[anandpadhye]

It's been one year since the turbo rebuild. Car has done 18000km since the rebuild and everything is fine.
No oil consumption in spite of the fact that Tuc is almost always driven hard!

Some pictures of the turbo:




Waste Gate Operation (Tucson has a simple Waste Gate Turbo,no VGT):






Turbo being dismantled (this is another turbo, not mine):






Removing the oil seal:


A closer look at the oil seal:


Turbo reassembled with new oil seals and is being tested by injecting compressed air into the exhaust side (this is again my turbo):


One of the various turbo rebuild kits (not for the Tucson):


Just look at the kit price (Rs. 1620) - nothing compared to what Hyundai will charge me for a brand new turbo! The repair shop charged me @10,000 for the entire job, but that's still much much cheaper than a new turbo!!!

And it's been working well for a year and 18000 km now

Kudos to Shree Samarth Turbo Rapiring Works

[anandpadhye]

DV,

Looking back at the turbo pictures from last year, I am getting tempted to adjust the waste gate screw to see if it can boost the top end. Now that my turbo has proven to be trouble free for a year, and Tuc is running 235's, I think it's time to make the best of it . As you have a workshop, could you try this (if you haven't already)? Is it possible to adjust the screw without dismounting the turbo? Looks difficult but still...

BTW, thank you for teaching me about the screw. Now teach me how to turn it :-)

Cheers!

[K a s h]

Ha.. Exactly my thoughts when i saw your post today.
Its going to be a challenge accessing it though.

[anandpadhye]

BTW, while I was taking a closer look at the turbo last year, to check if it's a KKK turbo or Garrett, I did not find any of those names, instead, it has a KYPC logo.
I googled for KYPC and bumped into KeYYang Precision Company (KYPC): http://keyyang.co.kr/default/e_main.php

Though KYPC website does not mention it directly, they seem to be an assembly unit of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries: http://www.mhi.co.jp/en/news/sec1/200409291023.html.
This is a news from 2004, so not sure how long it will be online, hence here is the text:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MHI to Boost Small Turbo Production Capacity to 3.2 Million Units
-- Investment of Approximately 3 Billion Yen --
Tokyo, September 29, 2004 - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) is to boost its production capacity in small-size turbochargers by approximately 30%, to 3.2 million units p.a. (per annum), by May 2005, up from the current 2.45 million. The move is aimed at responding to increasing demand from automakers, especially in Europe, for small turbochargers that can provide the higher combustion efficiency demanded by today's tightened emission control standards. The increase in production capacity is to be carried out at an investment of roughly 3 billion yen.



The investment will be directed into a production line dedicated to small-size turbochargers for automobiles. Demand for turbochargers of this class is increasing in the European and Asian markets in tandem with strengthening of environmental regulations. In line with this trend, MHI's small turbocharger sales soared from 1.6 million units in fiscal year (FY) 2003 to a projected 2.3 million this fiscal year, with forecasts anticipating further increases to 3 million in FY2006.

MHI's investment will focus on the company's Sagamihara plant in Kanagawa prefecture, but independently production capacity increases will also be carried out at two other locations: MHI Equipment Europe B.V. (MEE), a wholly owned production subsidiary in the Netherlands that also engages in local marketing; and at KYPC, an assembly affiliate in Korea.

To enhance parts processing at Sagamihara plant, investment will target expanded production capacity mainly for the major high-value-added components - rotating parts such as turbine rotors and compressor wheels. This will be achieved through introduction of electron beam welders and new grinding machines. Low-value-added processing work will be transferred to outsourced contractors as much as possible to boost overall processing line efficiency. To improve assembling processes, the efficiency of lines for rotation balancing and automated assembly will be further enhanced.

To attain ever greater efficiency in responding to the growing European and Asian market, the functions of MEE and KYPC will be further strengthened - final assembly and local procurement, mainly large-size cast parts. Through these measures, MHI aims to speed up response to customers, minimize inventory, and simultaneously circumvent currency exchange risk.

With implementation of the foregoing initiatives, MHI seeks to firmly meet customer needs with respect to both product quality and delivery speed. In doing so, it looks to survive the shakeout affecting all manufacturers of small turbochargers, a field marked by fierce competition among suppliers, and targets to be the second largest turbocharger manufacturer in the world, following Honeywell.

# # #


About Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global heavy machinery manufacturers, with consolidated sales of 2,593 billion yen (US$21.6 billion) in fiscal 2002 (year ended March 31, 2003). MHI's diverse lineup of products and services encompasses shipbuilding, steel structures, power plants, chemical plants, steel plants, environmental equipment, industrial and general machinery, aircraft, space rocketry and air-conditioning systems.

For more information, please visit the MHI website (http://www.mhi.co.jp).

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So it seems Tucson uses a Mitsubishi turbo.

[anandpadhye]

It's time to clean the green cotton filter. However, I had used up all the cleaning solution last time. It's quite expensive, so instead of ordering it, I decided to clean it with surf and it worked out quite OK. After all it's just a piece of cotton





Note: Tried with body soap first but it turned out to be very mild for the job.

[Aroy]

For really good scrub, we used "Teepol" for all our lab glassware. It is stronger than house hold detergents and leaves no residue.

[anandpadhye]

I had told a few friends about how 235/60R16s made a big difference but burnt a hole in my pocket and it hurts even more that I have a merely 4000 km run MRF Wanderer (215/65R16) that I have no use of. One of my friends is big fan of the Tucson. He casually told a garage guy about this. A Tucson happened to visit this garage for some repairs and it also needed a tyre change. I got a call asking if I want to sell the MRF. I sold it for 1500.

In general tyres have become so expensive, everyone is feeling the pinch.

[mayankk]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

It's time to clean the green cotton filter. However, I had used up all the cleaning solution last time. It's quite expensive, so instead of ordering it, I decided to clean it with surf and it worked out quite OK. After all it's just a piece of cotton



Note: Tried with body soap first but it turned out to be very mild for the job.

Hi Anand,
i recall Green filters use oil, dont they?
Do take care to re-oil it. I messed up my spectre twil cone as I washed it so many times with Surf without oiling it it back up, it has now started to disintegrate. I luckily have a spare, so i have now ordered K&N oil.





Anyway, apart fro this, i just wanted to check with you if you have seen offset upsizes on any tucsons in your sujourns...

I have to change the tyres, and I was thinking of a slightly jut-jaw look this time around, slightly raised, broader tyres, more aggressive alloys.
Even google is unable to help me in this, so maybe the Tooky is something people tend not to get too experimental with.

[anandpadhye]

Well, they say it's recommended to oil it and I do oil it, though I doubt if that really matters. It is supposed to be oiled only on one side (the outside that faces the atmosphere) and I don't see how it helps - if I inspect the filter after a few hundred km of running, I don't see any oil left anywhere! And it's not supposed to be oiled on the inside as the fine oil particles may impact the MAF sensor...so the whole oil thing sounds a bit strange. Though I do follow the instructions...

Not sure of any intentional/planned upsizes. I test drove one Tucson that was being considered for purchase by another member it was running 225/65R16s on 3 wheels and 215/65R16s on the fourth! It seemed a case of plain ignorance and/or cost saving more than anything else.

What do you mean by offset upsize? Do you mean tyres that protrude out like the wheel arches? Just for the looks? I have not seen any (I haven't look for any, actually). Wouldn't such tyres damage the stock suspension, etc?

I recently upgraded to 235/60R16 (the recommended OEM size worldwide) from 215/65R16 (the default OEM size in India). If you do the math - they are a perfect upsize with no impact on the odometer calibration and are a huge improvement over the 215's.

[anandpadhye]

A couple of months ago, during a trip to Ratnagiri, a hollow sound started coming from the engine bay (like air leaking into the cabin or something like that). Engine felt as if it was always under more than normal load. Drove back to Pune without thinking about it much. There was other thing that kept me occupied - on certain road sections (NH-4 as well as express way), the steering would always wobble at speeds around 120. Only on certain sections. On others, no wobbles even at higher speeds. I have experienced this periodically in the Tucson. But more prominently while breaking and it gets resolved with brake disk grinding/changing. This time it was prominent during braking as well as during regular cruising. This was disappointing as I just recently switched to 235's and wanted to thoroughly enjoy highway driving. So went to the family doctor and asked him to just keep the Tuc and take a long highway test drive on those specific sections.

But when he heard the hollow sound fom the engine bay, he said we should check that first, everything else can wait. He drove a few km and isolated the problem - the sound did not come when in neutral or when clutch was pressed. It came only "in gear" and he instantly said "gearbox bearings"! He also said, it's not worth driving around and I was lucky to have this noticed in early stage. I left the car with him, he disconnected the gearbox from engine the next day and called me to see it. The input shaft (that gets directly driven by the engine) had developed play. He could move the shaft in place with his hand and it would move by ~half an inch, which he said should not happen at all. And if it's moving so much just by hand, just imagine how much it would be wobbling when driven by the engine and under load! So he decided to completely dismantle the gearbox and check all bearings. It took half a day to dismantle the gearbox and he called me to confirm that the input shaft bearings are on their way. And now that we are on it, we should replace all the 6 bearings (2 on the input shaft, 2 on the output shaft and 2 on the differential). I agreed and he ordered them. As these are parts that don't fail often, they were not in stock and had to be ordered from Chennai/Korea and as usual, they came pretty fast - I think within a week. The input and output shaft bearings were OK, however, one small goof up - they did not check the part number of each of the 2 differential bearings. They checked only one of them and ordered 2 pieces of the same as most vehicles have identical bearings on both sides of the differential. Unfortunately, Tucson is different. It uses 2 different bearings on either side. So when they tried to fit, they could not fit one of them. Then they checked the part number and ordered again. Another week or so and we had all the bearings in Pune. They had to send the gearbox and bearings to an outside press shop to get them fitted.

Reassembly took almost an entire day and all is well now. We also got the clutch and pressure plates changed. The hollow sound is gone, the engine now feels smooth and silent than ever before. The drive has become calm.

Here is picture of the gearbox and bearings:


Kudos to the family doctor. Perfect diagnosis and diligent work .

And in parallel, he remembered about the steering wobbling and got the brake disks skimmed (he says warped disks can cause wobbling even when brakes are not applied, so we should start with them and look further only if required). I think I felt that the wobbling is reduced to quite an extent on Ratnagiri trip last week, but will monitor it some more.

Cheers!

[anandpadhye]

Bearing prices are reasonable, labor charges are on higher side (gearbox overhaul + bearing press fitting) but this work took a lot of time in deed. Clutch and pressure plate prices have gone up I think (need to check the previous bill for the same from the past, previous clutch change was at 84000KM).

[K a s h]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Clutch and pressure plate prices have gone up I think (need to check the previous bill for the same from the past, previous clutch change was at 84000KM).

Yes, the clutch , release bearing and the pressure plate were 5376, 1500 & 3343 some time back. Its a 16%, 1% & a whopping 64% increase in respective prices.
The item that worries me most is the Engine oil filter. It was Rs 449 last year compared to an eye watering Rs 848 (88% hike) now!

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by K a s h

Yes, the clutch , release bearing and the pressure plate were 5376, 1500 & 3343 some time back. Its a 16%, 1% & a whopping 64% increase in respective prices.
The item that worries me most is the Engine oil filter. It was Rs 449 last year compared to an eye watering Rs 848 (88% hike) now!

Ok, so the pressure plate is now way more expensive? Is it a newly designed one that will last much longer? (wishful thinking) From my experience, there are 2 aspects of the clutch assembly that could have been better designed in our Tucson:
1. The clutch plate springs - they start rattling at low speeds after around 10000 km.
2. The pressure plate - the fingers become hard after around 25000 km and as a result the pedal starts becoming hard, very very hard.

Though, #1 is irritating, I can live with it. #2 was getting to my nerves, but thanks to the hand operated clutch, I am covered for the future (it's a real bliss). But looking at the price, may be, they came up with an improved pressure plate(?)

Only time will tell.

[anandpadhye]

Since April I had been hearing some mild sound from the front left suspension. Also, the steering would lock momentarily (for half a second or so) when turning left. I had been showing this to my family doctor but as is the case with most of the problems, it could not be diagnosed in the early stage. Took the car to Hyderabad in August and then to Ratnagiri. The sound grew progressively louder during the trip so left the car at the service center for a thorough check. After a few days of investigation, they concluded it was the front left axle which has developed play. It's not a running part, so it was not in stock anywhere in India. Placed the order and it arrived at the service center in 8 days! Hyundai continues to amaze me with their logistics!

Cost: ~21000.

Some pictures of the old axle:


The ABS ring, outer CV joint and the inner CV joint:


A closer look at the outer CV joint:


A closer look at the innver CV joint:


A look at the axle from the other side:


How insignificant the part looks from a few feet!


Cheers!

[mayankk]

Hi Anand,
How much engine oil does your mech pour in?
I've been reading 4 liters online, but my mechanic mentioned that he "recalls" 5 liter.
Also, if you could tell me if you've noticed lesser clatter, or variations, with different grades of oil?