Your fleet running reports

[Jimexpl]

The X5 got us to Switzerland in comfort on New Years Day. 11 1/2 hours door to door from London.
The back street garage that swapped my wheels over failed to tighten the locking wheel nuts though - we made it all the way here and this morning one fell off in the ski lift car park and the other three were only finger tight!

[Matty]

I have to be honest - your updates always come across as trying to persuade yourself you love the car, rather than actually loving it and gushing about it.

I felt that way about my M3s. Very fast capable etc but - perhaps because they’re a souped-up regular car rather than a ground-up sports car - they’re missing a certain something.

To a certain extent, I'm still looking for what apparently everyone else raves about. There are plenty on the FaceBook/WhatsApp groups who are on their 2nd, or sold and coming back, or moving from a 2017 to a 2022 car - I feel like I'm missing something. I think part of it is all these people use it as their primary/daily runner, and I think I'd feel different about it in that case, whereas for me it's a second car so the "10%" I'm looking for is far more important.

But I still very much enjoy it, and if I was a family man and needed a 4 door the Giulia would definately be on the list.

It's pretty astonishing - imagine what you would have returned in your not-that-much-physically-larger, 411 bhp VXR8 on the same trip. 25-27 maybe?

Sounds like a fantastic daily, but.... you are still keeping your eye on Evora 400's aren't you?

The VXR8 was actually pretty decent on a run, due to the long gears. Not sure about when fully loaded, but at 55-60mph I could get high-30's.
I was using it around town though - my old PH report shows I paid 40p per mile overall for fuel in that car! That was 10 years ago, I'm too scared to work out what that is, relatively, on an inflation calculator! I must have had money to burn at that time in my life.

And I'm always looking for Evora 400's! That being said....I'm very tempted to look at Emira's later in the year and just 'find' the money. They're looking incredibly tempting.

[16vCento]

Have you had a go of an F Type R or SVR?

Bit cheaper, but a bit more in the style of the VXR than the Alfa is I'd imagine?

[mik]

1. The VXR8 was actually pretty decent on a run, due to the long gears. Not sure about when fully loaded, but at 55-60mph I could get high-30's.

b. And I'm always looking for Evora 400's! That being said....I'm very tempted to look at Emira's later in the year and just 'find' the money. They're looking incredibly tempting.

1. I don't think I ever managed more than 30mpg on a run - but I never tried cruising at 55-60.

b. Very good point. I've thought several times that an extra £30k to swap my 10.5 yr old V6 manuel Evora for a 0.5 yr old V6 manuel Emira could almost be considered a sensible idea.....

[MikeHunt]

Have you had a go of an F Type R or SVR?

Bit cheaper, but a bit more in the style of the VXR than the Alfa is I'd imagine?

There are a few 575bhp cars with decent specs in the mid £50s which is very tempting. Probably one of the few cars that would tempt me away from my 5 series.

[mik]

Warning - relatively long (and boring) post.

Popped to the shops in the Evora the other day and on attempting to start the car to return home, found my starter motor solenoid clicking only. Oh. Initially I suspected a dead battery of course, but it’s only 11 months old and I do keep an eye on it (and top up via the CTEK every month), so that would be surprising.

Luckily I was parked on a reasonable hill, so I bump-started it, which at least got it back home into my garage. Charged the battery overnight - wouldn’t turn over again in the morning. It was only at this point that I realised that the dash and interior lights weren’t dimming when I tried to start. I then checked battery voltage :12.85V. Battery therefore unlikely to be the issue.....

For some reason Lotus decided to modify the original Toyota item, so It’s £530 for a starter motor. As it’s not an immediately accessible part, I would estimate £300 labour minimum for a specialist to swap it over. Aint nobody be wantin’ an unexpected £830 bill at this time of year - particularly when everywhere is shut and you can’t order the parts or check when a garage could book it in. There is also the minor issue of how you even get the car to them – either a low loader recovery, or I’d have to tow it out of my garage and bump-start it via the tow car (or tow it to a hill). It was only at this point that I discovered/realised that starter issues are not uncommon on the Evora, and it’s invariably just the brushes, which you can access by removing the motor end-cap. Someone had posted an extremely useful guide on a forum. Cost issue is now additionally a save the god-damned planet issue.

Fast forward to the end : the job ultimately proved less a test of my spannering, and more a challenge of flexibility. A reasonable percentage of the task required knealing on a plank that I had placed inside the boot to spread my weight, with a subset of that time leaning my chest on the rearmost cylinder head and 'charger to stretch an arm or two deep into the engine bay. I wouldn’t claim it was massively comfortable....

I was equally surprised and relieved that the engine now turns over with greater vigour than it has for a very long time, so I’m hopefully good for another 10 or so years before I need to tackle this job again. So long as I maintain some sort of stretching regime of course. (In reality – I’m not sure if I’d fit a 3rd set of brushes without also replacing the armature (available for around £40 new), or biting the bullet and just fitting a whole new motor).

Potential cost £830 (maybes more?)

Actual cost £15.84 plus approx. 5hrs of my time.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Airbox removed for access


Access panel behind rear seats removed for additional access. This provided absolutely zero additional access. After swearing a few times , I consoled myself by admiring (one of) the stainless 2bular manifolds I had fitted years ago, but have never really seen on the car.....


As I'd just spent a couple of hours taking it out of the car, I was of course hoping the brush set would be knackered when I got into the motor. I wasn't expecting this however. What a mess! Existing brushes are absolute toast.





Used a junior hacksaw blade & a hobby knife to clean and/or re-cut the gaps between the commutator connections, and then sandpaper to clean that shizzle up.


Compare & contrast.

[DeskJockey]

That's a good bit of work.

[IanF]

Nice work Mik!

[Mito Man]

You know that meme “how’d you get so good with your fingers”

Things like that

[Beany]

That's a damned fine job, but what the fuck did Lotus make those brushes out of, cheese with iron filings??

[V8Granite]

I always found jobs like that relatively simple till the very last part. Remove anything in the way, contort body, reach down and get part with the tippiest of fingers and then realise you can’t get your hand out unless you drop the part

Nicely done, don’t lose it, re-use it

Dave!

[John]

Job satisfaction

[Sundayjumper]

For some reason Lotus decided to modify the original Toyota item...

A standard Toyota item would last a lot longer, presumably ? Did the Lotus modification primarily consist of using mashed potato for the brushes ?

Anyway, top result. These long-but-cheap jobs are always satisfying. You feel like you've got one up on the manufacturer / dealer.

[mik]

As I understand it - Lotus did something different at the mounting face. The internals are all standard Hitachi. (The motor designation is “S114-945” and I couldn’t find anywhere listing brushes that cited that part number. I found sellers listing sets that were compatible with multiple Hitachi models including S114-7xx and S114-8xx, and went for it. Lucky strike as they are identical).

But there is definitely something very weird going on. I’ve never changed starter motor brushes on any other car I have owned, and I am not the only Evora/V6Exige owner to encounter this issue. Strange!

[DeskJockey]

Galaxy is now on winters. Took it to a recommended shop a few miles away from the place I normally use. They balanced the wheels, checked the pressures and fitted them for significantly less than the others charged to just stick them on.

Definitely going back to them in future.

Zoe has blown a dipped beam bulb. Annoyingly, I don't think I've got a matched replacement, so will have to run a mismatched set until I can get the right ones delivered.

[nuttinnew]

Good work, mik A penny saved is a penny earned, never mind hundreds of pounds
Don't forget to use the femmeculator later in the year.

[integrale_evo]

Nice work Mik,

I’ll be honest, I’ve never even heard of a starter motor wearing out its brushes, the only thing I’ve ever had is a sticking solenoid. I guess like all components they’re lifed, so should wear out at some point.

I can’t imagine you’re using it like a taxi with a million miles and frequent stop / starts and short journeys.

[V8Granite]

It’s possibly a heat soak issue or similar.

I’ve changed the TT starter as the cable between solenoid and starter decided to burn away and take some of the casing with it.

Dave!

[Jimmy Choo]

Mik is Mr Tickle AICMFP. Good work. It's always satisfying whey you can do that sort of repair although I expected 5 hours of your time as a LEGITIMATE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSMAN would be significantly more than the cost of getting your tuna to repair it.

[GG.]

I think @mik has now passed his Proctology exams - you can either take them via paper test or work on a Loltus. Coming to a doctor's surgery near you

Starting issues are also plaguing me... Porsche is flattening its battery every week or so so I think it is dead and needs replacing. Very annoying as I asked Porsche SE London to check and replace as necessary last time it was in and they fobbed me off saying it was fine, so now I need to make another journey to them. Plus being under warranty it will need a Porsche branded battery which I think is >£300

Range Rover also bonging low charge at me relatively regularly but with that I expect it could either be an issue with the stop start battery and/or potentially the alternator... to be investigated.

Smart is still at Mercedes as the replacement infotainment has not arrived from Germany as they take the whole Xmas period off Which of course then means Mrs GG is doing the first few days of the new school year on the bus which she's thrilled about...