they don’t want to get their fingers, er pinched. Now scuttling sideways out of the picture as fast as possible I assume….

[dxg]

Here's the full video - lots of issues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtnSaKklVwo&t=...

A lot of "known" issues with the Emira that I'm only just hearing about. Are these really as common as this guy says? The water leaking through the scuttle panel and breaking the electrics reminds my of my old Smart Roadster!

It was (is?) on my shortlist, simply because they are becoming affordable. Is this why?


(And the guy calls himself an engineer, but keeps calling a sheared bolt a "thread" - clearly not a mechanical engineer, then.)

Edited by dxg on Sunday 10th November 09:58

[TempletonPeck]

I believe this guy bought the car cheap because it had issues which would be sorted out under warranty. I’m only repeating what I’ve read on another forum as I’ve stopped watching him……they say the damage looks likes damage not failure so may not be warranted. This engine setup is in few Lotus cars over the years, any idea how common this particular problem is.

[is-uk]

He is a friend of mine and all the items on his car are being sorted under warranty this week by his local dealer. He loves the car and is just trying to document the ownership experience but to get views requires a bit of sensationalism. He had issues with Lotus Customer services but they have now been resolved and his local dealer seems to be good. Lotus have sent a complete replacement tailgate which is very good considering the affected body section unbolts and they could have told the dealer to just replace this part alone. The aircon issue is a known problem and Lotus have issued a Technical Service Bulletin that covers it and it is covered by warranty and sorted out at a routine service.

The supercharger wastegate issue appears to be something that happened during the first service. The part in question is a thread bar, not a bolt. It has a threaded capture washer on the lower side and a nut on the top. A replacement thread bar has been sent out by Lotus. Reading between the lines I suspect it may have been a simple communication issue between the dealer and Lotus that caused a problem on this when trying to order the replacement part as the thread bar does not have a separate part number on the Lotus parts diagram.

This is the thread bar on my car. It's a simple fix and the issue on the car in question is not down to a parts failure.

[BertBert]

so the £10k bit is just the normal sensationalist youtube video nonsense then?

[is-uk]

BertBert said:

so the £10k bit is just the normal sensationalist youtube video nonsense then?

No, he did get that quote from the dealer. He sent me a copy of it. When I saw what the part was that had been damaged it was obvious that the problem was almost certainly miscommunication between the dealer and the factory. It just needed kicked up a level or two for common sense to prevail as the thread bar is an item that would cost very little. It was one of those situations where I suspect people were saying "the computer says no" as the parts system is/was not detailed sufficiently to show this item separately.

[mickythefish]

So when the dealer says it's your fault and will cost 10k, how is that miscommunication between factory and dealership, sounds like miscommunication between dealer and customer.

[speedluvver]

The guy is a sensationalist… just look at his other videos. Emira recalls are an example.. its had no more than other new cars… including Porsche..

[cayman-black]

To be honest I do like Rich,s videos he is just telling future owners whats in store and that he does love the car. Problems with his car are very common unfortunately just check out the Emira forums, but hey under £60k now for a very low mileage exotic looking car , take a chance.

[BertBert]

Desperately painful youtube nonsense. I wish I'd not watched it. You've got to really like the sound of your own voice to do that stuff.

[Frimley111R]

is-uk said:

BertBert said:

so the £10k bit is just the normal sensationalist youtube video nonsense then?

No, he did get that quote from the dealer. He sent me a copy of it. When I saw what the part was that had been damaged it was obvious that the problem was almost certainly miscommunication between the dealer and the factory. It just needed kicked up a level or two for common sense to prevail as the thread bar is an item that would cost very little. It was one of those situations where I suspect people were saying "the computer says no" as the parts system is/was not detailed sufficiently to show this item separately.

Actually yes. Of course it was. No way was anyone going to replace the whole SC. It was 100% clickbait for his video and channel. To be slightly fair, he's far from the only one to do this. It's common but it cannot be denied that that YT is full of 'The dealer wanted £XX000 to fix this and I fixed it for 35p.' type videos.

[JamieF78]

It's a brand-new model, so there was always going to be issues, very few manufacturers launch new models without problems these days. There's far more expensive cars than the Emira that had problems after launch. I do find it strange though how the tried and tested V6 unit has ANY issues as they have used it for years in the Evora and Exige, something doesn't sit right for me there tbh. I know of 3 locally to me that have had no issues what so ever and the only warning one owner gave me was not to sell my Exige 410 for one as he came from a 350 and said he found that to be the far better car.......and he's 83.

[Frimley111R]

JamieF78 said:

It's a brand-new model, so there was always going to be issues, very few manufacturers launch new models without problems these days. There's far more expensive cars than the Emira that had problems after launch. I do find it strange though how the tried and tested V6 unit has ANY issues as they have used it for years in the Evora and Exige, something doesn't sit right for me there tbh. I know of 3 locally to me that have had no issues what so ever and the only warning one owner gave me was not to sell my Exige 410 for one as he came from a 350 and said he found that to be the far better car.......and he's 83.

Wasn't the only issue the broken bar on the SC or was there something else?

[JamieF78]

Frimley111R said:

Wasn't the only issue the broken bar on the SC or was there something else?

The one in question, I believe so, but I don't follow that chap to know more.

[BertBert]

so for a flight of whataboutery... say that part wasn't available. The angle bracket with the threaded hole in it. What would a Lotus dealer do? Would they engineer a solution - take the bracket off, drill out, re-tap or grind off the captive thread and weld a nut on it? Or order a new SC kit from Lotus and just use the bracket off it?