Team-BHP - Tata Safari 3.0 Dicor: Burnt, Recovered and Reclaiming @ 1,62,000 Kms EDIT : Now SOLD!
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-   -   Tata Safari 3.0 Dicor: Burnt, Recovered and Reclaiming @ 1,62,000 Kms EDIT : Now SOLD! (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-term-ownership-reviews/110406-tata-safari-3-0-dicor-burnt-recovered-reclaiming-1-62-000-kms-edit-now-sold.html)

This is my second review of Tata Safari. Earlier, I owned a TCIC version (EDIT: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...km-review.html) and now I recently purchased a 3.0L Dicor motor. My journey with the TCIC was till 2,30,000 kms and it was very satisfying, peaceful. But, there is something I need to share before writing my experience with current Dicor motor. This car was owned by one of my relatives, and one day (a few days before I bought it) suddenly due to some electrical fault (I will share this later) whole of sudden the engine bay caught fire and in 5 mins every plastic and rubber part (which are plenty) melted. The Insurance company declared the car as total-loss (as the TASC gave them an estimate of 9 Lakhs for repairs) and decided to give the owner a sum of 3.75 Lakhs (when on the paper the value of car was 5 Lakhs, but as per rules the market value or paper value whichever is lower is given). Now, I came into the story and asked the owner (as being my relative) to talk with insurance company that he wants to keep the vehicle too. The insurance company said that they have a customer of the car for 2 Lakhs Rs. So if he is ready to deduct 2 Lakhs from his claim they will give him the vehicle too. He agreed and finally I bought the vehicle by paying the owner 2 Lakhs which he gave to Insurance company (deducted from his claim). The car was 200 kms from my hometown so I bought her by towing with another Safari 2.2L owned by one of my friend.

Now, starts the real review, the most tricky part. I had asked my mechanic who works specifically on Safaris (and other Tata cars) to evaluate the cost of rebuilding the car. He gave me a rough estimate of 80-90K Rs. I told him to proceed, first he took-off all the parts and there were 36-40 things which needed tobe replaced (almost everything excluding engine and other metallic parts). The list is as follows:

1) Power steering belt
2) Power steering container
3) E.G.R Valve
4) E.G.R Solenoid
5) Power steering main pipe\return pipe
6) Diesel Filter
7) Diesel Hood Primer
8) Brake oil container
9) Clutch oil container
10) Wiring loom engine compartment
11) Overflow pipe
12) Radiator pipe
13) Radiator Top
14) Thermostat Hosing
15) Coolant bottle
16) Wiper bottle
17) Battery
18) Engine oil cap
19) Bonnet hood
20) Hood clips
21) Vaccum tube
22) RHS liner cover
23) Main line diesel
24) Return line diesel
25) Boost pressure sensor
26) MAF Sensor
27) Oil pressure switch
28) Bonnet roof light
29) Bonnet channel (2 pieces)
30) Bonnet balancer
31) Oil separator bottle
32) Pump switch
33) Clutch container hose
34) Oil separator pipe
...The list contained some more parts which I will add-on later.

Probably, the more difficult work was to procure these parts. Since the 3.0L is discontinued and we needed some parts which were very rare tobe found in any of the TASC, it got me concerned. I enquired all the TASC in my city about the availability of parts and unfortunately very very few of the parts were in stock. I took a list from them which included the cost of spares (initially they denied to give me the cost as I was not doing repairs in a TASC) but after some threatening they did so. The total cost incurred a little less than 1 Lakh. I asked my mechanic if he could source the parts from scrap market, he told that he needs to look for them in Mayapuri Delhi. And it was decided that he would go there and search for the essentials. Almost 90% of the spares were found there and cost was some 25K Rs. The parts those were not sourced are:

1) Engine wiring loom (15K Rs)
2) MAF sensor (10K Rs)

I again enquired the TASC’s about the availability of the parts they said none of them are available and they need to order them which will take approx.. 15-20 days to arrive. It was already 30 days since the car was with me in RIP condition. I talked to the area manager of Tata and asked him to about the fast availability of parts, he said he couldn’t do anything, I lost my control and thrashed him (aap kya bartan dhone baithe ho area manager ki post par? And so so….) I don’t know if I should post every talk on a respected public forum, but I am trying tobe as expressive as possible. He gave me the number of Pune warehouse (SPARES) and told me not to tell those guys that he gave me the number. I agreed happily! Talked to the spares warehouse guy Pune and the first thing he asked me was where did I get his number from? I replied I just got it! Asked him if he has the parts, he replied that he has both the engine wiring loom and MAF sensor 1 qty each. I was like Hurrah! Got a new life! He told me to order from the local TASC, I told him that as soon as you get the order I need the spare within the next 2 days. He agreed. I ordered the same through TASC and the parts arrived the next evening. The TASC people were surprised.:D Finally, all the parts were assembled and the here comes the first crank:

“Twist the key, starter makes the engine alive in 2 secs at 10 O’clock in the dark.”

Whoa relief! Everything was normal, there was no smoke and the engine was sounding like a 407. I was too excited but the mechanic told me not tobe. As the reality of the engine will be known after it gets warmed-up. And he was true as soon as the engine got a little warmed-up there was heavy knocking, it was night and we decided to check the car with laptop in morning. Came the morning and we connected the laptop errors popped out:

1) Manifold pressure fault
2) Rail pressure control error
3) Cylinder balancing fault (injector 1 is struck closed)
4) ECU watchdog fault (injector unlock during start-up)
5) Fuel temperature sensor fault

Called-up the injector guy and gave him the injectors for service. Got the injectors next day evening and started the car again, no hesitation the car started at first crank. We waited till warm-up and the car was normal. Came relief!! Finally, victory has been achieved. But, the smoke was still there (this time it was less but one can easily tell that the smoke is more than normal). Mechanic told me not to worry as this is normal for a car started after almost 2 months and the last night it emitted thick black smoke which might have accumulated lot of carbon in the cat-con hence this noticeable smoke. He was correct the smoke did went away after some driving. Although I did’nt took delivery of my car at this time as there were some more issues tobe fixed. Some of the desi stuff we have to do were:

1) D.I.Y fuel, return, fuel pump pipes.
2) New mounting for ECU.

All other electricals were working fine, even the AC was intact and it cooled the cabin in 5 mins. I asked him to do a thorough electrical check-up and try to find the cause of Fire accident. The electrician checked all the electricals and mentioned two causes:

1) Main earthing wire was tore-off from a few places and it was loose too.
2) The self-starter wire was shockingly very loose.

These two might have sent car to flames in no minutes. Replaced the earthing wire to a thick one and tightened the starter wire. Every other thing was good now. Changed a few more things and took the delivery of the car:

1) Engine oil (Shell Rimula 6.5 ltrs)
2) Differential oil (2 ltrs)
3) Clutch oil (bleeded, DOT 3)
4) Brake oil (bleeded, DOT3)
5) Power steering oil
6) Horn

Thanks.:)

About the Ride experience:

So Far So Good , that's it. I came from a league of drivers who have always loved UNDERPOWERED vehicles. Yes, that's how I am. So, the older TCIC Safari producing 90 Bhp was too a nice vehicle for me. This one when I drove her for the first time (before have driven DICORS but this time it was a new experience driving your own vehicle is always a pleasure!) she just blew me away. It was like I had to forcefully stop her from showing her guts to me! In simple words just TOO powerful for a person like me. Loved every thing the ride quality, power, torque. But one thing I disliked was acceleration it has to be a better accelerating SUV, 3.0L is more than capable enough to do that with better gearing I think.

Likes: (Compared to older 90bhp version)

- Sheer Power
- Improved Suspension
- Great AC (chills the cabin at 2nd blower position)
- Improved interiors (TCIC had way behind the interiors of 90's)

Dislikes:

- The mechanical strength has decreased (I mean the doors are light, overall it seems that there has been drastic reduction in the quantity and strength of the metal parts compared to 90 Bhp TCIC Safari)
- Third row seating
- Low noise insulation (as compared to my older TCIC)

Below are few captures:


Tata Safari 3.0 Dicor: Burnt, Recovered and Reclaiming @ 1,62,000 Kms EDIT : Now SOLD!-photo1387-copy.jpg

Tata Safari 3.0 Dicor: Burnt, Recovered and Reclaiming @ 1,62,000 Kms EDIT : Now SOLD!-photo1388-copy.jpg

Tata Safari 3.0 Dicor: Burnt, Recovered and Reclaiming @ 1,62,000 Kms EDIT : Now SOLD!-photo1400-copy.jpg

Tata Safari 3.0 Dicor: Burnt, Recovered and Reclaiming @ 1,62,000 Kms EDIT : Now SOLD!-photo1407-copy.jpg

Thanks.:)

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Long-Term ownership forum. Thanks for sharing!

The car seems to be in excellent condition.
So how much did it cost you,after the complete rebuild?
any pictures of the burnt engine bay?

Hello Mercedised,

Congratulations on rebuild and giving a fresh lease of life to safari. It was a very interesting read on how you sourced the parts and got the safari fixed.

A very intersting fact is that TASC gave 9 laks for repair and you could fix the whole thing under a lakh. Don't the insurance guys check the authenticity of the quote provided by ASC's?

Wish you many more miles of happy and safe reclaiming.

You have resurrected a beauty!!.
Quote:

The Insurance company declared the car as total-loss (as the TASC gave them an estimate of 9 Lakhs for repairs) and decided to give the owner a sum of 3.75 Lakhs (when on the paper the value of car was 5 Lakhs, but as per rules the market value or paper value whichever is lower is given). Now, I came into the story and asked the owner (as being my relative) to talk with insurance company that he wants to keep the vehicle too. The insurance company said that they have a customer of the car for 2 Lakhs Rs. So if he is ready to deduct 2 Lakhs from his claim they will give him the vehicle too. He agreed and finally I bought the vehicle by paying the owner 2 Lakhs which he gave to Insurance company (deducted from his claim).
Its ridiculous that TASC quote 9 lakhs for the repair. That nearly OTR of a new safari!!.
I got a bit confused here reading the insurance part.
Is it like the insurance paid the owner 3 lakhs and allowed to keep the car and then you paid the owner 2 lakhs and bought the car?

Congrats Mercedese, so you possibly have upgraded from the TCIC to 3.0 or less than 1.5L? (assuming the TCIC is gone now)

Loved the fact that you took a major major risk as some component could have costed a bomb and the effort been in vain. Also now I know whome to contact if I need some help with TATA Pune Spares. - U.

Enjoy, will be tracking this Safari thread as well.

Thats a good looking re built Safari almost from scratch (assuming most of it got burnt). I am sure lots of hard work and painful nights went into rebuilding this. You took a big risk in this rebuilding journey I would say you were lucky too, so as get all the damaged parts from the Tata's, but at the end of it all the results are very satisfying that you have made the car yourself. Congratulations

The car looks superb. Do you have photos of the rebuild? would like to see them.
How much did the total rebuild cost you at the end?

Wish you and your safari lots and lots of happy miles :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by S5157 (Post 2565021)
Hello Mercedised,

Congratulations on rebuild and giving a fresh lease of life to safari. It was a very interesting read on how you sourced the parts and got the safari fixed.

A very intersting fact is that TASC gave 9 laks for repair and you could fix the whole thing under a lakh. Don't the insurance guys check the authenticity of the quote provided by ASC's?

Wish you many more miles of happy and safe reclaiming.

Thanks. As almost all of the engine parts were burnt badly, the insurance guy was too convinced with TASC idea of a new engine will be needed alongwith all of the electricals. They hardly check authenticity in these type of cases as it is hard to asses the actual damage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by akshay4587 (Post 2565000)
The car seems to be in excellent condition.
So how much did it cost you,after the complete rebuild?
any pictures of the burnt engine bay?

Thanks, It was only a engine-bay rebuild every other thing was intact. The complete rebuild sent me back by 60,000 INR.

Unfortunately yesterday only I connected my phone memory card to PC to find that it is corrupt and all the pictures are lost now.:Frustrati'

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullboy (Post 2565030)
You have resurrected a beauty!!.

Its ridiculous that TASC quote 9 lakhs for the repair. That nearly OTR of a new safari!!.
I got a bit confused here reading the insurance part.
Is it like the insurance paid the owner 3 lakhs and allowed to keep the car and then you paid the owner 2 lakhs and bought the car?

Thanks.

It is like the previous owner was getting 3.75 Lakhs from the insurance company. The insurance company would be the owner of the damaged vehicle after paying this amount to the owner. Now, what will they do with the car? The insurance company would have sold it to some Scrap person or any other buyer. Instead of giving it to a scrap person for 2 Lakhs the owner asked him that he wants to keep the vehicle. Now, the amount that remains after deducting the 2 Lakhs was 1.75 Lakhs. The Insurance company paid the owner 1.75 Lakhs and remaining 2 Lakhs were paid by me. Hope this clears your confusion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ACM (Post 2565042)
Congrats Mercedese, so you possibly have upgraded from the TCIC to 3.0 or less than 1.5L? (assuming the TCIC is gone now)

Loved the fact that you took a major major risk as some component could have costed a bomb and the effort been in vain. Also now I know whome to contact if I need some help with TATA Pune Spares. - U.

Enjoy, will be tracking this Safari thread as well.

Thanks and Yeah I have finally upgraded! I bought the vehicle for 2 Lakhs and then the repairs were done for 60,000 INR. This turns out tobe a sum of 2,60,000 INR. Actually those two parts (MAF sensor and wiring loom) did cost me a bomb otherwise I would have finished the vehicle under 40,000 INR.

Tata spares especially for Safari and other DICOR vehicles are pain to source, hardly we get them available at TASC.
Quote:

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806 (Post 2565108)
Thats a good looking re built Safari almost from scratch (assuming most of it got burnt). I am sure lots of hard work and painful nights went into rebuilding this. You took a big risk in this rebuilding journey I would say you were lucky too, so as get all the damaged parts from the Tata's, but at the end of it all the results are very satisfying that you have made the car yourself. Congratulations

Thanks. Yeah it was pain to source a few of the parts, but considering the pain my mechanic took to rebuild the car my pain was nothing.:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by theexperthand (Post 2565228)
The car looks superb. Do you have photos of the rebuild? would like to see them.
How much did the total rebuild cost you at the end?
Wish you and your safari lots and lots of happy miles :)

Thanks, photos lost unfortunately.

Quote:

It is like the previous owner was getting 3.75 Lakhs from the insurance company. The insurance company would be the owner of the damaged vehicle after paying this amount to the owner. Now, what will they do with the car? The insurance company would have sold it to some Scrap person or any other buyer. Instead of giving it to a scrap person for 2 Lakhs the owner asked him that he wants to keep the vehicle. Now, the amount that remains after deducting the 2 Lakhs was 1.75 Lakhs. The Insurance company paid the owner 1.75 Lakhs and remaining 2 Lakhs were paid by me. Hope this clears your confusion.
Thanks. I got it. I feel sorry for the owner. The insurance company ended up paying 1.75 lakhs as claim to a car that was supposed to have a claim worth 9 lakhs which I think will be less or equivalent to total premium paid.

Congrats for the re incarnated Safari. It does look good with grey bumpers. Post some interior snaps also. BTW, what is the power output of 3L Dicor version?

Congrats mercedised for having successfully upgraded and restored your Safari 3.0. The car looks to bein great condition. How about modding it a bit???

Some suggestions: How about painting the bumper and the side cladding(also the piece over the rear quarter glass) to black?
Also try adding a front crash guard.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Utopian (Post 2566023)
Congrats for the re incarnated Safari. It does look good with grey bumpers. Post some interior snaps also. BTW, what is the power output of 3L Dicor version?

Thanks, will post the interior pictures. The 3L engine is picked straight from 407 truck and produces 115PS@3000 rpm and 300 Nm of torque between 1800-2400 rpm.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ashis89 (Post 2566066)
Congrats mercedised for having successfully upgraded and restored your Safari 3.0. The car looks to bein great condition. How about modding it a bit???

Some suggestions: How about painting the bumper and the side cladding(also the piece over the rear quarter glass) to black?
Also try adding a front crash guard.

Thanks, personally I like the bumpers tobe gray in color this is because in the city traffic if someone accidentally hits or touches a painted bumper that small scratch makes the car look ugly from few places. To avoid that I decided to live with these bumpers and they do look handsome to me. Yes a front crash guard is on its way.:)

The bell crank of the steering broke a few days ago, somehow went to the mechanic and changed the bell crank, it costed 1100 Rs.

Also changed the smaller bearings of both the front wheels costing some 300 Rs each. All in all the vehicle is performing exceptionally well. The bell crank might have broken due to excessive load of alloys, so switched to the stock RIMS.

Thanks.:)


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