Anyone with Valve motor faults after installing Milltek valve controller?

[Tracked Emira]

 

[kitkat]

View attachment 66202

Check to see if you’ve blown fuse #15 in the fuse box under the hood. Which version of the valve controller and is your valve controller positioned behind the license plate?

 

[Tracked Emira]

Version 1 will burn harness wire at the valve moror unless you heat wrap it, which was not in the installation instructions.
So Wrap it because you will eventually have it fry and fail.
Version 2 is the way to go, but after the installation there is still a fault code and car can't rev above 4k. Then went back to stock and it is still an issue so I will take it back to dealer to see if the valve motor was or went bad. After installing Milltek originally, there was no difference in sound after clicking through buttons so I wonder if the valve motor was always bad. Anyone have a similar issue and what was the issue and result?

 

[Tracked Emira]

Check to see if you’ve blown fuse #15 in the fuse box under the hood. Which version of the valve controller and is your valve controller positioned behind the license plate?

Fuse was not blown
The Version 1 valve controller was far away. It was the wire that goes to valve motor that was fried. Milltek sent Vesrsion 2 and codes still there so I went back to stock setup and still a code and won't rev past 4k

 

[Tracked Emira]

 

[mr.suntorytime]

you can do a continuity test on the oe cable to see if there is a circuit. if its open which the code states then it is in fact a fuse.

 

[Tracked Emira]

you can do a continuity test on the oe cable to see if there is a circuit. if its open which the code states then it is in fact a fuse.

Done and it's fine so the valve motor must have went bad.

 

[sixtyy]

There are lots of issue with valve controller. I am going to sit through more reports for V2, even though I already ordered one.

 

[Kimmax]

I'd worry more about the O2 faults, exactly the same I had when water ingress would destroy one sensor after another.
Check live view and make sure the sensor(s) report sane values. You’re looking for stuck values (high/low) or erratic jumps even in idle.

 

[Tracked Emira]

I'd worry more about the O2 faults, exactly the same I had when water ingress would destroy one sensor after another.
Check live view and make sure the sensor(s) report sane values. You’re looking for stuck values (high/low) or erratic jumps even in idle.

My 02 sensor fault was in Bank 2. Please explain what happened to you and the what resolved the issue in detail so I can reference this to the dealer when I bring in my car next week, thank you

 

[Tracked Emira]

There are lots of issue with valve controller. I am going to sit through more reports for V2, even though I already ordered one.

What are the multiple issues you are referring to with the valve motor?
Did you get the same code and go into this limp mode as well?
Did you have any aftermarket parts installed?
How long does it take to get a new valve motorbeing that my dealership is in New York?

 

[Tracked Emira]

Just to summerize:
My 02 sensor fault code only appeared after the Milltek valve controller was installed, as well as the 3rd cat delete.
We cleared it multiple times and it always came back. The car went into limp mode once after an autocross event, but after shutting off car and restarting, it went away. Then when I tracked the car at New Jersey motorsports park, the valve controller fault came on and both fault codes couldn't be cleared.
We checked continuity, fuse and reverted back to stock and still in the limp mode where car can't be driven above 4K RPM. After finding wire harness was burned by valve controller we installed Milltek Version 2 and still have fault codes.
Does anyone believe the Milltek valve controller or 3rd cat dekete could have caused my valve motor to have failed?
If so, I will remove everything and go back to stock.
I had the dealer installed the parts because I didn't want to get it done elsewhere for them to say it would void the warranty, I told them to only install the parts if the warranty would not be affected. Do you think these parts void the warranty and can they make me pay for a new valve controller and 02 sensor and installation costs?

 

[Blackthought_]

The o2 issues are an interesting one. When I first got my car I got a constant o2 CEL that related to bank 1 and bank 2. Codes it threw were P1059 and P0139. (I did not get the reduced acceleration warning). The dealer couldn’t figure out the problem and lotus had then teplace all o2 sensors and even the cats. This was the car stock so led me to believe their are issues with the manufacturing of the o2 sensors.

11,000 miles later I occasionally get a bank 2 sensor CEL but after clearing it it doesn’t come back for a while so all good

 

[Kimmax]

When washing the car using a pressure water the ECU (back left side, near the air intake) would get wet and short out some connections to the ECU. This would always fry the same O2 sensor, bank 2.
I went through 5 or 6 sensors until we figured it out.
Some sensors failed completely and stayed below or above reading specifications resulting in the car running kind of fine. Some sensors however started sending completely erratic data resulting in the ECU trying to correct things not wrong, adding or removing fuel, etc.
This resulted in rough idle, and occasionally misfires, erratic throttle response, etc.
Sometimes the ECU started ignoring the sensor and the car was suddenly "fine" again.
The fault codes match what I saw when I dealt with this, but they didn't even always show up immediatly.

In short, fire up your trusty OBDII reader and check the graphs for O2 sensor voltage. If it's flat (I think below 0.2 or above 0.8) or jumps around erratically in idle it could be done. If you're not sure if the jumps are as expected overlay the other bank - it should somewhat match.
You mechanic should check if the ECU and/or connectors are wet or corroded.

 

[GRP]

O2 sensors should be covered under warranty, there has been a handful of guys who have to get them replaced including a local friend here who had his all replaced with only about 200 miles on the car so it wasnt due to washing it/water like mentioned above although that could certainly be the problem as well.
The delete and controller couldn't cause the valve motor to go bad, it may be heat or possibly just a bum unit. There are tons of guys running this same setup with no issues. There have been a few others with bad valve motors as well even with stock exhaust.
The problem will be that Lotus doesnt sell the valve motor by itself, it only comes with a entire new muffler for some dumb reason. But you can get them online for about $50, its the same as a Ford Fiesta turbo if I remember correctly.

 

[sbproducer]

Just to summerize:
My 02 sensor fault code only appeared after the Milltek valve controller was installed, as well as the 3rd cat delete.
We cleared it multiple times and it always came back. The car went into limp mode once after an autocross event, but after shutting off car and restarting, it went away. Then when I tracked the car at New Jersey motorsports park, the valve controller fault came on and both fault codes couldn't be cleared.
We checked continuity, fuse and reverted back to stock and still in the limp mode where car can't be driven above 4K RPM. After finding wire harness was burned by valve controller we installed Milltek Version 2 and still have fault codes.
Does anyone believe the Milltek valve controller or 3rd cat dekete could have caused my valve motor to have failed?
If so, I will remove everything and go back to stock.
I had the dealer installed the parts because I didn't want to get it done elsewhere for them to say it would void the warranty, I told them to only install the parts if the warranty would not be affected. Do you think these parts void the warranty and can they make me pay for a new valve controller and 02 sensor and installation costs?

Exactly why I have a GRP 3rd cat delete without Milltek valve controller. It cheapens the car. I have zero issues and the car sounds amazing above 4000 rpm. What's the point of getting the valve controller? So you can have a louder exhaust below 4000 rpm? Hard pass.. Hard pass.. Hard pass.. no thank you.

 

[lynchy73]

What sort of heat wrap would be suitable/recommended to protect the exhaust valve unit and milltek valve controller unit? Haven’t installed the milltek yet, but do have a Ti exhaust on an I4 and have heard of valve motors melting/failing on track.

 

[Tracked Emira]

Alot of good information for the dealer when I bring it in to diagnose the issue. I just wanted to confirm that it's not the aftermarket parts that caused the issue.
Will update everyone once they figure things out, thank you!

 

[675430VME]

What sort of heat wrap would be suitable/recommended to protect the exhaust valve unit and milltek valve controller unit? Haven’t installed the milltek yet, but do have a Ti exhaust on an I4 and have heard of valve motors melting/failing on track.

Valve motor relocation.