Tyrst with Reliability-M-800 and Matiz

[PAVAN KADAM]

This is something that was bound to happen since long.
Usually i am a narassist when it comes to my cars, it so happened that since last 2 days my evenings are spent only towing back home my so called reliable cars. My Maruti 800 and Deawoo Matiz.

Let me start with my beloved M-800. 2 lac kms on the odo and serviced regularly every 4500 kms with all problematic parts replaced time to time. And i never had towed it home even in case of worst of accidents on the car, with one tyre running at a 45 degree angle after i hit the median, i drove the car home 6 yrs ago.

I am returning home from office a bit late after a long day at work, my M-800 is behaving fine, with a little hiccup here and there, if presumed this is not a major issue and start driving home 24 kms away, i travel midway home and somehow my car was giving me a bit of unpleasant behaviour, something that had not happened ever. I still continue driving consoling myself that it should atleast reach me home safely.

This thought never crossed my M-800's mind, .....STOP ! all of a sudden my car doesnt move, its standing amidst all traffic on the Bangy Hebbal Ring Road. Shucks... What on earth was that. My car never answers, shuts its mouth completely(Battery also dead after repetitive cranks) Fuel. i had fueled it to run another 100 kms. I could not figure out what to do, me dear mechanic anna also has switched off his mobile.

Just rang up my younger brother to get help, he comes 30 mins later and then we start the process of tying our M-800 to Safari and start chugging along with some little traffic along the road.Reached home safely and i park the car cover it and leave the rest for the morning sun to rise.

Opened the hood, did a bit of looking around , after 15 mins i find the hose connecting the fuel line and the fuel pump leaking a bit of fuel, wonder how much fuel i would have lost whole night. Could not help but to remove the hose and replace it. luckily i had the hose and changed it immediately.But my battery gave away, had to charge it over again, called the electrician and later found even my alternator has some problems. Whew..... That was one more thing to add.

BUT ... Alas found later who's the culprit.

RATS.... yes RATS.

Firstly they had punctured my fuel line and chewed on my alternator grounding wire.

Part II later,on my Matiz.

[aaggoswami]

OK, but then it was not the car's fault IMO. It was because of rats. Your Maruti 800 has done more than 2 lakh kilometers and still it is working that is good news. And the fact that it had never to be towed ( except this rats incident ) speaks volumes about the car and the maintenence you have given to this car.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Thanks Aaggoswami,

The reason i mentioned reliability was, i was cursing my car for being unreliable all of a sudden, hence mentioned my tyrst with such situations.

The car has worked wonders for our family and none of us would part with it for life, thats sure. It has undergone one rebore which i have a seperate thread on T-BHP. and i still get an average mileage of 17.5 kmpl.

Talking about my Matiz.

This is a 2001 model and run only 30000 kms and we've retained it in as is condition from showroom. Periodically serviced , changing all required belts at regular intervals and so on.

But what happened on Tuesday evening was something that'll be hard for us to digest. Inspite of maintaining it so perservingly the car stopped all of a sudden last evening amidst our Rajajinagar traffic. My brother finds it difficult to understand what happened, since recently it had a mini service at Manipal Motors.

He opens the hood and goes around seeing if he can figure something, smells some rubber burning, he finds the A/C belt intact and reaches to check on the alternator belt, s...ks the alternator belt is blown to pieces.

Somehow with some help from a local mechanic they try and remove the pieces of belt stuck. Crank...Crank.. the car never cranks, repetitive cranks drain the battery and again in a catch 20 situation. He could not take it longer calls me , this time i had to travel 20 kms away from home and again start the towing process, this was the first time we've towed the car. Was a funny incident but anyways one lesson learnt.
My mechanic says sir get the car home i'll come and check it...(So easy to say this.. ).

The car comes home safe. again i wait for the morning, got into the hood to see if i can do some R&D, no signs of any rat entry or any chewup, i could only find the alternator belt gone totally , but could not understand why its not starting inspite of changing with a fresh battery. My mechanic says your timing belt might have got cut pls check if so we need to replace the valves. Head work... my god this i did not anticipate and it turned out to be true, i removed few bolts on the timing case and feel for the belt, its worn out and cut from the sides, but still intact on the 2 pulleys.

Need to wait for the mechanic to come over this Saturday and start the repair process.Wonder how such a reliable car so neatly maintained would give away so easily.

Anyone who can shed some light on this .

[kkr2k2]

Pavan, i am not good at this but if the belt is made of rubber, may be the rubber got a bit old or rubber quality went down, this could be due to dust settling on the belt.(??)

[ravibhat]

I feel issue here is aging factor! Since its 7 years old car few parts will start showing age. It can happen to any car. I feel If we park the cars for long time (more than 10 days) without switching it on and If we use the car too much with bad driving style this is what happens.

There are many reasons like dust settled and during service mechanic neglect few things to check, more reasons for sure.

Matiz is best small car I have ever seen! Its amazing for City use with excellant comfort/space for 4 people.

I have baught 2001 Matiz which is used only inside the City outmost place I travelled is ring road.

I guess FE of my car is between 10-13 kmpl with AC on most of the times and 30% I see it will be driven in 1st gear and 30% in 2nd gear and rest in 3rd and 4th gears.

FFE is done on it by Physco, he did good job even with AC on it pulls very well.

I am using my Innova at least once in 1 week because I am afraid If I don't use it much its battery and other issues might start.

Regards,

Ravi.

[HappyWheels]

Pavam,
The issue with your 800 is due to rats. So, I would say that it is still reliable. Not much it can do if rats eat the tube away.

But yes, this was a situation that has been forced on you. Hope you made sure to put enough anti-rat stuff!

Matiz - now that is something strange. Hope it turns out to be something small!

[Jaggu]

Can you rule out any jammed part before proceeding to timing belt? 7 years and 30k kms shouldnt cause timing belt failure.

[aaggoswami]

You have mentioned that regular belt changes were done. Have you ever replaced the belt that went bad ? If yes then certainly its the quality of the belt. Or has been damaged by the rats and this time it gave away ( since rats damaged your 800, this could not be ruled out ).

I dont thing that there are chances of the valves getting into trouble unless the timing belt has gone bad.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Thanks guys for the reply,

The belt that is worn out or damaged is the timing belt that is "enclosed inside the timing case"

Just wondering how this can break. Even if this happens will the valves bend? Do i have to get my head work done at the lathe?

My mech is anyway home tonight, will have to find out whats in store.

Part III of my tyrst goes like this.

As both the cars are down and out and resting at home, i take out my 41 yr old VW Bug and start my day to office, go drop my Sis-in-law to her office and complete few errands around bangalore get back to office and finally i was hoping against hope that atleast today let me reach home safely without any jinx.

I start moving home, by evening 8 i have clocked 65 kms and still have 24 kms to travel, since last 2 days was bad i was feeling funny once i started my sojourn home.

Half way mark the bug doesnt bug me, all of a sudden i start getting shudders . SHU....S what on earth now, the next second the bug is sailing smoothly, maybe some "kachra in the carb". next 25 mins i reach home with the as usual heavy Bangy traffic ( It takes 1 hr and 20 mins to cover 24 kms) and i cover a overall 89 kms yesterday and that too on an 41 yr old bug.

I only keep thinking that reliability is very subjective and even modern day cars are prone to certain troubles unforseen.

I finally came to a conclusion that if
1) The Matiz belt got cut because of RATS
2) The M-800 fuel lines and alternator cable chewed by RATS


My BUG has managed to fool the RATS-
.
.
REAR ENGINE

[gods-envy]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

My BUG has managed to fool the RATS-
.
.
REAR ENGINE

It's a BUG's life after all.

[Jeep]

I agree with Ravi. The Matiz is the best 800 cc car that I have driven.
@Pavan, guess you meant 'narcissist' and not 'narassist'.

You must be happy that the cars themselves are not unreliable.

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

The belt that is worn out or damaged is the timing belt that is "enclosed inside the timing case"

Just wondering how this can break. Even if this happens will the valves bend? Do i have to get my head work done at the lathe?

The Timing Belt to the best of my knowledge cannot be damaged by rats unless they've found a way of entering the engine which is highly unlikely. It's more or less due to ear & tear/age. Rubber disintegrates over time, it's a natural phenomenon.

As for the belt, yes it can break if not changed on time or because of a pre mature failure. The Timing Belt on my car broke while I was driving on a highway a few months back but there was no damage to the head/valves. It has something to do with whether your car's engine is an "interference" or a "Non-Interference" type. Search around on the forum, the details are there.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by Jeep

I agree with Ravi. The Matiz is the best 800 cc car that I have driven.
@Pavan, guess you meant 'narcissist' and not 'narassist'.

You must be happy that the cars themselves are not unreliable.

Thanks dude for correcting me,

Ya, i should be happy about my M-800,will be happy if i dont have to spend big bucks on the head work for the Matiz.

Hoping for the Best.

Iraghava.

Thanks, will need to search around the forum for what you've mentioned.

Not quite understood what you mean by "interference or Non Interference type"

[PAVAN KADAM]

Finally my mechanic arrives home on Friday Night, since this weekend he's not in town.

7:45 pm: He starts inspecting the engine room, finds the alternator belt missing, its blown to pieces after rubbing alongside the timing case. Oh no!, the timing case is completely broken into pieces, as a result even the timing belt is damaged, eventually leading to miss the timing.

9:00 pm: Most of the parts on the Matiz is removed and ready to open the valve door cover and yes the actual damage is with the valves, they are bent.

This thread will now be hijacked by my younger BROTHER, who after much persuation joined T-BHP.

Will start posting with the pics and the remaining process.