general problems of the 2006 Lotus Elise

Oil cooler hose separated from fitting at the sandwich plate on the engine.

As I was pulling onto my street, the oil light came on the dash. I immediately found a place to stop and park the car, at which time I noticed the smell of oil in the cabin. Upon exiting the vehicle I noticed oil on the front driver's side tire & wheel, and approximately 30 minutes after parking there was a large puddle of oil underneath the front half of the car. My online search for a possible cause of this incident has lead me to believe that I experienced a failure of the oil cooler lines.

Oil cooler supply line connected to the sandwich plate where the oil filter screws in, on my 06 Lotus Elise became disconnected from the coupling, spraying oil everywhere and permanently damaging my engine. The engine only has 50k miles on it, and now it needs to be replaced. New motor, and labor costing over 6000 dollars to fix. This is an issue that seriously needs to be addressed by Lotus, as numerous Lotus owners are reporting this and discussing this on the online forums. Being the 2nd owner of the vehicle, I am not covered by warranty and all the repair cost are coming out of my own pocket. I wish there was some way I can get some compensation back from Lotus, as I only put 5k miles on the car before this happened. . .

Was traveling at approximately 30 mph when I noticed oil light came on. Drove car to nearby service station and noticed rear passenger side rear tire was covered in oil and there was a puddle of oil under car. Had car towed to dealer where the problem was diagnosed as a failed oil cooler line. Several sources (web forum, mechanic) have told me this is a common failure in these cars. I am concerned that this failure could result in loss of traction, or engine fire under the right circumstances.