UPDATED: A Cautionary Tale – Lucky White Heather :(

[Stewart]

As some of you may be aware, I have my S2 111S up for sale and had agreed a sale to a Frenchman living in Belgium.

I was due to pick up Antoine and his brother from EDI last night and they were to stay in a local B&B and drive the car home over Saturday and Sunday.

As the car hadn’t turned a wheel for nearly 4 weeks, I decided to take out the battery and charge it as it was almost flat –not enough juice to start the car left.

With a million things running through my mind last night I went to reconnect the battery and fire up the elise. I wrestled to fit the battery into the tray, connected the +ve first and when I went to connect the negative, I got a very small spark but noticed the terminal didn’t quite fit …. I knew immediately .

I had put the battery back in 180° the wrong way round. I had reversed the terminals. I was also aware from reading forums previously that this would very likely have fried the ECU.

At that point the pit of my stomach hit the floor. I couldn’t believe it. Could I have gotten away with it? I quickly swapped the battery around, jumped into the seat, unarmed the alarm. All looked good, dash lit up as normal, fuel pump primed and the car turned over when I turned the key. Alas it will not fire. The damage had indeed been done.

By this time it was about 7pm and Antoine was due to be on a plane at about 9pm. I quickly phoned him – luckily I had the foresight to get his contact no - as I had not yet spoken to him. His brother answered. They were already at the airport having gotten the train there. To begin with he didn’t understand what I was telling him. Neither him nor I could believe it. It was important that I reached them before they headed for Scotland.

I started searching SE and SELOC for similar instances and they all came up the same - 99% chance of fried ECU and possible other damage. In vain I check some fuses next to the ECU but unfortunately they were all OK.

Antoine didn’t respond to last night’s text or email or even this morning’s email. I assumed that he thought that I had done the dirty to him and sold it to someone else. He would clearly be very disappointed as this was to be his first Lotus. Thankfully he came back to me tonight, obviously gutted but understanding.

This morning I spoke to Danny McKenzie a local Auto Electrician who was recommended on here. He was very friendly however he had hurt his back and was laid up not having worked this week.

I will speak to MMC on Monday although I am not sure how I will get the car there. I need this sorted fairly quickly as Antoine is still hoping to buy the car and my insurance expires on 26th November.

My 2 second mistake is going to cost me a shed load of cash as I will need to drop the price to cover Antoine’s out of pocket expenses and the repair to the car. Looking at the forums, 111S ECUs can be on back order at Lotus and a quick PM to Junks on SELOC reveals that he doesn’t have one. I am open to any suggestions on where to find a used one. It must be an 111S Lotus K4 160 unit (part no. A117M0109F ) which is different to the 120bhp elise unit.

I will post a separate thread on Technical in case anyone has any useful advice. Robin has kindly provided some assistance via PM, so big thanks to him.

So if you have gotten this far down, please take care and don’t be a knob like me – it is looking oh so very expensive. It also highlights the risks with dealing with a foreign buyer – yes they may be willing to pay slightly more, but if something should go wrong there can be quite a bit more expense involved.

Also, always remove the –ve terminal first and when reconnecting, put it on last. If you have easy access to the terminals, the battery is the wrong way round! Just remember, nothing is easy to access on a Lotus!

Thanks for “listening”, I’m now away for a stiff drink!

Stewart

[philthy]

Feel your pain, I once had a chap fly up from down south to view my s1 Exige and that morning it chose to refuse to start knackering the battery trying, couldnt get a hold of the guy before he left too.

It was an awkward conversation all the way from my house back to the airport!

[renmure]

Also feel your pain here. When selling my Esprit GT3 I decided to start it for one last time on the night before they buyer was due to fly up from Norwich. Cue .. lots of oil spurting all over the floor as the pipe to the oil cooler burst. Fortunately I managed to contact him and he was ok about things. He collected it a week later. I was £1300 less well off. Lotus eh!!

[tut]

Must be something different between ECU's Stewart, I have done the same on N1 and N3 even though the battery terminals are different sizes, but with no problems other than feeling a twat.

Must be because mine are Honda's, but would have thought if it does it to one it would to the other.

tut

[simon]

I am open to any suggestions on where to find a used one. It must be an 111S Lotus K4 160 unit (part no. A117M0109F ) which is different to the 120bhp elise unit.

Sorry to hear it Stewart, there was a guy on here wrote off his 111S last week though, you might be able to pilfer the ECU from that.

Edit: here's the thread: http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... =2&t=32103

[j2 lot]

Hope you get it sorted and it isn't too financially damaging.

The law of sod can be cruel.

[Alex 111s]

I am open to any suggestions on where to find a used one. It must be an 111S Lotus K4 160 unit (part no. A117M0109F ) which is different to the 120bhp elise unit.

Sorry to hear it Stewart, there was a guy on here wrote off his 111S last week though, you might be able to pilfer the ECU from that.

Edit: here's the thread: http://www.scottishelises.com/phpbb/vie ... =2&t=32103

Hi Stewart - I feel for you.

my car is still in the hands of the insurers waiting their final decision. (although inevitable) Last I heard was on Friday when the bodyshop was waiting for prices to for parts.

[woody]

There was a thread on Seloc a few months ago where someone had a specialist down south reprogramme a 120bhp K4 to suit the S2 vvc. Have a search in technical.

[Stewart]

There was a thread on Seloc a few months ago where someone had a specialist down south reprogramme a 120bhp K4 to suit the S2 vvc. Have a search in technical.

Thanks Woody, I did see that but I think there were a few "experts" who thought that this was not an easy route and could still end up with issues. For a number of reasons, I would like this issue resolved quickly and at the first time of asking. If I were keeping the car I would certainly investigate this further. Thanks

Must be something different between ECU's Stewart, I have done the same on N1 and N3 even though the battery terminals are different sizes, but with no problems other than feeling a twat.

Must be because mine are Honda's, but would have thought if it does it to one it would to the other.

tut

Yeah, seems a strange set up Tut. The auto electrician I spoke to also thought it strange, but there is enough evidence in the forums to confirm my fears. Unless it is something really simple *fingers crossed*

Guys, thank you for your tales of similar types of experiences . It does help to know that I am not the only one to have suffered similar fates.

[Stewart]

I sent the ECU for repair but I also need some further remote diagnosis from Robin via SE (thanks again) to lead me to a blown fuse . After that the car was as good as new. The deal was back on.

It is now gone! Picked the boys up from the airport last night and they stayed in a local B&B. They looked over the car this morning and took a short test drive. Antoine was very happy with his new purchase so I waved them off into the distance with mixed emotions. I was very happy for him as he was fulfilling a dream (like all of us) in owning his first lotus. I was glad that the traumatic experience of reversed polarity is behind me. However I am also a bit sad to see the car go.

The truth is I never really bonded with the car. It was a superb car and I do not believe that there will be many better 111Ss out there. The trouble is that it isn't an exige if you know what I mean. I think I realised I was doing the right thing when I went to pick some pictures for the advert - I didn't have any. That is something that I wasn't aware of. I had loads of my S1 and my exige at various locations - but other than a handful taken on my drive there were none at all at picturesque locations.

When I bought the car, I bought it with my head and not my heart. I knew that the 111S K series was a great engine for the road. I knew that I wouldn't have too much money tied up in a weekend toy. I knew that tax and insurance would be cheap along with the tyres (compared to 048s). It just wasn't the brightly coloured exige that I would never tire of looking at. Most of you will know what I mean in that you always turn to look back at your lotus after you park it. I always used to do this with the exige and S1, but seldom did it with the 111S. Really hard to explain as it is such a good looking car particularly with the roof on.

As I said, a tremendous car and I would recommend a S2 111S to anyone looking for a lotus in that kind of price range. Now I will try and hold off for at least a couple of months before replacing it. In the meantime expect some questions about exige S's

P.S.
The main reason I sold my exige is as I detested what felt like a lack of oomph before hitting the second cam. I think the k series VVC is way better in that respect.

[r055]

Well done in closing that chapter Stewart.
Sad to see another one disappear out of scotland and my arse was twitching reading your posts on this over past week or two...
... That's the kind of thing that would happen to me!

Look forward to hearing about and seeing the new exige when it comes.