Beyond 150,000 Kms....
Gliding through the highways, crawling by the city, this one is chugging miles while there is no pity!
The Ertiga reached the 150,000 Kms mark at the beginning of this month while it was traversing through the city thoroughfares itself.
Usage trend since purchase:
A significant change over the past 2+years is the reduced runs to my workplace which otherwise easily contribute at least 95 Kms per day. This factor alone has ensured the pace to clock miles had reduced, well this is what I thought to till I tried to analyse this myself. Here is what I collated:
As you can notice, the fastest 10K has usually been in or under 2 months while it took anywhere from 3-4 months on all other occasions, except for the last 6 months which was perhaps the longest the Ertiga took to clock 10,000 Kms.
So somehow, the average usage has not drastically come down because in one way or the other, impromptu and planned long trips make up for the loss.
So that's around 18 Months for every 50,000 Kms on an average and that is no slow running at all. Thank goodness the workhorse didn't end up being a donkey there, LOL!
Life of the wear and tear components:
Here's a list of common wear and parts that were replaced in the Ertiga either proactively during a regular service or on need basis:
Apart from this, there are still many elements doing duty reliably right from the day they came along with a new car:
Issues faced so far: 1. Low speed wobble -
There are some important updates. I did mention here earlier that the wobble started soon after the rack was replaced; At least that is what I still think even today. So to address this, I have been casually visiting the ASC depending on my convenience over the last few months to get it resolved. The ASC has taken up this weird issue as a challenge and are happy to go the trial & error basis by eliminating anything that is suspicious and this still continues.
So the following parts were either replaced or swapped from the ASC's vehicle or as new and then I was asked to provide my feedback after thorough (really long distance) TDs. I would come back negatively and the stock/existing part was installed back because I am one of those who would like to extract maximum life out of any part in the car.
- Swapped tires including Rims from another Ertiga
- Replaced existing rack with a new One
- Replaced Stabilizer Bar bush with new one
- Swapped Drive shaft from another Ertiga
- Replaced existing lower arms with new one
- Swapped suspension knuckle (Entire left suspension with wheel knuckle, Rotors and Calipers as one part)
- Replaced LHS Brake rotor along with Caliper Assembly
Even with all this done, at this stage, the issue remains unresolved. There is a very slight wobble on take off from standstill and the same is not felt either on steering or on pedals and nor can a passenger sitting around get the feel of this unless he observes very sharply.
This wobble is more pronounced when you accelerate swiftly from very slow speeds (it vanishes after 40 KMPH completely) and even when you decelerate/Brake and coming to a halt from around 30 KMPH.
Additionally, there is zero wobble at highway speeds, but when you gently press the brake, a humming sound is produced along with mild wobble - This was earlier ascertained as jamming calipers due to the lathe job on the pins to arrest the caliper noise. So the pins were replaced with new ones and the caliper jam was arrested completely. However, even today, if I am driving at 120, and I press the brake, the hum along with slight vibration is felt on the left hand side foot well area - None on the steering or the Brake pedals (no pulsations). With super long TDs, it is true that this one has absolutely nothing to do with braking because even the caliper set was changed to test this to rule out caliper piston malfunctioning.
This is something I am happily living with and still happy to troubleshoot till it gets resolved as this is really not serious nor irritating by any degree.
2. Injectors and clatter -
While replacement of the battery solved the issue of weak punch earlier, I somehow feel (basements are the best places) that the clatter is at times more pronounced and this is absolutely intermittent and here is when the throttle response is little on the weaker side (At least that is what I felt). All the other times the clatter is crisp and nearly flat and seamless and exactly then the throttle response is perfect. I have tried all brands of fuel and now nearly stuck with Shell around my home and the intermittent behavior is experienced from the same tank irrespective of whether it is Shell, BPCL or HPCL!
I have a plan to get the injectors removed, take it to the Diesel Injection experts here in Bangalore and get it tested and re-calibrated sometime soon as I am more than sure that at 1.5L Kms, they would have accumulated the usual block and causing this. Again, this is not something that is bothering me much but I am very curious to see what the test results say and it will be a good benchmark for many MJD cars as I have also heard from ASC that there are cases where injectors have failed as early as 30,000 kms.
Parting Shot:
There's no update without the picture of your car. Here is something I clicked this morning after returning from my kid's school along with another BHPian friend. The car needs a much needed wash, something I will wait for another week or even weeks due to rain forecast over the next few days.
One of the days ahead, I will take close-up shots after a proper wash!