Just had a weird experience which has got me a bit pensive, and wanted to get some opinion on it or see if anyone has experienced the same. Probably a long read.
This morning, drove up to my parents....~100 miles or so, all motorway. No issues (or not that I noticed), but it was mainly a gentle cruise anyway.
The car then sat for most of the day until I decided to pop out for an afternoon drive about 4pm. For the first part of the drive I didn't notice any issue, but I wasn't really pushing hard, just keeping up with traffic on main roads while the car warmed up. I turned off to find some quieter roads and still didn't notice anything whilst I was driving quickly, but not pushing all that hard.
First time I noticed an issue was when coming out of a village into an NSL section. It was a long straight with no one in front so I decided to just open it up hard. But as I pushed the throttle down there seemed to come a point where the car just stopped responding....at anything over about halfway down the pedal travel, I could do what I wanted and nothing was happening...the revs would climb, but slowly, as though I wasn't giving it enough gas, or was a gear too high. Even on a long straight, it felt like I could have my foot flat to the floor and I'd never get anywhere near the limiter. Foot hard down and I couldn't seem to get it past about 6k, and that took a while....not like this car at all.
Even when I dropped a gear, the car seemed reluctant to rev out. But if I slowed down a bit (so keeping it around 4k revs or so and using less of the pedal), it still felt torquey and responsive. I then tried dipping the clutch and stamping on the throttle....same thing. The car felt very reluctant to rev, like anything past 50% throttle just wasn't registering, even out of gear. Hmm.
Not far from the Lotus factory, I pulled over and shut the engine off and quickly did the pedal calibration thing...although it didn't feel like the problem this usually solves (laggy pedal), but I thought worth a try. Restarted and carried on, but it was the same; car felt fine up to a certain point around 4-5k but nothing over that.
Got a bit worried and decided to cut my drive short by heading back toward the dual carriageway...I figured hard acceleration along a sliproad would be a good test. To get there I had to head through a town and came up to a level crossing with the gates down. Had a bit of a wait, so I shut the engine down and chewed my lip, worrying.
As the train passed, I switched the ignition on and did the pedal thing once more (why not). Restarted and drove on. Car felt fine but I was in town so wouldn't notice a difference.
Came up to the DC and on the sliproad, gave it a bootful...and it was fine. Pulled strongly all the way to the redline, like normal. When I had my foot on the throttle past about 50%, where it had been feeling dead before, it now felt responsive again and I could feel the car responding to quick inputs while deeper in the pedal. Dropped a gear and did some hard pulls...no problem. Then I dipped the clutch and revved it out....hit the limiter with no problem.
I turned off the DC a little way up to find some twisty roads again and the car felt absolutely fine. Pulled as hard as expected, and was able to get it up to the limiter in lower gears with no issue.
I'm not quite sure what happened. It felt almost as though the car had gone into limp mode, but where most limp modes limit you to 4k revs or so, this didn't. It just felt like the throttle went dead after a certain point. And there was no sign of anything untoward....no warning lights, oil/coolant temps fine, engine sounded fine, no unusual smells or anything. It wasn't unduly warm outside (22c or so). Car has not been abused, only on 3.2k road miles with an oil change at about 1.5k so it's run in and looked after.
Something to worry about do we think, or just a one off problem or gremlin with the throttle mapping? I will see how it responds on the drive home, but I'm a little worried about it being something more sinister despite the engine being seemingly healthy.
This morning, drove up to my parents....~100 miles or so, all motorway. No issues (or not that I noticed), but it was mainly a gentle cruise anyway.
The car then sat for most of the day until I decided to pop out for an afternoon drive about 4pm. For the first part of the drive I didn't notice any issue, but I wasn't really pushing hard, just keeping up with traffic on main roads while the car warmed up. I turned off to find some quieter roads and still didn't notice anything whilst I was driving quickly, but not pushing all that hard.
First time I noticed an issue was when coming out of a village into an NSL section. It was a long straight with no one in front so I decided to just open it up hard. But as I pushed the throttle down there seemed to come a point where the car just stopped responding....at anything over about halfway down the pedal travel, I could do what I wanted and nothing was happening...the revs would climb, but slowly, as though I wasn't giving it enough gas, or was a gear too high. Even on a long straight, it felt like I could have my foot flat to the floor and I'd never get anywhere near the limiter. Foot hard down and I couldn't seem to get it past about 6k, and that took a while....not like this car at all.
Even when I dropped a gear, the car seemed reluctant to rev out. But if I slowed down a bit (so keeping it around 4k revs or so and using less of the pedal), it still felt torquey and responsive. I then tried dipping the clutch and stamping on the throttle....same thing. The car felt very reluctant to rev, like anything past 50% throttle just wasn't registering, even out of gear. Hmm.
Not far from the Lotus factory, I pulled over and shut the engine off and quickly did the pedal calibration thing...although it didn't feel like the problem this usually solves (laggy pedal), but I thought worth a try. Restarted and carried on, but it was the same; car felt fine up to a certain point around 4-5k but nothing over that.
Got a bit worried and decided to cut my drive short by heading back toward the dual carriageway...I figured hard acceleration along a sliproad would be a good test. To get there I had to head through a town and came up to a level crossing with the gates down. Had a bit of a wait, so I shut the engine down and chewed my lip, worrying.
As the train passed, I switched the ignition on and did the pedal thing once more (why not). Restarted and drove on. Car felt fine but I was in town so wouldn't notice a difference.
Came up to the DC and on the sliproad, gave it a bootful...and it was fine. Pulled strongly all the way to the redline, like normal. When I had my foot on the throttle past about 50%, where it had been feeling dead before, it now felt responsive again and I could feel the car responding to quick inputs while deeper in the pedal. Dropped a gear and did some hard pulls...no problem. Then I dipped the clutch and revved it out....hit the limiter with no problem.
I turned off the DC a little way up to find some twisty roads again and the car felt absolutely fine. Pulled as hard as expected, and was able to get it up to the limiter in lower gears with no issue.
I'm not quite sure what happened. It felt almost as though the car had gone into limp mode, but where most limp modes limit you to 4k revs or so, this didn't. It just felt like the throttle went dead after a certain point. And there was no sign of anything untoward....no warning lights, oil/coolant temps fine, engine sounded fine, no unusual smells or anything. It wasn't unduly warm outside (22c or so). Car has not been abused, only on 3.2k road miles with an oil change at about 1.5k so it's run in and looked after.
Something to worry about do we think, or just a one off problem or gremlin with the throttle mapping? I will see how it responds on the drive home, but I'm a little worried about it being something more sinister despite the engine being seemingly healthy.
