15th September 2010, 09:00
| #61 | ||
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
Actually when I bought the vehicle the ODO showed 102K kms (the advert was in the classified for more than a year) and the workshop that I've shown it too says that the vehicle is pretty silent. Secondly this owner (REDONE) has given me a couple of alignment bills and brake pad replacement bills which also proved that REDONE has not tampered with the meter. However when the vehicle was sold by the 1st owner to the second or from the 2nd to REDONE(who is the 3rd) even if the meter might have been tampered by 50-60k kms I am pretty happy about it and I am sure REDONE wouldn't have know about it, if he had he would have definitely disclosed it to me. Also refer to GTO's post on the previous page Quote:
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15th September 2010, 15:56
| #62 |
| Senior - BHPian | Day II 31st August 2010 Today I decided to treat myself and instead of setting the alarm for 4 I set the alarm for a little later and was out of the hotel by 530 and on the Mumbai Pune expressway. No let me warn everybody that the initial enthusiasm was dying down a little so the pictures will be a little less. Anyways I crossed the Pune Mumbai expressway and the moment I entered Mumbai my navigation skill went for a toss. I am not sure where I made a mistake and still cannot recall the name of those part of the towns but I think that I entered Mumbai around 8 and left Mumbai Ghodbander (I hope I have the name of the area correct) around 1130ish. So 3 hours and 30 minutes. But hey as this was my first time driving in Mumbai I guess that it was OK. During this time I could hear that a couple of flights also got delayed due to the heavy rains that lashed Mumbai that day. So i guess that its just one of those day. Also I filled up the tank I think 80 liters of diesel only to see later that diesel is a little cheaper in Gujarat than Mumbai.   I do not know what wrong turn I took, here is a detailed gps track of the route that I took while entering and leaving Mumbai  Anyways after leaving Mumbai the scenery was fantastic but again I couldn’t take any pictures as it was raining quite heavily but still loved the drive and thought that its nice to be on the open highway now, only to be disappointed later. The road till Vapi, Gujarat was pathetic and full of potholes and stuff. And the places where there were not potholes, numerous traffic jams were there caused due to diversions that were put there due to the construction activity of flyovers going on. Cleared the Vapi routearound 2pm ish, I remember as I stopped for lunch at McDonalds and left that place around 2-215pm ish. After that barring a couple of diversions the roads were quite good and I thought that if the rains stopped and the roads were even a little better that what I traversed in the 1st half of the day I could make up good time. Now after I left McDonalds I could feel the vehicle wobbling and like something not being normal. But I carried on for an hour and a half. Now when the 1st day had a level of excitement and surprises how come the second day be without any surprises. It so happened that when I was clearing a very bad potholed road which was about 10 odd kms before Navsari I heard the sound like when you hear the tube punctures. I thought that I had a flat but hey I am on tubeless and they do not puncture like tube tyres. Parked the car on the side and not to forget that
Some pics of the tyre   The story does not end here. I lowered the spare and was thinking in my mind that ‘chalo, this is just a small hiccup and the max I would waste is 15 mins changing the tyre and then buy a new tyre from Surat the next nearest town. As I lowered the spare and the moment I lifted it IT WAS FLAT!!! I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY LUCK. Then I again came back to the vehicle and thought that I cant leave the flat spare tyre on the road, what if someone would take it, so again raised it, locked the car and set out on foot towards the tyre wala. Reached there and there was not light. Requested him to come with me and help. He said that he will not and I would have to get the tyre at his shop. Didn’t argue. Went back to the vehicle, got the tyre and started rolling it on the highway against the traffic. All this while it was raining like crazy and having kept my cellphone, wallet, cash, etc in a plastic pouch in my pocket, I stopped worrying about getting wet, as after sometime one tends to focus on the bigger issue at hand. Got the tyre at the shop and it turned out that there was no air in it, it wasn’t a puncture. Also the tyre wala din’t charge me anything and said that I should fit it and its ok. Rolled it back and decided that I should pay something to the shop owner. Thank god I did and came back. It turned out that as I went there and requested the tyrewala to check the air in all the 4 tyres, as he was doing so he heard that air was leaking from the spare tyre that I had just put. I was again thanking my stars. Finally he took off the tyre and checked it again. What did happen was due to the tyre being flat small small pebbles were stuck between the rim and the tyre and this was the reason we the air was escaping. The tyre was then deflated so that it could be cleaned. Now the tyre was go big that this guy couldn’t take the tyre out but anyways finished the job. Checkout the following pic  Now this sorted out I couldn’t drive without a spare. I learnt that there is a big tyre shop down the road and I should be able to get a spare. The same size he was not sure. As it turned out that the max size the shop had was 235/70/R16. The standard size of a Scorpio and Safari, etc. I had no option bought that and mounted it as spare. Now the tyre was small compared to the rim width, so we had to buy a tube too. Cost me 7500 buck. I know I was ripped off but what could I have done.    The time now was 8pm ish and the shop owner told me that there is this good hotel down the road and I camped there for the night. The food at the place was fantastic and I crashed for the night just wondering what was in store for tomorrow drive. The Days Detail (there are from My GPS and are accurate) PUNE TO NAVSARI (40-50 kms before SURAT) DISTANCE TRAVELED 371 KMS MAX SPEED 129 KMPH MOVING TIME 7 HRS 12 MINUTES MOVING AVERAGE 51.60 KMPH STOP TIME : 6HRS 48 MINUTES TOTAL TIME : 14 HOURS OVERALL AVERAGE 26.60 KMPS  (Looks like a joke)Last edited by harjeev : 15th September 2010 at 16:14. |
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15th September 2010, 16:32
| #63 |
| BHPian Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: new delhi
Posts: 186
Thanked: 52 Times
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15th September 2010, 21:15
| #64 |
| Senior - BHPian | Day III & Day IV After the ever eventful 2nd and 3rd day, next morning I started my drive around 7:15AM. I remember this as I was in the parking lot of the hotel taking pictures as the Cruiser standing next to a Zen looked very funny from the window of my room. (I mean no offence to any hatchback owners, I too own an i10) PICTURES IN THE HOTEL PARKING LOT     Started the route and was actually praying to god that, I think that I’d had quite a few of the excitementfor this one trip and let the rest of the trip be ok, and even if something did happen may god be with me. As it turned out and many of you would have guessed judging from the title of this post the rest of the journey was good and uneventful. Also the roads turned out to be great. Got stuck in a traffic jam before a bridge (do not remember the name of the river) but that too was 20 minutes or so. Road were quite good. I think that the following pictures are on the Baroda -Ahmedabad Expressway NE1   As I didn’t have any breakfast stopped at a small restaurant for food and took a nap in the vehicle itself for 30 mins around 130PM. PICS AT THE DHABHA    Reached Rattanpur and after a diesel halt stopped for fuel at a HP pump and, man I have to mention this. Climbing the hills before Udaipur I think around Rattanpur was an amazing feeling in this vehicle. This beast is just roaring to go and once you have her in the right powerband (read RPM) it fantastic. One can really feel the power and I was doing most of the climb in 5 gear with the aircon on. I only had to downshift if I had to stop somewhere or if I had to break the momentum. I was actually amazed with the kind of power the vehicle has. Simply outstanding and one can actually feel the 6 cylinders at work!!! I liked the scenery and here are some pictures around Rattanpur     Here I have to mention that I was constantly in touch with RHANDLE or I should say constantly bugging him for directions and must have called him like a million times for directions from Udaipur towards Chittorgarh -Bhilwara -Kishangarh -Jaipur. He was kind enough to pickup my phone each time and guided me completely with landmarks and all. Thanks a ton buddy The rest of the journey was good and thanks god no interruptions or hiccups. Reached Jaipur around 915PM and before Jaipur filled fuel at a Reliance Fuel Pump on Jaipur – Kishangarh road, I think at DUDU. At Jaipur here again I have to thank Yogesh Makhija and Dheeraj Kapoor. Though both of them are on Team-BHP I do not know remember their handles. Yogesh was kind enough to guide me to Dheerajs guest house and even came to the guest house with him family to welcome me. Thanks a TON buddy. Dheeraj reserved a room at his guest house and made sure that food etc was ready when I arrived. Thanks a TON guys!!! Though I wanted to continue towards Delhi and thought that I’d rest on the Jaipur Delhi by-pass for an hour or so, but then decided against it. DAY IV On this day I took it very easily. Left the hotel around 9am and it was just a normal drive from Jaipur to Delhi which took me around 4 hours and 36 minutes. This includes 1 halt for diesel at Manesar and then straight home Here is the final picture of the tri. Finally I've got her home  STATISTICS FOR Day III Navsari to Jaipur TRIP ODO : 949 KMS MAX SPEED: 130 KMPH MOVING TIME : 12 HOURS 30 MINUTES MOVING AVERAGE: 75.1 KMPH STOP TIME : 2 HOURS 22 MINS TOTAL TIME 14 HOURS 52 MINS OVERALL AVERAGE SPEED : 63.2 KMPH STATISTICS DAY IV TRIP ODO : 268 KMS MAX SPEED: 126 KMPH MOVING TIME : 4 HOURS 12 MINUTES MOVING AVERAGE: 63.6 KMPH STOP TIME : 0 HOURS 24 MINS TOTAL TIME 4 HOURS 36 MINS OVERALL AVERAGE SPEED : 58.0 KMPH TOTAL DISTANCE COVERED IN 4 DAY OR I SHOULD SAY 3 AND A HALF DAYS 2476 KMS I got the fuel filled up at Manesar, Haryana so I have the FE statistics till that point Total Distance : 2426kms Total Fuel : 282.01 liters Total Cost : Rs.11,122.00 FE : 8.60 KM/ Ltr Cost per KM : Rs.4.59 / km Last edited by harjeev : 15th September 2010 at 21:17. |
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15th September 2010, 21:46
| #65 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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15th September 2010, 22:27
| #66 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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16th September 2010, 11:17
| #67 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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16th September 2010, 13:57
| #68 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Jaipur
Posts: 1,194
Thanked: 1,251 Times
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19th September 2010, 20:00
| #69 | ||||||
| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
 . Still I'd say that allzz izzz well that ends well. Loved the drive to the last meter!!! he he heQuote:
 . I was really looking forward to the drive from Delhi to Mumbai and back PS> Is my any chance the GV that you sold sometime back have the number 0242. I saw a white GV with our teambhp sticker and thought that it might be yours Quote:
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19th September 2010, 23:11
| #70 |
| Senior - BHPian | Maintenance of the TLC FJ80 Post I of II Summary of Maintenance of the TLC Thursday 2nd September 2010 Now that I was back in Delhi I had to get the vehicle checked up completely. I’d earlier decided that I would get it done at a trusted garage in Vasant Kunj. The name of the garage in BE BOBBIE AUTOMOBILES (BBA) and is owned by Benedict Bobbie. Bobbie has been in this business for the past 20 years and my friend Neeloy, another TLC owner, has been getting his vehicle serviced and maintained from Bobbie since the past 3 years. Also I had been to Bobbies workshop previously, and the kind of vehicles standing there simply amazed me. I had seen the likes of Range Rover Sports, a MERC M class, numerous E Class’s, Pajeros, PARADO’s amongst many other vehicles. So I thought if these owners can trust Bobbie with their vehicles why can I. Ill be honest that all these vehicles were not there for mechanical work, some of them were just for a complete paintjob, but still many of them were for mechanical work. Then moreover I do not really want to go to high profile places to get my FJ services, reason being one I dint want to overspend and second in my experience independent garage do the work better, So as i'd decided earlier that I would first hunt for a decent garage and then buy the vehicle. My simple philosophy is that if I don’t know or understand the vehicle, I should know and have to trust the person who is doing or working on the vehicle. I came back to Delhi on Thursday the 2nd of September 2010 , and was at Bobbie’s workshop in the evening. Bobbie drove the vehicle and gave his verdict as follows
He took the vehicle for a spin and remarked that this was one of the most silent 1HD T engines that he had heard, and coming from him this remark definitely meant something. He too advised me to just get a normal service done and then maintain the vehicle as and when thing crop up, that is if they do Saturday 4th of September 2010 We had fixed up a time for 11 am and I was at the workshop a little late. The work was started and now Ill let the pics do the talking and give narrations in between MOTOR FLUSH WAS USED  THEN THE AIR FLITER WAS TAKEN OUT OR I SHOULD SAY THAT I WAS TAKEN Aback when I saw the status of the air filter. See for yourself  Guys working on the cruiser  The suspension was checked and 1 shock absorbers, the Front Left, were found to be leaking and/ or very hard, I do not remember. I took the decision to change all four of them. Here is a picture of the old shock absorber  And a picture of a set of 4 brand new set of four  As the brakes were found to be weak we took the decision of changing all the brake pad and along with this the front discs and rear drums were taken out and send for turning. I do not know what this means but this is what they said. The front discs and rear drums was opened up, checked and cleaned. Pics of the front discs after turning   Pics of the rear drums after turning   Here is a pic of the rear drum opened up and cleaned  Some more pics of the break overhaul in progress. Front Disc (another pic)  Front assemble completely removed  As I wrote earlier that there was oil leaking, only slightly but still, from somewhere on the engine block. So the inlet manifold was opened up, cleaned and put back. Some pics of the manifold work in progress The air intake manifold  Engine without the inlet manifold   As I was telling above about the chocked air filter, I had no idea how bad it was until I clicked a pic of the old and the new air filter side by side. OLD AND NEW AIR FILTER SIDE BY SIDE  Now that I think about of, had I even changed the old air filter in Bangalore with a new one, I would have got a FE of 10 km/ ltr instead of 8.6 km/ ltr I could have saved approx 40 liters of fuel which translates to a saving of approx 1500-1600 buck or 14% the cost of the trip. Not to mention the ill effect it would have saved on the health of the engine. Anyways what has happened has happened and cannot be changed. Maybe the next TLC I buy from out of state I would do this Heheheheheheh  Some old parts that were removed/ changed/ replaced  Some of the new stuff that was bought can be seen in this picture Air Filter, Fuel Filter, Oil Filter, Brake Pad Set, Brake Oil, Engine Oil   Many of you would notice that the air filter is not OEM Toyota and a after market brand. The reason for this was that the new one was not available and I didn’t wanna run the vehicle anymore on the chocked or I should say filter less air filter. So I am already scouting for a genuine air filter and this would be changed at the next service Along with the above all the fan belts were changed too. The OEM belts are really expensive and I didn’t want to run the vehicle anymore on the local after market inferior quality belts. Though I’d say that these “local after market inferior quality belts” came to my rescue in the middle of nowhere so Ii would be keeping them as spare in the toolkit at all times. So the stuff that was bought, changed and/ or replaced today was
After the fuel filter was changed the vehicle started giving starting problem in the morning, Whenever I would keep it parked overnight it started taking in air. So this was diagnosed with a faulty fuel filter assembly cont to next post.... |
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19th September 2010, 23:34
| #71 |
| Senior - BHPian | Default Maintenance of the TLC FJ80 Post I of II Fast forward to Friday 10th September 2010 We had scheduled the work remaining the last time for today. This post you would have to excuse me for the crappy pics as I forgot to carry my camera and all pics are from the crappy phone cam!!! Timing belt removal in progress  One worker pushing the rear wheel slowly so check whether the fuel pump is advanced or retarded.  The timing belt. Here you can also see the new fan belts that were put in the engine the previous week.   Some pics of the old timing belt     Fuel Filter Assembly  Some parts  Old and new fuel filter assemble (side by side)  Installation of the new timing belt in progress    New Fuel filter assembly installed  Apart from the above all the lubricants were changed. In summary the total work done on the vehicle involves the following
MORNING STARTING BLUES: The morning starting problem remained even after changing the fuel filter assembly, so three days back we again changed the fuel filter too. This has now solved the problem of morning starting and now the FJ starts without a hitch. The filter assembly needed to be changed too as when we used to manually pump the diesel, diesel used to start leaking from on top of the filter assembly. Also done on the vehicle is
  Here is a picture of the instrument cluster. This is where generally the temperature needle remains when the vehicle is running normally in city traffic with the aircon on   TYRE UPDATE Last but not the least, I exchanged the tyre that I’d bought in Navsari BRIDGESTONE (Size 235/70/R16) with Michellin 275/ 70/R16 LTX series. I was scouting for brand new tyres but they are not available. So I thought that as i would be using this tyre only as a spare I am ok with an old one, though I would have loved to buy a new one, alas they are now available and some shops that have, say that I have to buy 4 and they will not sell one. The manufacturing date on the tyre is 2008. Another option that I was getting was HANKOOK (same year of manufacturing) in the same size for a slightly lesser price. But I went with this, with the reasoning that the rubber and build quality of a Michellin will anyday be better than that of a HANKOOK and as I will be using that tyre as a spare it doesn’t really matter. The other 4 tyres that I have on the FJ are good for another 10-15 k kms and I think that I will change them next year before the summers. Things that remain to be sorted out is the registration, which I would know the status when I visit Mumbai later this week and talk to the RTO Agents So this is basically it, and now the thread is upto date Cheers for now EDIT: FUEL EFFICIENCY UPDATE Since the last tank full I've got an FE of 8.02 KM/ Liter Over 642 kms. Of this 642kms, approx 200 kms was before I got her service. But even if the FE stays at this level I am quite happy about it. Now this is a remarkable improvement over the previous FE that I got. Last edited by harjeev : 19th September 2010 at 23:42. |
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20th September 2010, 00:08
| #72 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: zxc
Posts: 3,393
Thanked: 727 Times
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20th September 2010, 01:30
| #73 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
Also, I hope you will dump the Taiwan headlight change back to the original OEM (nonprojector) one. It looks so much better. | |
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20th September 2010, 11:37
| #74 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Posts: 242
Thanked: 195 Times
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20th September 2010, 22:04
| #75 |
| Team-BHP Support   | |
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