[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by drifter

Alright I'm back after a sabattical of sorts. During this while, I dropped the plans of selling the City. So it shares the stable with the GTX and the 3.0-litre bus.

So took the GTX to the Tata-Fiat workshop at worli and had a whole bunch of work done. The details are as follows, please note the rates have been discounted 10% after my car was damaged at the workshop and repaired free of cost.

1. Wheel Cylinder - 2 - Rs 745
2. Brake Shoes - 2 - Rs 1,507
3. Timing Belt - 1 - Rs 1,132
4. Fixed Tightener - 1 - Rs 1,883
5. Belt Stretcher - 1 - Rs 1,576
6. Fixed Tightener - 1 - Rs 750
7. Alternator Belt - 1 - Rs 208
8. Oil Filter - 1 - Rs 89
9. Fuel Filter - 1 - Rs 104
10. Coolant Tank - 1 - Rs 329
11. Brake Fluid - 1 - Rs 296
12. P.Steering Oil - 1 - Rs 103
13. Coolant - 3 - Rs 324
14. Engine Oil - 4 - Rs 752
15. Spark Plugs - 4 - Rs 332
16. Headlamp Assy. - 2 - Rs 4552
17. Combi Switch - 1 - Rs 2944
18. WD40 -.4 - Rs 160
19. Coolant Flush - 1 - Rs 495
20. Trans Belt - 1 - Rs 308
21. Flex Hose - 1 - Rs 2351
22. Flex Hose - 1- Rs 188

+ Labour Rs 2829

Total Amount Rs 26,898.

*******************************************

Now a bit of a problem. Ever since the car came back, it lacked the pickup that it had earlier, it felt only noisy and there was no real progress. The car was immediately sent back to the shop. The advisor cried blocked injectors, although there was no injector light on the dashboard. I had a feeling that they messed up the timing when they changed the timing belt.

But I let them clear the injectors. The car came back with the pickup restored. But the one irritant remains, the idle is not smooth, I can feel a bump in the motor at idle. Once you give her the stick, the engine becomes silky smooth, but that lumpy idle remains.

So all you GTX owners, please come forward with some solutions. I'm lead to believe this is a common problem and changing the ignition coil should help. But I want to get definate answers before I spend some more money.

Oh yes, it is a 2002 1.6 GTX done roughly 1.25 lakh kms.

Drifter

Welcome back drifter.Hope you will enrich the thread with more pictures of the beastly Palio 1.6.
If its Worli and Tata it must be Concorde.

[drifter]

Thanks Anjan. Will add details and pictures once the second round of work is completed. Hopefully, the workshop will pick up the car this week. It is Tatas own workshop. They also service Land Rover and Jaguar.

Drifter

[drifter]

The weekend was a drive up to Lonavala and some DIY. The Palio was tanked up and on to the expressway. I know the GTX isn't great as far as FE is concerned, but I was a bit disturbed by the FE I got on this trip. After driving 161kms, the Palio returned a rather poor 7.5kpl.

I confess bad driving on my part, but even then this figure is way too low for driving on the highway at speeds of 100-120kph. I also suspect a fuel leak somewhere as I could smell petrol on hard acceleration. The injectors were recently cleaned and this along with the strong smell of petrol is leading me to the fuel leak theory.

Anyway apart from this, the car drove beautifully even with a full load. Low speed ride has become a lot stiffer than it used to be. But the general bump absorbing ability is very good. This leads me to believe the shocks are fine, but bushes might need replacing especially in the front along with the lower arms. Will get it done this month.

Coming to the DIY. The front left headlight cluster had gone kaput leaving me with no lights on the left. It was sourced to a loose connection behind the headlamps. This was easily fixed. Next came the broken AC vent. The vent open/close roller had sunk in which made it inoperable. A vent louvre had also come off. So a screw driver was used to open up the vent. On closer inspection, the 3 out of 4 clips were broken. A little bit of fevi quick replaced those clips and the vent assembly was popped back into its place. The workshop wanted to charge Rs 3000 for the set of vents. Money saved and works like a charm. I also managed to fix other plastic panels which were loose. Total cost of DIY Rs 20.

Drifter

[anurag_p80]

Hey Drifter, can you please elaborate on the air vent DIY. I have the same problem in my Palio Stile 1.6, and would like to fix it. Need a little guidance though....

[drifter]

Hey Anurag,

This what you need. A screwdriver and some fevi quick. Note that this applies to the side vents and not the centre vents.

The locks are positioned on the four corners of the vent. If you move the vent, inside you'll be able to see those locks as protrusions in the plastic. Now just take a screw driver and stick it between the vent and the dashboard at the place where you see the lock. Pry it open. Do it on the other corner as well. The vent should slip out with the attached plumbling. This plumbing holds the roller mechanism which is attached to the vent by another 4 plastic locks.

If they are broken, just fevi quick them together and let it stay for five minutes and put it back into place. Be gentle when you are pushing it in though. Let the top part into the opening and apply pressure to the bottom part to lock the vent assembly in place.

Drifter

[anurag_p80]

Thanks mate. The problem I have been having is from one of the the central air vents though. Any idea if the same can work on that as well?

[drifter]

I'm sure the centre vents can also be worked upon. But will need a different procedure because as far as I remember, the vents are integrated with the silver centre console. So to get to the vents, you'll probably have to remove that. I'll check in the evening if I can figure something out and get back to you.

Drifter

[DRC]

Hey, My petra seem to have developped exactly the same problem.

After I got the timing belt replaced, there are a host of problems. Firstly there was this rough idle and along with it low gas mileage.
First time it was the bad timing. it was sorted out by TASS. However the low mileage problem has remained. I too am suspecting lambda sensor.

I am just curious to know what happened to the GTX. Got to see the TASS again.

DRC

[chandrda]

Guys

I am about to buy a April 2003 GTX for about 1.45 Lacs which is in excellent condition. Single Owner and about 34K on the odo.

Checked by 2 different mechanics and 1 close friend who owns a 2006 palio sports.

After reading many threads, I feel like I am paying a bit more than it deserves.

Is the price right, please let know as I have made an advance payment already

Regards

[beejay]

I think the price is fine. Any pictures to share?

34k in 7 years. Hmmm.

[chandrda]

I have not seen the photos myself as I am sitting in London

I am only co-ordinating from here for my Dad.

Wanted to buy a car for my dad after I sold my 2005 Swift and 2007 Scorpio this year.

So my dad went hunting for a second hand car till I return and then TD many cars.

This is what he said -
Alto/zen - to low and small for him and pricey
Santro - He liked Santro but was pricey for even a decent maintained car
Swift - He never liked it as visibility was not very clear on the sides because of the body shape
Palio - He TD my friends Palio sports and liked it everybit. He was particluar impressed with seating position, power and stability.

So the hunt began for Palio GTX, which I was more than ready to buy as he had rekindled a 5 year old dream to buy GTX and modify it.

[drifter]

Originally Posted by DRC

Hey, My petra seem to have developped exactly the same problem.

After I got the timing belt replaced, there are a host of problems. Firstly there was this rough idle and along with it low gas mileage.
First time it was the bad timing. it was sorted out by TASS. However the low mileage problem has remained. I too am suspecting lambda sensor.

I am just curious to know what happened to the GTX. Got to see the TASS again.

DRC

Sorry for the late reply, I suspect it is the ignition coil in mine. I'm thinking of sending the GTX to Carnation this time around. Will update on how it goes. The Palio is resting these days thanks to the heavy rains.

Drifter

[vijaycool]

My GTX has the same problem like you mentioned Lumpy idle and broken Louver. The car is not auto revving but vibration at idle makes me worry a little. Have you solved the issue?