Diesel Indica - 2 questions/problems

[kaustubh_vaze]

Hey guys,
I own a 2004 diesel Indica.
A couple of questions on some problems I am facing:
1. Recently I observed that at slow speeds the steering wobbles and the car pulls a bit to the left at slow speeds. eg. when I am starting off from a dead stop. The steering feels like the car is going over a bump / pothole. When the car picks up speed, it becomes less. What is the issue?
2. The car has done exactly 3 years and 38K Kms. I have done all the regular servicing at 5K intervals. What are the pre-emptive measures I need to take to keep my car is good order? I read someone mention engine de-carb etc.
Please let me know the list of maintenance tasks I need to take up at this point in time to make my car remain good.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Kaustubh

[tsk1979]

1. The Steel belt in your tire is kaput. Change the tyre(exchange front rear). A more serious issue could be problem with the axle/hub. did you hit a bump or a crator at high speed. Inspect rim for bend. If problem goes away by changing tires, then it was a steel belt issue in tire, otherwise damaged axle/hub(Rare), bent rim(less rare) could be culprit.
2. Maintain it regularly, it will be fine. Make sure you do engine flush every 25000kms or so. Oil change interval of 7000kms will do you fine. My indica engine feels great and performance is adequate even at 80K+ kms.

[kaustubh_vaze]

Hey @tsk1979 - Thanks. I will try a tire swap. One more thing. What engine oil do you suggest? Is synthetic oil available for diesel engines? Is it recommended?

[abhilash_iv]

Hi,
I had a similar issue with my Indica few months back. It was rectified with balancing and alignment of front wheels.There was a small bend in the rim too. Wobbling was very less (not like going through a bump or pothole). I think you can try this too.

[tsk1979]

Common synthetic oils available for diesel confirm to very old specifications (API-CF). I think mobil 1 is synthetic.
I was also recommended Delo 400 (chevron). It has detergent content of 3600+ twice that of Castrol GTX or Castrol GTX diesel(API-CI oil which I use currently).
Before this I used to be on Castrol GTD and oil change was done every 6000kms or so.
So as long as you stick to or exceed API-CF specifications you should be fine.
Get Castrol GTX diesel, and if you are going synthetic I would recommend anything with rating more than API-CH (API-CH4, API-CI4)

[dadu]

If you keep your tyre inflated slightly above the normal pressure(1-2 bars), it will be less noticable.

[nikkibike]

Originally Posted by kaustubh_vaze

Hey guys,
I own a 2004 diesel Indica.
A couple of questions on some problems I am facing:
1. Recently I observed that at slow speeds the steering wobbles and the car pulls a bit to the left at slow speeds. eg. when I am starting off from a dead stop. The steering feels like the car is going over a bump / pothole. When the car picks up speed, it becomes less. What is the issue?
2. The car has done exactly 3 years and 38K Kms. I have done all the regular servicing at 5K intervals. What are the pre-emptive measures I need to take to keep my car is good order? I read someone mention engine de-carb etc.
Please let me know the list of maintenance tasks I need to take up at this point in time to make my car remain good.
Thanks in advance.
Regards,
Kaustubh

Problem 1 - Mostly tyres! Try wheel alignments and balancings. Get the wheels checked for bend rims too.

Problem 2 - Do company recommended periodic services correctly. Replace E.oil every 5k! Do wheel alignments and balancings every 5k! This will make your steering a bit hard incase yours is a non-powersteering one!! No need for decarbonising till 60k. Tell the mech to check the timing belt every 5k! Full water service every 2.5k will be tooo good! Thatz it!

Your car is as good as fresh I guess!! No need of any major repairs at 35K in 3 yrs!! Replace the tyres if it is due. Get the car checked for engine oil / coolant leakages. Get the battery checked!

drive on!!

[kaustubh_vaze]

Hi guys,
Problem fixed. I exchanged the front tyre with the spare wheel and the wobbling stopped completely.
Observations: The problem was with a bent rim. Some days back, during parking I had bumped against a footpath. :(. That had caused it.
Another thing I noticed is that the tyre was badly damaged. Could the damage be caused because of driving around for 1 week on a bent rim?

Thanks for your suggestions guys.