[rohannr]

Nice to hear the car's alright. What the A.S.S did was correct & I don't think you may face any other drive ability problems.

Originally Posted by StrangeWizard

Aaah finally !
The breakdown incharge arrived and diagnosed the problem. The blower relay had busted and that causes the over-heating.
========
I was really irritated, but some redlining at the Mindspace back road calmed down my mind. ;-).

Cheers.

[Lucas_2007]

Hope no more issues will crop up now. :-) Enjoy your car buddy. if you have any doubt, take the car to ASC and ask the service manager to check the electrical components of your Chevvy Baby throughly.

[StrangeWizard]

Guys I need help.

The alternator screeching noise is back! Few days back I started the car and it goes khurrrrrrrrrr.
This time I think it is more loud and irritating then the previous time.

It comes on when I switch on the ac. Also, sometimes without ac or with ac while driving, if I have to brake and downshift to 2nd or 1st gear, this noise comes on again.

Now what should I do? The alternator belt was changed about a month back only.
Hope not an expensive issue.

Cheers.

[Lucas_2007]

it is not an expensive issue. from your post I think it is the noise of the belt. get it checked by a technician. My dad's spark had the same issue. the service guy adjusted the tension of the belt and the noise was gone.
BTW, i have seen many technicians applying candle wax on the belt to get rid of this issue. Don't know how long does it last.

[StrangeWizard]

Originally Posted by Lucas_2007

it is not an expensive issue. from your post I think it is the noise of the belt. get it checked by a technician. My dad's spark had the same issue. the service guy adjusted the tension of the belt and the noise was gone.
BTW, i have seen many technicians applying candle wax on the belt to get rid of this issue. Don't know how long does it last.

Well some people also spray WD40 or apply some oil on the belt to stop the squealing. However it stops the issue only temporarily.
Moreover spraying oil or wd40 may lead to belt slipping.

[StrangeWizard]

UPDATE:

Got the alternator belt tightened from the guy who had changed it. He said since its a new belt so its usual for it to become loose over a period of time.

Also, I gave the plastic wheel caps for black painting. I think it'll look good, black car with black rims
I saw it on another Spark and a White Honda City and it looked really good.

Will post pics when I get the rims back tomorrow.

Cheers!

[StrangeWizard]

39000 kms done. Haven't driven much in the past couple of months.
Some new issues that have cropped up:

1)While driving the car jerks especially at speeds below 60-70. The jerks are not too major but can surely be felt inside the cabin. Maybe the engine oil needs replacement now. I had changed it during a service in december 2011 and I've driven 8000kms after that. Will do that this week.
Anyone knows the engine oil specs? I just know that Chevy a.s.s uses Elf for the regular oil and Mobil1 for synthetic.

2) Loud thud sound coming from the front and rear left suspension when hitting the famous potholes of mumbai. Today it was more pronounced with 5 people on board and the boot half filled.

3) Some "screeching" noise comes from the front brakes at all speeds. Right now the noise is not much but still I'll get it checked during my visit to the a.s.s.
An i20 in our family had a similar problem which was not attended to and later the screeching noise became very loud and irritating.

Will post an update after my visit to the a.s.s

Cheers.

[StrangeWizard]

Sorry forgot to update.
Changed the engine oil and the filter at Ashtavinayak Auto. They also added some additive in the oil, and they even charged me for engine oil flushing!
Got Elf mineral oil and the total bill came up to Rs. 2416.
I'm going to try JMD Chevrolet the next time my car needs servicing.

Car feels a bit smoother now and the acceleration also seems a tad better.
But still randomly the car gives a weird jerk sometimes. It jerks for a couple of seconds only.
Most of the times it happened when I had stopped at a signal and I guess only once it happened when the car was in motion (about 20kmph).

No other issues.

Oh and it seems the ICE is on the verge of dying. The headunit starts and shuts on its own, sometimes the CD doesn't go in, skips some parts of a song when the car goes thru a pothole and yesterday when I braked to stop at a signal even the front speaker stopped playing music! The rear ones also make some weird screeching noise randomly.
I think I'll get a new ICE after my exams.

Cheers.

[StrangeWizard]

just completed 2 years with the car today.

I still remember the day when I went to take delivery of it and I didn't even know how to drive.

Anyways I've had a great experience with this car. It still drives nicely like day 1 and no major issues have cropped up after that crank sensor issue.
The power delivery is very good and the engine feels really peppy.

I had changed the oil in January at 39000 kms and after that I have hardly driven 2k kms because I had fractured my wrist first and then badly injured my knee.

The suspension seems to be making a mild thud noise over really bad roads.

Mileage is 9-10 kmpl in the city and I might convert the car to cng when my running increases in a couple of months.

After driving some newer cars I felt the Spark is a very basic car and there are no feel good features or comforts. The front seats are small and lack under thigh support.

I just got a random thought of upgrading to a Sail, Amaze or Ecosport but still not sure completely.

[HorsPwr]

Read through the entire thread. Nice real-time updates.

Given that you are estimating your run to increase, I would highly recommend Ford Figo Diesel if your wallet allows. It's a wonderful car !!

[StrangeWizard]

so I was driving today evening and it started raining so I switched on the AC.

The alternator screeching noise is back!
I had changed the belt less than a year back so can it wear out so quickly?

What else can be the issue?

Also, does anyone have any experience with JMD chevrolet? How is the service centre?

[StrangeWizard]

Update.

Converted the car to CNG today. I got a Lovatek closed loop kit installed from Zero Pollution, kandivali.

The car is running fine and there seems to be hardly any power loss.

Will go for a long drive this weekend and update with the driving experience on the highway and cost savings.

[Eminenttismo]

Originally Posted by StrangeWizard

so I was driving today evening and it started raining so I switched on the AC.

The alternator screeching noise is back!
I had changed the belt less than a year back so can it wear out so quickly?

What else can be the issue?

Also, does anyone have any experience with JMD chevrolet? How is the service centre?

The alternator screeching noise is pretty common in rainy climate. It's not the alternator belt worn off, I suppose the belt starts slipping against the pulley due to water splashing on the unit.

[StrangeWizard]

Originally Posted by Eminenttismo

The alternator screeching noise is pretty common in rainy climate. It's not the alternator belt worn off, I suppose the belt starts slipping against the pulley due to water splashing on the unit.

Yes my mechanic just tightened the belt and now the problem has vanished.

[StrangeWizard]

Had a really bad morning today. It was raining heavily and I started for college at my usual timing 6:15 am.
Went to fill up cng first and the car stalled thrice while I was waiting in the line.
After that I waited 15 mins for a friend with the music on but the engine was off.

Then it just refused to start. I somehow managed to close the windows though it was really slow and pushed the car to the side to park it safely.
On top of that it was raining heavily and it was impossible to catch a rickshaw.

The battery is Amaron 2007 make that came with the car so I guess it served well for 6 years.
Which one should I go for now?

Also planning to give the car for servicing since its been a year since the last service.

This is the 6th year service and stuff like timing belt, brake fluid and spark plugs need to be changed.
The AC has become terrible since a couple of weeks so will get that checked too.

Anyone has any experience with JMD chevrolet?