[sagarpadaki]

120k is too long for any transmission oil. I would suggest you replace it ASAP. What is the spec of the transmission oil that Kia specifies? If it is GL4 then I strongly recommend petronas tutela gl4+ from boodmo. Makes a huge difference in gear shifts.

Regarding AC condenser cleaning, any decent FNG with water wash facility should be able to remove the bumper and water clean.

[Sreesh1009]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Kia recommends changing transmission oil at 120k kms. Nonetheless, will send it to the service center next week.
Any suggestion for a FNG who can help with the job? Or even a AC guy who will do all the needful without overselling?
.

Would suggest you take look at Engineering Exponents in Whitefield. You can get the AC cleaned and also get an opinion about the hard gearshifts.

I only recommend them after reading some really good words about their workmanship. Especially Rajeev Raj's thread about his 10 year old Vento.

Otherwise any good AC specialist will be of help to you.

[ashis89]

75000 kms up!



January to early Feb, Coyote barely saw the roads. Had sent him to Epitome for the AC and gearshift check. They found nothing wrong in either. AC cuts off around 7.9 degrees in my car vs. a new Seltos which did 8.5. Clutch bleeding and some greasing helped improve the shifts a lot and now it is occasionally notchy with mild judder. I will get the transmission oil changed during next service. Got a new pair of wiper blades as well since the existing one had started streaking. Total bill Rs. 933 including a FOC pick up and drop. Apart from this, only did few city errands and added a hundred kms.

Last weekend started with a late night drive to Rasta Cafe Ramanagara. A day later, it was a pre-dawn drive to Ranganathitu to observe the migratory birds before they fly back.

Taking inspiration from @abirnale’s recent post about early morning boat ride, I started off around 4:40AM and reached the sanctuary by 6:50AM. There were two cars already there when we reached. Booked a boat and started off for a hour long ride. Spent another hour going around the garden + watch towers and spotted few more birds there.

In all, we saw a variety of Storks, Spoonbills, Pelicans, Egrets, Bee-eaters, Flycatchers, Kingfishers, bats, doves and peacocks. Unlike the last visit to the sanctuary on a Dec afternoon in 2019, this was very pleasant and we ended up sighting a lot more species.

Had a nice breakfast at food court within the sanctuary and then drove back. I was home by 12:30PM.

[stormy]

Hi Ashis,

I too own the same model but with AT transmission in white. Its 3 years old and 40K Km, planning a tyre change and happened to come across your ownership. Brilliant thread, have been reading through it for last of couple of days. I am awe struck with the amount of time and effort you have put in to maintain this thread. Thank you for all the information, found answers to many of my queries. Cheers!

[ashis89]

Temple run and foodies woes

Another month of no activity until this weekend when I took to the Mysore highway again. I had heard a lot about Sri Venugopalaswamy temple but never got a chance to visit it yet. So when friends visiting us wanted to see places near Bangalore, I locked on this.

Even after applying speed limits on the new expressway, most of the traffic is speeding beyond 100 kmph. And accidents continue to happen (I saw two). Took us 2hr 45 mins on a Saturday afternoon to reach the temple. Except for the last 2 kms to the spot which is broken, rest of the road is excellent. Spent 45 mins within the temple complex until it was closing time.










Next, we spent another hour near the Kaveri backwaters, driving right upto the water edge. Spent some time enjoying the sunset and skipping stones of the water surface. Others took a short coracle ride as well while I was the guiding light!

This 4wd Fortuner was lazing in the water and then left with the slightest wheelspin. Told my wife that we could have enjoyed the sunset hanging from the boot over the water. She laughed and reminded that bank doesn't fund daydreamers


So I kept quiet, enjoyed the view instead


And posed with my car happily




A little later, this coracle guy arrived and everyone wanted a ride. So I became the guiding light *wink*






First the fog lamps were enough


As they went farther, I fired up the headlights as well




Away into the horizon.....the bugs were loving it


Stopped at Rasta Cafe on the way back, for dinner. We were disappointed. The food was cold and not tasty, not a single dish. A couple of cold coffees were good, others were below average. After all the disappointment, we reached home by midnight.


End of day after cruising on the Mysore highway and idling at Kaveri bank


I had to make it up to them so we went to Shetty's Lunch Home, Kormangala on Sunday. The ghee roasts, neer dosa, majjige dosa, pulimunchi and gudbuds was a delight for the visitors and they decided to forgive me for the previous dinner




Fastag swaps

Coyote was delivered with a Paytm fastag and I have been a happy users all these years. Easy to recharge and trouble free tag experience, I never intended to change it. But RBI had other plans which impacted mine. With the deadline approaching and central bank clear about no respite to the Tag service provider, I looked for alternatives.

Our other car was delivered with an ICICI fastag so I wanted one for this car as well. I could have one wallet or app to recharge both tags. Tried to apply but the site won't let me. My car has a OD number while my ICICI account has a Bangalore address. They won't ship the fastag for a OD car to a KA address! Gave it pass and ordered a HDFC fastag instead which was delivered in less than a week.

I went through a lot of post about fastag removal and understood that IPA was best. Took the bottle of surgical spirit and some cotton with me. I wiped the existing tag with cotton dipped in IPA and then pulled it off. Then rubbed copious amount of IPA on the remnants with cotton and microfibre, with some use of finger nails as well. Took me about 10-15 mins to remove the tag and an old parking sticker. Then let the area dry for few hours, cleaned it again before sticking the new fastag in the same location. The tag worked perfectly during the Mysore drive. I need to figure out there's an app where I can stay logged in and track my fastag. Currently I am aware of their website where I need to login each time.








Battery

The stock battery is 4.5 years old. And these days, Coyote remains untouched for 2-3 weeks at a stretch and frequently. While the car cranks normally without any hint of struggle, I see a significant dip in cabin lights when cranking. Thinking of changing the battery proactively.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by ashis89

Fastag swaps
Our other car was delivered with an ICICI fastag so I wanted one for this car as well.

Battery

The stock battery is 4.5 years old. And these days, Coyote remains untouched for 2-3 weeks at a stretch and frequently. While the car cranks normally without any hint of struggle, I see a significant dip in cabin lights when cranking. Thinking of changing the battery proactively.

Nice updates.

I closed my Paytm Fastags of both our cars last week and got the refund as well. Went ahead with ICICI as my primary account is with them.

Haven't decided on how to remove the old tag as I have the front sunfilm installed. Need to check whether they have a cut-out else will take it to the shop and remove it.

4.5 years is a stretch. Even I stretched it to 5 years. It's better to get it replaced ASAP as the battery can die all of a sudden (Experienced this once when we were out for a movie).

[ashis89]

It had been some time since we had unplanned family outings. So on Saturday, post lunch we went on a short drive to Bili Betta in the hope of catching a setting sun. While some low lying clouds spoilt the full sunset, the experience was still good. A small hillock with a couple of hundred steps to climb and arrive at a temple and a 360 view of the villages/fields beneath.

I made the mistake of taking the Panathur road (stuck for 20 mins) - Gunjur Mugalur road - Malur road. Onward trip took 2 hours. On the return leg, I simply hit the highway and it was a breeze then. With the long weekend, city traffic is very less.

Having heard some good things about The Terminal cafe near Hoskote, we stopped there for dinner. It did live upto the feedback, the food, ambience and service were very good. Took me less than an hour from there till Bellandur.





















I had done a Proklear waterless cleanup on Saturday morning itself but the car was coated with a thick layer of dust by the time we reached the temple.


The car was water washed 3 months ago, by self while in Bhubaneswar. Since then it has been under duster or waterless wash regime. The next wash will only be when our city receives good rains and the water table increases.

[ashis89]

Back from a 1600 km drive to the coast with Coyote, in this sweltering April. It had been a few months since we went on a trip and birthday being an occasion, we made it happen. This trip was also to learn the basics of a camera that I got a week before. Destinations were Dandeli and Karwar, with planned trips to Gokarna, Yana caves and an impromptu lunch drive!

As for trip preparation, I had done a basic waterless wash of the glasses and dusted off the air filter a day before the trip. I realized I didn't experience the hesitation around 1.5k rpm that prominently. The gearshift stiffness didn't recur and the AC worked very well (mostly kept at speed 2).

Performance and FE
No particular driving style this time, just enjoyed whatever I felt like. Slow highway cruise, crawling through village roads or fast corners in the Yellapur-Gokarna section. Given the sweating, the AC was in use 100% of the times as always but at full chill mode and even when the car was idling for long durations. The overall FE was a shade above 16 kmpl, with two tankfuls at IOCL and Jio BP.


Tyres
First time in years when I topped up the tyres at the nearby fuel bunk and it was a big mistake. Their machine has a lot of error and I ended up with over-inflated stiff tyres for almost half the trip. Even though the tyres were topped up 9 days before the trip, they lose very little air and hence, remained over-inflated until I corrected them at Karwar.

Also after covering ~38k kms, these tyres seem to have a fair amount of thread left. They have seen every kind of roads without any complain so far. But they are noisier now. Might last another year before needing replacement.



Dandeli

On a Sunday, we started from home at 5 AM and reached Apoorva Resort by 8:40 AM.









After a yummy Davangere Benne dosa, we proceeded towards Kali Adventure Camp, our stay for the night. Wife wanted something different than the boring highway, so I took the Tadas - Kalaghatgi - Tattigere route - slower but scenic as she likes. Right after leaving NH48 and taking the Tadas road, we found this marsh land with a lot of water birds. Stopped there for some camera learning sessions. By 12:30PM, we had reached the camp.













After a small safari that evening and river rafting the next morning, we moved on to Old Magazine House, our stay for the next day. Post lunch birding sessions were intense but a new experience for a newbie like me. Next morning, we drove down to the Timber depot where we spotted few more birds in action.









The gears, one for each of us



Post a late breakfast, we checked out and proceeded to Sterling Karwar.

Karwar
The drive from OMH to Karwar is via the Anshi National park. Beautiful dense forest, average to good roads, some ghats and a sneak peak at the Supa dam. The road ends near Majili beach. Spent the evening at Tagore beach watching the sunset and then retired for the day at the hotel.

Saw this vehicle gathering data for Apple Maps


While wife was admiring the view from a watch tower along the road, I was admiring the roads


The smarter half had done some research and had found about boat ride via the Kali river estuary into the sea where one can spot dolphins if lucky. Only one operator provides this service - Prafulla boating. After some back and forth, we managed to book a ride for the next morning. While we didn't spot the dolphins, the ride itself was worth it. After a 2 hr ride, we were free by 11AM. The next itinerary was a visit to the beach in the evening and so we could retire for the afternoon and chill in AC.

OR, what if we grab some nice lunch? We couldn't make it to Martin's Corner during the last Goa trip and I thought that was a nice getaway for the afternoon. So off we went to Goa for lunch.
The border was just 8 kms from our hotel


As usual, beautiful winding roads in Goa! But beware of speed cams waiting at corners


Everything chilled was welcome



On the return leg, we stopped at Galgibaga beach for some time and then returned to KA. As expected, my car was flagged at the KA border post. The officer asked me where I was coming from and why. So I told him we were tourists staying at Karwar but had gone 70 kms to buy some good lunch. He looked at me for a couple of seconds, then smiled and asked me to leave without any further checks. I heard him explaining my reason to his colleague who was waiting to check my car.


Super bright Sun



After a tricky beach trek to Tilmatti beach and catching up on the sunset, we retired for the day. Reaching the beach can be tough but once there, it's so beautiful!



Next day was long. Post breakfast, we visited Vibhuti falls and Yana Caves. Then we went to Namaste Cafe (over-hyped and not at all worth the visit) for lunch. Plan was to catch the sunset on a beach nearby but the trek to the falls and caves on a hot-n-humid day had taken its toll. So we returned to Karwar. But sunset is important, isn't it? Took a detour to Belekere beach and spent an hour enjoying the sunset.

I must have been drenched in sweat half a dozen times if not more


Gave up exploring Om beach further


Next day was working for both of us. And we worked. Didn't get a chance to catch the sunset that day. But we tried two local food joints. The falooda lover in me found Taj Food Corner, for some chat and falooda. For dinner, we tried some local seafood dishes at Swetha Lunch Home.


I had noticed a few car washes in the hotel vicinity. So I got the car washed as well, after 4 months. Job well done and for 500 bucks only. Vacuum also removed all the sand from the cabin.







That was the end to the trip. Checked out the next day around 12PM, sticking to Yellapur - Hubli this time. One refueling break post Hubli and one coffee+benne dosa break at Apoorva Resorts. I had high hopes to see some rains atleast in the coastal belt but it was only fulfilled near Chitradurga where we got some heavy rains briefly. Reached home by 9PM.

Odo stands at 77k



PS: Speed checks were going on once I entered Goa. Two spots in the 50 km highway span I covered.

PPS: We were stopped what felt like more than 10 times, at Election checkpoints. Some enquired about the starting point, destination, travel reason and contact numbers. A few looked into a couple of bags before letting us go. On one occasion, the cop checked for all the 6 bags and even under the spare tyre - an honest job done. One guy asked me if I was carrying beer in my coffee flask!

BTW, I was stopped and car checked when I was on my way to the HAL vegetable market on Sunday morning!