The Tata Safari 2.2L technical/Other problems/solutions Thread

[dadu]

This is a collection of all known issues/ Niggles/ Problems with the safari 2.2l, along with the solutions. Please keep adding as it will act as a single repository. Thanks Aburagohain for this suggestion.

Fluid hose burst, This was reported by Aburagohain.

I had a problem with the hissing noise on full turn of the steering, this too was discounted as ever present noise inherent to the Safari and I used to ignore it till the day the power steering fluid hose gave up on me, luckily I had reached the office parking lot already and was reversing the vehicle on full steering, suddenly there was a loud thash noise with smoke from the front of the engine and the steering immediately began to make loud grinding noises, stopped the car then and there and called the helpline. As long as the steering was in normal straight position, there would be no noise but try to turn it slightly and the grinding noise would scare the hell out of anyone, didn't try it a second time for fear of ruining things and waited for the helpline guys, when they arrived, it was diagnosed to be a power steering hose blowout just below the radiator.

Now for the instant remedy if such a thing happens to anyone god forbid: the particular hose was not in stock in entire of Bangalore, I called up all dealers, looks like mine was the first case in Bangalore probably. Concorde asked the car to be towed 20km to their Hosur road service centre but I was reluctant, with the helpline guy not able to do much after lot of tries. Finally an office driver came to the rescue, got some insulation black tapes and wound it tightly onto the hose where it had ruptured, tried with normal brown packing tapes first but they are not good enough, comes off easily. Then went to the nearest fuel pump and bought two cans of oil as suggested by the helpline guy and checked for about 15 minutes with the engine running and turning the wheels. Finally when we were satisfied that the oil was not dripping, drove off to the service station with the helpline guy trailing behind me looking for any oil marks constantly and ready to alert over the mobile phone.. covered 20 km to the service station without any issues and as i was parking the car at the service station, the hose went thash again, luckily enough to have reached safely.

The klank sound upon full steering turn has been noticed by many, some say it goes away with time.

By Aburagohain:

The klank sound on full steering is there, had enquired with the service guys, seems to be present on all Safaris, something to do with a protruding bolt it seems, wonder why they haven't been able to solve this.. anyone going for service could get this clarified please?

The Crankshaft pulley assembly/ damper assembly change

The Crankshaft pulley assembly/ damper assembly was reported by me and replaced in some pre-march Safari 2.2l's. The problem found was that the belt will get off the pulley stranding the whole vehicle. They came out with a modified spare and was replaced in some batches. No worry for March/ post march production/ sales, IMO.

Krrrr sound upon instant pickup

The Most notorious of them is the 'Krrrr' sound which one used to get upon sudden pickup from any of the gears except 1st. Most pre-June batches have this sound and some reportedly say that it goes away after a certain run.

By Aburagohain:

Regarding the krr noise, I too had it initially on my LX 2.2, with 7K on the odo now it has gone away looks like, the humming is there on sudden acceleration but the particular krr noise seems to have settled down.

Can people who have run more than 10k support this claim, JKdas ??? Smsrini??? others??


Windshield Wiper Tank Leakage

The Leakage of Windshield wiper tank was also reported by me, just get the tank changed under warranty if you find water levels down within 3-4 days of topup.

[aburagohain]

Thanks Dadu for the initiation, should help a lot of fellow drivers.

Water tank issue faced on my vehicle too, there is a small out valve about 1 inch from the bottom of the water tank, probably meant for cleaning the tank periodically, the stopper had come off, it is a little difficult to reach as it is at the bottom of the tank, close to the clamp holding the tank to the body, I put a twig to stop the water from flowing out till the next visit to the service station, worked well.

[amit_mechengg]

nice thread, fill it then i will take a printout and throw it on the faces of tatamotors officials

[smsrini]

Originally Posted by dadu

Krrrr sound upon instant pickup

I'm trying to simulate this, and for some reason dont seem to be getting the sound at around 14k kms. If I remember correctly, I used to get it under hard/sudden acceleration in the 1st gear, and a little less in the other gears. BTW, the engine sounds smoother now, as I mentioned in my LTR.

What I'm trying to simulate is to let the speed come below the recommended upshift for a gear, and then accelerate hard to see if I get the sound. Trying to record the sound using a phone.

[Dieselone]

This is a great thread for all safari owners and prospective owners.
Mine is a May 2008 2.2.

1)I noticed the Krrr sound in the second gear between 1700 to 2000 rpms.This sound was present from day one and has nearly vanished now( or is it that i have got so used to it that i do not hear it anymore!) The truck has run 5000 kms now. The TASS guys say this sound is due to the vtt(!) and is not observed in the 3L safari dicors. Need verification on this from other members.

2)Noticed a persistent squeeking sound from the rear of the car. Initially thought it was the tail gate, but it turned out that the middle seat was not engaged properly.

3)Hissing sound on turning the wheel fully is present from day one till date.What do i do for this?

4) When i engage the hand break on a slope and release it i have noticed a instant pungent burning smell. what can this be?

5) Ac konked while returning from a long drive, the fuse had blown. TASS has replaced the 15 amp fuse with a 25 amp but were not able to do a RCA.

Plus there are some small issues like steering horn getting stuck and driver side power window being too slow and making a squeeking sound etc.

Will keep posting "events" as and when they happen

cheers!

[jaysmokesleaves]

Mine is April 1st week 08 model: 2.2 EX 4x4 :

Clutch plate & pressure plate were replaced during 1st service.
Slave cylinder was replaced in the recent service.
The above was done due to hard clutch.
Problem now seems to be solved.
Gear movement though is super slick.

Driver seat was loose from day one but they just managed to tighten it to my satisfaction.

Left front window rattle started on a recent trip but was solved.

Turbo manifold hose came loose during a recent long road trip causing loss of power & pickup. Was fixed at a TASS enroute.

Windshield washer fluid leaked off. The hose at the bottom had come off. Solved.

Horn sounded like a torn speaker. horn tuned.

Strange vibration accompanied with a humming coming @ 2500-3000 in all gears and even in neutral. TASS unable to diagnose the problem yet. The jobcard on that is still open. They are waiting to check with other safaris.

[beanstalk_230]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

Mine is April 1st week 08 model: 2.2 EX 4x4 :

Clutch plate & pressure plate were replaced during 1st service.
Slave cylinder was replaced in the recent service.
The above was done due to hard clutch.
Problem now seems to be solved.
Gear movement though is super slick.

Driver seat was loose from day one but they just managed to tighten it to my satisfaction.

Left front window rattle started on a recent trip but was solved.

Turbo manifold hose came loose during a recent long road trip causing loss of power & pickup. Was fixed at a TASS enroute.

Windshield washer fluid leaked off. The hose at the bottom had come off. Solved.

Horn sounded like a torn speaker. horn tuned.

Strange vibration accompanied with a humming coming @ 2500-3000 in all gears and even in neutral. TASS unable to diagnose the problem yet. The jobcard on that is still open. They are waiting to check with other safaris.

Don't you think thats a quite a lot of issues in just 4 months..?? I really didn't hope that even the new safari would be full of these niggling issues. And i thought TATA had improved a lot on this front especially after my horrible experience with the indigo

[aburagohain]

The latest niggle for some time now on my vehicle is excessive squeaking while I begin to press the brake pedal, guess this happens when the brake pads heats up as the noise is not present initially and comes up only after driving a few kilometers, also, on a rainy day, the squeaks are not present much. The squeaks come only when I am about to apply the brakes, not when I apply the brakes fully.

Have reported it to the service guys but as they test drive, the noise vanishes, probably I should really heat up the brake pads and immediately get someone to test drive at the TASS, they have already adjusted the brakes twice but haven't been able to get rid of the noise, it keeps coming back.

Any suggestion?

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by beanstalk_230

Don't you think thats a quite a lot of issues in just 4 months..?? I really didn't hope that even the new safari would be full of these niggling issues. And i thought TATA had improved a lot on this front especially after my horrible experience with the indigo

Im certainly not happy with the clutch issue popping up now n then. Especially since i dont ride the clutch when i drive under almost any circumstances. The rest of the issues i dont think are very noteworthy considering the way i have driven this vehicle over very bad roads doing 3 digit speeds through almost all of the bad roads i see if traffic permits.
If you are comparing with a softroader or a car then yes, mabe the niggles are irritating. But I would not drive a car/ softroader like a safari/scorpio.
I doubt another suv(in the price range) barring maybe the scorpio can handle such abuse, while delivering the comfort and the confidence to abuse it.

[dadu]

Underbody Khat khat sound when going over uneven rough roads

This had started coming sometime back and was rectified then itself, it was like someone is hammering from the underbody just below the front seats, more prominent if I kept the left window open.

But despite all my efforts to detect it, I couldnt. I even went under the safari to check for any loose thing.

Went to the TASS, one short test drive to show the SA of the noise, later on the ramp and problem diagnosed.

The left Idler arm had slight more play than required, removed the split-pin, tightened the lock nut and a new split-pin back, grease pumped into the shaft, DONE.

The steering became slightly hard though, slightly.

[dadu]

Update: Damper Pulley Change

Unlike the earlier post, this is being done for new vehicles also (early July2008/)source: Daiuspitar.

Also you might notice the Safari becoming sluggish after the change.

Solution: Do an ECU reset before you come out of the TASS or yourself at home.

Reason: Before the Damper pulley change they disconnect the battery (resetting the ECU), but they have to warm up the engine to adjust the timing belt after it and they run the Safari for extended period in Idle after the repair job.

Therefore a second reset is required after they are fully done with.

[tsk1979]

1. Left door rattle : Power window adjustment issue, fixed after tightining bolts and confirmed by TD
2. Power steering excessive hissing: Some hissing is normal, but if its excessive, put vehicle on ramp, open the power steering fluid reservoir lid, and turn wheels a few times lock to lock

[djbobo]

Originally Posted by dadu

Underbody Khat khat sound when going over uneven rough roads

This had started coming sometime back and was rectified then itself, it was like someone is hammering from the underbody just below the front seats, more prominent if I kept the left window open.

But despite all my efforts to detect it, I couldnt. I even went under the safari to check for any loose thing.

Went to the TASS, one short test drive to show the SA of the noise, later on the ramp and problem diagnosed.

The left Idler arm had slight more play than required, removed the split-pin, tightened the lock nut and a new split-pin back, grease pumped into the shaft, DONE.

The steering became slightly hard though, slightly.

1) Am getting this sound too. Its really irritating, yet to get it fixed.

2) Still getting the krrr sound on accelaration. Have done 12,000 kms.

3) Drivers side window gets stuck after rolling up 3/4th. Got this rectified. Started happening again.

[kingshukt]

Originally Posted by dadu

Update: Damper Pulley Change

Reason: Before the Damper pulley change they disconnect the battery (resetting the ECU), but they have to warm up the engine to adjust the timing belt after it and they run the Safari for extended period in Idle after the repair job.

Therefore a second reset is required after they are fully done with.

This is news.
TASS had not touched the timing belt or its setting during my pulley
change.
What they had removed were the fan belts.

Are u sure about the timing belt adjust??

[dadu]

They checked it for sure, they warm up the engine before checking that.

Originally Posted by kingshukt

This is news.
TASS had not touched the timing belt or its setting during my pulley
change.
What they had removed were the fan belts.

Are u sure about the timing belt adjust??