It has been quite some time that I had posted detailed update on the ownership. Here I am with few pictures and couple of paragraphs highlighting significant stories associated with the overall ownership thus far!
Current Odometer reading:
136514 KMS is where it stands as on today. As usual, my office runs have drastically reduced that I hardly drive once or twice a week these days. Beyond that, shuttle service to Belur-Chikmagalur is a regular affair with quite a few impromptu dinner and breakfast drives to the outskirts of the city to compensate the loss
Few pictures from some very recent rides:
One with audioholic with his newly acquired Kawasaki Ninja near Kunigal
And few from the recently held Team BHP twin city meet near Kurnool
Few little scars:
The right hand side mirror swiped with the mirror of another Ertiga that was coming downhill from Chamundi hills. That fella was quite aware of the width of the road but I was shocked when he nearly swiped my car at the last minute. This ensured that the LED Indicator lamp on the mirror broke along with Mirror plate itself. After my visit to the temple here, I drove down to Friendly Motors (Dealer ASC at Mysore) and got the mirror replaced. I was thinking to replace the LED Indicator lamp later when I get back to Bangalore. To my surprise, when I enquired at the ASC, the LED Indicator costed 3400/- against 1400/- because the old part number was discontinued. The same part however was very much shown in Oriparts website but I kept delaying it.
One day, during a casual conversation Leoshashi confirmed availability of this old part at Ranchi and I instantly agreed to receive it from him. Long story almost ends, I receive the part and install the same on the same day.
Thanks a lot Shashi for this!
Few months back, while taking a left from the main road to a lane where my home is, a 2 wheeler (Activa/Access??) sneaks in from my left passing me in the opposite direction to enter a supermarket. This is a very regular affair here. But as I Inch forward, the rider with her kid as pillion just rushes ahead leaving a nice long scar from the footrest right from the front door all the way to the back.
I delayed getting this repaired owing to a lot of work and my lot of working from home commitments. Secondly, this may have needed 2 days which would have meant I left the car at the ASC and I wasn’t very sure if I could do that knowing my ad-hoc needs at home with the car as the WagonR is always driven to work by wifey.
Again, over a casual discussion, Leoshashi suggested that instead of getting the scratch repaired, the best option was to replace the existing door molding to a lower position. Technically the mold has to be at a lower position but Maruti somehow fits this at a higher level and the purpose of this is completely lost. This is because the widest part is exactly at the lower section of the door and the mold has to be here.
The representative image shows where the mold needs to be, ideally!
I picked this molding from the dealer this week when I drove to work and next day I headed to Pavan Kadam’s workshop that is hardly 5 minutes from my home to fit them as I my basement as of now is badly lit and the ease to replace them under natural light. The reason to buy a new set of mold instead of using the existing one was quite simple. The 3M Tape (at least 5 rolls) would have cost me almost 1300-1400 while the mold set with the pre-pasted tape cost me 1390/-/ Plus, this also reduced the effort needed to remove the tape from the old mold and put a fresh one on it.
We didn’t remove the existing mold and fixed the new one below to what I call a temporary makeover –The Ertiga Cross.
Later on yesterday and today, I removed the existing molding and was lucky to have found no water mark residues. I had a tough (and long) time to scrub off the adhesive using Abro Tar Remover wherever necessary and cloth.
Few pictures taken this morning:
The 3D mats have been holding up really well ever since I picked them online 4 years before. In fact, the real testimony is the driver side mat that has hardly shown any impressions of wear due to constant driving and resting of right foot by me with all kind of footwear. No deep impressions and no nothing. This is exactly what I would call "good quality"!
Current Issues: Referring back to my post last month
Quote:
Originally Posted by paragsachania Issues?
Remember the low speed wobble I had been referring ever since the steering rack was replaced when the Odo was 50,XXX kms? Well, its still not gone and it has resulted in humming wobble even when you lightly press the brake pedal at highway speeds of 100-110 KMPH band. You can easily make out that something is shaking as the speeds drop and you are still holding on to the brake pedal lightly.
I am more than just sure that this has got nothing to do with worn out pads because the wobble is felt lightly even when you take off after slowing down at a speed breaker.
I am again sure it is not to do with the tires or uneven wear because when there is slow speed wobble , the steering wheel doesn't even move left-right that is typically seen.
Plan to take it to the ASC for inspection this week and I have been suspecting it since long that it is the Rack, the one that was replaced in warranty that is causing all this, as the issue cropped only after the replacement. All these days I hadn't taken it seriously because it was hardly noticed but now I must visit as the braking experience is getting affected due to this. |
Current State: The wobble had turned “violent” off late whenever I was even lightly pressing the B Pedal beyond 100 KMPH and with a clean pull to the left. This confirmed something was amiss with the brakes. At the same time, low speed wobble without braking too was persisting.
Troubleshooting:
Swapped Rotors and Pads between Left and Right and Instantly went for TD with the technician because I was more than double sure that it was not going to solve the problem and I was right. The wobble at high speeds was still there and so was the left pull. Returned back and then checked that the left wheel was not spinning as freely as the right one. Upon loosening the calipers, found out that the left caliper had jammed. Reason was easy to guess – The Caliper Pins long ago (Around 77,000 kms) underwent brass welding to arrest the Maruti Standard Feature – Caliper Pin Noise. The noise never returned but somewhere and somehow this had jammed the left caliper and there was zero play.
Replaced the calipers with brand new ones and drove home and this solved the violent shake on braking and left pull completely. The low speed wobble still remains and a simple test with a new Rack is pending.
Lesson learnt : Jugaads don’t work all the times and this one was really slow in terms of showing its true colors one day. The welding over caliper pins to enlarge the overall dia for sure will reduce the noise completely but will also hinder the functioning of calipers properly.
Quote:
These are the 2 pictures of the caliper pin brass welding done when the Odo was at 77K:   |
See you around till the next update!