During driving I got a "critical engine" warning and my power steering intermittently failed, coming in and out for a few minutes - then eventually dying altogether. Battery monitor was showing at the time a low idle voltage of 12.2V and during driving only charging right after lift off of acceleration and back down to 12.4V during throttle. BTW an Emira without power steering is NOT like a car like the Alfa 4C with manual steering, the steering effort at low speeds like parking is crazy heavy, two handed work out crazy.
Galpin Van Nuys service took car in and went through a few rounds with Lotus UK. They replaced the steering pump/motor (AMG has electro-hydro and is in the front of the car) but this did NOT solve the issue. After another round the tech here in Los Angeles did some work on the ground to the steering motor...and eventually identified this issue as a ground issue that was creating resistance in the car's system and causing the steering motor to not work properly. This was identified as a bad ground set at factory during build.
The service at Galpin is world class, they are very good and methodical and the most professional dealer related service center I have worked with. However, the process of going back and forth with Lotus UK does eat lots of days and cycles...my car was over the 30 day mark when it was ultimately fixed on my second visit. Just know regardless of your location all service requests go through a script, waranty work has to be approved by Lotus UK before parts are ordered, etc. It's a process. It might even bring you over the edge into lemon law territory. You might have seen some threads of people with issues, big ones like sand in the engine casing and water cooling system, electrical gremlins, dead power steering, etc. Eventually these will all stabilize with known fixes but the timelines will be very extended.
Anyways it's great to have the car back and with power steering working as it should be. So just in case other I4 owners have power steering go out, check the entire ground system in front of the car and the one the steering motor uses.
Galpin Van Nuys service took car in and went through a few rounds with Lotus UK. They replaced the steering pump/motor (AMG has electro-hydro and is in the front of the car) but this did NOT solve the issue. After another round the tech here in Los Angeles did some work on the ground to the steering motor...and eventually identified this issue as a ground issue that was creating resistance in the car's system and causing the steering motor to not work properly. This was identified as a bad ground set at factory during build.
The service at Galpin is world class, they are very good and methodical and the most professional dealer related service center I have worked with. However, the process of going back and forth with Lotus UK does eat lots of days and cycles...my car was over the 30 day mark when it was ultimately fixed on my second visit. Just know regardless of your location all service requests go through a script, waranty work has to be approved by Lotus UK before parts are ordered, etc. It's a process. It might even bring you over the edge into lemon law territory. You might have seen some threads of people with issues, big ones like sand in the engine casing and water cooling system, electrical gremlins, dead power steering, etc. Eventually these will all stabilize with known fixes but the timelines will be very extended.
Anyways it's great to have the car back and with power steering working as it should be. So just in case other I4 owners have power steering go out, check the entire ground system in front of the car and the one the steering motor uses.
