Safari Dicor 2.2 VX – Updated 7,500 kms

[tsk1979]

My recent experience is not so good.
Car went with 3 problems
1. Radiator leak
2. Surging at cold start
3. Khat sound on speed breakers.

It came back with 2 and 3
So this time when call comes from TML, they are getting 3/10

[suman]

Originally Posted by Highway Star

Thanks Suman. What has been your experince with the TASS suggested by the others on this thread, Autolinks Gurgaon?

Very good so far. Went there on Eddy's recommendation to get a tricky issue diagnosed & fixed (which Dhingra had been struggling with). Diagnosis was spot on (Limited Slip Differential issue) & was rectified.

Have not had any bad experiences with them so far - I find them way better than Dhingra. You can be confident that your car is actually being attended to, unlike at Dhingra where you cannot figure out whether they've done anything or just returned the car after washing.

Autolinks have enough service bays & you can actually hang around & see what they're doing (if you're the inquisitive type like me ). The entire team is young & energetic (exception being the GM who is energetic but more in our age bracket) & its a pleasant experience dealing with them. The GM's depth of knowledge on 4x4 is also very impressive.

A few Bhpians have found their way to Autolinks based on my feedback & I have no hesitation in recommending them again. Let me know if you intend going there & I'll set it up.

[Highway Star]

Thanks Suman. Will take the truck to Autolinks Gurgaon then for the next service. I'm sure they will be better than A-One. The main grouse that I had with A-One Mathura Road Workshop was that they dismissed certain things saying "this is normal for a Safari", which really pissed me off! According to them, rattling doors and windows can't be fixed because it is "normal for a Safari", and ABS light going on and off randomly is "nothing at all".

What took the cake was when they did an adjustment on the glovebox (which was rattling) and after the adjustment, the light inside the glovebox wouldn't turn off inspite of the glovebox being shut. I could see the light remaining on through the front AC vents. On bringing this to the service advisors notice, he did some adjustment on the latch of the glovebox, which made the light work fine but the rattling came back on! Finally, he gave up and said, sir rattling you can ignore by playing loud music, but if the light remains on your battery will get drained, so better to live with the smaller of the 2 issues!

The CRM at the workshop then got an earful from me and finally the electrician, the service guy, and 2-3 others all worked on the issue and fixed it. Final solution worked because the rattling stopped and the light works properly, but some of the responses from the service advisor really got my goat! Now I get a good laugh thinking about it!

[Highway Star]

Yesterday night after a 25 minute hard and fast drive, the service light came on again. The truck had been pushed hard to 3500 rpm in every gear over the 20 kms drive and then as we came down the busy Lajpat Nagar flyover, the revs dropped to 1500 rpm in 4th gear and the service light came on. Revving the engine made it go off and it didnt re-appear when I coasted the truck in 4th gear again.

I've read tsk's issue with the service light and how he could make it come on by revving upto 2.5k and letting his truck coast. I've tried doing that and it doesnt cause the service light to come on in my truck, but over the last 5 days, this is the 3rd time the light has come on.

The truck has done 5.7k kms. Any ideas on what this could be? Does hard driving cause this to happen (though the first 2 times it happened, the truck hadn't been driven too hard)?

[Eddy]

The service light coming on is not normal. I am afraid its time to visit a service station !

[tsk1979]

As long as you think its service light, you worry and think its trouble. but start thinking of it as a disco light and All problems will go away!

[jkdas]

Congrats .Welcome to the club.

Originally Posted by Highway Star

The truck has done 5.7k kms. Any ideas on what this could be? Does hard driving cause this to happen (though the first 2 times it happened, the truck hadn't been driven too hard)?

Nope.
I too had this issue but twice it went away when I stopped doing mileage runs! When it didnt go even after making sure I as using good diesel and some redlines, I complained to TASS. They did something and I dont have it anymore. IIRC they said the error codes pointed to injectors (low pressure something).

I use 90/100. Would recommend it.

[adc]

Originally Posted by Highway Star

Does hard driving cause this to happen (though the first 2 times it happened, the truck hadn't been driven too hard)?

Originally Posted by tsk1979

As long as you think its service light, you worry and think its trouble. but start thinking of it as a disco light and All problems will go away!

ha ha. . However hard speed service light calls/are no shiny disco balls - go to a TASS now - get a definite reason. Again, does not look like anything major but whatever hard speed driving will not pop up the service light.

[Highway Star]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

As long as you think its service light, you worry and think its trouble. but start thinking of it as a disco light and All problems will go away!

Hehe...good one tsk. I'm actually not too worried about the service lights, I feel that the truck is pretty hardy and can take a lot of abuse, its the sissy sensors that Tata's have put which seem to go off on the slightest provocations. I guess a case is made for keeping things simple and not putting too many fancy-shmancy things on what is essentially a truck meant to take abuse. Have seen similar sentiments from 2 friends who went in for Scorpios and didnt really care for the tyre pressure monitors, automatic wipers, automatic headlights, etc which seem to get easily provoked into acting funny!

Originally Posted by jkdas

Congrats .Welcome to the club.

Nope.
I too had this issue but twice it went away when I stopped doing mileage runs! When it didnt go even after making sure I as using good diesel and some redlines, I complained to TASS. They did something and I dont have it anymore. IIRC they said the error codes pointed to injectors (low pressure something).

I use 90/100. Would recommend it.

Guess I should prepone the 7.5k service to maybe next week and take the truck in for some R&R at the 6k mark.

Did the 90/100 lamps require a change in wiring? And won't that affect the warranty on the truck?

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by Highway Star

...Did the 90/100 lamps require a change in wiring? And won't that affect the warranty on the truck?

Relay + wiring change + bulb change = 1000 Rs job. I reckon you can get this done at the service center itself and hence keep the warranty intact.

[kb100]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Relay + wiring change + bulb change = 1000 Rs job. I reckon you can get this done at the service center itself and hence keep the warranty intact.

But please ensure you buy the ROOTS wiring kit - the one with the CERAMIC holder. You get it both in the complete wiring kit form, and just as a pair of holders.

[Highway Star]

Rain + Sunday + Truck + Construction Site + Mud + Slush = FUN!

[vfmanuel]

hi, can any one help with details of good TATA service centre in bangalore
regards
manuel

[Highway Star]

The truck charged past 7000 kms today…3 and ½ months of Safari ownership. The journey so far has been great and I’m enjoying truckin around in this sturdy steed.

The service light has happily not resurfaced after the 3 times it came on about 3 weeks back, around the 5.7k mark. As far as I can remember, it was on the same tankful, so maybe it was an issue with bad fuel, even though I always fill up from the same trusted pump. Will have TASS take a look at this issue and maybe with their laptop, they can provide some answers.

The truck has been driven on all kinds of surfaces and in varied driving styles over the last 1.5k kms. A quick trip to Agra meant redlining every gear on smooth 4 laned tarmac, while daily jaunts to Sainik Farms have meant pottering around on broken and no roads. A couple of off-roading experiences in construction sites around Delhi gave the truck a chance to play around in mud and rocks. Have also had back seat passengers frequently in the last 2 weeks, so those times have meant sedate driving and crawling over broken bits to prevent any head injuries (or dents in my roof!). The suspension has had a pretty good workout and needs some TLC since some “groaning” and “squeaking” noises and a sense of “looseness” have crept in recently. Will get TASS to give the suspension a once over during the next service.

The sturdy chasis is impressive, and gives the impression that it can withstand lots of abuse. The interior build quality is disappointing though. The front and back seats have developed squeaks, the front windows rattle, the dashboard has a rattle, and the rear doors and tailgate rattle. Are there any solutions to all these rattles and squeaks on the Safari? Maybe foam sheets in the doors would stop the windows from rattling. What about the seats and doors? Any suggestions, other than tightening at every service or playing really loud music?

The driving position of the Safari is a complete seat of power, and totally corrupting! After driving the truck for the last few months, its very difficult to go back to driving any of my sedans. The high set seat, the view from the cockpit, the sense of “lording” over traffic, the comfort of the front seats, the ride quality on the front seats – all these add up to make the driving experience of the truck really unbeatable.

The ride quality at the rear though doesn’t seem to be of the same high order. I have never sat as a rear passenger in my truck, but feedback from the rear passengers indicate that the rear jumps and hops on broken roads and ruts, and on undulating roads there is constant bobbing and sideways swaying. There is an unsettled feeling on anything less than perfectly paved tarmac. Do other Safari owners get the same feedback from the rear passengers? Any adjustments that can make the ride better for back-benchers?

Am planning on taking the truck in for a service at the 7.5k mark. Some of the other things that I will get TASS to do would be a change in engine oil, checking the brakes (reduced bite and braking efficiency, probably need some cleaning and bleeding), one of the DVD screens in the headrest isn’t working (totally useless feature, has never been used).

The engine is settling in nicely and is a strong point of the Safari 2.2. The truck has been driven hard most of the times and the engine hasn’t skipped a beat. The torque surge from 1800rpm – 3500rpm is addictive, especially in 3rd gear. I find it hard to resist pinning the throttle to the floor to enjoy the torque wave of the engine. The top end performance is pretty impressive, with the engine not sounding strained even above 3500 rpm. If the engine proves to be reliable over the long run, I would consider the Safari to have been a very good VFM buy. At 11 lacs, this 140 bhp 32 kgm variable turbo powered engine is a good deal.

2 weeks back, after some off-roading in slush, mud and rocks, there was a “khat” noise from the suspension (I think near the back somewhere) on moderate-to-hard braking and acceleration. It stayed for a day and then disappeared on its own. Any ideas on what that might have been, or is it something to be attributed to “Safari quirks”?

Overall, the ownership experience of the truck has been very positive, and I would give the Safari atleast a 8+/10 on the rating scale. Some factors that would really sweeten the long term ownership of the vehicle would be reliability of the engine, and good service support from TASS.

[Highway Star]

Right after I posted about the truck charging past the 7k mark, the Safari had an episode.

Yesterday evening while driving in the 3rd gear at about 40-50 kmph near GK1, the truck lost thrust and the revs started to fall and the service light started flashing. Inspite of throttle inputs, the revs continued to fall and the truck was slowing down. Downshifting into 2nd made the problem go away and the truck started accelerating again.

This happened 2 more times in the next 10 mins. Same thing: losing thrust, falling revs, service light flashing, downshifting causes problem to vanish. In the half an hour of driving before this had happened, I felt that the engine note sounded different and twice switched off the music to see if I could make out how the engine noise was different from normal.

Parked the car home and took the other car and didnt drive the truck last night after that.

Today morning, decided to take the truck to work to see if the issue resurfaces. The truck made a wierd noise on start-up which then settled down. Service light came on once when I went upto 3k rpm in 4th gear and coasted to 1.5k rpm. The loss of thrust didn't happen today, but a slight whine was present while accelerating in the 1.5k-2k rpm range.

What could be the issue(s) here? I do get the mildly fluctuating rpm surges between 800-1000 rpm that are being discussed on Tanveer's Safari thread, but didn't think its anything serious. Could that be related to this? I think maybe the issue is with the turbo/turbo hose becuase the truck was losing thrust and revs.

Will take the truck in for its service day after or Saturday, and not wait for 7.5k mark. Some feedback from the Safari owners here on the probable cause and solution would be greatly appreciated.

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