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

[JimH]

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)....

Picked mine up from Stratton Motor Company today - HVAC "reworked" to use Scott Walker's terminology - HVAC fan now works properly (all speeds from mild to full blast) and aircon and heating all good. Once they had warranty authorisation approval and the part (fan resistor module) received from Lotus it took around a day and a half to fit - pretty much a full front-end strip down including front wings (fenders!) off, and many parts removed to reach it, including aircon pipes (retrieve and regas), remove radiator fan, unbolt and move front crossmember, etc. The full process is described in the service notes. Car came back Fully valeted and like a new car handover all over again!

 

[FlashingBlade]

Because mine is intermittent, I've got to wait for it to go wrong again and video it. Of course, it wouldn't play ball when it was in at the dealers for review.

 

[JimH]

Because mine is intermittent, I've got to wait for it to go wrong again and video it. Of course, it wouldn't play ball when it was in at the dealers for review.

It’ll pack up completely soon enough - just drive it in the wet a couple of times more….

 

[Biggles of Norwich]

It’ll pack up completely soon enough - just drive it on the wet a couple of times more….

Yes, that was my experience, intermittent, then total failure.

 

[Porter]

Anybody want to place wagers on whether the US cars that are currently being shipped to dealers still have this problem?

 

[PJS]

Mines booked in for a new HVAC system first week in January, Been slowly getting less effective over last couple of months and now goes a bit random.

 

[SteveB]

I collected my Emira at the beginning of July and from the outset there were some electrical/software glitches - which I had planned on having fixed at its first service. Lotus called me following the customer survey I completed and insisted that I took it to a service agent. So I took it to Central Lotus in Nottingham and I have to say between Lotus Customer Care and Central Lotus everything went well, including the courtesy car with Enterprise.

While at Central Lotus I noticed several Emira’s in for warranty repairs - most needing replacement resistor packs. Seems this is a very common fault on early Emiras as the resistor pack is not sealed in place so water can easily penetrate and damage the unit. All it needs to trigger the fault is to be driven in the wet a couple of times! The resistor pack itself is a small black box with numerous electrical spade connections on one side. It plugs into the heater/aircon fan unit. To get at it requires the whole front of the car to be removed - a 9h job! When my fan unit was checked they found it too was not working properly (which was not one of the faults I had noticed) so the resistor pack was replaced in addition to a full software update & the car is now working perfectly (touchwood!).

I am guessing all Emiras produced before mine will have the same issue and at some point they will require the resistor pack to be replaced. Should be a recall really. Hopefully, now the problem has been identified, a fix will have been implemented (a simple gasket or silicone sealant!) for new build cars.

 

[Porter]

I collected my Emira at the beginning of July and from the outset there were some electrical/software glitches - which I had planned on having fixed at its first service. Lotus called me following the customer survey I completed and insisted that I took it to a service agent. So I took it to Central Lotus in Nottingham and I have to say between Lotus Customer Care and Central Lotus everything went well, including the courtesy car with Enterprise.

While at Central Lotus I noticed several Emira’s in for warranty repairs - most needing replacement resistor packs. Seems this is a very common fault on early Emiras as the resistor pack is not sealed in place so water can easily penetrate and damage the unit. All it needs to trigger the fault is to be driven in the wet a couple of times! The resistor pack itself is a small black box with numerous electrical spade connections on one side. It plugs into the heater/aircon fan unit. To get at it requires the whole front of the car to be removed - a 9h job! When my fan unit was checked they found it too was not working properly (which was not one of the faults I had noticed) so the resistor pack was replaced in addition to a full software update & the car is now working perfectly (touchwood!).

I am guessing all Emiras produced before mine will have the same issue and at some point they will require the resistor pack to be replaced. Should be a recall really. Hopefully, now the problem has been identified, a fix will have been implemented (a simple gasket or silicone sealant!) for new build cars.

The design should have been sealed/waterproof from the start, with proper rubber gasketed terminations and a gasket-sealed housing. The very suggestion that "silicone" is a valid fix for this sort of design problem is crazy, from my perspective.

 

[Robbierob]

Just came back from my Lotus dealer. They checked everything and found out that the blower resistance seems to be defect. They ordered the part. Lets wait until the part arrives and hopefully it will work

Finally the part arrived and my dealer changed the defect one. This toke 7 hours. Everything is working fine now. Firts time that i could regulate the fan. Also a software update was made which fixed several problems like SOS warning.

 

[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.

Now fixed, including 2 software updates, which appear to have triggered the SOS error message. HVAC now working better than it ever has, and I'm very impressed with the service received from Stratton Motor Company (in the UK).

 

[JohnHoward]

Mine is booked in tomorrow for the heater repair and has had odd tornado moments where the fan came on even with the fan switched off whilst drving. Interesingly today when I went to start the car, the battery was completely flat despite being driven extensively over the past days and weeks. Lotus Assist attended and found that the heater fan motor was on permanently even with the car locked and alarmed! This resulted in the battery being drained. With my agreement, they left the battery disconnected so that I can reconnect it tomorrow before I take it in to get it fixed.

I assume that this final stage where the battery is drained like this means that the part is well and truly broken. If you have this issue, please be aware that this could happen, so watch that you do not get stranded. I know for certain that the heater motor was not running when I left and locked the car last time I used it, so it must have started to short (or whatever the fault is) when the vehicle was unattended.

It will be very nice to have a working heater again especially with the condensation that you get inside the car at this time of year. It reminds me of when I first started driving many years ago when you had to steer with one hand and the other hand is constantly wiping the window with a cloth, because the heaters used to be hopeless!

 

[Robbierob]

Mine is booked in tomorrow for the heater repair and has had odd tornado moments where the fan came on even with the fan switched off whilst drving. Interesingly today when I went to start the car, the battery was completely flat despite being driven extensively over the past days and weeks. Lotus Assist attended and found that the heater fan motor was on permanently even with the car locked and alarmed! This resulted in the battery being drained. With my agreement, they left the battery disconnected so that I can reconnect it tomorrow before I take it in to get it fixed.

I assume that this final stage where the battery is drained like this means that the part is well and truly broken. If you have this issue, please be aware that this could happen, so watch that you do not get stranded. I know for certain that the heater motor was not running when I left and locked the car last time I used it, so it must have started to short (or whatever the fault is) when the vehicle was unattended.

It will be very nice to have a working heater again especially with the condensation that you get inside the car at this time of year. It reminds me of when I first started driving many years ago when you had to steer with one hand and the other hand is constantly wiping the window with a cloth, because the heaters used to be hopeless!

I had the same: an empty battery within one day. Seems to be a defect heater relay. Hope after my repair it will not happen again.

 

[Nellie]

Now fixed, including 2 software updates, which appear to have triggered the SOS error message. HVAC now working better than it ever has, and I'm very impressed with the service received from Stratton Motor Company (in the UK).

Biggles, how well does yours work following the repair?

I had mine repaired and I find the AC system performance underwhelming, the other day my screen was misted and switched on the screen demist button, whilst it blew air it was minimal and took ages to do anything, I actually found selecting screen airflow on the screen and manually selecting the highest fan speed made some difference.

The fan speeds don't feel great even post repair, although it at least now works which is an improvement and the car is comfortable temperature wise

My Range Rover for example sounds like a tornado blowing when you put screen demist on.

Be good to hear your feedback on fan speeds etc

 

[Kimmax]

Biggles, how well does yours work following the repair?

I had mine repaired and I find the AC system performance underwhelming, the other day my screen was misted and switched on the screen demist button, whilst it blew air it was minimal and took ages to do anything, I actually found selecting screen airflow on the screen and manually selecting the highest fan speed made some difference.

The fan speeds don't feel great even post repair, although it at least now works which is an improvement and the car is comfortable temperature wise

My Range Rover for example sounds like a tornado blowing when you put screen demist on.

Be good to hear your feedback on fan speeds etc

If they work correctly they sound like a jet on max. Note that the engine needs to be running for maximum performance. See video of mine below after replacement.

 

[JohnHoward]

Mine is booked in tomorrow for the heater repair and has had odd tornado moments where the fan came on even with the fan switched off whilst drving. Interesingly today when I went to start the car, the battery was completely flat despite being driven extensively over the past days and weeks. Lotus Assist attended and found that the heater fan motor was on permanently even with the car locked and alarmed! This resulted in the battery being drained. With my agreement, they left the battery disconnected so that I can reconnect it tomorrow before I take it in to get it fixed.

I assume that this final stage where the battery is drained like this means that the part is well and truly broken. If you have this issue, please be aware that this could happen, so watch that you do not get stranded. I know for certain that the heater motor was not running when I left and locked the car last time I used it, so it must have started to short (or whatever the fault is) when the vehicle was unattended.

It will be very nice to have a working heater again especially with the condensation that you get inside the car at this time of year. It reminds me of when I first started driving many years ago when you had to steer with one hand and the other hand is constantly wiping the window with a cloth, because the heaters used to be hopeless!

Mine is fixed now, it was the heater resistor and it was replaced. It took just over a day for the repair, I dropped it in first thing on Thurs and it was ready mid morning on the Friday. Usual excellent service from Oakmere Lotus in Northwich, Cheshire. Car was sparkling clean when I collected it and it was sheer luxury to have a working heater for the drive home and no more condensation!

 

[Robbierob]

If they work correctly they sound like a jet on max. Note that the engine needs to be running for maximum performance. See video of mine below after replacement.

This is how it needs to be. With my defect relay I had only fan speed less than level 1…

 

[Kimmax]

This is how it needs to be. With my defect relay I had only fan speed less than level 1…

Also check that your direction isn’t stuck. My would only "baby blow" into the foot area which made matters even worse

 

[Biggles of Norwich]

Biggles, how well does yours work following the repair?

I had mine repaired and I find the AC system performance underwhelming, the other day my screen was misted and switched on the screen demist button, whilst it blew air it was minimal and took ages to do anything, I actually found selecting screen airflow on the screen and manually selecting the highest fan speed made some difference.

The fan speeds don't feel great even post repair, although it at least now works which is an improvement and the car is comfortable temperature wise

My Range Rover for example sounds like a tornado blowing when you put screen demist on.

Be good to hear your feedback on fan speeds etc

The fan on max speed now sounds like a jet engine, noisier than in any other car I have been in. As for the efficiency of demisting, it seems to need AC on to keep demisted until the inside is fully warmed up. I press the dmist button and let it do its own thing. Haven't driven it enough yet post fix to be sure how it really performs though.

 

[PJS]

Mines back, HVAC replaced, all good. Even better are a new set of tyres and alignment done. Along with a tweak to the clutch biting point, the car now feels sublime, like that first few weeks warm fuzzy feeling.

 

[Nick Sticks]

Mines back, HVAC replaced, all good. Even better are a new set of tyres and alignment done. Along with a tweak to the clutch biting point, the car now feels sublime, like that first few weeks warm fuzzy feeling.

Why the tweak to the clutch bite point?
Was it too high or too low?