My Exige S3 V6 Has An Engine Management Light After An Air Intake Upgrade
In their great wisdom Lotus has many OEM maps for the various models of Exige V6 S3 range. These maps then have differing variations, some are more lenient than others in terms of engine/performance upgrades. For example some variations struggle with any upgrades such as air intake, where as others are perfectly fine and can adapt with ease. There are even cases of some OEM map variations also coping well with intake and sport cats albeit rare.
IF your upgrades are working well with your current map then always ensure your Lotus dealer DOES NOT perform any ECU upgrades to your car during a service!
The problem is that it's hard to identify which map variant works well vs which will be challenged. Generally a simple air intake upgrade such as the Alias23 air intake works fine without the need for a re-map. However experience shows that near 20% of owners run an OEM map variant which is not tolerant and there is nothing that can be done other than get a re-map.
That said, if you are experiencing an engine management light post install of an upgraded air intake on the Exige V6S then we suggest the following steps to double check its not something else causing the problem.
- Clean the MAF. We have found a number of owners benefit from giving the MAF sensor a very good clean. These sensors can get dirty and in turn find the new air intake volume a problem. A good clean or even better a new MAF sensor is always the first step.
- The air intake needs 98/99 octane fuel if you're not using this grade of fuel you will have a problem.
- Run in. Some owners get a little too eager on run in and don't give the car sufficient time to adapt to the new increase in air volume. A good practise is to disconnect the battery for 20min then re-start the run in process.
IF you've tried all these steps and still exhibiting a problem then with regret its likely your Lotus is running a map variant which isn't allowing the tolerance for the new air flow and therefore you will either need to go back to stock or get a re-map.
IF your upgrades are working well with your current map then always ensure your Lotus dealer DOES NOT perform any ECU upgrades to your car during a service!
The problem is that it's hard to identify which map variant works well vs which will be challenged. Generally a simple air intake upgrade such as the Alias23 air intake works fine without the need for a re-map. However experience shows that near 20% of owners run an OEM map variant which is not tolerant and there is nothing that can be done other than get a re-map.
That said, if you are experiencing an engine management light post install of an upgraded air intake on the Exige V6S then we suggest the following steps to double check its not something else causing the problem.
- Clean the MAF. We have found a number of owners benefit from giving the MAF sensor a very good clean. These sensors can get dirty and in turn find the new air intake volume a problem. A good clean or even better a new MAF sensor is always the first step.
- The air intake needs 98/99 octane fuel if you're not using this grade of fuel you will have a problem.
- Run in. Some owners get a little too eager on run in and don't give the car sufficient time to adapt to the new increase in air volume. A good practise is to disconnect the battery for 20min then re-start the run in process.
IF you've tried all these steps and still exhibiting a problem then with regret its likely your Lotus is running a map variant which isn't allowing the tolerance for the new air flow and therefore you will either need to go back to stock or get a re-map.