[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by Seek

It still comes whenever i go over any bumpy road.

Have you checked the spoiler? That apart, I would also recommend you check the stepney release mechanism.

[Seek]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Have you checked the spoiler? That apart, I would also recommend you check the stepney release mechanism.

Checked the spoiler and the Stepney mechanism too. Am convinced it's coming from the rear compartment door latch. Taking it for the 3rd servicing on monday will get it looked at by them.

[navpreet318]

Did you by any chance place the vehicle on an uneven ground and used the rear door?
I have observed that there is a considerable amount of flex in the chassis and body and it might have created a problem.

Get the body bolts retorqued and the rear door alignment checked for any variation. Should solve the problem.

[Seek]

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Did you by any chance place the vehicle on an uneven ground and used the rear door?
I have observed that there is a considerable amount of flex in the chassis and body and it might have created a problem.

Get the body bolts retorqued and the rear door alignment checked for any variation. Should solve the problem.

I found the source. Below the hook on which the rear door latch locks, there is a small square plastic block on which a metallic part of the door rests upon closing. The squeaking comes from there. I guess there is some very minor play in the alignment which should be easy to resolve.

[param22k]

Originally Posted by Seek

I found the source. Below the hook on which the rear door latch locks, there is a small square plastic block on which a metallic part of the door rests upon closing. The squeaking comes from there. I guess there is some very minor play in the alignment which should be easy to resolve.

Hi Seek. This is a perennial problem in the Safari. Didn't know it persists in the Storme as well. Disappointing. After trying countless solutions I've settled on periodic spraying of lubricant on the plastic catcher. This works for me. Trying to get the door realigned from TASS just made things worse for me. I would suggest avoiding it. Cheers!

[Seek]

Originally Posted by param22k

Hi Seek. This is a perennial problem in the Safari. Didn't know it persists in the Storme as well. Disappointing. After trying countless solutions I've settled on periodic spraying of lubricant on the plastic catcher. This works for me. Trying to get the door realigned from TASS just made things worse for me. I would suggest avoiding it. Cheers!

That's just what I did. Smoothened and cleaned the plastic catcher and it's metal counterpart and the squeaking is gone. Thanks, Will keep away from the realignment.

[AAD]

Originally Posted by param22k

Hi Seek. This is a perennial problem in the Safari. Didn't know it persists in the Storme as well. Disappointing. After trying countless solutions I've settled on periodic spraying of lubricant on the plastic catcher. This works for me. Trying to get the door realigned from TASS just made things worse for me. I would suggest avoiding it. Cheers!

Originally Posted by Seek

That's just what I did. Smoothened and cleaned the plastic catcher and it's metal counterpart and the squeaking is gone. Thanks, Will keep away from the realignment.

I can understand the frustration but spraying a lubricant will make the noise disappear without resolving the problem.

Essentially the plastic block is a lift up device which is supposed to guide the door upwards as we close it so that it aligns with the latch on closing.

There must be a adjustment provision either in both the plastic guide and the latch or definitely in the latch.

The aim is for the plastic block to be off contact with the metal guide upon latching . The best way to achieve this would be to adjust the door hinges slightly off the vertical by say 1 degree (91 degree) so that due to self weight and the cantilever force on account of the width of the door, the door remains in level and latches properly with the plastic block remaining off contact why the metal guide.

I don't know if this is possible in the Storme/Safari but in theory that's how it should work.

All the best.

Cheers

[avinash_m]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Is the AC working fine now? If yes, it could mean that the fix has worked and could also potentially translate to an official recall.

This apart, how is the truck performing overall? How many kms? What is the overall FE?

Apologies for the delayed response @n.devdath

It was working as expected when I checked about month and half back; had reported in Seek's thread too as he was looking to get it fixed similarly. Haven't been using the AC much since it's still rather cool here; will check again and report.
I use mine for daily office commutes about 30 odd kms (to and fro) with mixed traffic conditions. So, my running is concentrated so far to city only; that's why I am at a lowly 10.3K currently in my 8 months of owning it. Just had one Hyd-Bhilai-Hyd trip which was awesome! It does have it's share of minor niggles, in the form of nagging rattles, but I've learnt to ignore them now. FE is something which I still haven't checked so far. Overall, it has kept me happy and satisfied!

On a side note, I was out for 2 weeks and upon returning when I was about to take it out, noticed that I could not press the brake pedal at all; I press both the brake and clutch before the self. It was fine after the engine started running, releasing the built up pressure. I thought building up this pressure was only possible by pressing the pedal repeatedly when the engine is off. The car was locked shut all this time; could there be a leakage somewhere which may have caused this?! I don't see any issue otherwise during daily commutes.

[black_rider]

Originally Posted by avinash_m

On a side note, I was out for 2 weeks and upon returning when I was about to take it out, noticed that I could not press the brake pedal at all; I press both the brake and clutch before the self. It was fine after the engine started running, releasing the built up pressure. I thought building up this pressure was only possible by pressing the pedal repeatedly when the engine is off. The car was locked shut all this time; could there be a leakage somewhere which may have caused this?!

Its normal. Losing vacuum (which is what provides brake assist) over a couple of weeks is not a problem.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Is the AC working fine now? If yes, it could mean that the fix has worked and could also potentially translate to an official recall.

I don't know what was the problem with avinash's car, but I'll share my car's resolution. My car had a HVAC blend door problem. The door slides in a channel on another toothed gear like part. That channel has a kink in it, near the blend door's max cold position. My car's blend door was not sliding out of that kink "sometimes". And that caused temperature to be stuck at cold. It was really-really hard to convince the service team to root-cause this. But they did it thankfully.

Sadly, A/C problem is not yet resolved completely. Sometimes, 3 dashboard vents still do not respond when I move temp control to "less cold" or "hot". Only one vent responds without any fuss. You seem to have a good understanding of Safaris and their quirks. Do you know if Storme HVAC has 2 blend doors? If yes, it could be very much possible that only one door is fixed on my car.

I would agree that Storme HVACs are throwing up lots of issues, and Tata should crackdown on vendors, and even issue recall.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by avinash_m

The car was locked shut all this time; could there be a leakage somewhere which may have caused this?! I don't see any issue otherwise during daily commutes.

Yes. There seems to be a leak somewhere in the plumbing which resulted in the pressure leakage and the consequent hardening of the pedals. However, since the vehicle was idle for two whole weeks, it could also indicate a normal reduction/loss of vacuum. Get it checked at the next service and in case you dont find anything, forget it.

Originally Posted by black_rider

Sadly, A/C problem is not yet resolved completely. Sometimes, 3 dashboard vents still do not respond when I move temp control to "less cold" or "hot". Only one vent responds without any fuss. You seem to have a good understanding of Safaris and their quirks. Do you know if Storme HVAC has 2 blend doors? If yes, it could be very much possible that only one door is fixed on my car.

I would agree that Storme HVACs are throwing up lots of issues, and Tata should crackdown on vendors, and even issue recall.

Do the other vents not respond at all or do they take time? Which vents do not respond? The best test is to compare the both the side vents with themselves and the central vents.
In any car with a single zone HVAC system, there is a single blend door since all the vents are supposed to dispense same air through the blower.

The Safari too was erratic when it came to AC issues in terms of consistency, temperature control and even air dissipation and that was primarily due to bad AC plumbing and vent insulation.

I'll wait for your answers eagerly.

[black_rider]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Do the other vents not respond at all or do they take time? Which vents do not respond? The best test is to compare the both the side vents with themselves and the central vents.

The other vents respond. Sometimes immediately, sometimes not. And its kind of random. That is what prompted me to think if there is another blend door for these vents.

Just to clear up the problem a little bit more. A/C used to cool properly. It was an issue only when I wanted to reduce the cooling. I would just keep on turning the temp. control knob towards center position, gradually, and it never increased air temp. I used to give it up then, thinking that I would ask service guys to look at it. One day, out of sheer frustration, I just turned it towards full hot (engine had reached operating temp by then) and it just kept on blowing cold air!

On occasions I had also experienced 3 vents blowing cold air, while one was blowing hot, with temp knob turned to hot.

Problem was escalated after 2 visits to dealer solved nothing. This time around a company executive was assigned the task, and he worked with HVAC vendor to "resolve" issue. Issue was found with HVAC, as described in my last post. I say its still partly resolved. 1 vent, as shown in image, responds immediately to temp control knob now. The others follow suit, most of the time, but not always. Its this remaining randomness that I want to be cleaned up now. I don't know what was replaced/repaired to make the single vent work.

Other vents take a lot of time, in the order of minutes, which is plainly unacceptable. If one vent does it in 2-3 sec, others should too. I should mention, the issue ticket is still open and I will be meeting ASC/Tata guys next week. But I want to do my homework beforehand.

Yes, a car with single zone HVAC should ideally have only one blend door. But "one blend door theory" is not able to explain the behavior in my car.

One more thing. Storme's A/C temp control knob moves in small steps, clicking with every single step. But from what I understood from the brief telephone talk with HVAC guy: not every click is supposed to change vent temp. The knob click is mechanical, and the microcontroller sitting inside A/C control panel does not register input at that granularity. It registers a far fewer number of steps from full hot to full cold, than then number of clicks between the 2 extremes would suggest. I think its only 8 steps max. Need to confirm with him, in case I get to meet him.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by black_rider

The other vents respond. Sometimes immediately, sometimes not. And its kind of random. That is what prompted me to think if there is another blend door for these vents.

There cannot be 2 blend doors. Not required, not possible.

Originally Posted by black_rider

A/C used to cool properly. It was an issue only when I wanted to reduce the cooling. I would just keep on turning the temp. control knob towards center position, gradually, and it never increased air temp. I used to give it up then, thinking that I would ask service guys to look at it. One day, out of sheer frustration, I just turned it towards full hot (engine had reached operating temp by then) and it just kept on blowing cold air!

Yes, this is on the lines most of the other owners have been facing. At "Full Cold", there is no problem. It is the adjustment that doesn't work/work effectively.

Originally Posted by black_rider

On occasions I had also experienced 3 vents blowing cold air, while one was blowing hot, with temp knob turned to hot.

This seems to be an issue with the plumbing/piping somewhere. If one vent behaves normally, the other three should. The air being blown through the motor is the same everywhere.

Originally Posted by black_rider

Problem was escalated after 2 visits to dealer solved nothing. This time around a company executive was assigned the task, and he worked with HVAC vendor to "resolve" issue.

Which dealer?

Originally Posted by black_rider

Other vents take a lot of time, in the order of minutes, which is plainly unacceptable. If one vent does it in 2-3 sec, others should too. I should mention, the issue ticket is still open and I will be meeting ASC/Tata guys next week. But I want to do my homework beforehand.

Let me know when you plan to go there, I'd want to come and take a look. Which part of the city do you stay at? I m near the Meenakshi Mall on BG Road.

Originally Posted by black_rider

One more thing. Storme's A/C temp control knob moves in small steps, clicking with every single step. But from what I understood from the brief telephone talk with HVAC guy: not every click is supposed to change vent temp.

He is right. Each click does not do anything specifically. It is supposed to, but it doesn't. It is the same in a lot of cars.

[black_rider]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

There cannot be 2 blend doors. Not required, not possible.
...
This seems to be an issue with the plumbing/piping somewhere. If one vent behaves normally, the other three should. The air being blown through the motor is the same everywhere.

But if there is a leak, should it not show up every time? Its the random occurrence that made me think of another moving part, that could be getting stuck. Many manufacturers build a single configurable product, and then sell it off to different customers (who have slightly different requirements), with minor modifications. Such reuse helps them save a lot on design and manufacturing costs. I thought "what if", the HVAC has been designed for dual zone, but implemented in this car for a single zone with a simpler control unit and just one temp sensor, but still retaining 2 blend doors. But I will not speculate. Just wanted to let you know what prompted me to think of two parallel blend doors.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Which dealer?

Concorde, Dairy Cirle

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Let me know when you plan to go there, I'd want to come and take a look. Which part of the city do you stay at? I m near the Meenakshi Mall on BG Road.

Thanks for your support. I stay on Old Madras Road. Yes my choice of dealer is really far from my residence. I know
Will surely keep you posted.

Originally Posted by n.devdath

He is right. Each click does not do anything specifically. It is supposed to, but it doesn't. It is the same in a lot of cars.

It would save customers a lot of pain, if the owners' manual simply specified the number of steps in which temp is actually controlled. I mean, the small click being understood as one unit of change, is kind of intuitive. I know I have expected reduced cooling with 2 or 3 clicks of that dial. But it takes even more to actually cause the blend door to move. You can hear the difference in blower sound, when the blend door moves.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by black_rider

But if there is a leak, should it not show up every time?

My thinking was on the grounds of you saying that the other vents take time to exhibit temperature changes.

Originally Posted by black_rider

Concorde, Dairy Cirle

Thanks for your support. I stay on Old Madras Road. Yes my choice of dealer is really far from my residence. I know
Will surely keep you posted.

Concorde, Hosur Road is a better option for the Safari. Prerana too is good but that is at the other end of town. Dairy Circle is dingy, crowded and hectic, generally. I know their GM pretty well, let's see.

Originally Posted by black_rider

I mean, the small click being understood as one unit of change, is kind of intuitive. I know I have expected reduced cooling with 2 or 3 clicks of that dial. But it takes even more to actually cause the blend door to move. You can hear the difference in blower sound, when the blend door moves.

Unless the ac is digitally controlled, these clicks are not meant to be precise stages of temperature control. This is common to all old-gen ac systems.

[sourabhzen]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Unless the ac is digitally controlled, these clicks are not meant to be precise stages of temperature control. This is common to all old-gen ac systems.

Sir, you are right. However, it is way too erratic in case of Storme. I use City (old gen) and Swift and have used Alto k10 and others in past. All of them have manual control and I never ever faced any issue in finding comfortable temperature zone in them. Safari Storme is a different story alltogether.