Dreaded Clutch Problem (Sport350)

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rawsco
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by rawsco » Sat Sep 22, 2018 11:54 am

campbell wrote:
Fri Sep 21, 2018 6:21 pm
Ross, very sorry to hear of the hassle. This will be a stern test of our other "local" dealer.
Thanks, so far so good, and no cause for concern yet, I understand they are attempting to protect them selfs in the chance that lotus decide not to cover the repair under warranty. They seem to be trying harder now that I have politely reminded them the manufacturer warranty is in addition to my consumer rights, the obligation for which lies with them as the retailer and not Lotus. The only thing that pissed me off is them asking me to underwrite the costs for parts and labour for a 30hour job on a lotus approved used car that’s been inspected and signed off and covered only 600 miles since collection. 250 of which are from and to dealer and mostly on motorway.

They called me last thing on Friday and have now got Lotus involved and are awaiting a response from them. Hopefully it’s to authorise the new clutch and repair work and make this all go away.
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by c8rkh » Sat Sep 22, 2018 2:30 pm

The main issue I have is that the dealers are there to make sure you do not have to get embroiled in the politics/two-ing and fro-ing that can go on between the dealer and the manufacturer.
They know absolutely what your consumer rights are but seem to play "dumb" no doubt because they think the average Joe is dumb enough to not push it or not clued up enough on their rights. And dealers wonder why they and the industry they are in gets such a bad name at times.
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by DDtB » Sat Sep 22, 2018 2:48 pm

Not sure if you've seen this thread...

https://forums.seloc.org/viewthread.php ... pid7849116

OP said...
"My 2016 exige v6 has issues a couple of weeks back on driving home as could not select gears whilst engine running...lots of matching of revs and starting in gear got me home.
Dealers advise a tear down of the car and clutch out for inspection. Car has done only 10k in 2 its years and 6.6k in my ownership and has not been on track and has been used predominantly for commuting to work...a bit pampered. It was the dealers demo car before and evidently was also looked after with kid gloves by them evidently....?
Dealer has asked that I underwrite the cost of the tear down..10 hours/ £1200 labour....to establish the cause....not impressed...but with no other way of getting the car assessed I dont have much choice.
Their take is that its likely mechanical failure rather than the clutch being worn out. If its a mech failure then no worries as lotus will pick up the cost of repair under warranty.
If not I was told that a new clutch, if wear and tear would cost £5k....WTF!!!!"

Randy at Hoffmans said......

"Those symptoms suggest that the problem is the release bearing binding and any accelerated wear will be a consequence of that happening - this is the most common issue on V6 Exiges that I have come across. Its a warranty repair... "

Outcome for the OP...
"New clutch assembly replaced under warranty....a big sigh of relief.
Rivet gubbins in clutch assembly parted company so a mechanical failure. Evidently dealer had one with same issue recently but not a known fault?
Phoned today to chase up diagnosis to be told that car was fixed, service fee and ready for collection.
Glad all sorted and can’t wait to get the car back👍"



Sounds like the dealers are covering themselves in case it's a wear issue. They'd be daft just to diagnose over the phone and say definitely warranty I guess.

From that thread and others though, sounds like you'll be ok :thumbsup


As for the Evora clutch exploding at 30k miles... it's like the 911s that all have engines explode with bearing issues etc... or if you google any health issues the internet will tell you that you've got cancer and the bad aids etc.

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rawsco
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by rawsco » Sat Sep 22, 2018 8:04 pm

Yes seen that DDtB almost exactly my issue and commensurate with my experience and other threads on the various lotus forums / groups. The guys have had it for over a week to investigate and still have it. I took the tech for a spin and he spotted the problem immediately so nothing diagnosed over the phone and plenty of time for them to investigate and test in the workshop.
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Simon82
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by Simon82 » Sat Sep 22, 2018 11:32 pm

Sorry to hear about your issues Rawsco and hope it is resolved ASAP. My car has only done 1500 miles and is showing the symptoms already. Will be putting it in for investigation soon and so keen to hear how things transpire with you.
Assuming it’s Hayton you are dealing with?
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by rawsco » Sun Sep 23, 2018 9:38 am

Simon, how was your car on track? I didn’t really think there was a problem until on track. I just assumed that it was me miss timing shifts getting used to the transmission until I was unable to put a smooth lap together and get it into gear. 2nd was murder unless I left the shift right till the last minute so the revs had dropped right down. I eventually gave up and just left it in 3rd for hairpin as it was leaving me too much to do at turn in and I was gonna end up going off.
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by Simon82 » Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:05 am

Mine was ok on track to be honest. Main issue I have is when stationary and going for first gear. Can take a few attempts to engage and jerks the car forward which would suggest the clutch isn’t fully disengaging.
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by rawsco » Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:16 am

Simon82 wrote:
Sun Sep 23, 2018 10:05 am
Mine was ok on track to be honest. Main issue I have is when stationary and going for first gear. Can take a few attempts to engage and jerks the car forward which would suggest the clutch isn’t fully disengaging.
Hayton tech mentioned that can also be a cable adjustment issue, said they come out the factory pretty crap from time to time. Does it still do it even with the clutch in for several seconds? Mine is fine if you put clutch in and wait a couple of seconds before slotting it in.
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by DougT » Sun Sep 23, 2018 1:19 pm

I have the same problem dropping into second. It’s always been there but much worse now, with mileage approaching 25k. I’m pretty sure it is the cable adjustment and stretching / wear through time which have made it worse. It used to be ok if I remembered to change gear like a granny on a Sunday afternoon but is near impossible now. Thankfully I’ve had no problems with the clutch yet🤞


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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by Andy G » Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:07 am

Guys if you are getting the clutch done - its only £700 for an LSD which they can do at the same time I believe and is otherwise an engine out job.

Well worth getting done if theres major work getting done.
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by rawsco » Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:37 am

Andy G wrote:
Mon Sep 24, 2018 9:07 am
Guys if you are getting the clutch done - its only £700 for an LSD which they can do at the same time I believe and is otherwise an engine out job.

Well worth getting done if theres major work getting done.
The thought has crossed my mind Andy. was looking at this one...
http://www.hangar111.com/shop/lotus-exi ... ntial.html
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by Ferg » Mon Sep 24, 2018 10:12 pm

Sorry to hear this, hope you resolve it successfully.

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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem

Post by C7Steve » Tue Sep 25, 2018 10:45 am

Will the fitting of a LSD work with the Tour/Sport/Race settings?


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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem (Sport350)

Post by rawsco » Thu Sep 27, 2018 1:42 pm

Just had an update from dealer: Lotus field engineer coming out to inspect the car further update on Monday.

Time in dealer now 12 days, and obviously not gonna get it back this weekend.

Still remaining positive.
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Re: Dreaded Clutch Problem (Sport350)

Post by rawsco » Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:37 am

Not much of an update from the Engineer inspection on Monday, apparently they didn’t offer any feedback to the dealer and went back to lotus with the findings. Dealer awaiting to hear from them.

Time off the road at the dealer now 17 days
I certainly won’t be collecting this weekend so by the time I do all going well it’ll have been off the road 1 month in 3 months ownership.

I’ll await their feedback today if nothing I’ll email and state my expectations to have a repair completed by 20th which is a reasonable amount of time. If not then I’ll march on with the rejection process. Starting to get rather irked by this now.

I’ve also enquired as to how the car is being stored, I.e. is it dry stored. Also with respect to insurance cover as the car is expected to be garaged at my home address overnight after 10pm.
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