[DDiSLover]

Originally Posted by DDIS

1. Switch back to mineral oil since its cheaper and it won't make a difference!
2. Get a minor service done every 5000 kms...

...
He did not insist on a windshield replacement as I had urged him to.

Hey DDIS,

You say it doesn't make a difference, switching back to mineral oil. Could you elaborate on that?

Update on the car:

I tanked up right after i picked up the car from Suraksha. I have driven 250 odd kilometers (all in Bangalore city) since then, and the fuel gauge shows just under half tank. I have not driven with a heavy foot at all. Looks like the mileage has not improved at all. Any ideas or suggestions on what I can do?

Well, at least the driving pleasure has become better. The car is almost as good to drive as it was when new!

[dass]

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

I tanked up right after i picked up the car from Suraksha. I have driven 250 odd kilometers (all in Bangalore city) since then, and the fuel gauge shows just under half tank. I

Change your fuel station. With the recent increase in diesel prices, the cost difference between Shell and normal ones is down to 6 odd rupees and see if you can get a shell refill for couple of times.

I have always found that when I fill in HP for my Dzire, the mileage is better than when its filled in IOC or BP. I always fill with HP, unless of course if it is not available at the places where I visit.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

I tanked up right after i picked up the car from Suraksha. I have driven 250 odd kilometers (all in Bangalore city) since then, and the fuel gauge shows just under half tank. I have not driven with a heavy foot at all. Looks like the mileage has not improved at all. Any ideas or suggestions on what I can do?

>> Tyre pressures if not adjusted as per recommendations could hamper FE.

>> Driving with a light foot can lug the engine sometimes sacrificing on FE.

>> City traffic a.k.a bumper-to-bumper also takes toll on FE.

>> Air filter etc would have been changed, I presume.

>> Can you tell what are your gear shifting patterns?

Anurag.

[DDiSLover]

Originally Posted by dass

Change your fuel station. ...
... I always fill with HP, unless of course if it is not available at the places where I visit.

Hi Dass,

I usually fill up at IOC. This time, however, there was a HP pump right outside Suraksha and I filled up from there. No let up. I will try if I can use Shell a few time and see what happens.

Also, have you heard about fuel additives? I remember someone mentioning something about that. Any opinions?

Originally Posted by a4anurag

>> Tyre pressures if not adjusted as per recommendations could hamper FE.

>> Driving with a light foot can lug the engine sometimes sacrificing on FE.

>> City traffic a.k.a bumper-to-bumper also takes toll on FE.

>> Air filter etc would have been changed, I presume.

>> Can you tell what are your gear shifting patterns?

Anurag.

Hi Anurag,

I have tried keeping my tyres at 33, 34, 36psi and there isn't much difference. Maruti recommends 34 in front and 32 at the rear if I'm not mistaken.

Could you elaborate on engine lugging?

Regarding city travel, my daily drive rarely has bumper to bumper traffic in the whole sense. I take a few shortcuts via challaghatta road/wind tunnel road to avoid peak traffic on old airport road. However, it isn't like I'm cruising through those roads either. Lot of breaking and shifting.

I usually change gears when my engine hits 2000 rpm. Usually its more or less like this:
00 - 10 : 1st
10 - 35 : 2nd
35 - 50 : 3rd

usually have to slow down by then!

While driving in the highway, I usually shift to 5th gear around 65-70 kmph.

Regarding the air filter, I think it was cleaned. I have heard a lot about KnN air filters. Any opinions on this?

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

Maruti recommends 34 in front and 32 at the rear if I'm not mistaken.

I keep F = 33psi; R = 31psi. These are filled after driving for around 8-9kms as I fill up fuel and air only from one station from the past 4 years.

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

Could you elaborate on engine lugging?

Speed vs RPM mismatch.

>It is like being at 40kmph in 5th gear,

>20kmph in 4th gear and trying to slip the clutch to gain momentum.

>Shifting from 1st gear to 3rd directly.

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

However, it isn't like I'm cruising through those roads either. Lot of breaking and shifting.

More amount of braking and gear changes does make the car drink fuel.

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

I usually change gears when my engine hits 2000 rpm. Usually its more or less like this

Even I follow the 2000rpm upshifting and ~1500 rpm downshifting with more usage if engine braking than actual brakes.

0 - 20 kmph - 1st to 2nd gear
20 - 40 kmph - 2nd to 3rd gear
40 - 50 kmph - 3rd to 4th gear
50 - 65 kmph - 4th to 5th gear

Till date I haven't got a FE below 21 kmpl with 60% highway and 40% mad village traffic on broken patches of road. The average range is 700-710 kms on a full tank (auto cut-off).

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

Regarding the air filter, I think it was cleaned. I have heard a lot about KnN air filters. Any opinions on this?

Not much experience with K&N filters as I prefer stock setup.

Anurag.

[dass]

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

Also, have you heard about fuel additives? I remember someone mentioning something about that. Any opinions?

I have heard of system D and other such stuff, never used them in my earlier Indica nor the Dzire yet. I would stay away from them as I am not too comfortable with additives.

The roads you mention, its difficult to get onto 3rd gear regularly, especially the wind tunnel road. How much do you get on highways?

[DDiSLover]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I keep F = 33psi; R = 31psi. These are filled after ...
Speed vs RPM mismatch.

Hey Anurag,

yeah that makes sense. I generally keep the engine in the rpm range of 1500-2000. I wonder what I have to do to see my car return those FE figures ! *sigh*

Originally Posted by dass

I have heard of system D and other such stuff, never used them in my earlier Indica nor the Dzire yet. I would stay away from them as I am not too comfortable with additives.

The roads you mention, its difficult to get onto 3rd gear regularly, especially the wind tunnel road. How much do you get on highways?

Hey Dass,

Yeah I'm not inclined to try them without any strong experiences of others.
Regarding the roads, once I pass that *BAD* patch near one of the HAL offices (I think), the roads are patched up and I usually maintain a speed of around 40-60 in 4th gear where possible.

The silver lining is that if I hit the highway for a drive about 100kms, my car goes for about 50kms more on a full tank! Doing some quick math, that almost equates to around 20kmpl! Oh the joy!

It is sad that I get such sad figures in the city though. I wonder what could be the problem.

[a4anurag]

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

The silver lining is that if I hit the highway for a drive about 100kms, my car goes for about 50kms more on a full tank! Doing some quick math, that almost equates to around 20kmpl! Oh the joy!

It is sad that I get such sad figures in the city though. I wonder what could be the problem.

I am having a doubt that the exhaust system or the engine has carbon deposits limiting performance of the engine. Try doing a Itlaian tune-up

This refers to revving the car to its limits for a short period in all gears to clear off all sooth that is in the system BUT do this only on closed type of roads or with lesser population so that you don't have a risk of any untoward incident.

Anurag..

[DDiSLover]

Hey guys,

I am considering going in for the RD DieselTRONIC box. Any suggestions ? I'm not sure what the fuel efficiency will be like once I get it. Atleast it will be better in the E mode. I can limit myself to using the P2 mode for those highway drives

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I am having a doubt that the exhaust system or the engine has carbon deposits limiting performance of the engine. Try doing a Itlaian tune-up

This refers to revving the car to its limits for a short period in all gears to clear off all sooth that is in the system BUT do this only on closed type of roads or with lesser population so that you don't have a risk of any untoward incident.

Anurag..

Hey Anurag,

I'll try that the next safe chance I get on an open road.

[DDiSLover]

Hey guys,

I filled up on Saturday and the mileage works out to a meager 11 kmpl.. :(

I did drive this weekend with lower gears, essentially keeping the engine at higher RPMs, to get as close to an italian tune up as possible. Funny thing is, I have run 95kms since I tanked up and the fuel guage just moved now from the FULL reading. I shall keep you posted on how it goes...

[Gran_Tourer]

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I guess the fuel tank size is the same in the newer generation Swift if I am not wrong.

If yes it was then 600 kms on full tank seems less. I am getting 710 kms minimum on a full tank continuously.

Anurag.

The fuel tank capacity for the new Swift is 42L (can't get the capacity for the old one though!).

I strongly feel it would be lesser. The primary reason being that we did close to 850 kms on a full tank that averages about 19.5 - 20 kmpl. The DTE was showing 0 when we almost reached home. The drive consisted of 4 members with full boot and around 250 kms of ghat driving. Rest distance was plain smooth roads barring few kms.

Originally Posted by a4anurag

I am having a doubt that the exhaust system or the engine has carbon deposits limiting performance of the engine. Try doing a Itlaian tune-up

This refers to revving the car to its limits for a short period in all gears to clear off all sooth that is in the system BUT do this only on closed type of roads or with lesser population so that you don't have a risk of any untoward incident.

Anurag..

Hey Anurag,

I thought this Italian-tune-up is revving the engine to the limits in neutral.

Are you sure, that the vehicle should be driven in each gear in this?

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

Hey guys,

I filled up on Saturday and the mileage works out to a meager 11 kmpl.. :(

I did drive this weekend with lower gears, essentially keeping the engine at higher RPMs, to get as close to an italian tune up as possible. Funny thing is, I have run 95kms since I tanked up and the fuel guage just moved now from the FULL reading. I shall keep you posted on how it goes...

Hello DDisLover,

Disheartening to see those numbers from a Swift-D

Somethings not right and got to be fixed. Bad fuel seemed to be the culprit as most of the other diagnosis has been done. Could it be due to clogged fule lines and injectors? And, have you flushed the engine before changing to synthetic oil?

[DDiSLover]

Originally Posted by Gran_Tourer

I thought this Italian-tune-up is revving the engine to the limits in neutral.

Are you sure, that the vehicle should be driven in each gear in this?



Hello DDisLover,

Disheartening to see those numbers from a Swift-D

Somethings not right and got to be fixed. Bad fuel seemed to be the culprit as most of the other diagnosis has been done. Could it be due to clogged fuel lines and injectors? And, have you flushed the engine before changing to synthetic oil?

Hey GT,

I'm pretty sure the engine was flushed before changing to Synthetic. Will cross check with Suraksha once again.

Regarding bad fuel, i have fuelled up at different pumps (HP, BP, Indian Oil) and the results are mostly the same. I shall try a full tank of Shell next time. But if the increase in mileage (IF it increases) doesn't justify the extra cost (of fuel and the drive to the Shell pump), I don't know what I should do next. I have already spent a bomb on my car.

I am thinking of putting in a DieselTRONIC box and drive around in economy setting most of the time. Do you think that it would be a good idea?

I am also pretty interested to know if revving the engine in neutral will be sufficient for an Italian tune-up. Getting a *free* stretch of *good* road to do it safely isn't something that comes by often, at least here in Bangy!

[Gran_Tourer]

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

Hey GT,

I'm pretty sure the engine was flushed before changing to Synthetic. Will cross check with Suraksha once again.

Regarding bad fuel, i have fuelled up at different pumps (HP, BP, Indian Oil) and the results are mostly the same. I shall try a full tank of Shell next time. But if the increase in mileage (IF it increases) doesn't justify the extra cost (of fuel and the drive to the Shell pump), I don't know what I should do next. I have already spent a bomb on my car.

I am thinking of putting in a DieselTRONIC box and drive around in economy setting most of the time. Do you think that it would be a good idea?

I am also pretty interested to know if revving the engine in neutral will be sufficient for an Italian tune-up. Getting a *free* stretch of *good* road to do it safely isn't something that comes by often, at least here in Bangy!

If the engine is flushed then you are good on that count.

Shifting to Shell for rest of the car's life is not the solution and you are right on saying that you just cannot run around everytime looking for Shell outlets to fill-up.

You have not said anything about fuel lines/injectors being cleaned. Are they done anytime during your owership?

Few more pointers that came to my mind when I queried my brain :-

1.) My friends Alto started giving pathetic FE figures at 30k kms. It was like coming down from 16-17 to 11-12 territory. I drove his car and immediately the culprit was found. It was the clutch which had become very-hard and the loss in pick-up was evident. It was changed at the MASS and the FE was back to normal.Conclusion was that bad driving habbits(his driver) coupled with bad traffic conditions could lead to a hole in the pocket. Do check on this.

2.) Our Daewoo Cielo in her last years started drinking fuel as if she owns a bunk of her own!! It has done a mere 25K in her 8 years with us. Everything was just perfect and the drastic drop in FE was a mystery till one day we found out that the fuel line had developed a leak and petrol is being spilled rather than consumed. It was fixed and things came to normal. You can check for fuel spilling under the car when parked.

These are just my experiences relating to drop in FE.Please check and see if something comes out!

[DDiSLover]

Originally Posted by Gran_Tourer

If the engine is flushed then you are good on that count.

Shifting to Shell for rest of the car's life is not the solution and you are right on saying that you just cannot run around everytime looking for Shell outlets to fill-up.

You have not said anything about fuel lines/injectors being cleaned. Are they done anytime during your owership?

Few more pointers that came to my mind when I queried my brain :-

1.) My friends Alto started giving pathetic FE figures at 30k kms. It was like coming down from 16-17 to 11-12 territory. I drove his car and immediately the culprit was found. It was the clutch which had become very-hard and the loss in pick-up was evident. It was changed at the MASS and the FE was back to normal.Conclusion was that bad driving habbits(his driver) coupled with bad traffic conditions could lead to a hole in the pocket. Do check on this.

2.) Our Daewoo Cielo in her last years started drinking fuel as if she owns a bunk of her own!! It has done a mere 25K in her 8 years with us. Everything was just perfect and the drastic drop in FE was a mystery till one day we found out that the fuel line had developed a leak and petrol is being spilled rather than consumed. It was fixed and things came to normal. You can check for fuel spilling under the car when parked.

These are just my experiences relating to drop in FE.Please check and see if something comes out!

I am not sure if the injectors were cleaned. I shall check it out.

Also, I do no think there is any leak from the fuel line. I am yet to see any puddle under the car after it has been parked for any period of time. So I should be good on that front also

Regarding the clutch, I have had the clutch replaced at around 73k kms and I can feel the clutch being its normal self. i do not think it is slipping. Is there any way I can find out if there is clutch issues without taking it to a workshop? I did feel a loss in power, but after the last service, I no longer feel any such drop. It feels as good as new. It is worth investigating in any case

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

...I will try if I can use Shell a few time and see what happens...

Would NOT make much difference is what my gut feel is. Have you tried to identify some COCO pumps near your office or home which is supposed to give the BEST fuel? Also ever tried to fill up during early mornings?

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

... Also, have you heard about fuel additives? I remember someone mentioning something about that. Any opinions?...

Diesel additives never had a great feedback to be used in DDiS engine. There were feedback of rough engine noise.

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

....I have heard a lot about KnN air filters. Any opinions on this?

May not help in raising your FE to the desired levels.

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

....I am considering going in for the RD DieselTRONIC box. Any suggestions ? I'm not sure what the fuel efficiency will be like once I get it. Atleast it will be better in the E mode. I can limit myself to using the P2 mode for those highway drives ..

You will curse yourself for spending that much money if you use "E" from the reports. The car will be a pain to drive and you are most likely NOT to use E after your first drive.

Originally Posted by Gran_Tourer

....I thought this Italian-tune-up is revving the engine to the limits in neutral.

Are you sure, that the vehicle should be driven in each gear in this?...

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

....I am also pretty interested to know if revving the engine in neutral will be sufficient for an Italian tune-up...

Ideally you should be running thru the gears and after the car has warmed up. You are likely NOT to go beyond 3rd gear as I think it hits 140 kmph in 3rd when you redline.

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

....Getting a *free* stretch of *good* road to do it safely isn't something that comes by often, at least here in Bangy!

Heard of NICE road?

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

...Also, I do no think there is any leak from the fuel line. I am yet to see any puddle under the car after it has been parked for any period of time. So I should be good on that front also..

Am not really sure you can make out residue with diesel leak. It evaporates unike oil right?

Originally Posted by DDiSLover

...Is there any way I can find out if there is clutch issues without taking it to a workshop?...

Stop on a small incline and release clutch (NOT using the accelerator) and try to get the vehicle moving. If it does, your clutch should be good. Since your clutch last 73K, I do NOT think you would have fried it.

But my advise is to have a talk with Lokesh and tell him the FE issue and request what else can be done!