Doug,

Yeah, Hopefully this is the problem. Didn't strike Shawn as a big deal - probably just an adjustment.

He said I just missed you yesterday. How about all the Elise on the lot? Two COs, a yellow, and a ST. They seem to be having a lot of difficulty moving them. The CO's apparently have been there quite a while.
Hmm I didn't go in yesterday but I did call them; I am calling around looking for a SY hardtop. No joy with Rothrock but I have a lead elsewhere.

The SY and ST must be new at Rothrock. They just sold the KG to Vortrex. If those are the same COs that had an inch of grime on them when I was last there then I may just cry. Well, orange and yellow. What did you expect? yuch.





J/K yup that was me, I had my 1k service done yesterday from 2-4pm. they actually seem to be moving a lot of cars. since I got mine (2 weeks ago) they appear to have sold two CO and a MB. Well, orange and yellow. What did you expect? yuch.





J/K
Ahh, maybe that's what he meant - just getting off the phone with you.

Yup - those are the same CO's. Been there a long while. They cleaned one up and put it in the showroom in place of the KG that sold. Seems like Philly is just too conservative a town for many people to be seen driving an orange car. Must be the Quaker roots... Well, orange and yellow. What did you expect? yuch. You are moving up the COM "hit list"... Ok... finally had a chance to get the storm titanium into Shawn at Rothrock this week. He went through it thoroughly, and to both of our surprise, he is 99% confident the noise was not a belt or pully, but the Stage II exhaust!

Apparently, the Stage II has a bad weld. I should note that this is a very different problem than the cracked bracket problem which has been experienced by a bunch of folks. In this case, the brackets are fine. Instead there is an imperfection in a seam weld which causes (surprisingly) a very high pitched squeal in certain conditions (described earlier). Shawn had not seen this problem before, but apparently it is not uncommon.

I was offered two options. I could replace it with another current Stage II exhaust. Alternatively, Lotus is redesigning the Stage II and plans to solve this weld issue and the cracked bracket issue with the new design. The new Stage II is expected in December. After Shawn assured me the car was ok to drive as is, and it is unlikely to harm any of the engine internals, etc., I chose to wait until December for the "new and improved" Stage II.

Hopefully, this will solve the problem... I'll let you know how the new exhaust works once I have it installed...

Chris has this happen twice to my s2 exige stage II. search for exhaust weld on www.exiges.com and i *think* someone has a pic of the exact weld that fails

the noise is like a "metallic tizzing" sound and is very annoying

the weld is vunerable to failing and if it does again then i will demand a swap out of my stage II for a new one under warranty ...or you could keep one car with Stage II and get another type of exhaust for the other car

Ok... finally had a chance to get the storm titanium into Shawn at Rothrock this week. He went through it thoroughly, and to both of our surprise, he is 99% confident the noise was not a belt or pully, but the Stage II exhaust!

Apparently, the Stage II has a bad weld. I should note that this is a very different problem than the cracked bracket problem which has been experienced by a bunch of folks. In this case, the brackets are fine. Instead there is an imperfection in a seam weld which causes (surprisingly) a very high pitched squeal in certain conditions (described earlier). Shawn had not seen this problem before, but apparently it is not uncommon.

I was offered two options. I could replace it with another current Stage II exhaust. Alternatively, Lotus is redesigning the Stage II and plans to solve this weld issue and the cracked bracket issue with the new design. The new Stage II is expected in December. After Shawn assured me the car was ok to drive as is, and it is unlikely to harm any of the engine internals, etc., I chose to wait until December for the "new and improved" Stage II.

Hopefully, this will solve the problem... I'll let you know how the new exhaust works once I have it installed...

Chris Doug,

I think I'll stick with the Lotus stuff, though there are lot's of good aftermarket options. This is a good example why - I'll get a new exhaust under warranty from the dealer, installed while I'm getting an oil change. I've had aftermarket stuff fail in the past on other cars and I found it a hassle to deal with. I am glad to hear that they are redesigning the part for fewer problems - I just hope it sounds the same and has the same tip setup, which I prefer.

Chris Interesting -- I just got my Stage 2 replaced under warranty at 9.5K miles. I brought the car in for a tranny fluid change (Redline) and the tech noticed that my Stage 2 was not doing well. It had been previously repaired ( the re-weld fix) for the bracket problem. I, too, had this high pitched sound around 5000 RPM's and assumed it was some panel doing its sympathetic harmonic resonance thing and didn't bring the car in for this noise. However, with the new muffler, the sound/noise is gone -- a bonus. I was told the new muffler will be referred to as a Stage 3.

BTW, my tranny fluid was black after only 9500 miles -- it definitely needed to be refreshed. I highly recommend the change to Redline synthetic -- you'll feel the difference. Thanks for the info! I just placed an order for the stage II yesterday, which now I have to cancel and wait for the "redesigned" one. Jack,

Does the new/replacement sound as good at your previous Stage II? Does it look the same?

Thanks!

Chris Jack,

Does the new/replacement sound as good at your previous Stage II? Does it look the same?

Thanks!

Chris
Chris,

It sounds and looks the same as my original Stage 2, which was installed back in December '04. I may have caused some confusion in my above post -- the muffler installed last week on my car was still designated as a Stage 2. My tech said a new muffler/exhaust system to be called Stage 3 will be out shortly -- whatever that means. I didn't want to wait.

Supposedly, Lotus has had headers and some other go-fast goodies available for some time but has not chosen to release them to the dealers. hmmm... Interesting stuff... cool! Hi,

Has the grinding been fixed? Sounds very similar to my experience - discussed here http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/t...24888&f=15&h=0 and not yet fixed .

Thanks dcbuk - I read your post and it sounds like a different problem. I had a heat shield rattle, which the dealer tightened up and is fine now. My problem is not a grinding, but more of a squeal. I have not received the call that the new exhaust has come it but will follow-up soon.