Table 1 shows one common unknown or other related problems of the 2005 Lotus Elise.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Unknown Or Other problems |
Oil line failure by the front left (driver side) tire. Was traveling straight on the freeway, no collision of any sort. Oil light came on and car started leaking oil by the front tire. Apparently a recall is in effect for this issue, but no fix is available yet. . Read more...
During a tire routine tire change, it was observed that there was an unusual oil stain creeping up the inside of the fender well on the left front of the vehicle. It was later determined the oil cooler was leaking at the fitting and a new fitting was installed to correct. The leak occurred rather suddenly as the car had just been in the body shop to have some minor bodywork fixed (non-stuctural and not able to have caused the leak). At the time of the bodywork repairs time, less than 300 miles prior, the leak was not present. If the leak had been present, the subsequent oil would have caused poor paint finish. Which was not the case. Did not think to report the incident until now, because I just became aware of a NY times arcticle reporting on nhsta investigation of other similar model year Lotus Elise/exige cars experiencing the same issue.
My car is an early 2005 Lotus Elise with twin oil coolers. The bypass hose connecting to the driver side oil cooler started to leak oil at a fairly fast pace. This hose connects from the left oil cooler to the right cooler underneath the clamshell. Costs to fix this serious issue out of warranty are extremely high as they recommend replacing the entire oil cooler and hose system. There are now numerous complaints of the same or similar (based on hose and/or twin/single oil cooler setups) on various forums and submitted complaint forms to the us dot NHTSA.