[gearedup]

Hi Aroy, Jeroen & sudev. Thanks for guiding.
I had refused the thermocol. Understood the theory on insulation trapping heat inside.

In my case I will face the issue of parked car in hot sun very very rarely.
So, I will try to park in shade as much as possible instead

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by gearedup

.
So, I will try to park in shade as much as possible instead

That is better al round, for your car, the paint, the engine, the interior and for when you get back in!
Take care

Jeroen

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by gearedup

Hi Aroy, Jeroen & sudev. Thanks for guiding.
I had refused the thermocol. Understood the theory on insulation trapping heat inside.

In my case I will face the issue of parked car in hot sun very very rarely.
So, I will try to park in shade as much as possible instead

In order to prevent the inside of a car reaching very high temperatures, you can leave a minuscule gap in one of the windows, say 1mm or so. That will ensure hot air escapes and the car does not heat up tremendously.

You can also
. Use latest UV cut glass which keeps the car cool
. Use Fire Safe insulation for the roof insulation
. Use a windshield protector - a reflective fabric stretched across the windshield inside

[dreamliner17]

My Chevy Spark 2010 LS (LPG) is taking excessively long cranks to start. Earlier (till about a week back), the car would fire up with just about a short crank, taking less than a second. Now i have to crank it 3-4 times on an average, taking about 3-5 seconds each. By default, the car starts on petrol and switches over to LPG.

Some additional points:
1. It is the stock battery (5+ years old) and has been running fine till date, just with regular top-ups. The car has done 26K KM till now.
2. No low battery indicator light is displayed on the console. The battery was checked/topped up in March 2016 itself. Also the car shows the battery voltage on the console. I always get about 11.9V for the first crank and the voltage settles at 14.5V when the car is running. Hence, i do not suspect battery/charging system to be the problem.
3. Excessive cranking is required, irrespective of the engine being hot or cold. Previously, I have never faced any kind of issues where i had to crank the car 'too much' to start.

What could be the issue?

[NikhilSorot]

My OHC Honda City '03 started giving me same trouble now. I had the A/C compressor replaced in Apr along with basic servicing and a replacement of my read shocks and all 4 tyres. But, after 2 weeks some weird sound, like the one we can get from a faulty belt, started coming. Today on my way to work, the car started flawlessly in half a second. 2 Kms down on the way it just dies like its out of petrol or something. I tried to pop the clutch while it was still in motion, no result. Rolled the car to a spot where it wouldn't be a hinderance, tried a couple of times the starter sound was really slow as if dying out. Suspecting a battery issue, checked lights and everything, all was working, didn't seem like a battery issue. The mechanic came after 2 hours, 5 mins before he arrived, I tried starting my car but to no use. He comes in, it starts in half a second again. He gives me this really dirty look & asks me if I had a bath this morning jokingly. I asked him to take the car to the garage with him as I still hear the belt like sound. I still don't know whats wrong with it though. This car has given me enough trouble I believe, just want to sell it now

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by dreamliner17

3. Excessive cranking is required, irrespective of the engine being hot or cold. Previously, I have never faced any kind of issues where i had to crank the car 'too much' to start.
What could be the issue?

Originally Posted by NikhilSorot

The mechanic came after 2 hours, 5 mins before he arrived, I tried starting my car but to no use. He comes in, it starts in half a second again. He gives me this really dirty look...

Both seem to be related to a fuel flow problem.

Check the fuel filter(s) and clean the tank.

[hybridpetrol]

For the past two days, I frequently face a niggle, which seems to get resolved automatically.
I have an Alto 800 Lxi, and Nippon Security Alarm (Remote Central locking system) is added as an accessory here.

Below is the problem:
When I try to unlock the car using my remote lock key, the car wouldn't unlock. So, I would enter the car by unlocking the driver's door using the manual key.
After entering the car, if I try to turn the ignition on and start the car, nothing happens. The key turns, but nothing happens - car just would not start. No kind of sound or any other sign, and the display also would not light up.

After one or two minutes, the above gets solved automatically - the remote locking system works just fine, the key works well, and I can drive off.

When such issue happens I also observe the following:
i) The central locking system does not work. i.e if I use the driver side push/pull knob to lock/unlock, it does not lock/unlock all the doors, but just works for one door.
ii) Opening the door does not switch on the car's lighting system, which is also tied to the central locking system.
iii) When the key / remote lock starts working again, I notice that the Time settings in the Information display is reset.
iv) The Head Unit settings are reset (Saved settings such as FM frequencies, time, etc and the mp3 goes back to first track in the first folder).

Have any of you faced similar trouble with Alto 800 Lxi or the Nippon Security lock? The above issue happened at least once every day in the last four days. (It worked fine for last 2 years).
Is it something which I can solve myself? Inputs welcome.

[Jeroen]

Im having similar issue with my Jaguar. I actually need to disconnect and reconnect the battery before it starts again.

You might want to start hooking it up to an OBD analyzer to get some idea if there are any error codes.
Make sure your battery is ok. Modern cars with poor battery can give you all sort of problems like these. The same symptoms can pop up due to poor connections anywhere in the electrical circuits.

In my case my battery is fine. So this weekend Im going to check each and every ground connection, every terminal, every connector etc. inspect them visually, take them apart, clean them and put everything back again. Not difficult, just tedious and time consuming.

[sudev]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Im having similar issue with my Jaguar. I actually need to disconnect and reconnect the battery before it starts again.......

Sorry but just cannot resist "kudi kendi pehle Jaguar le lo ......."

If some earth is loose then it should not matter / make difference in reconnecting battery.

Would you try to clean battery terminals before anything else? This seems obvious root cause.

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Make sure your battery is ok. Modern cars with poor battery can give you all sort of problems like these. The same symptoms can pop up due to poor connections anywhere in the electrical circuits.

Thanks for your quick reply.
Do you mean the Car's Battery here? Or the Remote Key's battery?
The Nippon's trouble shooting manual mentions such issues could be due to a weak battery in the remote key.
But what is beyond me is how the Time, Head Unit settings etc could reset due to such battery problem in the remote.

[KkVaidya]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

The above issue happened at least once every day in the last four days. (It worked fine for last 2 years).
Is it something which I can solve myself? Inputs welcome.

Seems to be a weak connection issue in the security system controller as this problem does not occur 'always'. The controller is normally located above the driver side footwell behind the dashboard. Check all the connections going in and coming out are tight. Spraying a little WD40 will do no harm.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by sudev

Sorry but just cannot resist "kudi kendi pehle Jaguar le lo ......."

Sorry, but you have to help me with that.

Originally Posted by sudev

If some earth is loose then it should not matter / make difference in reconnecting battery.

You would think so, wouldn’t you? However, it is a known issue on these and some other cars. Somehow, due to a low voltage somewhere one of the modules (EMS ECU or other) somehow goes wonky and everything goes dead. Disconnecting the battery resets everything.

Originally Posted by sudev

Would you try to clean battery terminals before anything else? This seems obvious root cause.

Yes, no its not the root cause, but is where you start before doing anything else. essentially start at the battery terminals and follow the wires. Jaguars have two massive fuses next to the battery. They sometimes corrode over time etc etc.

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Thanks for your quick reply.
Do you mean the Car's Battery here? Or the Remote Key's battery?

I meant Car battery not remote

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

The Nippon's trouble shooting manual mentions such issues could be due to a weak battery in the remote key.

I’m guessing here but maybe your remote key needs its battery to properly power the immobiliser as well.

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

But what is beyond me is how the Time, Head Unit settings etc could reset due to such battery problem in the remote.

See my answer above. Sometimes with electronics it is very difficult to come up with some sort of explanation on what happens. Only when you find the true root cause might you be able to reason/figure out what happened in all the electronic boxes. But in general I would say, low voltage due to poor battery or problems in connectors, wiring, grounding etc can present you with a whole host of different problems that are difficult to explain at best

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by KkVaidya

Seems to be a weak connection issue in the security system controller as this problem does not occur 'always'. The controller is normally located above the driver side footwell behind the dashboard. Check all the connections going in and coming out are tight. Spraying a little WD40 will do no harm.

I would advise very strongly on using WD40 anywhere near electronics.
When working on cleaning electrical/electronics use the correct products. Use a proper electrical cleaner and use dielectric grease on all the bits and pieces you have taken apart, cleaned and put together.

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-diel...#didyouknowout

[sudev]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Sorry, but you have to help me with that.

Sorry tend to forget that there could be non Punjabi folks on forum. Just a reference to a current rage song on radio.

Link from YouTube :

https://youtu.be/wt65A8KzgFc

[suzuki san]

Hi Guys,

Need some urgent help.
The car in question is an SX4 Automatic - Zxi AT. 2009 December model.
The car has run without any major problems so far.
All servicing is done at Maruti A.S.S. only.
The car was parked in a closed garage and not used for about 2 weeks.
The car has not been in any water or flooded areas.
A week ago it refused to start and the small yellow icon (showing a key with a car) was flashing on the dash.

My "friendly service advisor" could not advise anything over the phone and said that even if the Maruti On Road Service guys came to the house they would not be able to do much about it.
Finally the car was towed to Spectra Motors, Malad.
The car was with them for three days as they could not identify the problem.
Finally it was identified as a faulty earth wire to the ECU.
Problem solved, car back home, everyone happy.
Two days later same problem again. Again the yellow icon (key/car) was flashing on the dashboard.
Was told to bring the car back to Spectra. I told them point blank that I had no intentions of towing the car again.
Anyway, finally after about 20 to 25 attempts and a bit of accelerator input the car started and was taken to Spectra.
The car is presently still with them.
They are unable to locate the problem after two days.
The battery is not an issue - it was able to crank the car 25 times!!
The battery of the remotes have just been changed.
The SA seems to think it is an ECU issue but when the scanner is plugged in to the OBD unit it does not show any error. However, he says in petrol engines it does not always show an error??!!
They do not have a spare ECU (for an SX4 Auto which is different to the manual) to try out on the car anywhere in Bombay.
If they order a new ECU from Maruti it will cost me about 13 to 15K with no guarantee that it will fix the problem.
They do not know anyone who has an SX4 Auto with whom they could swap ECU's and just test to see if it is actually an ECU problem.

At present they have no answers except to tell me to wait till another SX4 Auto comes in for service.
An almost unbelievable situation where Maruti cannot fix a Maruti!!

The car is still lying with Spectra at Malad.

Guys please, please help.

Any suggestions would be most welcome.

Regards,
SS