[mooza]

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

Now I got time to record the noise coming from Engine Bay at Idle Rpm.
Please experts any pointers on this?

My guess is that it could be a leaky exhaust outlet path at best, or worn out crankshaft bearings at the worst. Better to rule out the former first.

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

Also sometimes that sound disappears on its own and reappears on its own. Hence the mechanic told me that the sound might be due to Belt tensioner. We will have to replace it with new one and see if the sound vanishes.

Today the part will arrive since it was not in stock at my known shop. I will get it replaced when time permits and update here.

Does Leaky exhaust outlet mean there is hole in exhaust?

[pcpranav]

Originally Posted by shishir_bn

..

Originally Posted by IndigoXLGrandDi

..

just a month back, replaced the two belts and auto-tensioner. cost = Rs.5000. the mechanic had pointed that tensioner pulley / gear is jam, and can even break the belt; infact the belt condition was not bad.


tagging you two senior Xylo owners, and calling other experts too!

urgent assistance required:
- time to replace the OEM battery (Exide) after serving for ~40 months and ~83K KM.

did some local survey:
all saying that current one is smaller and just 65a.

a) Exide Express 80a: 6400 (18 months + 6 months)
b) Amaron Black 75a: 4500 (18 months)
c) Amaron Go 75a: 5000 (18 + 18)
d) Amaron Harvest 75a: 4800 (18+ 6)

kindly share your experiences on battery changes.

regards,
Pranav

[amit_purohit20]

Originally Posted by pcpranav

just a month back, replaced the two belts and auto-tensioner. cost = Rs.5000. the mechanic had pointed that tensioner pulley / gear is jam, and can even break the belt; infact the belt condition was not bad.


tagging you two senior Xylo owners, and calling other experts too!

urgent assistance required:
- time to replace the OEM battery (Exide) after serving for ~40 months and ~83K KM.

did some local survey:
all saying that current one is smaller and just 65a.

a) Exide Express 80a: 6400 (18 months + 6 months)
b) Amaron Black 75a: 4500 (18 months)
c) Amaron Go 75a: 5000 (18 + 18)
d) Amaron Harvest 75a: 4800 (18+ 6)

kindly share your experiences on battery changes.

regards,
Pranav

Go for Amaron as compared to EXIDE to have a hassle free experience. I am happy with the performance provided by Amaron. Also select the right warranty scheme to suit you.

[IndigoXLGrandDi]

Pranav,
You can check out Inphynyt Batteries if the Franchisee is in Mumbai.
I had enquired on the Delhi No. given on their website while buying battery for Indigo in August. But since there is no dealer in Solapur and the cost was high as well. So did not opt for the same and went with Exide Express.
Check their (Inphynyt) warranty schemes.

I will check the replacement date of our xylo's battery. I think its 2011 Nov. I had replaced it with Exide Express.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by pcpranav

urgent assistance required:
- time to replace the OEM battery (Exide) after serving for ~40 months and ~83K KM.

did some local survey:
all saying that current one is smaller and just 65a.
b) Amaron Black 75a: 4500 (18 months)

Just reconfirmed after sharing the experience in Amaron Battery thread.

AAM-BL-0BL700RMF is 65 AH only which is the recommended battery for Scorpio and Xylo as per Amaron in BLACK series. I use the same on my Xylo after the stock replacement 7 months back. No issues yet, but its too early to comment on Battery life.

Do we have a reason to upgrade to 75AH or 80AH unless there are significant add on accessories like auxiliary lights or amplifiers etc?

[pcpranav]

Originally Posted by jacs

Just reconfirmed after sharing the experience in Amaron Battery thread.

AAM-BL-0BL700RMF is 65 AH only which is the recommended battery for Scorpio and Xylo as per Amaron in BLACK series. I use the same on my Xylo after the stock replacement 7 months back. No issues yet, but its too early to comment on Battery life.

Do we have a reason to upgrade to 75AH or 80AH unless there are significant add on accessories like auxiliary lights or amplifiers etc?

thanks for the quick sync in both threads !

I have amplifier, aux lights (used less), and 100/90 (with relay). will keep your suggestions in mind, mostly this week want to change.

[shishir_bn]

Originally Posted by pcpranav

urgent assistance required:
- time to replace the OEM battery (Exide) after serving for ~40 months and ~83K KM.

I changed my Xylo battery when the ODO was showing 72k kms. I went to the local manufacturer in Mysore itself and bought the battery from the factory. It costed me 2800/-(they took the old exide battery back). They supply to many big battery companies.

2 years guarantee(note it is not warranty, rather it is Guarantee)

[jacs]

Originally Posted by shishir_bn

It costed me 2800/-(they took the old exide battery back). They supply to many big battery companies.

2 years guarantee(note it is not warranty, rather it is Guarantee)

Thats an irresistible deal Shishir. Almost half of what most of the brands charge us.

[pcpranav]

Originally Posted by shishir_bn

I changed my Xylo battery when the ODO was showing 72k kms. I went to the local manufacturer in Mysore itself and bought the battery from the factory. It costed me 2800/-(they took the old exide battery back). They supply to many big battery companies.

2 years guarantee(note it is not warranty, rather it is Guarantee)

thats a steal price. if you could share the brand and specs.
mostly, i'll go with Amaron Go 65a.

[shishir_bn]

Originally Posted by jacs

Thats an irresistible deal Shishir. Almost half of what most of the brands charge us.

Yes sir. Even if the battery works for 50k kms I am happy. But as per them it will last more than that

Originally Posted by pcpranav

thats a steal price. if you could share the brand and specs.
mostly, i'll go with Amaron Go 65a.

Mine is also 65a. Manufacturer name is Trishul batteries.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by pcpranav

~40 months and ~83K KM.

Originally Posted by shishir_bn

ODO was showing 72k kms.

Pranav and Shishir - After relocating to Kerala, my ODO is moving very slow, its still below 60K Kms and warranty is expired 2 days ago. I would like to know what are the major investments on my way before 100K KMs on odo. The way I utilize the vehicle now, 100K is atleast 3 years away .

[pcpranav]

allow me to pour some updates. some recent works done on my beast:
a) auto-tensioner
b) suspension overhaul (major)
c) tyre change


Btw, always, I make it a point to stay near my vehicle and get the work done under my supervision, at the MASS workshop. Sometime back, I had noticed small goof-ups by the supervisor, when I was away for lunch or roaming around. My presence is there, for the whole day, and sometimes for the second day too, if more work.


Auto-Tensioner & belts: (Cost = Rs.5000)
The adviser told that tensioner is not working well, and needs a replacement. As the name suggests, broadly, this part maintains the tension for the main belt. The small pulley/gear keeps moving slightly to balance-out the play in drive belt. A malfunction would break the belt! The power-steering belt is a different thin & small one.

Anyways, I remember the manual refers of changing the belts at 100K KM, and I intended the change early. that time ODO = ~81K

Went ahead with tensioner change, along with both belts. At the face value, the belts were pretty decent looking, but cant speak of the rubber hardening.










Suspension Overhaul (major): (Cost = Rs.20000)

If you refer my earlier postings, I had got the silent block bushing (in struts) & stabilizer bar bushes changed. I knew that my tie-rods and links are surely gone-off. Ride quality was too bad, and the worn tyres added to this problem.

Parts changed:
- tie rods (inner & outer)
- links
- ball joints
- upper arm assembly (only bushes cannot be changed, entire assembly needs to be changed in Xylo!)
- lower arm bushes (unless the arm itself is damaged, only the bushes can be changed using a press machine)
- struts housing (rubber covering and the rubber mounting)

Not Changed:
- the strut (hydraulic) itself seems to be working well; was removed for fitting the rubber housing etc
- coil spring (they say, it generally runs for life-time)

Note: during the billing, they mentioned a line item: bush kit (Rs.4500!)

Now the ride was very good, but next in line was the tyre replace! and even logically, suspension job to be done first, and then tyre replacement.

As you see, as we are nearing Diwali, lot of crackers are bursting in my wallet! (expenses)


Note: (IMP)
During the billing, they mentioned a line item: bush kit worth Rs.4500!
This was suspicious to me. In the lounge area, they have put a board mentioning costs of various major parts & labour. One line says "Bush Kit" of Rs.2500!
I went to the Stores dept and asked me to show the actual items delivered under the "bush kit". They came-up with 8 similar looking bushes.

As I previously mentioned, in Xylo, upper arm needs to be entirely changed. It contains 2 bushes and 1 rubber-housed riveted bush - this cannot be replaced in workshop.
(I believe in some Scorpio, only bushes can be changed for upper & lower arms)

The lower arm has 2 bushes (pressed) and one V-shape rubber-housed bush (having screws), and these can be changed within workshop. The 8 bushes were similar to that of lower arms. In actual, I consumed such 4 bushes (two lower arms), what are the other 4 for ?! Infact even the mechanic confirmed of using only 4, which were installed using press machine by an outsourced vendor.

I questioned them, for a while they kept telling that same is billed to all Xylo customers coming for suspension overhaul. Finally on technical grounds they accepted of some overlook / goof-up in their systems, but changes in system cannot be done overnight.
My worry was also the unnecessary cost. As a workaround on mutual consent, they billed a line item "suspension kit" of Rs.2900, which I was OK to continue with, on good-will.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by pcpranav

Suspension Overhaul (major): (Cost = Rs.20000)

now the ride was very good, but next in line was the tyre replace! and even logically, suspension job to be done first, and then tyre replacement.

Thanks Pranav. My driving is also on bad roads since an year and half. Luckily MASS did not point any issues while I visited them recently for a proactive check before warranty expiry. But good that you pointed out the cost associated. Its significant.

[pcpranav]

Tyre Change:

First do refer: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/tyre-a...ml#post3226345

My initial decision for tyre was to go with same specs as stock: Bridgestone Dueler AT 215/75/R15 (100S). After all it lasted (or somehow served!) me for 80K+ KM.

After running the newer suspension for few days, one day I went to Best Tyres (Vashi). Unfortunately, they had only 3 qty. I kept following-up the dealer, but couldn't get the 4th one. Even checked with other BS dealers in different localities, but price quoted was bit higher (6500-6800).

Meanwhile, @mantrig (Gaurav) called & updated me of his change: Ceat @ ~5500, which suited his requirement of low usage of vehicle. My pending task was pinching me, and one day I prepared myself to get done even at 6500. For me each passing day was crucial, for the upcoming Kutch trip with family in W1-Nov13, and less time because of my official work & trips. Using JustDial service, spoke to few BS dealers and finalized at 6500 with one in Vashi; even he spoke of rise in BS prices since few days. Evening I started from office to go this dealer's place. Now the interesting part starts !

On the way from office, daily I cross a big tyre dealer. Reading their name plate, I realised of not calling them upon getting their contacts from JustDial! Infact, just few days back when I was returning at night, I had borrowed a spanner to fix the relay wire to battery terminal. (the engineer at workshop forgot to put the relay connecter back on terminal, which initially I thought of kaput bulb!). Hence I went inside this shop: Sanghi Tyres (https://maps.google.co.in/maps?ie=UT...ed=0CDUQrwswAw )

The people were nice to speak, and quoted me Rs.6500 for BS specs, which anyways I agree for. Now, I actually forgot of the dealer whom earlier I had finalized on phone, sorry.
Further Sanghi offered a better quality, at a bit higher price. Guess what, he spoke of Yokohama Geolander ATS @ Rs.6700. Friends, this was the turning point. Just a difference of Rs.200.

I asked him to give me bit time, and immediately called a Guru - Mr.HVKumar. HVK was kind enough to discuss at length on this topic. His overall opinion of BS was good, but Yoko was far better. His main parameters were: handling & braking, with lesser importance of longitivity of tyres. He even appreciated that if my current BS have served for 80+KM, that too with my irregular maintenance (alignment, balancing, rotation), the BS would have done even better. He voted for Yoko, which are a bit softer and tend to have bit lesser lifetime than BS. My decision was changed, it has to be Yoko. I negotiated with Sanghi and finalized at 6600 per piece, including alignment & balancing (later I paid Rs.450 for Lead weights), and chrome-look valves. HVK advised me to maintain the tyres, and increase the air pressure by 2 points than BS, to maintain the stiffness against softer material, otherwise warned of immediate drop in mileage. (this happened, details later).

HVK made a point (best practice) of changing the all tyres every 3 years, whatever the condition. My spare one is still BS, which I will change to Yoko after 2-3 months (vitamin-M adjustment).
Got the new Yoko tyres installed. The older ones were offered for buy-back, which I pushed to later date and put inside my vehicle. Dealer gave proper bill and Yoko warranty card, along with two keychains. (they charge extra 2% on my credit card, since I didnt have cash, which was OK). Overall, good people to deal with.

total Cost = Rs.27300

some pictures (wheel-caps were removed temporarily):















The ride was superb and handling was terrific. Firstly it took me with excellent surprise - imagine a guy running on busted tyres since months, now given two shots of lifelines: fresh suspension and fresh tyres :-)
At my regular station, got the tyres filled with Nitrogen (my BS were also mostly on NO2). Normally, the guy just deflats air on stationed vehicle, which increases momentary pressure on tyres. To take extra care of new beauty, I paid bit extra to first jack the vehicle and deflate air from each tyre and then fill Nitrogen.

But within few days I realized of lower mileage, the fuel bar at 3/4th where it earlier took me for ~190 Km, now returned ~150 KM. To reconfirm, I did diesel top-up again and the results were same. Even visually, the new tyres were looking slight pressed. My BS used to have 34psi, but cant comment on the accuracy of various filling points.

Fast forwarding few days, just to speak focussed on the tyre matter: two days back, went to Sanghi and finally sold the 4 old tyres for handsome Rs.1500 (says 2 are totally busted), and got air pressures to 36. The ride is still good, but yet to measure the mileage.