[sumannandy]

There was a breakdown on road near Hebbal. Courtesy: Tata Motors workshop.

I got all belts replaced in Just Services in Kolkata a year back. Yesterday while driving the alternator belt snapped and everything lost power. We were lucky that we were at a very slow speed while this happened. Poor quality of work and parts.

In fact most of the parts replaced by Just Services in Kolkata stopped working and I had to change/fix the parts.

The car was attended at Prerana motor and the alternator belt was replaced.

[Acclero]

Let me first thank you for letting the safari into my heart again.

The backdrop to that sentence is we had an safari one of the first models brought way back and it literally drank up all the vitamin M from my elder brother's pockets, So I'm in a fix now to take a new 4-wheeler when this thread caught my eye,though i have to search to see how the new 2.2ltr dicor engines fare against the old TCIC ones.
I am going for the safari again

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

There was a breakdown on road near Hebbal. Courtesy: Tata Motors workshop.

I got all belts replaced in Just Services in Kolkata a year back. Yesterday while driving the alternator belt snapped and everything lost power. We were lucky that we were at a very slow speed while this happened. Poor quality of work and parts.

In fact most of the parts replaced by Just Services in Kolkata stopped working and I had to change/fix the parts.

The car was attended at Prerana motor and the alternator belt was replaced.

That's what I think goes against the nature of Safari. I mean I have never faced any breakdowns in which the car refused to move, only once the cluth oil was leaking and then too I was able to top-up it in short intervals and took the car to SC. Could you tell the approximate life of all the belts?

[condor]

Originally Posted by mercedised

That's what I think goes against the nature of Safari. I mean I have never faced any breakdowns in which the car refused to move,

When your drive is a power-everything, it is but natural for the vehicle to get disabled like that when that belt breaks. It can happen to any vehicle .. not just the Safari.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by condor

When your drive is a power-everything, it is but natural for the vehicle to get disabled like that when that belt breaks. It can happen to any vehicle .. not just the Safari.

Ofcourse!! But, I meant to say that Safari is not a vehicle you would often see having breakdowns on the road. I have never faced any; neither anyone in my contacts who owns a TCIC have. Could you imagine a 3.67L kms driven Safari without any suspension overhaul and Stock engine? Yes, my friend drives one, actually he abuses it, I should not say he drives, but he thrashes the car like anything, taking it to 3.5K+ rpm in city driving between 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears. And he drives a 1998 model car, a 12 years old, 3L+ driven Safari with no breakdowns!!(I seriously mean NO!! anywhere either in city or highways) That's what Safari is meant tobe.

[sumannandy]

I think a lot depends on how and where it is maintained. The belt should be changed every 4-5 years. I changed the belts in a service center in Kolkata last year. I also got the vehicle checked on Tuesday since I was about to leave for a trip on Friday morning. Ideally the belt should have lasted for another 3-4 years. The service center where I got the car checked did not talk about the belt either (I think they did not even bother to check it). And on Friday morning the belt snapped.

This is nothing but pure negligence from Tata motors service center.

Since now I had three breakdowns. One where engine oil pipe had problems. Secondly there was a leak from the power steering pipe. In the third incident, the Alternator belt snapped. Third incident is definitely due to the negligence of the workshop.

All the breakdowns are related to rubber parts. And the breakdown happened despite my specific request of checking all the rubber parts after first breakdown.

Regarding power everything, safari has a wonderful fallback mechanism. Although the brake was very hard, it was actually working without the power assist. Since we did not have any experience, we thought that it stopped working. Obviously the effectiveness was less, but you could still use the brakes to stop the vehicle.

The Prerana driver drove the vehicle from Hebbal to Peenya as if everything was working fine.

3.75 lakh kms with original engine and suspension is really impressive. Share tips if possible. My service advisor has already suggested that we should change the bushes in the next service.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

3.75 lakh kms with original engine and suspension is really impressive. Share tips if possible. My service advisor has already suggested that we should change the bushes in the next service.

I agree with the TASC negligence thing. I have faced it too, so what I do now is, when I go to collect vehicle I ask them to lift up the vehicle and show me what are the things they have done plus ask the service advisor to come for a 5-10kms test-drive. If I spot something I refuse to take vehicle. But, somethings like belts,.. breakage could'nt be judged.

On stock car, what me and he followed is just change of rear-shock-ups and nothing else. Cost some 1300 Rs and the car drives good. Also, I never ever go over a speed-breaker over speeds of 10kmph. Every speed breaker in the way, no matter whatsoever might be the speed, I slow down to 10-20kmph or most of the times almost halts. Unless a surprise speed-breaker or pothole comes in the way car never does bad patches, you could say that. Even on a 100kms road I faced a few days ago, which was full of potholes of 1-2 feet, I never speed'ed above 20-30 kmph max. That's only what I follow, but might differ from person to person.

[sumannandy]

I respect all irregularities on the road surface as well . And most of the times I get the looks from my fellow drivers who do not care to slow down on bad roads, and some of them might even think that I was doing that intentionally since the vehicle is a safari. There were instances where some drivers tried to teach a lesson by overtaking and then slowing down.

Just changed to Mobil Delvac MX 15w40 oil today. Did not feel any noticeable difference yet, except that engine feels little smoother while accelerating in 2nd gear.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by sumannandy

Just changed to Mobil Delvac MX 15w40 oil today. Did not feel any noticeable difference yet, except that engine feels little smoother while accelerating in 2nd gear.

Next time try out Shell Helix HX6. A good oil tried in my Indica, friend's Safari. The Safari is running smoother than ever. Cost 190 Rs\ltr.

[ACM]

Mobile Delvac 15w40 is good, but if the earlier oil too was fairly good then you would not notice too much of a difference anyways - expecially in the TCIC

The Belts should be changed every 3 years at a max irrespective of the usage, and even earlier if there is wear and tear.

If one gets alternator / power stearing / water pump work done at any point of time there is a tendency of the components in the puley going out of sync expecially if they are not fitted back properly (sometimes even with the wrong tension) and this leads to faster wear and tear of the belts. That could be what caused the belt to fail within a year.

Though we do not change many suspension components they may actually be worn out and the safari does rock about more than is normal. Somehow on indian roads it is hard to digest that a vehcile at 3.5L has not had change of suspension components, possibly this stuff was replaced during servicing and a bill submitted but not specifically observed to be related to the suspension. This kind of kms do imply a lot of highway driving and though there are some really good roads, there are also the bad ones.

Engine not requiring work though is very possible.

[sumannandy]

I got the power steering work done at Green track. May be they did not fit the belts back properly and the alternator belt failed.

My earlier oil was Castrol GTX diesel. It was good. But with more running, I can feel the difference of Mobil. The engine is really smooth, specially during the morning cold starts.

My car is still leaking diesel from the pump while cold. I got the work done at Concorde for a pump overhaul. The problem is still there. I am following up with Concorde and Bosch for past 6 months to get a resolution, but still o update. And every day I am loosing 200-300 ml of diesel.

[mercedised]

BTW, what were the problems you were facing with power-steering?

Originally Posted by sumannandy

My car is still leaking diesel from the pump while cold. I got the work done at Concorde for a pump overhaul. The problem is still there. I am following up with Concorde and Bosch for past 6 months to get a resolution, but still o update. And every day I am loosing 200-300 ml of diesel.

:O The pump issue is refusing to go away. Why don't you take suggestions from your local mechanic or local pump-wala. Donot get the work done outside but you could always tell them to watch the culprit in pump.

[sumannandy]

The power steering pipe developed a leakage immediately after Green track washed the car. Not sure if it is related. Since it happened in the workshop itself I got the work done there. Looks like they might not have tightened the belt properly which could have led to the snapping of the belt.

The service people keep on replacing washers and the problem goes away for few days. But I do not think it is normal to keep changing washers every few days.

[mercedised]

Could anybody tell me which FIP (fuel injection pump) does the Safari has? TVS-Lucas or Bosch\MICO. I own a 2004 model.

[condor]

Most likely the Mico/Bosch.

Some Sumo's have TVS Lucas FIPs