📓 Journals Scandinavian Road Trip

[Orchardbike]

I think this is actually the one issue that I didn’t have!

 

[Yorkie]

So it looks like it going to be at least another 2-4 weeks before the car is fixed - then I need to fly out and drive the car back home.

If the car is being recovered, then why doesn't it come back to you in the UK? Why have you got to go to the trouble and expense of flying out to bring it back home? Unless you want to of course?

 

[geoffbland]

If the car is being recovered, then why doesn't it come back to you in the UK? Why have you got to go to the trouble and expense of flying out to bring it back home? Unless you want to of course?

Speaking to Landrover Assistance they only repatriate a car as a last resort. It costs them a load of money to do that, north of £5,000. Also recovery can take 8+ weeks. That said Lotus Norway have been speaking to Lotus in the UK and if they can't fix it they will have to repatriate it.

 

[Beachbum]

I think this is actually the one issue that I didn’t have!

You're no bloody help

 

[geoffbland]

I'm now getting regular updates from Lotus Norway and the garage which is at least something...

The issue is still intermittent and so often the engine is running fine. They have gone through the harness and can't find any issues. They've bought themselves an oscilloscope to help with the diagnosis. Currently they are waiting for Lotus UK for some answers.

To me it sounds like the ECU has gone bad and is intermittently not working. The positive is there is nothing physically wrong with the car and the engine and it does seem to be an issue with the electronics - the curse of modern cars. It'll be a weeks wait if they need to order in a new ECU.

It's looking like I'll be taking the Elise to this Sunday's Essex LDC Breakfast meet - so I'm hoping that it doesn't rain...

 

[Yorkie]

If it's going to be weeks/months until you get the car back home, is it worth sticking it on SORN?

 

[geoffbland]

If it's going to be weeks/months until you get the car back home, is it worth sticking it on SORN?

Thanks - I didn't think about that. But just checked - as far as I can tell you get a refund for every full month (counted from the next month start not retrospectively) it is off the road but the refund is only for the basic minimum road tax cost. So I'd get back around £15 a month I think. If they repatriate it I'll do that as it's likely that'll take 8+ weeks.

 

[geoffbland]

Just heard back they have ordered a new ECM and also a new engine harness. They are going to get back to me with an estimate of how long that'll take to get to Oslo and they say they will fit it as soon as it arrives.

 

[geoffbland]

My car is now fixed (mostly), the garage fitted both the new engine management unit and a new engine loom. We suspect the problem was just the engine management unit but they fitted the loom too just in case. This is pretty much as I expected – as did most on this forum and the breakdown recovery guys.

They test drove it today and the engine misfire is resolved but they will drive it a few more times just to double check as the problem was intermittent.

An O2 sensor has failed (almost certainly burnt out by the misfires and petrol in the exhaust) so they will be fitting a new one tomorrow.

So next week I need to fly out there and drive it all the way back from Oslo – 24 hours of driving total. I have to admit I’m looking forward to it!

Finally, after 6 weeks without my car I can see light at the end of the tunnel...

 

[Beachbum]

Great news. If you need a co-pilot, let me know

 

[Lego Man]

Thats brilliant news, hopefully you'll have a trouble free drive home

 

[MiamiBlue]

Did they say if it looked like water got in? And if the new one has any extra protection?

I don't want to imagine what these bills might be like outside of warranty.

Kudos to you driving your car across Scandinavia in all weathers. It's a great shakedown for issues. But there will be owners that have cars that live in garages and occasionally driven. They could realistically go through the whole warranty period before these issues occur. It's a little worrying.

 

[geoffbland]

Did they say if it looked like water got in? And if the new one has any extra protection?
I don't want to imagine what these bills might be like outside of warranty.

They didn't say anything about water getting in but this is the engine bay not at the front where all the delicate air-con circuitry is. The Emira's hood dumps a bath full of water onto the engine every time you open it and engine bays are not a very hospitable climate for electronics in the best circumstances so you would expect the wiring to cope with this kind of stuff.
They've said they was nothing obviously wrong on the harness and they did spend a day checking it all out, I'll ask for more details when I pick up the car. To me it sounds like the ECM just failed (it's a bit of a black box) and they have replaced the harness "just in case". I'll ask more when I'm there if possible. I may also be cheeky and ask if I can take the old parts back with me (I doubt it).

I have a pretty good idea of the costs & I will post details here but I want to confirm a few things with the garage first. It'll be useful for those thinking about new warranties and the £5,000 limit most seem to have.

Kudos to you driving your car across Scandinavia in all weathers. It's a great shakedown for issues. But there will be owners that have cars that live in garages and occasionally driven. They could realistically go through the whole warranty period before these issues occur. It's a little worrying

Actually the weather we had was pretty mild for that time of year in Norway, we only had a couple of nights just below freezing. It rained a bit but not as much as we get in the UK. I'd probably go as far as to say a normal UK winter would be harsher on a car than what we had for this week in Norway.
I hope this is just a unlucky one off as I plan to do this trip again and complete it - and I have some even more adventurous trips planned. Driving to places (including interesting places) is what the car is for after all!

 

[geoffbland]

I picked my Emira up from Oslo today after flying out late last night and now starting the long drive home.

They did only replace the spark plugs and ECU in the end (I misunderstood when they said they "put in the engine loom just in case", they meant in the order to Lotus for parts I think).

I've driven 8 hours in it so far, just motorway driving but the engine seems fine now.

Regarding costs, the garage paid 80,000NOK for the ECU (about £5.5K which seems really expensive although he said it would be cheaper in the UK) and he wasn't sure about the labour costs as he hadn't done the final invoice yet but I estimate it's around 3 days. Plus £300 for spark plugs. I guess it's worth bearing these figures in mind when considering extended warranty - and also the limits on single claims and allowed diagnostic times for said warranties.

The garage tech said he had worked on a few Emiras there but this was the first V6 he had seen,

Two more days of driving to get back home but tonight I'm going out to meet an old friend from the UK that's been living in Denmark for the last 30 years. So another silver lining I guess.

About 200 cars in the garage here in Oslo, most electric and I think 190+ of them were white, silver/grey or black - my Emira stood out a bit. The Norwegians love their monochromatic cars.

 

[Orchardbike]

I picked my Emira up from Oslo today after flying out late last night and now starting the long drive home.

They did only replace the spark plugs and ECU in the end (I misunderstood when they said they "put in the engine loom just in case", they meant in the order to Lotus for parts I think).

I've driven 8 hours in it so far, just motorway driving but the engine seems fine now.

Regarding costs, the garage paid 80,000NOK for the ECU (about £5.5K which seems really expensive although he said it would be cheaper in the UK) and he wasn't sure about the labour costs as he hadn't done the final invoice yet but I estimate it's around 3 days. Plus £300 for spark plugs. I guess it's worth bearing these figures in mind when considering extended warranty - and also the limits on single claims and allowed diagnostic times for said warranties.

The garage tech said he had worked on a few Emiras there but this was the first V6 he had seen,

Two more days of driving to get back home but tonight I'm going out to meet an old friend from the UK that's been living in Denmark for the last 30 years. So another silver lining I guess.

About 200 cars in the garage here in Oslo, most electric and I think 190+ of them were white, silver/grey or black - my Emira stood out a bit. The Norwegians love their monochromatic cars.
View attachment 74362

Fingers crossed Geoff, I hope it all goes well!

 

[Beachbum]

I picked my Emira up from Oslo today after flying out late last night and now starting the long drive home.

They did only replace the spark plugs and ECU in the end (I misunderstood when they said they "put in the engine loom just in case", they meant in the order to Lotus for parts I think).

I've driven 8 hours in it so far, just motorway driving but the engine seems fine now.

Regarding costs, the garage paid 80,000NOK for the ECU (about £5.5K which seems really expensive although he said it would be cheaper in the UK) and he wasn't sure about the labour costs as he hadn't done the final invoice yet but I estimate it's around 3 days. Plus £300 for spark plugs. I guess it's worth bearing these figures in mind when considering extended warranty - and also the limits on single claims and allowed diagnostic times for said warranties.

The garage tech said he had worked on a few Emiras there but this was the first V6 he had seen,

Two more days of driving to get back home but tonight I'm going out to meet an old friend from the UK that's been living in Denmark for the last 30 years. So another silver lining I guess.

About 200 cars in the garage here in Oslo, most electric and I think 190+ of them were white, silver/grey or black - my Emira stood out a bit. The Norwegians love their monochromatic cars.
View attachment 74362

Good luck. Hope its a dull drive home

 

[virtualmacho]

I love the way you're making the best of an otherwise unfortunate situation. Enjoy the detours, and safe driving!

 

[Yorkie]

Thanks - I didn't think about that. But just checked - as far as I can tell you get a refund for every full month (counted from the next month start not retrospectively) it is off the road but the refund is only for the basic minimum road tax cost. So I'd get back around £15 a month I think. If they repatriate it I'll do that as it's likely that'll take 8+ weeks.

I know it doesn't matter now but for reference, I've just SORN my Emira and got back £52/month.

 

[geoffbland]

I arrived back home in the UK on Sunday morning. 1,200 miles driving back from Oslo and no more issues with the car. It's been in for its first MOT today and passed with no faults.

On the drive back I found time to visit the Prototyp Museum in Hamburg and the Louwman Museum in The Hague on the way back.

Prototyp has a full, detailed history of VM and Porsche there which is interesting along with some guest, temporary exhibitions. There were some nice modern Porsches there including a 60th Anniversary 911 and an race RS3. One of the temporary exhibitions was "Italian Cars" where they had a room full of some lovely old Ferraris, Maseratis and a Lancia Stratos (this is the street car version). It's worth nothing that these cars are worth a fortune but they aren't roped off at all and you can get right up close to them - this seems to be a German thing as the same is true in AutoWorld

The Louwman Museum was great, I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in cars. It's has a really good history of the car with many examples from history, both top of the range cars but also the every day cars. There's lots to see there, luckily I have done most of the driving on the first two days so had plenty of time there.

If you have a car that is 25 years or more old you are allowed to car out front of the museum for free (for everyone else there is a cheap carpark under the museum). When I left the museum there was an immaculate Fiat Coupe parked there - I had one of these many years ago, same colour, I sold it when I got my Elise - there's not so many left these days and they have started to become a bit of a cult car.

I now have to rebook the car in with Lotus Silverstone to have the drivers door replaced but I'll book that for the New Year. Now I have the car back I want to enjoy driving it for a few weeks at least and not doing long motorway drives (although German autobahns can be fun).

I'll also be sure to be getting warranty for the Emira - I just haven't decided which one yet.

 

[geoffbland]

Just one more post here, Lotus Assist have just approved all my breakdown claims in full; hire cars, hotels and flights back from the breakdown and flights out, hotels and ferry for the bringing the car back 6 weeks later. Lotus Assist have done what they said they would here. It was a bit frustrating at the time but to be fair Lotus Assist just put me on to Landrover Recovery to get things sorted out and then (for some reason?) it was AA European Recovery dealing with it and once the AA got involved things got resolved.