[CliffHanger]

Lovely looking pics there. How about performance mods as well? you don't want to have such a sporty looking car and get beaten by some punny looking hatch in a signal.

And please remove those mud flaps, they really dont serve any purpose.

[hemanth.anand]

Thanks,

This WARRANTY thing is what is stopping me from doing some performance mods.

Still not getting a nice looking mudflaps that performs its function aswell. Once I'm successful in my search, the stock mudflaps will surely go.

[hemanth.anand]

My car has gone for the second service today.
With 15200kms on the odo in 8 months (exactly 8 months today), I have enjoyed every mile with my IB(italian beauty)

I had opted for the pickup and drop facility and my car was picked up from my home at 09:10 as against the promised 09:00

The service advisor had called me at 10:45 for the complaints for preparing the job card

I have given him the following list:

1. Rear suspension sound: this is a lubrication issue.

2. Glove box lock not functioning smoothly: might have to replace

3. Car fails to start sometimes: This will be the first look at this problem.
BHPian vidyasagar who breathes immobilisers heard my problems and suggested that it might be the antenna positioning problem.
He also hinted that a metal key chain might also be the culprit.
But i had this problem when I had a leather keychain. Anyway this will be one of the major problems that needs attention

4. Handbrake alignment: the handbrake lever almost comes to the vertical position. I saw that the bolt which holds the brake lever has come off.
But there is no problem with the working of the brakes. This problem surfaced during my last drive to Hampi.

5. The vehicle is pulling left: This problem seems to be given as a freebie along with most of the Fiats. Let me see if this gets solved this time.

6. There is a "krrrrrrr" sound when the car revs high at each gear: This mysterious problem need to be addressed.
In any gear, when the engine revs high, this sound appears and after shifting up the gear, when the engine revs low, it disappears.
In the 5th gear this sound comes once the car crosses 120kmph mark...i'e', around 4k rpm

7. horn pad doesn't work once every 2-3 months...switch off the car, restart, and it works fine for the next 2-3 months. Its like Windows OS

The SA(service advisor) informed me that the Engine oil, oil filter and air filter would be changed and the cost will come within Rs.3500/-

I asked him the delivery date and he told that delivery will most probably impossible today.
I told him that I'm not in any urgency and asked him to take it easily.
I told him that I'll be happy to take the delivery tomorrow but I'll not be happy if I'm made to return again for any unsolved problems.

Come on Tata-Fiat, earn your 5-stars

[Pumpy_Raj]

Hemant,

15K in 8 Months its quite quick...

After I drove your IB..., I suggest you visit the Service station and physically explain few of the problems, like the starting trouble and the Krrr Sound.

They may not pay much atttention since the problem is faced only by you.

[hemanth.anand]

I recieved a call from the executive that my car is ready.
I spoke to him about the problems solved with the checklist below.
Solutions in bold...

I need to take the car today evening...I'll go at around 5 and check.

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

1. Rear suspension sound: this is a lubrication issue.
It is solved

2. Glove box lock not functioning smoothly: might have to replace
Solved

3. Car fails to start sometimes: This will be the first look at this problem.
BHPian vidyasagar who breathes immobilisers heard my problems and suggested that it might be the antenna positioning problem.
He also hinted that a metal key chain might also be the culprit.
But i had this problem when I had a leather keychain. Anyway this will be one of the major problems that needs attention
Software reset....Only time will tell if it is solved

4. Handbrake alignment: the handbrake lever almost comes to the vertical position. I saw that the bolt which holds the brake lever has come off.
But there is no problem with the working of the brakes. This problem surfaced during my last drive to Hampi.
Solved

5. The vehicle is pulling left: This problem seems to be given as a freebie along with most of the Fiats. Let me see if this gets solved this time.
He told he is not able to solve it completely since my car now has unidirectional tyres and only front and back tyre rotation can be done
Toe-in Toe-out has been checked and they are perfectly normal. He told that they don't do the alignment and balancing of alloys in the service centre
On asking, he told that emotion packs are aligned and balanced in Madhus and suggested me to go there

6. There is a "krrrrrrr" sound when the car revs high at each gear: This mysterious problem need to be addressed.
In any gear, when the engine revs high, this sound appears and after shifting up the gear, when the engine revs low, it disappears.
In the 5th gear this sound comes once the car crosses 120kmph mark...i'e', around 4k rpm
Some HVAC valve was the culprit it seems. he has told that it is solved

7. horn pad doesn't work once every 2-3 months...switch off the car, restart, and it works fine for the next 2-3 months. Its like Windows OS
Horn pads cleaned...again time will tell if it is really solved

Come on Tata-Fiat, earn your 5-stars
I'll do this after I take the car

Also yesterday in the afternoon, I had told him that the clutch is hard.
He has replaced the clutch slave assembly under warranty and he has told it must be ok now

Also he had told me that the brake pads need to be replaced.
I was told the same thing during my last free check-up camp.
I cross checked the manual and it said that the brake pads needs to be checked and replaced if necessary every 15k kms.
I told him to replace now.
Brake pads replaced


Now for the cost.
He had extimated a 3500...
Now the brake pads were replaced which have added to the cost
Brake pads are Rs.3200/-

The grand total
Rs.6613/-

I was not ready for 6613 and it came as a shocker.

On second thought, without the brake pads replacement, the service cost is approx.3400 which is quite reasonable I felt. It also includes the pickup facility charge of 150/- informed to me earlier. So 3250 as service charge is quite expected.

5 more hours to check my IB. will post the bill later.

My only question...are the brake pads that expensive???

[ms001]

which service center did you go to?
Mrp of front brake pads is 2600/-

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by ms001

which service center did you go to?
Mrp of front brake pads is 2600/-

Really!!! I'll check this with him...I went to Concorde Dairy circle.
When did you check this price???

[ms001]

last week i got it done from prerana motors,i have the box it says mrp 2600 or so. Manufactured in april 2011

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by ms001

last week i got it done from prerana motors,i have the box it says mrp 2600 or so. Manufactured in april 2011

Thank you very much ms001..I'll check the bill and talk to him.
Do you have the picture by any chance. It will help me.

[ms001]

no i do not have the picture right now.you can call to prerana or KHT to confirm the price .I hope they have not revised it during the past week.

[download2live]

You should have gone and given the car to them personally. Explaining sounds over phone really does not work.

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by ms001

no i do not have the picture right now.you can call to prerana or KHT to confirm the price .I hope they have not revised it during the past week.

I hope so too...Can you give me the part number of the replaced part if you have it with you? I can compare it with the one on my bill.

Originally Posted by download2live

You should have gone and given the car to them personally. Explaining sounds over phone really does not work.

Though I had opted for the pick up facility, My brother-in-law who was at home yesterday had shown the problems to them personally.

We are still waiting for my brother-in-law's car and till then, the car is very important during the weekends. And weekdays is pretty hectic in office these days. Hence had to go for pickup facility.

Giving the car personally to the A.S.S is still the best option though.

[hemanth.anand]

The cost of the brake pads were indeed 2600/- plus labour cost of 300 since brake pad replacement is not involved in the service (only inspection is involved)

Now for the service report...
I got back my car after two days in the TFASS. When I physically examined the car and then took a test drive, all the problems seemed to have vanished.

But how can any dealer service station solve all problems at once!!
The 3rd point in my list and perhaps the biggest problem in my car came back to haunt me..details of the problem is below

[[[[ 3. Car fails to start sometimes: This will be the first look at this problem.
BHPian vidyasagar who breathes immobilisers heard my problems and suggested that it might be the antenna positioning problem.
He also hinted that a metal key chain might also be the culprit.
But i had this problem when I had a leather keychain. Anyway this will be one of the major problems that needs attention
Software reset....Only time will tell if it is solved ]]]]]

Just after I took my car home I had to go elsewhere for shopping and then, my car refused to start...the immobiliser light continued to glow

I was really angry and I called the SA and told him about this.
He wanted to inspect the car agan and asked me to get it again.

I could not tolerate this, I called FIAT customer care number and complained.
Then came 5 calls from the dealers asking that they would rectify the prolem.
They told they'll check the car at my residence and if needed, they'll pick up the car themselves and drop it back.
But due to time cionstraints, I asked them to come to my office and pick the vehicle.

The next morning when i started to office, the problem resurfaced.
However, after a few cranks, it started and I took it to office.

When the SA came to office, the problem didn't crop up nor did it come up in their service station.

BHPian vidyasagar hinspected the car once and suggeted some solutions.
I told the same to the SA.

So, the SA removed the immobiliser assembly, cleaned it once and assembled again. They also did the key-learning process once again.
Key learning is feeding the code of the key to the imobiliser processor

After this, Now almost one week has passed by and my car is doing fine witout any of this problem.
I have still kept it under observation and hope the problem is eliminated.
I had got a call from fiat for feedback of service and I have told that I'll give it to them later after observing my car for 15 more days.

Now for rating:

Service 3/5...all other problems were solved and a decent job was done

Cleaning 1/5...When the car was delivered, grease handprints were on the bonnet.
(the marks are visible on careful observation at the centre of this mobile picture)

When I told him, SA told that the cleaning contractors are not good(what an excuse...am i responsible for that?)


Time taken 2/5...two days and still one problem solved...toltally it took them 3 days to service my car

Overall satisfcation 2.5/5

I'm now thinking of trying another service station.

anyone whoo has used Concorde mysore road, can you please tell me how it is? Or any other service station suggestions in south Bangalore?

[Pumpy_Raj]

Finally...the car starts without any problem.
Hope the problem gets resolved since it is very annoying when this happens, remember what all circus we did in Hospet when the Car refused to start.
What was the problem with the Handbreak alignment...???

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Pumpy_Raj

Finally...the car starts without any problem.
Hope the problem gets resolved since it is very annoying when this happens, remember what all circus we did in Hospet when the Car refused to start.
What was the problem with the Handbreak alignment...???

What we experienced in Hospet was nothing...Imagine my situation when it happened at a busy signal in Bangalore with BMTC inches behind me.
If it were some other country, I would've sued Fiat and would've become a millionaire by now

If you see my earlier post, the Handbrake's problem was indeed with the loose bolt which had come off.
Now its "tik-tik-tik" - Just 3 clicks is all it takes to engage the handbrake.

After the 15k service, I've observed that the AC is performing amazingly well. it cools the cabin in no time and if I put the fan speed to even 2, it feels like I'm in Manali

The clucth has become nmuch harder after the serviice where the clutch slave cylinder assembly was replaced.
Can anyone suggest how to get the clutch softer and smoother??