[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

hold on - didn't white_vdi post as competent a air filter cleaning thread two months back - what moddaaaa?

ehm i didnt put it as a new thread, just updated my long term thread with a DIY, any issues?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Enjoy the free flow air filter for now! Dont worry, its a relatively cheap price (air filter cost) for the learning, we DIY land up spending some time or the other, before we realize the cost of DIY experience.

Ill also try to add more details now on to avoid such issues ( lesson for me :( ) but dont run around too much before the service and best to avoid very dusty roads.

Well, I had to go out just a short trip tonight, and yes, there is a very marked improvement, and it feels like the car is breathing again.

It's Chennai, and it hasn't rained for several weeks now, so dust? Yes: we have it and can't avoid it! Thinking about the structure of the filter though, my thought is that it is the paper that keeps out the fine dust, and that fluff probably stops the bigger particles from clogging the paper. Fluff can't be finer than the pores in the paper, surely?

I was thinking of getting a KN filter, but for the sake of the warranty, I guess I have to let MSS replace the Maruti part at the upcoming service.

I was planning to give this a try anyway. I was unsure from looking just which part of the sensor plug unsnapped: your photo made this clear --- and then I rushed in!

[Jaggu]

Yup i guess you are right about this, the mesh might be to hold the bigger particles away from the paper, so that clogging from bigger particles are delayed/paper will have some space to breath.

What i have come to know from other users is that stock filter works best for stock diesel swift, hence i have avoided the K&N and Greens of the world.

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

I was thinking of getting a KN filter, but for the sake of the warranty, I guess I have to let MSS replace the Maruti part at the upcoming service.

The K&N stock replacement will not void your warranty. if the MASS claims otherwise, tell the K&N guys about it, they will have a short chat with the service staion, and it will be sorted out.

This is what happened when we put the K&N in my brother's endeavour. The normally obstinate ford service did not put up much of a fight.
I'll try and get you the number you're meant to call. Its on a sticker that is currently pasted on the airfilter box of that car(gone outstation)

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

What i have come to know from other users is that stock filter works best for stock diesel swift, hence i have avoided the K&N and Greens of the world.

Interesting! It would be nice, in this high-crud world (I do not even live in a clean corner of Chennai!) to be able to whip it out and wash it regularly.

Originally Posted by rippergeo

The K&N stock replacement will not void your warranty. if the MASS claims otherwise, tell the K&N guys about it, they will have a short chat with the service staion, and it will be sorted out.

This is what happened when we put the K&N in my brother's endeavour. The normally obstinate ford service did not put up much of a fight.
I'll try and get you the number you're meant to call. Its on a sticker that is currently pasted on the airfilter box of that car(gone outstation)

Could well have been from K&N's site that I learnt that a court case in USA established that car companies cannot insist that a customer uses their own, or stipulated, brand of filter unless they are prepared to give them away free of charge.

But this is India, where consumer rights still have a way to go...

[anshurao]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

What exactly did they do with "Diesel treatment"?

I misplaced my bill, just couldn't find it. They said this would clean the DDIS system. The jets etc and reduce noise(No change here).

Originally Posted by Jaggu

2) Is abnormal, bar wearing off. Did the car take any major impact from the road? Dont think 205 tyres will cause so much wear to a stabiliser rod. Tyre wear might be due to alignment more than stabiliser rod.

No, car didn't have any heavy impacts, Have had my wheels aligned now.

New issue after alignment and rotation, oh hard braking, rear steps out to the left, earlier this wasn't the case. Could the wheel alignment be an issue? or Yokohama S Drive issue(Will check this further and move to the Tyre section).


Hey Jaggu, that was a great post on the air-filter cleaning, task for this weekend.

[Jaggu]

Originally Posted by anshurao

New issue after alignment and rotation, oh hard braking, rear steps out to the left, earlier this wasn't the case. Could the wheel alignment be an issue? or Yokohama S Drive issue(Will check this further and move to the Tyre section).

Dont think its an alignment issue, if side stepping is while going straight, then you should check your rear brakes. One of them can be getting jammed.

[anshurao]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Dont think its an alignment issue, if side stepping is while going straight, then you should check your rear brakes. One of them can be getting jammed.

Guess the problem disappeared, had a few high speed brake tests, car didn't twitch a bit. Will have it checked at MASS this weekend.

P.S: This is my favorite Swift Diesel thread, Thanks for creating it

[Jaggu]

Last month, i accidentally put the AC air circulation to exhaust when the blower was in 2, and i heard some major activity inside the blower. Immediately switched to recirculation mode and the sound settled down to a slow drone. Had posted here for service manual guidance for blower assembly, but didnt get response, and when i did the Pondy trip the next weekend the sound mysteriously disappeared also. Left it at that.

Last wednesday while coming back from office, the pungent smell from nala beside the road was coming in and i again fiddled with air recirculation/exhaust control thinking that the flap would be stuck in between letting in the smell. Unfortunately the fan was running and the obvious happened, and drone with some clatter came back! This time more intense orchestra.

Meanwhile i saw the rat attack post and got some idea on how to approach this DIY, the snaps really helped!! Had a look under the dash on the passenger side of the dash and i could see the round fan assembly, the connector and could identify that it was held in place by 3 screws (more details with pic later in the post).

So armed with (call it as tools required for this DIY)

1. Vacuum clener
2. Tool set, straight head screw driver (medium size) and OR size 8 spanner

I decided to go ahead with the DIY of AC blower clean up job for Vdi, yes this should be applicable to Swift series me guess.

Thumb rule while doing and DIY, switch off and remove key from ignition.

To start off, you need to remove the glove box. This is not mandatory but really will make life easy for you, with better visibility and access.

First step: is to release the locks on top which hold the box in place when open. There are two stopper clips on the side, which can be pushed in (one at a time) to release the top of the glove box. Dont use brute force, strong and gentle push sideways is required.


Ok i forgot to take the contents inside off, lazy me! If you remove can avoid the risk of things falling off on the floor lol

Step two: The glove box is held at bottom on 2 hinges, which are snap fit. They can be pulled out without much effort. Again dont use brute force on these since they are all made off plastic and can break.


I peeped in to understand better the system, could see a plastic grill and also see the exhaust air flap. This is a flexible plastic, ribbed kinds.

What do we have here, already spotted some news paper inside, well i knew rats had visited the engine bay last year and this year in winter, but didnt know that they really had plans of building a house. Look closely behind the plastic grill and you can see what i mean. Yes this paper was stopping the flap from closing completely and hence outside air was still coming in, remember mention of nala smell earlier??


Now we need to remove the fan assembly, first step is to remove the connector clip, there is a small push and release tab which when pressed, one can easily remove the coupler out. Dont pull the wire (iam holding the wire just for the picture sake)


Now is the time to take the screw driver, or you can use number 8 spanner. Spanner comes handy for the 3 screw which sits close to the firewall.


Caution: Fan is held in place with these 3 screws and if you dont hold the fan, it will fall off, like what happened to me. Also leave a news paper or the rubber mat below so that your carpet is not messed up like this :P


Ideally you need to hold on to the fan and release the fan like this:


Now comes the cleaning bit, first i put the hands inside and pulled out as much of paper and muck as possible. Then i connected the fan to the connector (just to avoid any error code).

With fan in off mode, moved the air circulation between exhaust and recirculate 2-3 times. I could see more stuff falling down. Switched the ignition off, in the middle of the flap moving process to hold the flap in half open position.

Used vacuum cleaner first in suction mode and then in blower mode to remove as much as leaf, paper, twigs and other muck from the flap and the duct. Glimpse of what i ended with, before cleaning flap. Hands were dirty to hold camera so couldnt get more accurate details of muck that came later


Caution: There are sharp edges, both plastic and metal, so careful and dont get scratched.

Used vacum cleaner to suck out as much as dust, leafs etc from the fan assembly as well as the duct towards cooling coils (black duct towards driver side). Finally brushed the dust from fan blades and wiped the assembly clean.

Washed the hands and with camera back in hand, this is how the blower assembly looked.


First assembled the fan back with the 3 screws, connected the connector and then switched ON the fan and ac, voila no sound and even the blower efficiency improved by a bit.

My car never runs with air flap in exhaust air mode, rarely down the windows and is regularly vacuumed, inspite of this the dust and muck was remarkable.

Which made me realize 2 very important thing about Swift HVAC.

1. It doesnt have any kind of filter in the exhaust mode
2. The recirculation mode is held in place (open or close) once the ignition is switched Off.

Point 1 is bad, so planning to get a foam filter made along with metal mesh grill which can be screwed at the exhaust end of the assembly. Similar to what was done in the rodent attack thread. Difference will be i plan to add a filter behind the grill facing inside

Point 2 is good, so if you leave the flap in recirculation mode (closed) muck will not come in.

Hope this was helpful.

cheers
Jaggu

[Eddy]

Very well done, though its too much of a DIY for me

Jaggu: Some query on horns I have.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...00-kms-16.html

[kpzen]

Jaggu
Fantastic DIY !!
I have done this many times but in my experience Maruti rarely have had this clogging issue.
In Getz/Accent they have installed two filters before the fan and the filters get choked quite often if u drive around dusty condition.

[hydrashok]

Great DIY, Jaggu! A bit too involved for me so I don't think I'll try this myself. But it definitely tells me periodic cleaning of the fan is a good thing.

[Jaggu]

Guys this is a very simple DIY, just 3 screws and one connector, as i said earlier removing the glove box is also not required. Only difficult part is doing some yoga pose to get under the dash

Appreciate the comments so far.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

... Only difficult part is doing some yoga pose to get under the dash ...

This might, na, will surely be the biggest challenge to do this DIY!

[white_vdi]

a nice clean DIY jaggu!
will definitely try this next weekend.