It was finally delivered a couple nights ago (PlyCar transport, in a covered carrier, covered in plastic. I am not new to the quirks of hand built british cars and was expecting a few gremlins in the works. So far I have two:
-The digital speedo has blinked out only to reset itself after the car was restarted a few times. The screen was totally blank, but the LCD was working, i.e. the AM logo did show on startup and when clicked it would flash the 'no messages' from the blue tooth.
-The clancking noise
This is more troubling to me. It's located in the left front wheel general area, happend 3 times in the 200 miles I've driven so far and only when I'm turning more than 60-90 degrees and once when I went over a hump in the road contour at about 40 mph. I've eyeballed the region and nothing is loose. The sound quality is that of clanking hollow pipe. Tonight was bad enough that I pulled off thinking it was dragging on something.
Any ideas on these two?

The car is mechanically fine and the suspension, brakes seem to be working fine (without a frame of reference).

 

111R. One of the options for the right screen on the instrument pack is a blank screen, if memory serves me correctly, the "Power, Beauty, Soul" will show then it will go to it's blank screen setting. You can cycle through the screen options by pressing the button on the end of the indicator stalk. (Apologies if you already knew this).

A somewhat common cause of clunking noises can be the strut bracing. Make sure the 12 torx-50 bolts are tight, check them when the car is on level ground. I have yet to see a bad one myself, but I have heard of issues with the front top A-arm bushings causing noises. I hope you find some of this info useful. Cheers, John.

 

I've had (I believe) the same clanking issue. Some times it sounds as described, other times it sounds like running over a piece of sheet metal that fell off. I've also looked and haven't seen anything that appears loose.

 

John
Thanks for the reply. I am ignorant of the blank screen setting. But to clarify, it was only the right hand one for the digital speedo and only the speedo setting. Turning on and off did not make a difference till I let the car sit. RFM I guess! or as we say in the Lotus world TADTS (they all do that sir)

I am also ignorant of the strut bracing you mention. But this gives me a direction to go searching and educating myself. It was quite frankly an ominous noise as if I had a hose hanging rattling around in there!

 

Also a recall (NHTSA Campaign ID number 10V449000) V8/DB9/DBS MY 2007/2008 (by SN only) for "Susupension: Front Control Arm: Lower Control". Maybe your car ? Dealer will look up and fix for free.

 

Well the catch there is that the car came from a dealer and all recalls were supposed to be done. Alas the one nearest to me is 600 miles away.

 

Your dealer can look up in the computer and tell you if all recall campaigns have been performed.

Adam

 

Rooooooad Triiiiiiiiiiiip!!!