Air con known issue -no fix yet [EDIT: now with official fix]

[FlashingBlade]

Thanks, I'll give them a call on Monday. Now I've got over the 1000 mile break in I'm not too fussed about someone coming to pick it up and no doubt thrash it back to the dealer

 

[Mh59]

I'm having a problem with my aircon, does this sound related?

With mine, my fan/air con isnt coming on reliably. Take this morning, got in the car and after driving about 50 yards it started to mist up, okay, turn on the demist button - nothing. Turn the blowers up maximum manually using the rotary dial - nothing.

I pulled over and wiped a portal in the windscreen so that I could see and carried on and then after about five minutes of driving, the fans kicked in. It happened like this twice today. I need the fans/demist to work from the minute I get in the car, not ten minutes down the road.

Same problem for me. Seems a common fault. I’ve had my car 11 months and it started about a couple of weeks ago. One thing after another with the recalls. It’s getting serviced soon so I will line it all up to be done at the same time.

 

[Kimmax]

I'm going in on the 14th, complete big heating "box" under the hood to be replaced

It's been replaced. Everything works now and what can I say... it never worked before as it should've. If your aircon "kinda blows strong" on max, it's not fully working. If I turn mine to max now it sounds like there's a jet engine on board.

 

[Kimmax]

Same problem for me. Seems a common fault. I’ve had my car 11 months and it started about a couple of weeks ago. One thing after another with the recalls. It’s getting serviced soon so I will line it all up to be done at the same time.

Exactly my scenario. Lotus should be aware on how to fix this.

 

[Kimmax]

For reference, this is how strong it gets. The sound is not over saturated on the video, that’s really how it is. It turns that high with the engine running, on battery it’s limited for obvious reasons. It spools up over a period of 20ish seconds until it reaches max speed

 

[nimbusblack]

So my interior fans now run with NO ignition, turn car off and lock, interior fans still going. Come back to car 10 mins later, still going. They are blowing direct upto the windscreen.

I’ve had to disconnect the battery now and will chase B&C on Monday as I’m waiting for part for the air con to be fixed.

 

[Kimmax]

It's getting ridiculous. Car made it to the first rain, now aircon isn't working again. Back to square one -_-

 

[Kimmax]

It's getting ridiculous. Car made it to the first rain, now aircon isn't working again. Back to square one -_-

It's been fixed again. Now it was the resistor - full of water!

Here comes the fun part: As you can read in this thread, Lotus is aware of the issue and is producing sealed replacements. They use silicon for sealing. Since my whole "heating box" was replaced, it included the new sealed resistor already. Well, if it weren't for a pin-head-sized hole in the seal... Since my old resistor from the broken box was still good we swapped this one in and it's working fine. Sealed it manually. Should be the end of the air-con nightmare.

If it wasn't that sad the whole story would be pretty funny!

 

[nimbusblack]

Mine too is now sorted, B&C replaced the resister pack with a new sealed one + additional dealer sealing where it meets the loom (think thats what the service manager said)

I also had new wiper motor and a new raft of software updates after only having them done last month there is more come through apparently,

Only had the car a day pretty much as they have done so many now it takes them about 5hrs as opposed to the 9+hr plus its supposed too.

 

[JimH]

Mine too is now sorted, B&C replaced the resister pack with a new sealed one + additional dealer sealing where it meets the loom (think thats what the service manager said)

I also had new wiper motor and a new raft of software updates after only having them done last month there is more come through apparently,

Only had the car a day pretty much as they have done so many now it takes them about 5hrs as opposed to the 9+hr plus its supposed too.

Mine's now at Stratton Motor Company awaiting the same fan resistor pack fix.....

 

[JohnHoward]

Another victim of the heater fault! Had the car since mid April and I am just on 6K miles. I thought that the heater wasn't working properly a couple of weeks ago and then it seemed OK. Not working at all now no matter what settings it is on. Service centre need the car for 2 days, but wil be early January when they have availability and parts. Have asked for a courtesy car and have been advised that a fee is chargeable for a courtesy car from 1st Jan.

 

[Kimmax]

Have asked for a courtesy car and have been advised that a fee is chargeable for a courtesy car from 1st Jan.

To be fair the Roast side assistance states

If possible, Lotus Cars will organize a replacement vehicle to continue your journey with a maximum of 5 business days.

However, having to wait till January for an appointment stinks

 

[emirahl]

To be fair the Roast side assistance states


However, having to wait till January for an appointment stinks

I am waiting for an appointment since August.

No service center within almost 400 km near Munich, where they have their Flag Ship showroom !!!!

 

[nimbusblack]

i waited two weeks for the part, was booked in two days later, finished in a day and i got a Magma red Emira as a courtesy car no fee. Bell and Colville rock!

 

[JimH]

@TomE - as there is now a fix for this known issue can the thread title be updated please?

 

[Kimmax]

I am waiting for an appointment since August.

Is this the shop where you bought it? In that case, you should've set a timeframe for them to fix (do it now, you need the legal grounds) and push for withdrawal otherwise. If you follow through or not, that should set priorities in order. Keywords to search for: Sachmängelhaftung / Angemessene Nachfrist. Hint: Since it's cold outside and your window could fog up unexpectedly this is a safety issue - a "erheblicher Mangel" - which risks "Verkehrssicherheit und Betriebsbereitschaft"

 

[emirahl]

Is this the shop where you bought it? In that case, you should've set a timeframe for them to fix (do it now, you need the legal grounds) and push for withdrawal otherwise. If you follow through or not, that should set priorities in order. Keywords to search for: Sachmängelhaftung / Angemessene Nachfrist. Hint: Since it's cold outside and your window could fog up unexpectedly this is a safety issue - a "erheblicher Mangel" - which risks "Verkehrssicherheit und Betriebsbereitschaft"

I do not want to go the tough legal road yet for several reasons.
First of all the car is in winter storage now, which gives Lotus another 8-10 weeks to sort it out with their new service center, which I called by the way. They now estimate to be ready in January. Before they told me October, therefore I believed I am fine before winter storage. Another reason is that the contractual partner is not Lotus but a dealer. At the time of purchasing their was a service center in my area, but no dealer!! Now itmismthenother way round. So it is not really the dealers fault, although he would be responsible as seller. He is offering to do the re-calls of course but insisting that I bring the car 400 km to him. Which brings me back to square one. Re-call for brakes, safety concern and so on.
My next approach is to use paragraph 4 of their warranty clause which says Lotus can approve a qualified workshop to do the work. I believe their former service center should be more than qualified.
Anyway, back to aircon topic. 2 times my aircon started blowing like crazy. 2 times it was o.k. again after switching off and on the aircon. However, I believe something to monitor during next summer.
Otherwise I love the car and so far it performed like a Swiss Clock.
If there would not be the brake re-call I would not really bother anyway. They want to change my whiper motor and do software update. My wipers are perfectly alright and I am afraid that I will get trouble through the software update which I do not have in the moment.

 

[Nellie]

My aircon is now working, they fitted a new "hedgehog" unit as they call it.

Interestingly there was a further couple of updates applied to the ECU for the aircon controller, they said that there are new updates flying out of Lotus constantly for the cars.

They had the car for 2 1/2 days but I had a courtesy car and with it now working I am happy

Fingers crossed the car is reliable now that I have had all the known recalls and aircon resolved

 

[Biggles of Norwich]

HVAC on mine (July 23 build) has been "interesting" from the start. As my initial miles were with AC on for cooling, and it worked reasonably well, I thought there was no problem. But first time out in the cold and rain, I had to have max demist on with AC to stop the windows misting up. Switch AC off, and they misted up quickly. Never had this problem with any other car. Fan has never seemed to be very powerful, even at max setting, although once it did sound a bit rough.
Today I went out in the rain and there was no heater fan at all, which made life a bit, how would you say, "tricky"? Waiting for return call to book in for repair with Stratton Motor Company. I really appreciate this forum, and in particular those posting on it, for sharing their experiences.
I absolutely love the car though, and the reaction of others to it - so very positive (so far!), everyone seems to love it. Magma Red 1st Edn V6 manual, Silver Wheels, Red Calipers, privacy glass. Closest I could get to my ideal spec on the cancelled orders list, reduced my wait down to a week.

 

[JimH]

HVAC on mine (July 23 build) has been "interesting" from the start. As my initial miles were with AC on for cooling, and it worked reasonably well, I thought there was no problem. But first time out in the cold and rain, I had to have max demist on with AC to stop the windows misting up. Switch AC off, and they misted up quickly. Never had this problem with any other car. Fan has never seemed to be very powerful, even at max setting, although once it did sound a bit rough.
Today I went out in the rain and there was no heater fan at all, which made life a bit, how would you say, "tricky"? Waiting for return call to book in for repair with Stratton Motor Company. I really appreciate this forum, and in particular those posting on it, for sharing their experiences.
I absolutely love the car though, and the reaction of others to it - so very positive (so far!), everyone seems to love it. Magma Red 1st Edn V6 manual, Silver Wheels, Red Calipers, privacy glass. Closest I could get to my ideal spec on the cancelled orders list, reduced my wait down to a week.

Strattons are doing mine now (same issue, built around the same time) so they will have had some practice already - I believe it's quoted at 9 hours and the service notes show virtually a full front-end strip down to reach the fan resistor part that lets water in.....

It will have been there 3 weeks come tomorrow (although to be fair the first 2 weeks were diagnosis and then waiting for parts and warranty authorisation from Hethel)....