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Lotus in the Peak
28th - 30th June 2024

Idle Problems!


Jamie Triner

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Hi there,

 

Took the lotus elise 111s out for a drive to Matlock, greet drive out until I got home.

 

Soon as I pulled up the car died on me I turned the key and the car seemed to struggle to start. I had to apply revs to get it to start up. Since then the card idle problems are causing the car did when at traffic lights and not driving which is making the car not really road worthy.

 

That day driving I did 110 miles and a fair bit of town driving and all was well, this problem occurred instantly on pulling up.

 

Does anyone have an idea of what it could be, possible common causes?

 

I've been told it could be a failure in the cat but wouldn't that make the engine management light come as as there's as sensor attached?

 

Cheers

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Idle air control valves IACV's are prone to sticking.

 

There is a small piston inside the IAVC which opens and closes depending on throttle position, if this is stuck it would give the symptoms you describe.

 

Take it out ( 2 bolts and an electrical connector ) clean with lots of carb cleaner while moving the piston in and out, re assemble and keep your fingers crossed !!

 

It is always worth trying these simple things first.

 

Good luck.

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Hi Russ,

 

Thanks for the advice, I called the AA in the end. He looked at the IAVC and he said that there is power coming to it but its not pulsing or moving at all and he thinks that probably where the problem lies. 

 

As it looks to be an easy fit im going to do the job myself but having trouble ordering the part.

 

 

http://wiki.seloc.org/a/Idle_Air_Control_Valve

 

It says:

 

  • S2 K-Series engined Elises use a Rover EU3 PWM IACV (Rover MDQ100170 Lotus A117E6069S)

 

Does anyone know if Im ok to order a rover part and fit this? Im just trying to get this problem resolved quickly and if a rover one is available would that be correct to fit it? 

 

Thanks again,

 

Id be lost without this forum lol clap.gif

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I had lots of idle problems on my 111S, when I started to add aftermarket exhausts, it was fine with standard exhaust then played up with sport cat, 421 and silencer changes. Sound good, but lots a few bhps in the changes. Dyno guy theorised that lotus probably had the exhaust flow compression really tightly tuned to give optimum performance even though it didn't sound great standard it was performing. Could be air control value, but I'm sure it's to do with the compression of exhaust air flow causing idle to be poor

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Just a update, 

 

IVAC replaced, 

 

New spark plugs,

 

Hoses all checked,

 

ECU reset and TPS reset,

 

Running better but still not right! ARGH

 

Cat is rattling, think its broken lose inside, going to order one of them...

 

Other than that unless anyone can shed some light????, its off to Monster Motorsport and my bank account is going to feel pain! 

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The cat could well be your problem, if there's a piece rattling about it could be restricting the exhaust. Are you only having the problem at idle or is it giving intermittent problems under acceleration too?

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No mate drives completely fine, very strange indeed. I'll have the garage sort it I think, if I can't figure it out. Does anyone know the standard idle speed of a lotus 111s?

 

A friend said that you may need to adjust the throttle cable or something as I have a induction kit fitted

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  • 4 weeks later...

Little update, 

 

Had it looked at, guy said the emissions wasn't right and thought it would be the lamba sensor. Picked it up from the garage the car stopped idling badly and sat there perfectly. 

 

It was like that for around a month.

 

The other night it started again, so tonight i changed the lamba and its still idling poor.

 

Any other ideas? :?

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