[HappyWheels]

@JSL:

Thanks brother!

Driving the Safari to extract 17kmpl is definitely the most boring activity! When others are zipping past your, you just keep floating - good for your nerves, very soothing, but you will have the devil in you creating a ruckus!

And, in one my last visits to TASS, the SA told me that he got few customers (TBHP visitors) complaining that they are getting only 12~13kmpl where as I am getting ~17kmpl. He told them to change their driving style; seems like none agreed to it. Looks like the fun of driving the Safari as it is meant to be is more addictive than the few km's extra one gets when doing a sedate drive.

[jaysmokesleaves]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

He told them to change their driving style; seems like none agreed to it. Looks like the fun of driving the Safari as it is meant to be is more addictive than the few km's extra one gets when doing a sedate drive.

Well, i would have a full course meal on my lap and most likely fall asleep, if I was to try to extract 17kpl from my Safari. But I bet my Safari hates it as much as I do. I normally get 11kpl in city and 12 kpl on the highway with my throttle happy driving and im very happy. I have no intention of competing for your fuel economy record in the conceivable future either.

HW > Consider this, maybe you're growing old.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by jaysmokesleaves

...HW > Consider this, maybe you're growing old.

That is what they all say, except my wife. She is happy I drive like this when they are on-board.

More signs of getting old, eh? Well, time to don the white hair wig and a big tummy. Where the heck is my double cheese quarter pounder?

PM me when you are down in Dubai; love to have company when accumulating those cholesterols.

Mineral Red was such a beautiful color. It's Pity TML stopped it. Congrats on your car !

[HappyWheels]

Sarcar: Thanks! And honored for your first post being in my thread!

Did not know that this color has been stopped. Reckon with the new "Merlin" coming in and this color not being there and also 4x4 not available in GX - guess I have a good piece.

@All:
The vehicle has gone in for its 30k kms service at Madurai. Estimate given is Rs 9.5k. Told brother to ensure that the charge is not done for alignment and balancing - TASS SA was like "no way". Lets see what happens.

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Did not know that this color has been stopped. Reckon with the new "Merlin" coming in and this color not being there and also 4x4 not available in GX - guess I have a good piece.

You've got yourself a collector's item almost ! Would kill for a new 4x4 LX.
Strangely TML offers that only on the VX now. I was speaking to a rep at K.H.T Motors, Bangalore and he mentioned that TML was going to have only "fast-moving" colors in the Safari. Ironically, by his own admission, Mineral Red was the most sought-after request at his dealership.

[HappyWheels]

For those who are interested, here are the steps that I followed to upgrade my headlights to 100/130W (also supports 90/100W ).

Materials required:
- Roots relay kit - Rs.700~Rs.800 : This is a complete unit which comes with the Roots relay, two fuse, one male holder and a female holder equidistant from the relay and one female holder on a longer length. (standard package; Bosch Relay unit are also good). The kit was actually brought for 90/100W, but noticed the marking on the unit mentioning 100/130W support. Guess they retail at the same price.

- Extra wiring: ~Rs.10 per meter. Any branded wire of size 1 for the holders and size 2 for the earthing. Branded wires have the company name printed on it. Ensure to buy the wires of similar color to that found in the relay kit (usually blue, green and black). This will make the identification easy. Earthing is black.

- Bulbs are Philips 90/100 - Rs 130 a piece. 100/130 cost slightly more than this. Not sure now.

- Sleeves to organize the wires (not sure if I am calling them right; refer to the picture to know what I am talking about). Rs.20 or so for a 10m piece. Not sure of the price though! And quarter inch was the size I got.

- Insulation tape, wire cutters and lots of patience

Procedure:

First, set the relay unit was fixed near to the firewall, as seen in the picture below. What you see is a spot where there is an existing bolt (not sure what OEM part is fixed there) on which the relay's will sit.

The wiring was passed along with some OEM wiring, below the battery. I held them in place with those plastic strips(the one that shopping complex like Big Bazaar use to seal your bags).

Lay the wires with the holders at the nearest headlight lamp and then check how much more length needs to be added to the reach the headlight unit at the further end. Once the length is arrived at, cut the relay kit wiring for the holder and use the size 1 wires to extend. Ensure to use the same color wires when extending. Once done, place them all within the sleeve.

Now, for the main part.

01: The kit will have one male holder and two female holders. The female holders are the ones which are plugged into the bulbs. The male holder is used to connect to the OEM female holder so as to capture the control signals (that is switching on, high & low beam and flashing).

02: Besides the cup cover of the head light, you will find a set of 3 wires which lead to a rubber cover. This is placed just behind the parking lamps and might required some searching.

03: Pull this rubber cover out. You will notice that this is a self locking rubber piece. Lets call this location BC1 (as in BackCover1!)

04: Remove the cup behind the head light to expose the lamp well. This is the area inside the cup, from where you replace the headlight bulb.

05: In the kit, there will be a male and female holder of the same length. Take them both and cut the wires at a comfortable length. Do not cut the earth wire (black) that is there on the female holder (reason given in next step). This is done so that we can pass the wire thru BC1 and pull it out through the lamp well. You will notice that the OEM wire, that passes thru that rubber cap that you just pulled out, also traveses the same path. Some bit of finger twisting will be required to get all 5 wires thru!!!

06: Wires are, 2 for the female holder (which gets connected to the bulb) and 3 for the male holder (which gets connected to the OEM female holder). The reason for only 2 wires for female holder is that the earth wire will have to be connected to a metal part on the vehicle. This wire can be pulled in the reverse order (meaning from the lamp well out thru BC1) and then extended to a secure earthing point in the engine bay.

07: Once the 5 wires are in the lamp well, connect the wires to their respective holders. The one to the male and female holder - the colored wires help here. Be very careful not to mess them.

08: Plug the OEM female to the kits male and the kits female into the bulb. Make sure to change the bulb to 90/100 (or the kits rating, incase u go for 100/130)

09: As mentioned earlier, pass the earth wire of the female holder back thru the well and BC1. This needs to be extended so that you can connect it to a good earthing point.

10: Connect the RED wire to the positive terminal of the battery. The provided terminal ring, with the kit, is too small to be fixed properly, so I had cut a small portion to made it into a arc so that it can be placed as a clamp between the nuts and tightened.

11: Switch on the head light to make sure they are working. First check point here.

12: Place the OEM female - kit Male combo tucked at a nice cozy corner. You should be able to comfortable close the back cup. The earthing wire and the sleeve is visible in the second photo.

13: Put back the rubber cover to its orginal location. You will notice that due to the now new wires only one part fo the circumference is not properly covered. but then, just push the rubber inside well enough and they seal themselves. Below photo is with the OEM wiring and extra wires below it.

14: Pass the second set of wire, which is just the female connector, with two wires going to the relay and one earth, to the other head light side. I passed this through the space between the radiator the front guard.

15: As before, remove the rubber cover of the parking lamp, pass the cut wires, pull them out through the H/L well, connect the holders wires and just connect it to the bulb (after it has been changed to higher watt).

16: Do note that the OEM female holder will be left dummy here; you will connect the relay kits female holder to the bulb.

17: Connect the earthing.

18: Test if working.

19: Replace the rubber cover of the parking lamp. Should sit properly as shown in the photo above.

20: Fix the cover cup back.

21: Test the head lights.

All done.

This way, you do not cut any of the OEM wiring. All wiring is parallel and directly to battery. Make sure to use proper size extra wires and branded ones so that you do not end up with over heating issues. The kit has inbuilt fuse to prevent overload.

Only guarantee for this is my use of the above setup over 22,000kms of driving, which included water splashes. The bulbs are still the original set (after 1.5 years) and have had no electrical issues nor any fogging of the headlights.

Disclaimer: I am not responsible if you do the above; do at own risk. Bodily injury might happen if you are not used to any sort of exercise. Not sure what else will happen - but not responsible for that also.

[Lukeskywalker]

Great job there HW, that is some step by step DIY, I am sure a lot of Safari owners can now upgrade from the pathetic OE headlamps to a higher wattage bulb with your detailed instructions.

Yes, a headlamp upgrade does work wonders for night driving, even though I was too lazy to do it myself and got it done from a known electrician, touchwood, the system seems to be working fine (Actually I have never checked the conditions of the wires so far), glad to hear that the Red Beast has covered 22k kms.

[HappyWheels]

^^ Thanks Hari!

And the red beast has actually covered 31,000kms as of now.

It now is taking a slow and easy life period being with my parents, while I am putting the Pajero to its pace here.

[HappyWheels]

Was back in India for a fortnight and did some drives over some very bad and in some place non-existent roads.

The vehicle had gone through its 30,000kms service at a TASS at Madurai. It was standing at slightly shy of 32,000kms when I got hold my hands on it.

The drive started with a trip from Trichy to Sherlock Hotel (a part of the Littlearth) at Ooty.

The next day it was a long tiring drive from Ooty to Mangalore. The route taken, contrary to all good advice was to Gudalur, Sultan Bathery, Manathavady, Kutta, Gonikoppa, Virajpet, Madikeri and finally to Mangalore! 430kms in all! Took all of 10hrs!

Bad roads on the ghat, add the rain to it, was taking its toll. Past Kutta and Madikari till reaching the highway to Mangalore, there were pathetic roads; the soft suspension is truly a blessing!

Reached Mangalore with a very bad pain on the left leg due to the clutch usage that my leg seems to have got un-used to!

The trip to Mookambikai, and then the return via Kannur, Palaghat and then to Trichy was uneventful, except for the horrible NH17.

6 days and just shy of 34,300kms covered.

The vehicle till then, over the last 9 months, used to get a short drive near my parents house to keep the battery charged and an occasional trip to Chennai.

The entire trip was done without missing a beat. The a/c was chilling as ever and the passenger seat comfort was once again confirmed to be one of the best, even better than the gen 4 Pajero that I have here.

This is how it looked at the end, thankful to the strong rain along the way till I hit TN, in providing a free wash!







The vehicle has crossed 2 years of ownership and this is how the interiors are holding out:









The steering has wear and tear due to hand sweats. When it started appearing towards the end of first year of ownership, had the option of getting it replaced under warranty at Concord, but had decided against it. The pealing seems to have stopped at where it has when I saw it last.



The only casualty has been the cover for the cigarette lighter.



When it came time to leave, got it a good wash. Got the under body washed and it took almost 3 rounds to get the mud out and there was a load of it! Also got a coating of used oil done to the under body to keep rusting in check.









But the drive back home from the service center caused some mud to get splashed at certain spots.








The odometer as left:

[jkrishnakj]

Super one HW.
The car can still have plenty of drooling looks on the road. I am sure you would have enjoyed the rain all the way from Kutta till Kollur. My beast and I were there in those areas (Mangalore, Kollur etc... ) on the 12th, 13 and 14th.

Mine being a black one, i still shudder the looks i had when i saw the beast after the rain lashing it received - it looked all BROWN, top to bottom.

[Lukeskywalker]

You were back in India and went back without a whisper? Very bad. Did you visit Bangalore or not? Nice to see your vehicle in good hands, looks like you need to visit more frequently to make that Odo move.

Got the under body washed and it took almost 3 rounds to get the mud out and there was a load of it! Also got a coating of used oil done to the under body to keep rusting in check.

That, in my opinion, is a bad move, spraying oil onto the underbody only makes it a dirt magnet, since you already have anti rust coating, any oil spray IMHO was unneccessary.

[n.devdath]

Welcome back to the forum and India after a long time. I m pleasantly surprised to know that the Safari's ride quality is better than your Montero's back home in Dubai.

What about the interior space in it, especially the front and the middle rows?

Also, after driving the petrol behemoth, did you notice any difference in the way the Safari performed?

Lastly, did you activate the 4wd to check if it was ok after all these months of no use?

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

...Mine being a black one, i still shudder the looks i had when i saw the beast after the rain lashing it received - it looked all BROWN, top to bottom.

My first car was a black Alto; I know how it feels!

And this is the same reason why the Safari is not a black one, even though I wanted a black one.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by Lukeskywalker

You were back in India and went back without a whisper? Very bad. Did you visit Bangalore or not? Nice to see your vehicle in good hands, looks like you need to visit more frequently to make that Odo move.



That, in my opinion, is a bad move, spraying oil onto the underbody only makes it a dirt magnet, since you already have anti rust coating, any oil spray IMHO was unneccessary.

Sorry about that Hari; no visit to Bangalore even though the initial plan was there. The drive became a bit hectic when I over did the over run on the trip to Mangalore.

Spraying of oil: I do have the anti rust, but the re-applications have been missed and the foot steps are showing signs of rust. Was not sure of the re-coating will be done any time soon, hence this oil spray. The vehicle will not be driven much, hence hoping the dirt quantity is low. Fingers crossed!

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Welcome back to the forum and India after a long time. I m pleasantly surprised to know that the Safari's ride quality is better than your Montero's back home in Dubai.

What about the interior space in it, especially the front and the middle rows?

Also, after driving the petrol behemoth, did you notice any difference in the way the Safari performed?

Lastly, did you activate the 4wd to check if it was ok after all these months of no use?

The suspension on the Montero is harder than that of the Safari. The seats on the Montero are also harder, hence the comment from the ladies of the house on the comfort. As for space, the Montero wins.

You just cannot compare the 3.8liter petrol with the 2.2 liter diesel. The smoothness the power that is packed into the Monetero is amazing. And not to forget the comfort of the auto gear. But, between the two, what stuck me hard was on return when I really noticed how the vehicle is packed and the fit and finish on the Montero. Yes, in the Safari everthing is working, but the door handles needs some extra work to open, the glove box has a very wide toothless grin and the a/c knobs needs some effort.Small things, not that they caused an issue, but things you notice when you have a re-look.

But, the Montero does not have auto-down on all windows, just the drivers; does not auto lock once you start driving; does not have follow-me-home; on locking the passenger windows control from the drivers console, even the driver himself will not be able to open or close them till the lock is removed (in the Safari, the driver controls over-ride this lock). Not doing the reverse comparison because it will end up being similar to the recently concluded India test tour.

And yes I did drive around with 4H and 4L at Trichy. Also, used 4L it in Ooty at one particular climb where rain and mud caused some wheel spin and vehicle started sliding too close to the mountain wall. And dad is making sure to use 4WD once a while, including running the a/c (both).