[mercedised]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

Castrol GTX Diesel is a good oil. Last time I used Mobil Delvac MX. Initially the engine was smooth but again I had to change oil at 6.75k kms. With Castrol also I get the oil changed at 6k-6.5k kms. With the fact that it is hard to get Mobil Delvac or IOC, and that there is a risk of parts changed outside, I might stick to OEM oil change for a while.

Castrol GTX only @6K kms? I have started changing this oil @ every 10,000 kms and the car is still goin good. It might seem tobe a stretched out interval but there are no signs of any loss in power or smoothness or even any overheat from the engine.

BTW, how many kms is your odo on currently and it seems the car is behaving in a well mannered way now. Congrats!

[sumannandy]

Ok, will take your advice and stick to 10k oil change interval for now and save money (which I badly need ).

The car is close to 100k kms.

[mercedised]

Got the radiator of car cleaned. For this the radiator was removed and sent to the radiator cleaning guy. As the car is now more than 6 years old so I picked the thought of cleaning, some rust was found in the radiator and small amount of waste. Cost was Rs 700 including labour of fitting\refitting and radiator cleaning.

I advice to do radiator cleaning as hardly any of us does that and howsoever often one flushes the radiator, there is no alternative for removing and manually cleaning the radiator. This was the first time the radiator was opened and cleaned during 6 years and 2.3L kms of ownership. But, the car still has nothing to do, rests in the home garage.

[HIGHNOON]

@ mercedised !

While the engine work was going on, i realized there was some amount of rust present on the elbow , rator , hose etc. Though i have had it flushed before.
you are right. its a small cost for a preventive maintenance.
I ought to have had got it done when everything was opened.http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images...humbs%20up.gif

Originally Posted by mercedised

Castrol GTX only @6K kms? I have started changing this oil @ every 10,000 kms and the car is still goin good. It might seem tobe a stretched out interval but there are no signs of any loss in power or smoothness or even any overheat from the engine.

BTW, how many kms is your odo on currently and it seems the car is behaving in a well mannered way now. Congrats!

My vendor showed me a new brochure of MOBIL of a new fully synthetic 5w-40 oil specially formulated for diesel engines . Manufacturer's claim a drain interval of upto 50000km. Cost of oil @1200/ lit.
For a smaller engine of say 3 lit sump like the fiat/ tata /maruti quadrajet , this means that one can easily do 25000/30000km in a years time. where cost of a drain interval oil Rs.3600/- or thereabout.
not bad ,eh?
I change oil at about 5000 km which i do in 2.5 months. 5 oil changes a yr. put me back by about 4000/- in oil plus that many more filters.
Synthetic may mean a bit of saving actually.

[ACM]

HIGHNOON and Mercedised, For a Safari TCIC engine the oil change interval should be kept to about 5k for city driving, and if there is a lot of highway driving then it can be stretched to about 7.5k or even at times 10k.

Yes the Synthetic oil can in theory last longer, buy do remember that you are using the same old design filters that the TCIC has specificed and they would get clogged up by a max of 7.5k kms and hence bring down effeciency, power and cause other problems so they do require to then be changed.

The All then Filters of the Dicor 2.2 that last 15k kms are different and cost more than twice as much.

Also even for the dicor 2.2 they do specify that the 15K interval irrespective of natural or synthetic but mention that if there is too much city driving then the interval should be about 7.5K only. The Aria has the 2.2 dicor and I have settled on 11k Intervals using only natural oil since the driving combines a mix of highway and city driving in equal measure and is quite aggressive.

So for the TICI I would recomend sticking to nautral oils and definately going in for a service between 5k and 7.5k interval with replacement of all filters, except Air filter which would be alternate services.

[HIGHNOON]

I do change oil by 5000km for the safari and even on the petrol logan by 6000km.Our driving conditions are severe always and though the mileage on the vehicles is low lot of time has been done on the engines idling away or inching forward in bumper to bumper traffic. So i believed in buying a basic good mineral oil as per specification and changing within 5000km.
Now having said that , somebody like Mercedised , who has stuck to tata specified oil and tata specified OIL CHANGE INTERVAL and has a aged vehicle ,has done exceptionally well as far as his odometer reading goes.
So in hind sight, i feel we indulge our vehicles too much.
Oil paani check karo aur chalate raho....

[mercedised]

Car reached 2,31,000 kms.

Finally, I am going to sell my car after 7 years of hassle free experience. Anyone interested to buy can follow this link:

http://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy-...a/Safari.html/

Alternatively, the car continues to give her service without any hicc-up.

Thanks,
-Abhishek.

[mercedised]

Changed the oil to Shell Rimula R3 (API CH4, 15w40). The oil is smooth in a very different manner, cannot express that. Costed 1200 Rs for 7.5 Liters.

[PAVAN KADAM]

Originally Posted by mercedised

Car reached 2,31,000 kms.

Finally, I am going to sell my car after 7 years of hassle free experience. Anyone interested to buy can follow this link:

http://classifieds.team-bhp.com/buy-...a/Safari.html/

Alternatively, the car continues to give her service without any hicc-up.

Thanks,
-Abhishek.

To sum it all, it says Eons about the SUV you are driving, THE SAFARI

Many here on the forum needs to go through threads like this to understand what an actual People carrier means and the Safari never fails at doing this, and that too being The Best.

Congratulations on the Long Term Ownership, all the Best for your New Safari.

[mercedised]

Forgot to mention this, but when I was getting the car serviced I noticed that a 3.0 L DICOR was also been serviced at the same time. I asked the mechanics about the work being done on that car, they said that the car had 1,35,000 kms on odo and due to excessive engine knocking the injectors were replaced. Each one costed 11,000 INR with a total bill of 44,000 INR. Whoa!!.. Never has been a moment with the TCIC when the bill went above 7k-10K INR and that too very rarely otherwise normal bills were 2-3k INR per service including oil, filters, general check-up.

Originally Posted by PAVAN KADAM

To sum it all, it says Eons about the SUV you are driving, THE SAFARI

Many here on the forum needs to go through threads like this to understand what an actual People carrier means and the Safari never fails at doing this, and that too being The Best.

Congratulations on the Long Term Ownership, all the Best for your New Safari.

Thanks Pavan for those words. Yes, the car is indeed a people mover, have been a plenty of moments where 9-10 people were enjoying the luxury.

BTW, please do inform me about any used Safari you come across with.

[HIGHNOON]

Originally Posted by mercedised

Changed the oil to Shell Rimula R3 (API CH4, 15w40). The oil is smooth in a very different manner, cannot express that. Costed 1200 Rs for 7.5 Liters.

so any offers? or u decided to stick with the vehicle ?
I have taken token for mine. was very smooth after the piston and ring change. Rear bushing changed. Rs.17050/-
suspension also now in excellent condition.
First ac conked off as rear coil developed leakage. Rs 5250/ blown.
But 3 weeks in a row on our trip to lonavala had us stranded on the highway
1) alternator cutout- almost 4 hrs on highway, 3 fuses later fixed at a premium cost. Rs.2750/-
2) battery next week conked off. Rs.4850/-
3) wiper fuse would pop off on a very rainy day in lonavala , winding roads poor visibility. i always carry lots of spares but they would also fuse after 2 min. in the end put a 20a on instead, had a dry spell of couple of hours.
reached home and went to mech straight away. found nothing, just greased the damn assembly and put it back. no fault found .http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images...rustration.gif
put back 15 a fuse and thing working ok since.
My wife by now freaked out after the harrowing experience of being stranded on highway inside the vehicle with my 2 little ones without AC.
spent close to 27k in past 45 days.
Then the left rear glass would get struck down in the rain and would refuse to budge.
It started giving one trouble after trouble.
Latest worry is the headlights fluctuate a bit . alright in mumbai but scary on highway. Also the AC compressor sometimes makes grinding noise as if it is taking more load than usual.
What bothered me most is after the top engine job , my fuel economy has suffered.
Used to consistently give me 9.5/10 in city and 12.5 kmpl on highway. now barely gives me 10kmpl after a long highway run.
city FE has dropped to 8/8.5.
after 2k and one oil change after 1000 km , FE is still bad. And with the diesel costing in excess of 45 / lit , this means the city run becomes dearer. The logan on the other hand retrofitted with cng consistently gives 15kmper kg. CNG @ 31.87 /kg. at my monthly run of about 1800km, this means running safari costs me about 8000 per month more. Plus the repeating maintenance.
Sorry no work has repeated , there always seems to be something waiting in line to fail .

Also the tyres need change sooner than later. 2007 batch MRFs tread is now a bit uneven and though tread depth is ok; i am not able to have perfect alignment done. tyres costing a bomb now even though these are the standard 15 " Size.
So though the vehicle is in excellent condition as compared to when i bought it , it seems to have a series of different problems lined up.
so decided to sell this one rather than keep at replacing all parts in her one by one.
I have taken a token for 2.45 lacs.
May not get this price later.
Very soon u'll start getting dicors and 2.2 for a price not too high from this at the rate at which used car market is crashing.....
Feel bad to sell it but its wise to move on now. all things come to end...

[mercedised]

@highnoon: That's a very typical experience of yours with this SUV. Seems like problems are waiting in the queue to appear. Better to sell it. I have although received 3-4 offers but most of them wanted to go for DICORs and backed-up when they knew that mine is TCIC. So, the car is with me for a few more days till a TCIC enthusiastic finds it.

Compressor sound, it needs tobe serviced probable some bearings have finished the life, how much kms has your car done?

Tell me one thing how did you managed to repair that cutout on the highway, tips could be very useful for other owners.

OT: Your avatar shows an Indigo. Do you own one?

[HIGHNOON]

Cutout was available at Lonavala for Rs.795/ MRP make Lucas.
Got an electrician to open the alternator , the cutout was short.
Luckily available everywhere ( thats good thing about Tata'S ).
Put it back and replaced the 40 a fuse. started the vehicle with a service battery while having my charged in the meantime.
Fuse goes off again http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images...rustration.gif
again opened the alternator and after checking all relays , transistors, found one to be short. Now this incidently supposedly serves no purpose ( :( ). so simply removed that and put it back on , again went to the market to get a 40a fuse. put it back started the thing again and is normal. Got the charging checked with a meter. was ok. Took all of 3 hrs or more. Had to gobble fresh vadapavs from a road side vendor for lunch.
Both of us missed our work that day. Missus had an important surgery. missed.
We decided then and there to sell.
Got back to mumbai , had the thing checked with my regular mech., was found to be ok, got the battery checked , one cell found to be weakened.
got it changed immediately , to avoid problem on highway again.
Unfortunately , no work has had to be repeated in my experince with the car and all works have been successful mechanically.
Now after selling, if i was to buy a brand new 2.2 dicor or say a ford figo tdci, i mean my chances of getting stranded on a highway are as high as with my ageing safari. The more the engines are dependent on electricals the more difficult it gets to get 'em fixed. or more risky...
And the BAD part is i wont be able to get them fixed at a even a semi-rural place. TOWING would be the only option.....
Not so with a TCIC safari with the commonly available 483 dl.
Had a couple of indigos before and an accent , one petrol and one diesel. Just too lazy to change the avatar.
now i drive the safari and logan. Wife has a new wagon r.
I personally feel comfortable with low tech diesel technology like simple turbo diesel with intercooler. Less sensors, less complications, cheap to fix and spares easily available.
Given the option , is still would buy the Vista TDI over the ( wonderfull ) quadrajet variant. ( for the same reason of a small time mechanic on a deserted highway would have enough knowhow and equipment to fix the damn thing.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by mercedised

Now after selling, if i was to buy a brand new 2.2 dicor or say a ford figo tdci, i mean my chances of getting stranded on a highway are as high as with my ageing safari. The more the engines are dependent on electricals the more difficult it gets to get 'em fixed. or more risky...
And the BAD part is i wont be able to get them fixed at a even a semi-rural place. TOWING would be the only option.....
Not so with a TCIC safari with the commonly available 483 dl.
now i drive the safari and logan. Wife has a new wagon r.
I personally feel comfortable with low tech diesel technology like simple turbo diesel with intercooler. Less sensors, less complications, cheap to fix and spares easily available.

Same here, am sticked to TCIC for the same reason of electrical junkies in the modern day cars. Less reliability and super-expensive spares, one needs to keep an eye on most normal things like diesel quality, which is nowhere PURE in India. A DICOR injector costs 15,000-20K Rs each and repairing them costs 3,000 Rs each.

BTW, you did'nt told the odo reading?

[HIGHNOON]

Originally Posted by HIGHNOON

Same here, am sticked to TCIC for the same reason of electrical junkies in the modern day cars. Less reliability and super-expensive spares, one needs to keep an eye on most normal things like diesel quality, which is nowhere PURE in India. A DICOR injector costs 15,000-20K Rs each and repairing them costs 3,000 Rs each.

BTW, you did'nt told the odo reading?

The injectors have to be handled and stored carefully or good ones also may clogg. My FRIEND'S 2.2 had to open the engine at 20k for a broken timing belt, while the work was getting done at Fortune motors powai, care was not taken to store the injectors while the engine work was going on ( the hydrulic lifters need replacement as valves were saved)
12500RS. per injector + LABOUR, which he disputed so fiercely that Tata's had sent BOSCH techies to study the reason for injector clogging, they removed the fuel tank etc , took squirts from each injectors on some graph to study the spray and all ( :( ). Ultimately he made them replace injecctors free of cost. The unsaid fact was that wrong handling did the damage.
I did an entire top half of my TC in about 12.5k.
Now what happens after warranty ?
BTW I have 97100km on the odo.