[manver786]

Hi,


I bought my Pocket Rocket in Oct/November 2007(Swift VDI-ABS), which had been doing its duty very diligently and efficiently and has been consistently giving mileage of about 21 kmpl. It had taken us to far off places without a fuss such as Sarahan, Sangla Valley, Kalpa, Kaza, Kibber, Kunzum Pass, Rohtang Pass, Hemkund Sahib, Badrinath and numerous visits to Himachal Pradesh without missing a beat. The vehicle was routinely serviced and apart from brake pads only the shocker mounts were replaced. Of course the tyres were changed at 48000 kms. The vehicle has done about 78000 kms. However, things took a wrong turn and spoilt the party in March 2013. How the things took shape I will try to give a precise account of what happened.

On 18th March, 2013 I along with my wife left Delhi at about 4.30 AM for Shimla in our Pocket Rocket for a couple of days. On our way we did not encounter any problem and enjoyed the ride and the scenery. We reached Shimla at about 11.30 AM having stopped at a couple of places to have breakfast etc and were going towards Kufri. As soon as we crossed Dhulli tunnel suddenly I witnessed/felt loss of power, huge black smoke and knocking sound from the engine. I immediately pulled over to the right side (was driving in second gear about 20 kmph) and luckily there were few mechanic shops who immediately offered help. As soon as we opened the bonnet I saw there was a leakage of diesel from the high pressure fuel pump and the mechanics who had gathered around assured that it is not a big deal as it seems some pipe has ruptured and will be repaired. The mechanics/shopkeepers directed us to a diesel mechanic near the Dhulli tunnel. As soon as I started the engine again there was black smoke and knocking sound and somehow drove about 100 mtrs to that shop. He examined and declared that the vehicle should be taken to the Maruti workshop as its parts will not be available in the open market. He tried to start the car but to no avail. We requested him to arrange for a tow vehicle. All this while we were sweating like anything and were very worried. The mechanic was kind enough to arrange a flat bed crane which took us to the Maruti Authorised Workshop (Goel) just before the Shimla. They examined and declared that the engine is required to be opened (estimate about Rs. 1.25 lakhs) and that it will take about 15 days or more as the available of the parts is a concern here. They suggested us to take the vehicle back to Delhi. Luckily for us a trailer had just off loaded a truck load of new cars of Maruti and its driver agreed to take our vehicle to Delhi. Somehow the vehicle was loaded on a trailer and was promised to be delivered to us at Farrukh Nagar, on Gurgaon-Pataudi Road the next day i.e. 19th March, 2013. We travelled in an overnight roadways bus and reached home in Delhi at about 6.30 AM.

On 19th March, 2013 I arranged a flatbed crane and brought our Pocket Rocket with its/our pride hurt to our home. Our mechanic (he works in an authorised workshop and is quite experienced) inspected and diagnosed that its high pressure fuel pump is the culprit. On opening the fuel pump he found that of the three screws, two screws were loose. He tightened them and put back the pump. On cranking the engine started with knocking sound and was switched off by him. Though there was no leakage but now the engine will not move/crank. He drained the entire engine oil and saw a deluge of black engine oil mixed with diesel (more than 6 ltrs). The new engine oil was poured but the engine did not rotate even with hand. The mechanic advised us to take the vehicle to an authorised workshop as according to him its engine was required to be opened up to see the damage. He did not want to open the engine for want of sufficient spares in the open market.

Eventually the vehicle was sent to an Authorised Workshop. Soon I got a call that there is zero pressure in one cylinder and the engine is required to be opened. (I suspected of a foul play as the Supervisor said the engine did not start whereas the mechanic informed that he started the engine and thus checked the pressure). However, in the presence of concerned Supervisor I cranked the engine and it started though with the knocking sound. On hearing the knocking sound I immediately stopped the engine. In this scenario I insisted on taking the vehicle back but I was convinced that I should allow them to work and I relented.


On opening the engine it was informed that one of the pistons is damaged and its connecting rod is bent. The repair work started and I was informed that they will change all the pistons, its rings, connecting rods, valves, cam/crank bearings, gaskets etc as per the standard instructions of Maruti. On re-assembling and starting it was informed that two of the injectors were also chocked/damaged though the High Pressure Fuel Pump is fine. These were also got repaired from Bosch by them. The vehicle remained there for about 20 days and has been delivered to us yesterday. The total damage to us at the workshop was Rs.50,000/- and another Rs.15000/- from Shimla to Delhi.

The question that is/was bothering me is that why did it happen in the first place when there was no indication or problem. I am informed that during the routine service these (pressure pump/injectors etc. for diesel) are not checked/cleaned/opened unless there is a specific complaint. I never had any issue/complaint with the vehicle throughout till we were stranded.

I thought of sharing my bitter experience so that fellow friends can also take note of what I went through and think of ways and means how to prevent.

I have been thinking of disposing of my Pocket Rocket but the DGM of the workshop insisted that I should not sell off as it is as good as new and if at all I have to dispose off I should at least tell him first so that he can buy it for his son/family. I am really confused. Pls share your views.

[Catalyst_delhi]

This is all very strange , I guess the car was driven with bad engine oil or high levels of engine oil + diesel. But this is too quick. Do you have any pictures of the opened engine? For the selling part - I say keep it.

[mayankk]

Bad injectors seems most likely.
Theyll cause hydrolock, as well as fuel in oil.

[anandpadhye]

Hmmm...
What did the service center guys say about the root cause?

[sajusherief]

I too believe that this is a clear case of hydrolock. Did the service guys say anything about the reason behind this ?

[mohan41]

@manver786, very sorry to hear about the incident. As I have heard, overhauled swift DDiS engine is supposed to be almost like a new engine as they replace the affected parts with new ones. Please refer to this post for another TBHPian's experience: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ml#post2868931. I feel you should keep the car, since you have spent 65K and the engine now is probably in better condition than earlier.

[Safari_Beast]

Hello manver786

What is the service history of your vehicle , did you get your car serviced at prescribed intervals as per maruti . This engine can munch miles after miles if it has been serviced regularly .

[drsingh]

As this case seems most likely due to hydrolocking caused by a couple of bad injectors, isnt this premature failure of a critical component?

This has piqued my interest again on the legal aspects of "warranty related to machines " in India.

As i understand maruti offers a 80000 km/2 year warranty.

But if a critical component like injectors fail causing damage to the engine without warning, with the customer getting services done at the authorised service centres, is the company liable?

I researched this topic about a year back and didnt get clear answers.I did come across a couple of cases where customers had sued TATA and Mahindra for premature engine failure but didnt follow up.

I the US there is consumer protection if a machine fails prematurely.

I had read about a couple of cases in the US concerning household appliances like Airconditioners and water heating systems where the courts ordered repair or replacement of critical parts even after 5 years of purchase because " the service life of a machine does not equal the warranty period and critical components should not fail prematurely"

Any insights?

[ku69rd]

Originally Posted by drsingh

As i understand maruti offers a 80000 km/2 year warranty.

Sir,
Maruti offers 40000/2 years warranty which ever happens first. So am sure they would not have offered it to be done under warranty.
Felt that the engine being opened after 78000 kms was a misfortune to the otherwise famed FIAT Engine.

[ganesc]

Very unfortunate. May be due to bad fuel during that travel and thus causing fuel injectors to go fault? But again all of a sudden without any symptoms is wierd. I am sure you would have used a quality fuel but still.

50k for the engine work is ok and if you are finding the drive as good as it used to be, then I would say keep it to serve you its second lifetime.

Just a question: Did you have to follow a run in again? Aircon is ok to be used immediately? unlike the old amby's where we were adviced not to touch AC for 5k run in!

Our 10year old wagon-R's head went bad and the MS services estimate was 65k! we pulled it off the service station and got it done by our local mechanic (worst decision - reworked instead of replacement; twice totalling 40-45k) and we had to sell it off as we could never get the engine back to the same old state.

[drpullockaran]

Originally Posted by ganesc

Our 10year old wagon-R's head went bad and the MS services estimate was 65k! we pulled it off the service station and got it done by our local mechanic (worst decision - reworked instead of replacement; twice totalling 40-45k) and we had to sell it off as we could never get the engine back to the same old state.

Both the service center and the local mechanic was hell bent on cheating you. Both of them new about the half engine thing and still did not tell you about it. Its far cheaper and just needs to be bolted on, would have cost you
max 40000 for the new head assembly inclusive of labour charges.

[Sutripta]

Hi,
Pretty obviously hydraulic lock. Caused by a bad injector.
Trying to work in the loose bolts of the fuel pump, but can't!

Regards
Sutripta

[Leop]

Really unfortunate story.

It might have been partially prevented but don’t think it was easy to prevent without hindsight.

A hydraulic lock is caused when lots of liquid enters the combustion chamber. A liquid is hard to compress, and attempting to turn the crank and push the piston up causes extreme pressures which usually results in the con rod or crank bending. Hydraulic lock is usually a worry when carburetors flood and is relatively rare with modern engines.

A hydraulic lock can cause the con rod to bend. It could also prevent the engine from rotating as you experienced sometimes.
But in a running engine it would need a lot of fuel to enter very fast and it is unlikely the hydraulic lock occurred when the engine was running.

Possible scenario:
1) Car is running fine and suddenly one of the injectors catastrophically fails.
2) The failing injector dumps fuel in the cylinder and on to the engine. Causing black smoke to be emitted from the cylinder of the failing injector due to excessive fuel. As the other injectors are still running fine the other three cylinders are still working and the engine is running. Hydraulic lock does not occur at this point.
3) Engine is switched off; the injector continues to drain fuel into the cylinder and engine from residual pressure. On one of the attempts to restart, the cylinder has a hydraulic lock.

Another possibility is that this might have actually been caused at the Maruti service center. As the engine was not rotating before and they ‘freed’ the engine, they might have somehow forced the engine to rotate which caused the con rod to bend under hydraulic lock. Maybe you could ask them how they got the engine to rotate at the service center.

[Rajith]

My regularly serviced 3 year old swift with vdi engine conked off. Done 55000kms. Now repair cost is quoted @ 1.35lacs.

I have taken only 1 year extended warranty and same has expired by last march.

Is it because of trying to get too much from a small engine !!.

[saket77]

Originally Posted by Rajith

My regularly serviced 3 year old swift with vdi engine conked off. Done 55000kms. Now repair cost is quoted @ 1.35lacs.

I have taken only 1 year extended warranty and same has expired by last march.

Is it because of trying to get too much from a small engine !!.

55k/ 3 Years engine needs overhaul? Let us know the whole story and the problem you are facing. Repair cost looks on the higher side as half-engine kits are cheaper and easily done.