[freakmuzik]

Since my warranty is about to get over in December and as I wanted to rectify the noise before that in case the part comes under warranty, I took the car to Popular MASS to get it checked. I called them at 9am for an appointment and waited for a return call which they told me to expect in 10 mins. I waited for 1.5 hours for that return call which I never got and I decided to go directly to their workshop. Since it was a Monday, the rush was pretty less and I reached at 11am. I told them the issue and they assigned me an SA in 15 mins. I went with him for the test drive, told him the issue and he drove the car and luckily felt the same problem and said it might be the wheel bearing. So i left the car at the workshop and returned back home at 12.30pm. He later confirmed that it's a conked Front Left Wheel Bearing. That's when I wanted to see how this work is actually done. So I called him up again telling him my interest and fled to the workshop by 1pm. That's when he come's and tells me that since it's a 'humming noise', the part cannot be covered under warranty.

I asked him to contact his superior, some warranty manager or someone and talked to him. That guy was adamant that the extended warranty book mentions about any humming sound not being covered( yes, it did) but it did cover the wheel bearing and this whole thing was written under steering and suspension which has a warranty till 60,000 km. So I asked him how else could someone identify this damage and this is surely a premature wear at 40,000 km. He was still clinging on to the humming thing and I told him my car also vibrates! There comes his "humming noise saar" reply again. I had to tell him how stupid this workshop was and how even TATA ASS fixes my warranty so smoothly and this MASS where I give my car regularly can't even treat a customer well. By this he said he'l talk to the Customer Care Manager and revert. In 15 minutes, they accepted to replace it under warranty. Phew!

But, I will not be able to see them remove the wheel bearing as they'l be giving it to a lathe to remove it. Their exact words were "sir, if we remove it here in our workshop, you can't claim warranty (LOL) as they'l have to hammer it out but if given to a Lathe (outside MASS) you'l get it changed under warranty" . Haha . That was weird. I know they do not have the necessary equipment but when their booklet clearly says any work done outside MASS voids warranty &I get to know such a thing from them, it was one Hilarious moment. Awesome!

I had to wait till 6.30 pm to get it changed and tested. The SA was very calm and ready to listen. And after they changed it, the car was so normal. I felt the car to be free and back to it's original shape. Finally!!

If I had not opted for warranty, this work would have costed my 1.2k I guess (very reasonable - 800 for parts +400 for labour). More than the money, I wanted Maruti to honour their warranty while every other company I found in T-BHP (read Tata, Toyota & even a few Maruti cases) replaced it under warranty.




After removing the whole unit (disc, shaft etc)


...and look what I found there! Funnily enough, I had replaced the bearing under the Extended warranty! hah


Cheers!

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

9) Initial Ownership Report:

The effect of the longer wheelbase (by 40mm) is clearly evident once you step into the cabin. The space has improved tremendously. As mentioned earlier, the interiors are way better than the previous generation and look better too. Ingress and egress is very easy, thanks to the doors that are long and open almost 90 degrees and to the tall-boy design. The first thing that comes into picture is the well fit and good-looking Audio system, with a chunky knob, that comes with 4 speakers with one on each door, though the sound quality is outright cheap. But it does come with a good number of options like the mute button, Aux-in and the same can be used for an USB via an adapter, etc., though an independent USB port would have been better. The steering is of ideal size and feels quite OK to hold, but it does not have a very good grip.

We have a similar vintage pre-owned breeze blue WR VXi. The USB port on the OE music system works in the AUX mode, but I am not able to change the songs or forward them. I can only change volume and the equalizer settings while in AUX mode. Pressing the USB button gives the error message "Use USB Adapter". The MASS technician was clueless and said the music system performs as it is.

Can you share your experience and let me know if indeed we can't change the songs in AUX mode? Or can we use the USB drive in the USB mode?

[freakmuzik]

Originally Posted by ashis89

We have a similar vintage pre-owned breeze blue WR VXi. The USB port on the OE music system works in the AUX mode, but I am not able to change the songs or forward them. I can only change volume and the equalizer settings while in AUX mode. Pressing the USB button gives the error message "Use USB Adapter". The MASS technician was clueless and said the music system performs as it is.

Can you share your experience and let me know if indeed we can't change the songs in AUX mode? Or can we use the USB drive in the USB mode?

I actually did not understand clearly what you've mentioned but from your post, I think your car is post-facelift? Do you have an USB slot? I think it would be clear if you could post the pic of your System. In my pre-facelift model, there is only an Aux-in but there is an Aux button as well as a USB button, which as you said, returns an error code as "use adapter". I enquired with Nippon who are the makers of the Audio System about this and they were pretty clueless too. After checking they told me that Nippon produces an adapter only using which a USB drive can be used. It's not that simple "USB to Aux cable" that you get everywhere because I've tried that. It is something else. Since it was not at all available, I left it at that point. Need to search for some online options.

And in the Aux mode, you cannot change the volume or any settings through the audio system. Remember, Aux is just like your headphone Jack, it just transmits the sound out of your device directly to the speakers. But, a USB drive will read your phone and display the contents for your on the Music system, because of which you'l be able to browse and choose songs and do everything!

Please do share the pic of your system and do feel free to ask !

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

I actually did not understand clearly what you've mentioned but from your post, I think your car is post-facelift? Do you have an USB slot? I think it would be clear if you could post the pic of your System. In my pre-facelift model, there is only an Aux-in but there is an Aux button as well as a USB button, which as you said, returns an error code as "use adapter". I enquired with Nippon who are the makers of the Audio System about this and they were pretty clueless too. After checking they told me that Nippon produces an adapter only using which a USB drive can be used. It's not that simple "USB to Aux cable" that you get everywhere because I've tried that. It is something else. Since it was not at all available, I left it at that point. Need to search for some online options.

And in the Aux mode, you cannot change the volume or any settings through the audio system. Remember, Aux is just like your headphone Jack, it just transmits the sound out of your device directly to the speakers. But, a USB drive will read your phone and display the contents for your on the Music system, because of which you'l be able to browse and choose songs and do everything!

Please do share the pic of your system and do feel free to ask !

Thanks a lot. You have answered my query. I have a '11 pre-facelift model with same music system as yours. I use the "USB" extension cord which is routed into the glovebox from the back of the music system to play songs from a pendrive. The problem is, as you have described, I can't change the songs, nor can I view the song details. Thanks to you, I now know the reason for this.

I have gone through the manual of the Nippon unit and it talks about the USB adaptor which can be bought separately at the dealership. This enables the USB button and we can change songs using the existing next/prev buttons. I was under the opinion that the cord in my car was the said adapter and that my music system was malfunctioning which is why USB button was not working. I did look around over the internet but never got any headway. Since you say the Nippon guys themselves were clueless, it is the end of road for us it seems.

I have also tried to play songs from my iPhone through the aux-in port with a 3.5-3.5 mm jack. Though it plays the songs, the sound is very low and very high distortion which forced me to give up and continue with the uncontrolled pendrive. Have you tried it and does it work?

[freakmuzik]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Thanks a lot. You have answered my query. I have a '11 pre-facelift model with same music system as yours. I use the "USB" extension cord which is routed into the glovebox from the back of the music system to play songs from a pendrive. The problem is, as you have described, I can't change the songs, nor can I view the song details. Thanks to you, I now know the reason for this.

I have gone through the manual of the Nippon unit and it talks about the USB adaptor which can be bought separately at the dealership. This enables the USB button and we can change songs using the existing next/prev buttons. I was under the opinion that the cord in my car was the said adapter and that my music system was malfunctioning which is why USB button was not working. I did look around over the internet but never got any headway. Since you say the Nippon guys themselves were clueless, it is the end of road for us it seems.

I have also tried to play songs from my iPhone through the aux-in port with a 3.5-3.5 mm jack. Though it plays the songs, the sound is very low and very high distortion which forced me to give up and continue with the uncontrolled pendrive. Have you tried it and does it work?

How do you manage to connect a pendrive into the system BTW?

And yeah, the only easiest (but pricey) option left is to swap the present music system with the new W-R music system!

[ashis89]

I have a USB adapter cord which works with the AUX-In button. All I have to do is plug in the pendrive into the cord(present in the glovebox) and press the Aux button. This cord is connected somewhere behind the music system. I suspect, the person fitting the adapter cord might have connected it in the wrong slot, Aux-in instead of the USB. Will get it checked once again. Upgrading to the new WR's music system seems like an option but we can have cheaper and better alternatives of other brand albeit at the cost of OE looks of the dash.

I now see you do not have such a cord in the pic of your glovebox. I will click some pictures and upload tomorrow for your reference.

[ashis89]

Some pictures for your reference. By any chance do you have a similar setup?

[freakmuzik]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Attachment 1302837
Attachment 1302838
Attachment 1302839

Some pictures for your reference. By any chance do you have a similar setup?

Nice! But yea, working on a pendrive like an Aux connection (without being able to scroll, etc) is definitely a pain! I don't have such a setup. Did you get this done from some accessory shop? It's so damn weird to have OE systems with half the features Hidden. I have no clue what's the pain in providing another USB slot by Maruti instead of all this pain.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

Nice! But yea, working on a pendrive like an Aux connection (without being able to scroll, etc) is definitely a pain! I don't have such a setup. Did you get this done from some accessory shop? It's so damn weird to have OE systems with half the features Hidden. I have no clue what's the pain in providing another USB slot by Maruti instead of all this pain.

Ours is a preowned car which we got a year back. This setup was already there when we got it. The ex-owner, my father's friend, said that all fittings have been done at MASS. The OE Nippon manual which came with the car, also describes about a similar adapter which can be bought separately at MASS. But it says, using the adapter, we can use all the buttons to change the song.

Coming to my car, I believe this adapter is some other cheaper alternative or maybe it's been fitted in the wrong slot which is why it isn't functioning as desired. I hope someone will diagnose the problem when i send the car for annual service next week.

[freakmuzik]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Ours is a preowned car which we got a year back. This setup was already there when we got it. The ex-owner, my father's friend, said that all fittings have been done at MASS. The OE Nippon manual which came with the car, also describes about a similar adapter which can be bought separately at MASS. But it says, using the adapter, we can use all the buttons to change the song.

Coming to my car, I believe this adapter is some other cheaper alternative or maybe it's been fitted in the wrong slot which is why it isn't functioning as desired. I hope someone will diagnose the problem when i send the car for annual service next week.

Oh great ! Thank you. I will try asking some accessory shops if something can be done. If there is a provision for USB input, then something can definitely be done. So yeah, I'l try something out. I don't want to spend on replacing the HU now anyways. I'l update after some research! And how's your car? Enjoying the waggy?

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by freakmuzik

Oh great ! Thank you. I will try asking some accessory shops if something can be done. If there is a provision for USB input, then something can definitely be done. So yeah, I'l try something out. I don't want to spend on replacing the HU now anyways. I'l update after some research! And how's your car? Enjoying the waggy?

Do check at Maruti dealers first before going to accessory shops. The car is doing fine. 80% use within the city where it excels. The tall boy is very convenient for my 6ft frame. The only grouse is the poor low end torque which is evident while AC is on.

[freakmuzik]

Just went to Thrissur and back two days back. Car was great. The engine felt way free than before and showed no strains in revving. The car had 3 people (hefty ones) plus full luggage and returned 18.2kmpl (tankful method) with 100% A/C in the Kerala Highways which ain't bad. Having driven both the Eon and Wagon-r on these highways:

I would prefer the Wagon-R over Eon for
-Better brakes
-ABS and Airbags
-Better Steering feel
-Space & Ingress/Egress
-Engine characteristics

The Eon over Wagon-R for
-Luggage space (227L vs 180L!!)
-Low-slung position - I love it!
-Driver seat - I quite like it. I've had aches on the W-R as I find it quite flat but Eon seems better

Though Eon takes ages to get to good speeds, it does cruise comfortably at 85-90kmph and doesn't feel nervous. The wagon-R too seems truly good at these speeds. Maximum I've gone is 110 kmph and if the roads are that good, you won't feel nervous. But no, you can't do 110kmph in great confidence if there are more vehicles around you as sudden change in lanes, etc are kind of scary for me in this tall car. The Eon may fare better here but the stupid steering and the very commuter engine killed the capabilities. The 1.0 L may be better.

When taken for wheel alignment by my dad, the guy said the front right lower arm seems loose. I need to take it to M.A.S.S again! Arrgh.

Mechanically, the car is perfect (leave the above issue). The engine is absolutely free right now, the gears are ok and slot pretty well, brakes are so impressive and haven't been changed yet, clutch seems perfectly good and same goes to all other aspects. But yeah, the one accident it faced has left the bonnet not in a good shape. The A.S.S did such a bad job. Plus a few reversing practices by my mom has blessed the left side with a few scratches and two dents. And once while trying to give to a KSRTC bus while parking, I broke the front fog lamp outer cover by hitting against a stone that I could not even see. I feel sad. But yeah, these things are pretty much correctable and will be done soon.

Cheers!!

[freakmuzik]

Hello guys, updating the thread since i completed a roadtrip to Kodai and back in the Wagon-R a couple of weeks back and god it was beautiful! I'll try to put up a small travelogue pretty soon.

This was a trip of over 1100kms and the car held up very well I should say. Route taken was through The Tvm - Nagercoil - Tirunelveli - Kodai Road - Kodai - Poombarai. The road from Trivandrum to Nagercoil was full of traffic and from there till Kodai Road it was a dream with beautiful 4 -lane highways. The roads till Kodai were decent and the ones from Kodai to this small town Poombarai was literally horrible! I had to offroad using my Wagon-R and the poor thing held up very well. After all those offroading, there were a few squeaks and but all that vanished after a couple of days. Need to give the car for a full wash and check-up.

Engine was good. Had 5 members and a hell lot of luggage stuffed in the car. Even with all that, the car managed 17 kmpl which includes 70kms of dreaded roads till Nagercoil, beautiful roads till Madurai which adds up to around 220kms i suppose and all those hill climbing of nearly 90 kms. The car felt stable till 110kmph but I never went above that since even those highways did not instill confidence with this car. Plus, with so much load, it was safest to stick to a max limit of 90kmph. Also, it was a bit difficult to gain momentum once slowed due to the car being fully loaded but the saving grace was the rev-free engine.

On the highways, I wasn't too happy with the suspension mainly because it transferred a lot of undulations into the cabin. I can't expect much in this small hatch but the ride on the highways isn't a bright point about this car. All the expansion joints were sending a jolt into the cabin too. I wished I had a car that just filters out all this and still rides well.

In the mean-while, the horn kept conking off once in a while and just before returning back from Poombarai, we did a juggad job of taping the wire-connector and yes, it worked!


And a few weeks before this trip, we repaired all the small scratches on the car and the bonnet was re-worked too. All this was done not in the A.S.S but a trusted workshop in Attingal. The rear bumpers had small tears, thanks to my mom's reversing tasks and they were stitched and painted. The work is great and didn't cost much either.


Uploading a couple of pics!



Cheers!!

[freakmuzik]

Hello People!

Just to update an issue with the car. One day, my mom complained that the Air-con wasn't working. So she asked me to take the car out and check. The next day I swapped my nano for this to check what the issue was. After a few hundred metres, the air-con stopped cooling and after some it again started cooling. It was weird. After i drove for two kms, the engine overheating lamp just popped up. I immediately drove it back home and took the Eon to college. The next day i had to travel to chennai and hence told my dad to give the car to the nearby garage to have a check. In the mean time, my dad figured out that the radiator fan wasn't working.

The workshop guys called up people who could do a Scan and the issue was narrowed down to a blown Radiator fan motor. The part is out of stock and will have to wait for three days on inquiring at the Maruti Genuine Parts outlet of Popular Maruti. It costs around 2.9k.

Hope it gets solved.

Will update once it's done.

Cheers!

[ashis89]

Sad to hear about the breakdown. I thought Maruti spares were easily and readily available, especially for a hot-selling model like WR. It seems expensive too. IIRC, the radiator fan of our old M800 used to cost +/- 1k but that was 7-8 years ago. Even I have been facing the horn problem, with one of the dual horns conking off. I did tape and it was working for the past 3 months but has been loose again. Since the other one works, I manage within the city.