Some maintenance info
Some common problems and solutionsPROBLEM REGARDING X1R ENGINE TREATMENT ADDITIVE
(Given to customers during CFE engine service intervals)
Problem : The engine treatment additive may cause the engine to feel unresponsive, noisy and lack of power after a period of timeSolution : During service intervals, upon request to stop the service personnels from selling it to you.
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Problem : (mostly first batch units), face the problem of steering being biased towards the left direction.Solution : Installation of Stiff Rings to the affected units to rectify and solve the problem. Many members have reported that it is an effective solution to the problem.
Problem : Some owners have reported of very heavy petrol smell intruding into the cabin after fuelling up.Solution : Petrol smell leaks into the cabin through gaps within the fuel door area. Seal up the gaps using sealant to fix the problem. Report to the service centre to rectify the problem, or DIY on your own like how our fellow member @brotan did.
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Problem : Passenger or driver seats that make a squeaky sound when going over bumps or during hard turningsSolution : Complain to SC regarding the issue, they will rectify it by adding WD-40 to the mechanism of the seats.
Problem : Jerky feel when reversing. Mostly triggered when accelerating in gear R.Solution : Several owners have reported that requesting the SC to update/reflash the ECU solves the problem.
Problem : Engine requires overcrank when startup (happens once in awhile)Solution : Several owners have reported that requesting the SC to update/reflash the ECU solves the problem.
Problem : Brakes become unresponsive or "hard" randomlySolution : Some owners say that this is due to the lack of an EVP (electric vacuum pump) in the Exora Bold before 2014 batch (other Proton CFE models such as Suprima S have the EVP). EVP can be purchased and installed for approx RM1.6k from SC on the affected units.
Proton Exora's Body Control Module (BCM) features :» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «

- A battery saver for room lamps, luggage and key ring illumination. These turn off after 30 seconds to ensure they do not make your battery flat if for some reason they are left in a situation where they are on all the time.
- Follow-me-home headlamps stay on for a certain period of time to help light up your walkway when you park and want to enter your house.
- The battery level for the remote key is indicated on the car’s instrument panel briefly when you turn the ignition on. The remote key has a range of 20 meters.
- The remote control will not work if your front door is not closed. The vehicle will also remind you if you activate a remote command if the rear door is not closed.
- There is a door open indicator on the instrument panel that indicates exactly which door, engine bay hood or rear hatch is not closed.
- There is a door opening warning when you reach a speed of 7km/h if any doors are open.
- Tap feature for the signal indicator stalk. This is similiar to alot of modern cars – you just have to tap the indicator stalk (not press fully) for the signal to flash 3 times to indicate a lane change and stop automatically, no need to press fully to turn on and reach for it again to deactivate it.
- Dim-in and dim-out feature for the interior room lamps – Proton says this is better for the eyes at night and it also adds a certain touch of class. The interior room lamps turn off automatically after you lock the car, or they also stay on for 30 seconds and then fade out in 2.8 seconds. When you unlock the car, the room light fade-in in 3.4 seconds.
- Front and rear wiper washer drip wiping – automatically wipe to remove excess water. What happens is when you operate the front washer, it will wipe 4 times and then pause for 5 seconds and then wipe one more time, to remove all the excess water effectively. This is because some of the washer liquid from the top of the windscreen will slowly drip down after the initial wiping, so the last wipe completely removes the washer water.
- Programmable front wiper interval. This can be anything from 1 seconds to 25 seconds. The default is 4 seconds. This is how you program it – you put it into INT and then back to off. Then you wait for the duration you want and turn switch it to INT again. The time duration you waited will become the new interval, up to a max of 25 seconds.
- The rear wiper turns on automatically when you engage reverse gear if your front wipers are on.
- If in SLOW mode, the front wiper changes mode to INT mode when you bring the MPV to a complete stop, let’s say in a traffic jam in the rain.
- The remote unlocks the drivers door only if pushed once – probably push twice to unlock all doors. Apparently you are able to configure this to unlock all doors at once by default.
- There is an alarm activation history kept but I am not sure how to access it, perhaps only at the service center.
- The doors will lock automatically once you reach a speed of 20km/h.
- The doors will unlock automatically once you remove the key from the key barrel.
- All doors unlock automatically upon a crash via a signal coming from the airbag control unit.
- If you perform any sudden braking at speeds of at least 96km/h, the hazard lights will flash automatically.
Lotus magazine :
- Developed jointly by Proton and Lotus Engineering
- Underwent real life testing in Sweden, Spain and Malaysia
- 1.6 litre turbo, offering good torque curve, same as 2 litre engine
- Able to take RON 88 petrol!
- Engine volume is 1,561 cc instead of 1,597 cc on standard Campro due to reduced stroke, but retained bore
- Meets Euro 5 emission standard
- Despite its Campro beginning, many components and designs are very different
- Different engine volume
- Forged steel crankshaft on CFE instead of iron on the original Campro engine
- Engine cylinder head had to be redesigned for CFE
- Turbocharger supplied by Borg Warner
Some Q&A regarding Punch manufactured CVT Powertrain» Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... «
Q. The hill hold control is too sensitive that even on a short downwards slope, it starts to do engine braking, which is quite irritating for me.
A. Sorry to hear, this is known issue; this is however proton's button, not our CVT. For hill hold... simple explanation, if you apply 1 to 2% throttle or short time more throttle it will stop engine braking autmaticly.
Q. Everytime when the CVT indicator light is on, there will be fault code appear for service center to refer?
A. Of course its stored in our computers memory. Keep in mind though that after 20 restarts of the engine without the fault code appearing it will be gone as it will be considered a one off, or solved problem.
Q. I notice that exora bold still roll back on even slight /gradual slope(not-too-steep slope). Normal auto gear vehicle only will roll back when the slope is too steep, if it is not steep enough, it's will lock at there. Is there anyway to make CVT lock it when reach slight/gradual slope? It is kinda dangerous esp for new driver.
A. You are correct. This is a know "issue", but is a design feature actually. Two things contribute to this:
First thing is what we call idle neutral, unlike all regular older AT's that have a constantly dragging torque converter or clutch, we open our clutch (a wet clutch, more pressure = more drag, even more pressure closes it) almost completely when you are pressing the brake and standing still. this way fuel is saved. If you release the brake a little time is needed to apply pressure to our clutch again. that is when you roll back a little, rollback only occurs on hills steeper than 10%.
secondly the engine cannot deliver a lot of power idling, when aircon is on, heavy car, on a hill, we can start closing the clutch in order not to roll back, but that will cause the engine to stall. When you apply trottle you will notice first the clutch opens a little bit so engine revs up, than we start closing the clutch, during revving up, you can encounter rollback.
What to do? use handbrake in stead of brake, this way we not shift to neutral (we only read regular brake signal not handbrake), use enough trottle, this way the engine produces engough power to close the clutch in one move.
Q. A lot bashes arguing CVT from proton will end up like honda city CVT, after few year, this cvt gb will fail and it's will cost a bomb for us to replace the CVT GB. Can you describe a bit on punch CVT and it's reliability issue?
A. We are looking into this, we do know income in malaysia is not like europe meaning people will choose repaired or reconditioned gearboxes above new ones. Possibility is that Punch will open a local brand to recondition gearboxes and sell at prices comparable to normal AT ones. As you know our gearboxes are tested till 250000km.
Q. A lot people(those basher) condemning on rubberband effect for proton CVT compare to those conti CVT(multitronic and etc). Rubberband effect quite obvious for punch CVT.
A. Rubberband effect is from CVT's that existed 30 years ago, we use a steel belt so not applicable.
Q. Overheat issue on CVT2. There is rumours saying that Saga FLX always break down due to CVT2 overheat. Is there any solution already?
A. We use a wet clutch, when you would move uphill at very low speeds it would slip almost constantly. We cool this clutch with CVT oil, this is pumped trough the clutch by our CVT pump, this pump is directly connected to the engine. So yes, when not driving as you should with a CVT (and you cannot know this as this is new) you can overheat it. Please compare to manual, if you would keep it on a hill only using the clutch you would burn it.
What to do? avoid long slipping clutches by applying enough throttle when moving uphill, the engine will produce enough power for us to close fast without long slipping period. Shift to N when you can, this will have a cooling effect on the CVT, if possible in N apply little throttle till lets say 1500rpm, this will rev up the pump and increase cooling.
these tips are only for extreme conditions! all other condition drive as you want!
Our CVT's are tested under extreme temperatures! Worst case scenario clutch will open, resulting in no drive as we measure temperature and in order not to break the CVT we will open clutch. You will have to wait a few moments, key on and off and there you go again, this is no breakdown!
Q. As you said "when you would move uphill at very low speeds it would slip almost constantly", how slow is the slow (car speed and engine rev)?
A. Speeds under 10km/h
Q. You have mentioned that the clutch is almost completely open while standing still with D engaged, is this the prime reason of slight lagging when slowly pressing the gas to move?
A. Yes, if you release the brake and immediately press the gas, this is the case. It is always better not to press the gas immediately unless you have to (uphill), you will notive less delay. That it isn't superagressive at launch (if you would mean this by lag) is calibration, it is to preserve both engine and CVT. it is called torque reduction, the engines power delivery is minimized, although full trottle.
Q. Could you give some advices/tips in using CVT when going uphill (e.g. Genting Highland)? Also does it have engine-breaking effect when coming down?
A. Yes it has an automatic engine braking, but only when trottle completly released. Even more engine braking can be applied by putting transmission in L mode. Also for uphill L mode comes in handy, lower ratio, more pulling power!
Q. Is there anyway to avoid CVT failure like honda city/jazz? Any special thing need to take care in order to longer the lifespan of punch CVT?
A. Nothing really special, just drive and enjoy. If would have to say one thing it is to let it build up it's clutch pressure after releasing brake or putting in D before going on throttle, that will be better for clutch.
Q. When u said the CVT is tested under extreme temperature, how extreme is it?
A. We do summer and wintertests, wintertests go up to -40degree, summer tests are extreme high temps and mountains.
Q. If the car is in extreme condition, i believe the CVT oil might be degraded earlier than expected. Is there a way for us to check if the CVT oil is still at its functional condition to lub and cool the CVT?
A. You cannot check but there is no need to. 60000km is fine as in service manual. (or 2 years)

This post has been edited by YouDontKnowMyName: Nov 29 2014, 11:23 PM