car away having some TLC

[Elisemadray]

Well guys does anyone know how to write a good begging letter 

Its hard life has caught up with me  Car went to have the front clam and sills painted and a new nose badge for what I felt was a very good price and while there have a pully noise investigated, now thats where it all goes downhill as it turns out the noise was the air con compressor I doubt if I asked you to guess the cost of the part  you would get anywhere near, on most normal cars said part is maybe £500  Lotus £3037.88 + VAT !!!  I have had a bit of luck as Bell and Colvill were trying to sell the part on Ebay for £1495 so I snapped it up   then the next bit of bad news  one of the upper pully's was also very loose   to replace what looks like a small part lotus wanted £967+ VAT, did a deal to get it all in for £950, so resigned myself to getting it sorted, only now to be told one of the suspension coils has snapped and the other not far behind. I need to get it back before they find anything else  in reality I am reasonably chilled with it as my Yela Fella has given me 6yrs of absolute joy and to be fair it has had a very hard life  

I need to get a run booked to feel better about it 

 

[Luke Seagrave]

Sounds like you have taken a big hit on the wallet. Fingers crossed you get many more years of joy out of the yella fella to make up for it 🤞🤞

[Steve J]

Sounds like you shouldn’t take it on runs and just leave it in the garage. Much less wear and tear that way. 🤣

[CDM2018]

Sounds like you have my bad luck ! 
unbelievable sequence of failings but the pessimistic side would say at least the faults were discovered before it failed on the road ?  Good luck with getting it sorted hopefully a tick run is on horizon 👍🏻  

[docdunc]

Hell , that is big money Ray.

It’s making me worried, as my car is only 2 years younger than yours, and has done 24K miles.

I’ll have to start saving now 🙂

I hope you get the Yella Fella back on the road soon👍

[KurtB]

It’s a long time since I posted here. 
 

Sad times Ray. I’d suspect Lotus don’t manufacture the air conditioning unit, but someone else will. It’d be worth finding out who does make the part and finding it without the “premium brand tax” that Lotus have added. 
Your tale of woe is exactly why I serviced my car myself, you can really keep an eye on things. I appreciate that’s not for everyone, but worth considering to prevent daft bills. 
 

Cheers, 

Kurt

[Mutley00]

I know you you wont appreciate a smart arsed remark Ray, but I can't think why Lotus put aircon on a soft top sports car in the first place or why anyone would pay to have it. When do you use it out of interest? I'll throw that question out to 'the floor'.

Condolences on your expenditure though 😒.

[Elisemadray]

12 minutes ago, Mutley00 said:

I know you you wont appreciate a smart arsed remark Ray, but I can't think why Lotus put aircon on a soft top sports car in the first place or why anyone would pay to have it. When do you use it out of interest? I'll throw that question out to 'the floor'

if on track especially and on road in a less than good weather when top on it clears condensation on the windscreen and keeps it clear, kind of nice to see where your going 😁  when its hot its nice to have a blast of cold air if I ever just pootled about with the top off then then maybe it would be so important, 

and hey at the end of the day cars cost money driven hard even more money  

I'm not complaining as such, just a bit shocked at Lotus part prices I have done 37k of pretty hard driving and love it so the Yella Fella needs some TLC   😄

[DeanB]

I'm with Ray on this one Andrew. If you use the Elise for more than Sunday morning runs air con is a big plus.

Years ago I had a VX220 and went to see a mate in St Albans in it in the summer. Just down the M1. It was horrific. I felt like I was being slowly cooked by Heston Blumenthal. You are surrounded by hot water pipes. It's not nice.

[PJT]

Sorry to hear about the big bills.  That air con unit is eye watering.  Mine is in in May for a four figure service and perhaps discs and pads too.  Hope I fair better than you.  Console yourself that you save bundles on depreciation over other cars.

[Elisemadray]

It is worth it for the fun we have  

[Mutley00]

11 hours ago, DeanB said:

I'm with Ray on this one Andrew. If you use the Elise for more than Sunday morning runs air con is a big plus.

Years ago I had a VX220 and went to see a mate in St Albans in it in the summer. Just down the M1. It was horrific. I felt like I was being slowly cooked by Heston Blumenthal. You are surrounded by hot water pipes. It's not nice.

Did you forget your cap matey 😜? When you drive through Eyam for LiTP Dean, you'll see a very sad looking VX 220 parked at the roadside badly covered in a tarp and loads of leaves! 

[Mutley00]

I've got a huge bill coming on my Tuscan, so I sympathise Ray. As the epitome of bad TVR design, the diff casing has a water trap on the top and trapped water eats a hole into the casing over time 😒. For all its lovely curves on the bodywork, they forgot to put any on the diff!

[PJT]

Am I remembering correctly that there’s an MLOC discount at Central.

[DeanB]

3 hours ago, Mutley00 said:

Did you forget your cap matey 😜? When you drive through Eyam for LiTP Dean, you'll see a very sad looking VX 220 parked at the roadside badly covered in a tarp and loads of leaves! 

I think i did forget the cap yes!! 😁