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Old 10th September 2017, 23:09   #661
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

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Originally Posted by condor View Post
I have done it when climbing Nandi hills, but have not faced any such issues.
On your drive , did you do it too often or too early ?
I split my journey and stayed overnight at Theni during the onward trip, covered 50 kms before hitting the ghats. I wasn't aggressive on the kickdown mode, yet it happened. I braked a lot on the ghat section, this could be the only suspect or the day before during my journey till Theni where I did decent speeds with kickdown during overtake, which I normally do.

ATF fluid heating up?

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Old 29th September 2017, 13:24   #662
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

I've placed order for suzuki ATF 3317, each litre cost 1200/- INR. As per the technician, The AT box on the astar would consume around 2.7-2.8 litres. The odo on the car stands at 40100 kms.

Will keep you posted. I am getting this done at Suraksha, Koramangala.

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Old 4th November 2017, 23:37   #663
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My A-Star AT was up for service as it's completing 4 years and it has done 20800 kms now. Went to Mandovi Haralur Road for the service alongwith the can of Shell Helix Ultra that I had ordered through Amazon. The workshop said that it's advisable to do the 40k km PM service as per the age and I thought it would be good to do that given that it goes through the stop and go Bangalore traffic so often. That meant changing the coolant as well as the brake fluid along with the fuel filter, spark plugs apart from the engine oil / filter change.

At the time of checkout, upon opening the bonnet, saw that they had missed fixing a clamp which I pointed out to them and they struggled for about 45 mins as they didn't have much clue how to do it till they got another tech from another Mandovi workshop click a picture and WhatsApp it to the folks struggling here. Finally drove out after paying them but found a small rattling sound from underneath the bonnet and upon opening the bonnet after parking at home that they had missed fixing back the air filter clips ! While the guys were very well behaved, I found it unacceptable that they would have so little attention to detail and would put their customes through such a hassle. Would be looking to drive and see how the car behaves after the major service.

Last edited by outdoorlover : 4th November 2017 at 23:48.
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Old 5th November 2017, 23:39   #664
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

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Originally Posted by Mr_Bean View Post
I've placed order for suzuki ATF 3317, each litre cost 1200/- INR. As per the technician, The AT box on the astar would consume around 2.7-2.8 litres. The odo on the car stands at 40100 kms.

Will keep you posted. I am getting this done at Suraksha, Koramangala.

Rgds,
Vinod
It's been nearly 35 days, still waiting for the ATF fluid to arrive.
I am not really confident about getting this sourced from outside.

Rgds,
Vinod
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Old 8th November 2017, 16:53   #665
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Bean View Post
It's been nearly 35 days, still waiting for the ATF fluid to arrive.
I am not really confident about getting this sourced from outside.

Rgds,
Vinod
That's surprising! Does Maruti take months to get something as basic as transmission fluid to a dealership? I think you should escalate it to Maruti direct. I think in each Maruti service centre, you've a Maruti direct service engineer's email and number shared as well that you could talk to directly.
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Old 9th November 2017, 00:00   #666
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

In Koramangala today, on one of the numerous roads where BBMP is working on re-laying the roads. One manhole was protruding about 9-10 cm from the surrounding road surface. I thought I could take it easily, but as I went over it, heard a scrape. A TUV-300 driver behind me kept honking, but I was concentrating for any other abnormal sounds. Reached home, all the way keeping an eye on the console for the oil warning light. Once home, I checked the under-carriage the best I could for any scrapes or oil leaks. Nothing seen. Fingers crossed that nothing has happened, and a lesson learned that such tricks are best left to try with the trucks. This baby aint no SUV.
Quote:
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It's been nearly 35 days, still waiting for the ATF fluid to arrive
Mr.Bean - isnt the ATF available outside ? What specs ?
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Old 9th November 2017, 08:11   #667
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

Quote:
Originally Posted by outdoorlover View Post
That's surprising! Does Maruti take months to get something as basic as transmission fluid to a dealership? I think you should escalate it to Maruti direct. I think in each Maruti service centre, you've a Maruti direct service engineer's email and number shared as well that you could talk to directly.
The oil reached yesterday, I warned the technician early this week, that this delay is not normal & will be escalated to Maruti

Quote:
Originally Posted by condor View Post
Mr.Bean - isnt the ATF available outside ? What specs ?
Not easily available, SUZUKI ATF 3317 or Mobil ATF 3309. Didn't want to take the risk of buying it outside, the oil change will happen in MASS & they have arranged a specialized technician to do the job coming Saturday.

Did the astar top end model come with a front silencer hood? The zxi owners can confirm if the car came factory fitted with silencer hood, don't see it on my vxi model. Even Suraksha MASS was surprised as maruti does not generally supply hood silencer for petrol vehicles. The grooves on the hood are present since the batch of cars shared the same assembly line with exported vehicles to Europe.

I shared the part number for the same from boodmo.com & the part arrived yesterday, will update the post installation pictures on Saturday.

The car is fairly silent, it got ample rubber linings around the doors to filter outside noise, generally not seen in maruti car costing less than 5 lakhs. Last year I went ahead and dampened the car using dampmat. 3 sheets on each door & 6 sheets in the boot & wheel wells.

BTW the car has crossed 42000 kms, no issues except for recurring brake caliper pin problem, causing khada khada sound on eroded/patch roads. Requires greasing every 2-3 months, will be placing order for permatex lubricant today to see if that helps.

Last edited by Mr_Bean : 9th November 2017 at 08:13.
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Old 9th November 2017, 11:27   #668
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

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Originally Posted by Mr_Bean View Post
The oil reached yesterday, I warned the technician early this week, that this delay is not normal & will be escalated to Maruti
Can you please post a video of the ATF fluid change. Please also post any info on things to watch out for. This would greatly benefit other AT owners
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Old 9th November 2017, 13:41   #669
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

I had my ATF changed at Surakhshaa Bomanahalli about a month back. It was quite simple, come to think of it. (It was not a flush and fill, just drain and fill with a filter change). A-Star was at 53K KM. (2011 model)

I used ZIC III ordered from Amazon.in (I ordered 8 litres total)
Used a total of 2.5 litres. I will have to do the drain and fill a few times until I use up what I have minus a little for top ups later. (Rs. 2680 for 8 Litres)
Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-zic_.jpg Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-1draining-drain-hole.jpg

Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-3panremoved.jpg Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-4at-boxpanremoved.jpg Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-6loosenedfilter.jpg

Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-7oldfilter.jpgMaruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-8filterold.jpg
Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-10cleanpan.jpg

Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-11newfilter.jpgMaruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-12newfilterinplace.jpg
Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-15bolttorquewrench.jpg

Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-atboxfilterremoved.jpg Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-atf-filter.jpgMaruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-partsatfchange.jpg

Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-torquingboltstospec.jpgMaruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test-16oldoil.jpg

Here are the parts I ordered from Maruti: (Total cost Rs 1700/- approx)
  1. Pan Gasket - Part Number:24784-79C10 (Rs. 362/-)
  2. ATF Filter (OIL STRAINER ASSEMBLY) - Part Number: 26445-79C10 (Rs. 116/-)
  3. Washer for the drain nut -Part Number: 24781-57B00 (Rs. 1175/-)
The ATF was warm when I reached the workshop and after a small wait, Mr. Shaktiraj (Works Manager), and technicians Rakshith and Naveen did the fluid change while I stood by taking pics.

I had briefed Mr. Shaktiraj and we both looked at how-to videos on YouTube while ordering the parts (I think it took them two weeks to ship them to Surakshaa). Also, the Workshop Manual listed the torque specifications for the bolts (filter bolts and the pan bolts).

They drained the ATF and poured it into a container to measure what they had drained out. Then filled the same amount of new ATF.

Labor cost was around Rs 900/-

Its been more than a month now, everything seems OK and I did a normal service (Engine oil change etc.) recently and Mr. Shaktiraj came by to check the AT pan gasket for leaks - there were none.

Will also cut open the old strainer to see how much muck is stuck inside. May be even get a Magnafine inline filter for the ATF.

And no, I did not have problems with the AT, just wanted to change the ATF at about 30K miles (approx 50K KM) as a precaution.

Last edited by mvadg : 9th November 2017 at 13:51. Reason: add more info.
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Old 9th November 2017, 13:58   #670
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

@Mr.Bean & @mvadg, why are you guys changing the ATF so early ? The change interval is 10 years... or 1.6L km.

(btw, our car is also end-Nov 2011 version).
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Old 9th November 2017, 14:01   #671
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

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Originally Posted by condor View Post
The change interval is 10 years... or 1.6L km.
Is this mentioned in the manual somewhere? Change interval seems unusually high.
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Old 9th November 2017, 14:20   #672
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

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Originally Posted by condor View Post
@Mr.Bean & @mvadg, why are you guys changing the ATF so early ? The change interval is 10 years... or 1.6L km.

(btw, our car is also end-Nov 2011 version).
I think I posted on the other thread about my apprehensions.
Basically:
  1. Not convinced about the fluid doing its job under Indian conditions
  2. Too much stop and go and creeping in Pothole City
  3. I know AT repairs are not possible (not to original spec anyway, ymmv)
  4. Did not cost me much compared to the cost of AT replacement
  5. I have been researching ATF change for quite a while now, including talking to MASS, but I did not find any confidence inspiring clues on their knowledge of AT repair/service
  6. Many posts on the Internet on the benefits of replacing ATF at 30K miles
  7. I have no idea at what temperature my AT normally operates and when it reaches near 175 deg F - once it reaches above the ideal temperature, the fluid deteriorates rapidly. Getting the ATF tested is another huge task.
I took the easiest and cheapest way out - replace the ATF!


Quote:
Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
Is this mentioned in the manual somewhere? Change interval seems unusually high.
Yes, the manual says 1.6L KM (which is 100,000 miles).
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Old 9th November 2017, 16:32   #673
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

Quote:
Originally Posted by condor View Post
@Mr.Bean & @mvadg, why are you guys changing the ATF so early ? The change interval is 10 years... or 1.6L km.

(btw, our car is also end-Nov 2011 version).
Gearshifts were getting jerky during heavy traffic situation. This is my primary car & would prefer to keep this vehicle till I cross 1 lakh kms.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mvadg View Post
Here are the parts I ordered from Maruti: (Total cost Rs 1700/- approx)

Pan Gasket - Part Number:24784-79C10 (Rs. 362/-)
ATF Filter (OIL STRAINER ASSEMBLY) - Part Number: 26445-79C10 (Rs. 116/-)
Washer for the drain nut -Part Number: 24781-57B00 (Rs. 1175/-)

.
A neat job. Did anyone guide you on the correct oil to buy? A liter of suzuki 3317 ATF oil cost close to 1000/- INR, very expensive. The one that you have used is cheaper and fully synthetic.

So totally we would need the following before starting the job:

1.) Pan Gasket
2.) ATF Filter Strainer
3.) Drain nut washer
4.) ATF fluid

I called Suraksha Koramangala M.A.S.S, they are clueless about components 1, 2, 3 listed above.

Now I am inclined towards getting this job done at the Surkasha, bommanahalli.

Please advise.
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Old 9th November 2017, 17:13   #674
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Bean View Post
Gearshifts were getting jerky during heavy traffic situation. This is my primary car & would prefer to keep this vehicle till I cross 1 lakh kms.



A neat job. Did anyone guide you on the correct oil to buy? A liter of suzuki 3317 ATF oil cost close to 1000/- INR, very expensive. The one that you have used is cheaper and fully synthetic.



Now I am inclined towards getting this job done at the Surkasha, bommanahalli.

Please advise.
Yes, I suggest Surakshaa Bommanahalli - I've found them to be quite professional.

ATF - Did a lot of research (check my posts ) I figured ZIC would be OK as it listed Suzuki Alto AT in its NZ site and the local supplier (amazon.in) confirmed ZIC III would be suitable for the A-Star.
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Old 9th November 2017, 17:25   #675
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Re: Maruti Suzuki A-Star Auto - Road Test

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heard a scrape
Was the scrape heard when the car just went over the manhole or later?
The wind deflector below the bumper is the lowest and front most point. It is generally the first one to scrape anything. If you heard two scrapes then something other than the deflector has also scraped the manhole.

It distinctly sounds like rubber/plastic scrape as opposed to a metallic scrape.

OT: The GC is one of my favorite aspects of the Star. Confidence inspiring while taking the path less driven. On my recent trip to Valparai I took it over some really nasty surfaces without a worry.

Last edited by rajathv8 : 9th November 2017 at 17:27.
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