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Castrol ATF Dex II is the way to go; properties wise, it is only marginally better than TypeA Suffix A ATF.

Hi,
Could you please share the model number for KYB struts you got from Mumbai ?

Another question, are these struts universal ? i.e. can I use the same strut for another car ?

Regards



My local spares chap procured KYBs from Mumbai for 18,000 a pair. It is readily available.[/quote]

Sorry, The above question was for Sridhar V sir.

The KYB part nos are as follows:
RH Strut - 334464
LH Strut - 334465
These struts are exclusive for the 2005+ Grand Vitara and are not common with any other car.
KYB Rear Shock Absorbers - 343435. I did not replace my rear shocks.

I always wanted a moderate lift. But Ironman and OME were out of budget. So I settled for a simple lift of 25mm using spacers. These are hard rubber spacers made in India. These types of spacers are quite popular with cars getting cng tanks fitted.
The front spacers and extra long bolts.




The existing bolts in the Support Front Strut were pressed out and the extra long bolts were welded into place.



The rear spring spacers. These replace the existing rubber seats at the rear.



A view of the old strut assly. removed from the car.


And a comparison of the old and new struts side by side. The old strut had lost a lot of its spring back.


A side by side comparison of the old and new strut assemblies.


I also got Camber adjustment bolts fitted.


Some views of the rear spring and spacer.



My front suspension used to make a lot of noise when going over bumps and rough patches. So I made it a point to replace the following parts of the strut assemblies:

Seat Coil Spring Rubber 41200-65J00.

There are some indentations of the spring end on the rubber. Cost was Rs. 276.56+taxes each.

To be on the safe side, I ordered Seat Coil Spring Upper 41311-65J00. Cost was Rs.434.38+taxes each. With hindsight this was one unnecessary replacement.


It is absolutely necessary to replace the strut bearings 41741+78K00. Cost Rs. 385.94+tax each. Both the old bearings had excessive radial play.


A view of the front wheel well after the upgrade

Height was 800mm. After the upgrade it is 840mm.

A view of the rear wheel well after the upgrade

Height was 805mm. After the upgrade it is 845mm.

Dear All,

My Neighborhood mechanics have got a Grand Vitara 2.0L for repairs which somebody bought from a Dealer. The odo reads 95000 kms but my mechanics feel the Grand Vitara has run much more. The Head has been opened previously as we can see a line of uneven bond solution along the line where the head sits on the engine body.

They need ideas to resolve a problem.
The Engine fires up in a single cranck when cold in the morning. When it is driven for some time and engine warms up and then the GV is stopped for say 15-30 mins it takes a lot of cranks to start. To summarize the engine starts up just fine when cold but takes a lot of cranking when warm to restart. Pick-up and power seems to be fine. The smoke from the exhaust also seems normal.

They have changed Spark Plugs to Iridium. They have cleaned up the fuel tank, and even replaced the Fuel Pump in the tank.

Any ideas about what could be causing this behavior and what could fix it ?

Styler

Did they replace the fuel pump or repair it , asking coz a new OE item costs north of 45k .

What does the temperature reading say when this happens , most probable cause however is the fuel pump
Thanks

Check battery. I faced a similar issue in my Baleno and it was narrowed down to a faulty battery which was over heating. Replace battery and see if the problem persists.

It is either because of improper coolant circulation through the head OR the ignition coils are weak. They become hot and the resistance values change.

I'd have suspected the plugs first but you say that they have put iridium plugs in - hope these are of the correct heat range for the Grand Vitara.

So this kind of rules out battery issues.

If the fuel pump has been ruled out, then.

Spark aka ignition system need to be checked. It can be coils packs that might be weak.

Good to use OE set up to diagnose such issues.

Last but not the least, hope the engine is other ways healthy, returning a good compression reading?

They tell me it was a standard size pump. They installed a Delphi Fuel Pump (Cost 5K) which is standard in a lot of vehicles including Swift etc. The fuel pumped is fine when the problem occurs. I cannot say for sure because they did not replace the pump with a OEM Pump for the Grand Vitara.

Battery problem is ruled out as the cranking is good when the problem occurs. Also the car starts in the first crank in the morning.

I have told them to check to make sure if the Iridium Plugs they have installed are the ones for Grand Vitara. I have also conveyed to them to check the Ignition coils and Coolant Circulation.

The Pickup and Power seems to be fine. I test drove and compared to my Grand Vitara and it seems pretty similar. I have told them to do a compression test though.

Thanks guys for all the suggestions. I hope the problem will be resolved soon. I will update here.

Styler

One more thing - the plugs should be one of the following:

NGK: BKR6E-11 (Nickel) / IFR5J11 (Iridium) DENSO: K20PR-U11 (Nickel)

Either NGK BKR6E(standard plug for G series engines) or Champion RC8YC , with a gap set at 1.1mm, would be fine.

The key is the plug gap viz. 1.0 to 1.1mm.

I'm saying this as BKR6E-11 isn't that easy to get. Technically it is a 6E plug with gap preset to 1.1mm.

I bought the NGK BKR6EIX-11 for my Grand Vitara 2.0 as per the recommendation in the NGK Document. These are working flawlessly for me.

This weekend took Two Vitaras for a short snow drive to Narkanda and beyond. Fellow bhpian WBD8779 joined in for the drive. Here are a few pics.

The rubber spacer upgrade for the front suspension is not going well. I recently returned from a 1648 kms road trip. A few days after the trip I noticed a knocking sound from the front suspension. During a subsequent 80 kms bad-road trip, with the "whiteknight", the problem was identified as severe rattling from the front struts,

It turns out that the rubber spacers had metal sleeve inserts on the bolt holes. The rubber is getting compressed slightly after the bolts are tightened. This results in the sleeve getting deformed and touching the metal of the strut well housing. Removing the sleeves would increase play in the plane perpendicular to the strut length. So I am planning to revert back to original fitments.

Later on I will see if there is a proper engineering solution to using the spacer.

How is the vehicle stability after the spacer?

BTW just completed two month of harsh winter of Spiti and GV managed very well, lowest it saw was -30 degree celcius, snow storms and snow drives were fun.