[aveemashfaq]

Yeah. You read it right. I actually went to chennai and bought a flood damaged Hyundai Getz and repaired it with my own hands on a barren piece of land.

Question 1. What on earth possessed me to do that

My father owns a 1995 Maruti 800 TK which served us very well. It did have the true japanese reliability and absolutely no part failed till it's 15th birthday, not even a petrol pipe. But when we got transferred to Warangal, the house we rented did not have car parking facility and so the poor girl was left abandoned on the street all alone. And the house we have is not densely populated and has empty plots everywhere. So, she took a hard beating from the sun, the monkeys, the dogs peeing, the rains battering it down and was rotting miserably in the elements. The weather took a toll on it and it started giving up. Rust started appearing in the more unexposed surfaces. The roof lining peeled away and the front passenger plastic door handle cracked away. The OEM rubber petrol pipes stock since 1995 developed cracks and they needed changing.

I do not have a job as of yet and so no new cars. Dad read in the newspapers that the chennai flood damaged cars were going at ridiculous prices and he had a brain wave. His inference was that if a 1 crore BMW can go for 10 lakhs, maybe a 10 lakh car can go for 1 lakh. I followed team-bhp even before my membership and so read that Copart India handles the operations of auctioning a flood damaged cars. Informed him of the same and he just said hmm. Then he started asking questions whether flood damaged cars can be repaired and whether they would work or not. I gave him the honest answer that since the cars sat inside deep waters, maybe there would be electronic short circuits and maybe the instrument cluster wont work. But engine is mechanical and has absolutely no scope of failing at all. It will need some oiling and getting rid of water and it should theoretically work. I know that all the engine bay electrics are designed to withstand harsh conditions and flooding is also accounted for.


The real reason why all of this happened

One habit of mine is that I watch Top gear when I am bored. I have the entire collection of 260gb on my hard drive. I knew that Jeremy Clarkson had a Porsche 928 plated "H982 FKL" in Patagonia Special and in that episode, the shock absorber breaks off the mounting and pierces through the wiring loom. This causes an electric short circuit and when he mends it, the dash board, the heater and all electrics went go bust but "the mighty V8 engine is back in buisness". I knew that Richard hammond drove a 1962 Opel Cadet which he calls Oliver through a river in Africa Special and it sinks completely. But he rescues the car, works on it in the night and the next morning it works. I know that Jeremy Clarkson's Range Rover, Richard Hammond's Land Cruiser and James May's Suzuki Jimny crossed a river in Bolivia Special. They are completely stock cars without any modifications and James May sinks his car completely into the river. And then, after sometime, it works perfectly fine. I know that Jeremy Clarkson drowned a Toyota Hilux pickup truck into the ocean, hired a local mechanic who works on the car for 45 minutes without any spare parts with only spanners and WD-40 and got it running again. Bottom line, car is designed to work without failure. You might have to take chances with the electrics. But the basic core car always works. I also suggested him to consider petrol options only because when cleaning the engine, if you remove the spark plug of a petrol car, you have an exposed cylinder whereas for a diesel car, you have to open the engine cover, fuel rail and then the fuel injectors. Presented the report to dad and he instructed me to bid on the flood damaged vehicles.

Question 2. Wait a second, do you not want to consider other options before bidding

I asked the same question. I told him that the 1 lakh can get us a used 2005 Palio 1.6 or Ford ikon 1.6 or Chevy Optra 1.6 (of course gas guzzlers demand less money in used market which is good news for petrolheads). And they all work perfectly fine, have reasonable condition and are cheaper because no need to pay road tax on the car during the transfer of state, no cost of restoration and no transport cost. Dad felt that sedans and SUVs are unnecessarily big and pointless. He felt that any car an inch bigger than M800 would suffice. I tried explaining to him that premium hatch demands a premium price for the quality paint job, better designed interiors, better switchgear but he fell asleep snoring in the middle of the lecture. He did not understand the point of tall boy car, premium hatchback, sedan, their positioning, nothing at all. And he never sat in other cars except very briefly and he would always comment that he felt our M800 had more comfortable seats. And he wants to buy a car untested from a car auctioning site. It was not like we have a lot of money and had a fling at buying the car, it was seriously meant to be the replacement.

Of other things, he feels that in a town like warangal, we have parking problems to account for (he feels that metro cities should not be allowed to buy cars because according to him, there is not a single parking spot in the whole of hyderabad). He also drives the M800 with a seat backrest so upright that you could see the bonnet completely like an SUV. And he believes that diesel cars are just tractors with a cabin. He also thinks that a sub 4m sedan occupies more space than the Polo, punto and i20.

Bottom line, he just wanted a hatchback like the maruti with absolutely no knowledge of cars at all. And he feels that only costly cars use coded names like 328i or c220 and so he felt that i20 is in the same league. So, he made up his mind that he would buy an i20. Don't know the manufacturer name, not a clue about anything, saw the car parked in front of his office that day, looked good, name sounded technical and car looked catchy and so he wants it. Now, he told me to tell the exact procedure of how to restore a flood damaged car and if it is doable at all. I tried putting up maths lessons telling that if you buy a gas guzzler, the price of extra fuel they consume is compensated for by the lower initial price. Let us say that you buy a gas guzzler for 1 lakh rupees and it gives 12 kmpl instead of the total sum of 1.5 lakhs and buy a fuel-efficient car. Now, for the 50,000 saved, assuming that petrol costs 70 per liter, it would give us the independence to roam around 8500 kms. Put a lot of tables and flow charts but no effect.

There was even a Ford Ikon 1.4 which is fuel-efficient and when i informed him about that, he told me that 1400cc is a very big engine and all cars should have 900cc or max 1000cc just because his maruti 800 has only 800cc. He was simply not willing to buy any car at all except from the flood damaged ones, that too an i20. He put his foot down and declared that it would be an i20 or live with the existing one.

I gave in and started studying every car coming up for auction. Looked into the pictures throughly for all the details, there were many mistakes in the listing. Many diesels were shown as petrols and apparently all indian hatchbacks are rwd according to them. I shortlisted all the petrol models for sale, gave each car a specific folder with all the images and a text file with sepcifications and my observations. He started browsing and he saw a red Nissan Micra and fell in love with it. He felt that it was so cute looking, the round theme for dashboard design, the AC and audio controls and decided that he will buy a Nissan Micra. He asked me all the features and explained to him about dimming mirrors, height adjustable seats, telescopic steering wheel, rear window defogger, power windows, climate control and he was like "wow! why do you need a BMW at all when there are so many features in this Nissan". Before the chennai floods, we were actually considering buying a datsun go because during my father's college days, he happened to see a beautiful red long datsun sedan parked on the street belonging to a film actress in one of his trips with his friends. They took a group picture with the heroine and my dad took a photo with the datsun. And so, when he heard datsun was coming to india and at that cost, he blindly went to book the car. Only problem, no Nissan/Datsun showroom in warangal. Abandoned plans and later now, he found out that the makers of Datsun make Nissan cars as well (isn't it the other way around).Heart set on the micra, he bid but the car went for 2.8 lakhs 2015 Nissan Micra XV petrol.

He waited for the next auction for another Nissan car to come. Still reluctant to go for second hand cars. He realized that he can't buy that car or in that price range. He did not have the immediate cash to pay extra and he did not want to take a loan. This time, he zeroed in on a santro xing or zen estilo. Reason, in his time, santro and zen were famous names. I tried convincing him that these cars are not an upgrade from the Maruti 800 we already have. I also tried to explain that the market flops go for a cheaper price but we end up getting a better car. There was a Chevy SR-V and even the old Baleno. But no, he just did not listen.

The auction process



The auctions happen online where every car comes for bidding one by one with the car pictures on the top and a big bid button in the bottom to raise the bid by 2000rs. I carefully watched the bidding process and got a grasp of the dynamics of the bidding. All the cars in the start of bid go at ludicrously high rates whereas towards the last ones go at cheaper costs. Market hits fetch higher prices and the flops go for a lot less and the pricing is like used car market itself. There was a palio that went for 30,000. And bidding happens for 120 cars in a week and every week on wednesday.

The next auction arrived and I saw the cars towards the end of the bid and spotted a 2005 Hyundai Getz GLS along with some other cars. I knew all the other cars were i20s polo and innova which demand good rate but Getz is not a success story and so there is a slight chance that we may get the car for under 1 lakh rupees. I told dad over the phone about it and he did not believe me. He told me that Hyundai is a branded company and from the rate the xing went for, there is no chance it will go for cheap. I told him that the car will definitely be under 1 lakh rupees. He still did not believe me and told me to go ahead and play the game till one lakh but then stop and put the phone down. And the moment of truth, I got the winning bid for 92000rs.

This was not anticipated at all. On one hand, he was excited that he will be now owning a Hyundai (still is) and terrified at the same time that how could he possibly repair it and how would he bring it back.

Question 3. How do you repair it

The theory is simple. Engine might be flooded with water and the fuel tank is most certainly going to be flooded with water. So, drain the fuel tank and fill it with fresh fuel. The engine has two sides, the combustion side, i.e the gap between piston and the cylinder head and the oily side i.e where the crank case, oil pan etc are located. I can easily drain the oil through the oil drain plug in the bottom and change the oil filter and fill it with fresh oil. Now, the top half where combustion happens. Water, as we all know is incompressible. And engine works in the following process intake-compression-combustion-exhaust. But since the water is incompressible, during the compression phase of the cycle, the incompressiblity will cause the connecting rods to bend which means the engine wont work. And so, the most vital task would be to clean the inside of the cylinders and get rid of water accumulated there. But thorough cleaning would mean removing the cylinder head which is not a good idea. So instead, I decided to open the spark plugs and crank the engine so that all the dirt is spat out of the spark plug hole. Any water in the fuel lines, rail would also come into the engine and come out. The water in intake will also be sucked out and the water in exhaust will also be spat away. Now, after the clean engine, the starter motor, dynamo, gearbox, spark plugs, fuel injectors and everything else is simple electrics. They are exposed to harsh conditions all the time and so are designed to work even when there is moisture and water in them. So, no harm done. Do a water wash to remove dirt and contaminants, clean the terminals and you are good to go. The car should at least start and work at which I would drive it back to home town for a more thorough service.

Question 4. Did the plan work

I prepared myself for the worst. I brought all my tools, spare tool kit of M800, some old clothes and my laptop which contained the service manual for Hyundai Getz. A service manual is a 6000 page book meant for workshop technicians and provides step by step guide to diagnose and repair any problems with the car. I read most of the part that was relevant for me. It has detailed diagrams showing where the parts are and how they are to be disassembled etc. This helped me a lot because spotting each part and how it is mounted takes a lot of valuable time and patience. I also locally bought some cheap engine oil, coolant fluid and WD40. WD40 is a spray which cleans and lubricates mechanical components and helps ease off that adamant bolt or nut.

Left for Chennai in the night by train and arrived in the morning. I insisted that we hire a self-driven car and was stubborn about that. Somehow dad budged and so here is our ride for day 1. A self driven zoomcar.



The warehouse was located some 30kms from Chennai on Kanchipuram Road, Bangalore Highway after the KFC in the Kora truck parking area next to an amusement park. Got a zoomcar self drive car. I did a big mistake in undermining the work to be done on the car and thought that the car will be working in no time. So, booked the car for a day. Turned out to be a 4 day work and so much experience with zoomcar that I will have to post the review in another thread.

Day 1. Went to Copart in the afternoon. First went to have a look at the car. Dad took his own sweet time to look at the car, sat in the muddy seat staring at it for a while and spent one hour with the car. Here are a few pictures he clicked









I was meanwhile busy checking whether the car has components at the right place as stated in the service manual or not. And I am not interested in clicking pictures so I have absolutely no picture of the whole event at all with me. All the photos are scoured from my dad's phone. I was too busy and had too much pressure and too much to live up to. It was evening and we asked him that we will take delivery of the car the next day and finished paperwork. You needed to sign on a 100rs bond paper that you bought the car and took delivery of it. He told us that the original documents and the spare keys will be available in 5 working days.

Day 2. I wanted to come early. But dad was insistent that we had the complimentary breakfast of the hotel. And then the inevitable happened. We got stuck in chennai peak hour traffic jams. What is worse, to be close to the pickup/drop point of the zoomcar we hired, we stayed near Kodambakkam Power house. So, have to cross half of chennai to go to the outskirts of they city. It was a nightmare to crawl the distance in a car whose dimensions I was not familiar with and had a hard clutch. That too imagine jumping out of M800 which has spectacular visibility and small fooprint to a big sedan. Somehow reached the place at 12pm. Took delivery of the car. He used a forklift to bring the car and dropped it at the entrance of his stockyard. I asked him to take it 200 meters further into the shade of trees but he refused. Found a tow truck which just delivered a car in front of us into the Copart. I asked him to take it to a further corner 400m into the dense shade. He asked us 1500rs for that. We left the car in the sun and went for lunch. Now, coming back at 3pm, I told him that I will tow the getz with my city. I bought a rope for just those circumstances. It was a simple tow job but dad was very skeptical and terrified of crashing into me and asked me what if the brakes don't work. We pushed the car some distance and checked and the brakes are working. Still, he was afraid. I left him to the state and started opened the air intake, cleaned it and placed a new filter.

Here is the old filter, still wet on Feb 18

The sun had a toll on him. He agreed to the tow. Got them connected. I got an idea. Instead of cranking the engine on battery to get rid of water, why not just put it in a gear and tow the car with spark plugs out. The towing will make the engine crank and the spark plug hole will act as an opening and make the engine spit out the dirt from the chamber. Unfortunately, I found out that the size of M800 spark plug is bigger than that of Getz. And remember that cranking engine with water in it can permanently destroy the engine. And so, I had to disconnect the towing rope and we went back to Chennai to get Spark plug wrench without any spark plugs in hand. Luckily, I had the service manual which stated the specification of spark plug. So now, I bought the spark plugs, searched for the wrench and got it. Came back, removed spark plugs, towed it in 5th gear to a corner. It was evening by then and so we left back to the hotel.

Day 3. Guess what. Complimentary breakfast. Again the peak rush hour traffic. Got there at 12. We were determined this time and decided to skip lunch. Service manual states that the the fuel pump can be accessible from the inside of the vehicle. Fold the rear seat down, flip it forward and below it the fuel pump can be seen mounted to the fuel tank. Tried folding the seats down but the seats are stuck. So, removed the four bolts connecting them to the car body and threw the rear seat outside the car. Somehow removed all the nuts connecting it, disconnected the pipes and the adaptor, removed the fuel pump and saw into the fuel tank. It definitely had water. I came prepared and soon got a saline pipe out and we sat syphoning the petrol tank. We would collect the liquid in a 2liter bottle, let it stagnate for a while until the seperation happens. Water being heavy settles to the bottom of the bottle. Then we inverted the bottle with hand on it's mouth. Slowly released the mouth and the water leaked away leaving pure petrol behind. Collected upto 10 liters of petrol seperated from around 12 liters of water and poured the petrol back. It took a long time and was getting evening. After the exercise was over, we wanted to crank the engine for the first time but we were scared that we might have forgot any step and permanently damage the engine. So, did not crank. Instead, I opened the head lights, tail lights, fog lights and drained water from them. We still had some time and so I attached the tow rope and decided to tow the car a bit more to let all the water come out. Dad put the car in third gear this time. As I towed, slowly the noises of engine working were becoming audible. He was initially skeptic and thought that the engine has failed and so it is moving freely without resistance even when in gear. I explained to him that when the spark plugs are in, the cylinders have to compress air which gives out all the resistance. When things are open, instead of compression, the air just escapes and so no resistance. Looking at how less resistance the engine had, we decided to engage first gear and bring engine to its ture idle speed. By the way, there is no harm done to the cylinder by this process because the service manual states that when you want do compression test, you remove a spark plug and attach a guage instead and then crank the engine. So, cranking the engine without combustion in it is safe. When we were towing in first gear, the noise was too loud, it almost sounded like an old indica diesel engine dying with twice the sound. After two rounds of towing in a mini circuit, we stopped and inspected. I saw that the exhaust spat out a lot of water when towed in first gear. It was almost like someone poured water out from a bottle. So, we continued for quite sometime and left for home. That night, we bought a new battery and an engine oil cleaner. The engine oil cleaner is a thin solvent which breaks down the engine oil and dirt into small particles which can be drained off. Instructions to use are, pour it inside the engine oil compartment, run the engine for 15 minutes and drain it. After 15 minutes, we saw that all the engine oil broke down into foam like matter which is thin and flows away easily. Dad wanted to buy an air pump to blow clean the fuse box but we could not find one in the night. Left the idea and went for sleep.

Day 4. Decided to go early. But the foot pump bug bit him hard. So, despite skipping the rush hour traffic, we sat in Poonamalle till the shops opened for a stupid foot pump. We decided to have a breakfast cum lunch and so finally went to the site at around 11. We double checked everything, put new spark plugs on, drained engine oil and poured new one, drained coolant and replaced it with new one. The service manual was very useful to locate the drain plugs and the method of disassembly of head lights etc or the work could have taken ages. We put the new battery on and the moment of truth. I gave dad the keys to the car and asked him to do the opening ceremony. He turned the key to on and cranked. The starter motor worked fine but there was no response from the engine side. No engine roar to life. We tried for quite sometime. The battery became weak. We decided to charge the battery through the hire car and so I attached some thick wire as jump cables and kept the host car running for a while to charge the battery. Then, dad tried once again and it cranked but no response this time too. On much thinking, we realized that no electrics were working, no power windows, no AC and so it must be that the fuse box isn't supplying current to any component including ECM. So, I sat down and removed the fuse box, dismantled it, did a thorough cleaning, washed all the fuses and put it back on. The horn, front power windows, lights, hazard started working. So dad tried cranking again but still no response from the engine. I was frustrated. It was eating away all the patience I had. We decided to give it sometime for full battery charge and sat patiently. After waiting for a while for the battery to recharge, I asked dad to try it one more time. This time, I stood behind him and realized that he did not have his foot on the accelerator. Obviously, when you think that engine wont start in the first attempt, you would bury the accelerator into the floor and then crank. I told him to put pedal to the metal. He cranked it and the car finally started shuddering and shaking violently and the engine roared to life. But it was working on only two cylinders with a third one coming up intermittently. I could say that from the sound of exhaust. We waited and revved the engine, let it heat up and released the A pedal slowly to come to relatively idle but one cylinder still missing. I tried doing it and still no use. So, I tried putting it in gear and running it for a distance on three cylinders but with clutch fully pressed, the gears would still not engage. When I try hard, I hear a grinding noise. It means that the clutch is stuck on permanently. I turned off the engine, let the engine cool, opened the fuel rail and cranked the engine.

Pictures of fuel injectors taken




Two injectors were injecting fuel like they should, small bursts of atomized petrol. Other two were just urinating petrol continuously. I thought that it was because of faulty fuel injectors. We rushed to Chennai immediately and enquired about fuel injectors. They told that each one costs 10,000rs and are bought to order so expect delivery time of 3-4 days. We did not have that much time nor were we willing to spend that much money. So, wandered off to the second hand parts market where we found what we were looking for. When coming back, we were caught up in rush hour chennai traffic and came to the car at night. Put the headlights of our rental car on and then fixed the new fuel injectors. The newly bought ones would not even work. Frustrated and not knowing why the spell of misery is upon us, we came back to the hotel. We had a choice. Either carry on with no hope of it getting fixed, or give it to a local mechanic. Our discussion was this, even if we fixed this problem somehow, we still have to get the car towed for the clutch replacement. So, finally voted on getting a mechanic to work on it.

The whole point of the 4 days of labour was that we should not get ripped off by the local mechanics. But after 4 days of misery, we did not have time or the courage to carry on. And so we gave up. I spent the night wondering what we did not do. I just remembered that I did everything in short of cleaning the ECM (also called ECU), the engine relay box and its connections. But still, the clutch also needed replacement which we cannot do. And the oil filter. So, I thought that I would get the ECM cleaned by the mechanic himself. So, the next day morning, I browsed team bhp directory and got the name of cheap and good "speed motors". I rang him up and told him that I need the ECM, relay box and the wiring to be cleaned and checked for faults and the clutch needs replacement.

Next morning, we got the car towed in, left it with the mechanics and went for lunch. They cleaned up the wiring and when I came back, they showed me the ECM. Photos of it are here





ECM or ECU is a chip which contains a small computer to decide how much fuel to put into engine via injectors by taking inputs from many engine sensors and calculating the optimum amount. In a more modern car, it also performs many other functions. Apparently, in Hyundai cars, it has two metal plates one in the back and the other in the front sandwiched together with plastic clamps. The mechanic admitted that it is the worst design and for Honda cars, the chip is completely sealed. And yes, it should be completely sealed. Why the hell in the world would you want the ECM to be exposed to the humidity, the cold and the heat of car cabin which can potentially damage the electronic components. He showed me the state of the ECU and said that from his experience, this ECU is dead, go and buy a new one. I told him that I know a bit of electronics and chips are designed to take in that amount of water and still work. Or why else would I have two properly working fuel injectors if the ECU does not work. I explained to him that the debris shortcircuited the connections causing stray current to keep on going to injector 1 and 2 causing them to be ON permanently. Anyways, I cleaned the circuit board and gave it to him. He reconnected it and tried starting. This time, it would not even crank. I saw the way they were working and found out that they pluck the wire connectors by holding them on the wire. I gave him a dose that the proper way was to hold on to the plastic connector and not tug it on the wire end. I noticed that the main wire must have a loose contact because the lights in the instrument cluster were also appearing once in a while suggesting a loose contact.

It was becoming evening and the mechanic was convinced that the car had a busted ECM whereas I maintain the stand that maybe some debris in the chip caused the two injectors to urinate continuously. After a lot of argument, the mechanic said that from his experience, the ECM is most certainly gone although it might also be the wiring. He enquired about the price of ECM and quoted 44,000 for it. He told me that it makes no sense to buy a new one and that he would get a second hand one for 20,000 and put it in. Sounded like rip off since ECM costs only 25000 for a new one for use in a mahindra. But I was not in the mood nor did I have patience or other options. So, I left him with clear instructions to first check the wiring harness and then put the ECM and try starting. If it does not still work, only then buy a new ECM. He nodded his head. Gave him an advance and came back home to warangal.

Currently the car is in possession of the mechanic. He informed us that he bought a second hand ECM which helped start the car. He has yet to do the clutch repair and other oil changes. 20,000 for the ECM were paid in the advance and he asked 21,000 for the rest of work which is clutch change, all fluids drain once again, don't know why but he is insistent on that.

Final price of the car for 2005 Hyundai Getz GLS
Price - 92,000
Copart service charges 7000
Mechanic fee 44,000 (remember, we got the vehicle towed on the road)

Total price -1.43 lakhs

our time and effort was in vain because mechanic did everything once again and the hotel stay and the rental was just a big fat ill planned vacation in chennai

[jeeva]

Buddy, a well maintained 2005 petrol getz has a market value of about 90k.

In a Getz, you need to disengage/depress the clutch and then crank for the engine to start. As far as the injectors are concerned, you might want to get the fuel pressure sensor checked, first. Also, the ECM can be repaired, you need not replace it. I have a gut feeling that your mech is ripping you off. Clutch assembly comes to around 4.5k.

[aveemashfaq]

Yes. I know that. In hyderabad though, things are on the higher side and I was getting a single owner maintained fully loaded 2009 Chevy Sail UV-A with complete service history for 1.4 lakhs. Heck, I even got an offer for a company maintained 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer GLXi original japanese import and not the HM assembled ones for 95k. But my dad with his limited knowledge of automobiles decided that he wants a flood damaged car and it was it. I do fight with him a lot but in the end, he emotionally blackmails me telling that the son has no respect for his father and thinks that father is just a cash vending machine and I have to stop.

Read this
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do...ecame-atv.html
and this
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/introd...ic-genius.html

To understand my relationship with my dad: My dad always assumes that I am the same little rascal who knows nothing and keeps on breaking things and cries for the things he is tempted towards. If you haven't noticed in the post above, I did tell you about his decision process. Every time I try to stop him and a big argument comes up but now, I just let go and left father to do what he likes. And that is what he did.

The worst thing is that, despite all of this, he still believes that he owns a "Hyundai" which carries more value than Chevy Optra or Mitsubishi Lancer and he still thinks that I am the fool with my limited knowledge for trying to repair it and waste all his time and money. He also believes that he got a very good deal. Unfortunately for me, hyderabad does not have used getz in classifieds because it never sold here that much.

Yes, I know that i need to depress the clutch for engine to crank. I successfully did that and it did start for a lot of time. It was after the mechanics fiddling with the connections that things went downhill. They created loose connections and that was why it did not crank.

The fuel injectors in the slot for cylinder 1 and 2 urinate no matter which injector you put which means the wiring has some problems or the ECM must have some debris which permanently connected input current with injector 1 and 2 output causing them to malfunction. If it were a fuel pressure sensor gone wrong, none of the injectors would work (right?) because 3 and 4 were working perfectly.

Yes, the ECU is repairable and no need to replace it. Furthermore, I think that it was debris that needed cleaning up and the injector would work fine. But after 4 days of 6 hours in chennai traffic, no proper food or water and continuous labour in an open ground in chennai temperatures and with dad being himself creating stupid timetables and wrong priorities (We came early at 8 am and dad was adamant that he wanted to buy a foot pump for cleaning the fusebox. What was wrong with blowing with mouth. But no, he wanted it and so we sat in Poonamalle for one and half hour sipping fruit juice waiting for automobile accessory shop to open so that he could buy one and only then we would leave for work), I was frustrated and exhausted. That coupled with a non-functional clutch meant that visit to a workshop was imminent and so I gave up and took it to the workshop where they spoiled the wiring.

Whats worse, I showed them the loose contact they have created, asked them to open the fuel rail and showed them that none of the fuel injectors are working after they fiddled with the wiring. I concluded and gave clear instructions to get the wiring done and then test if the ECM is working or not and only then buy a used one. I did not have the patience or time or money to stay in Chennai and so we left. The very next day, the mechanic calls us telling that he bought a used ECU for 20k, attached it and the car is working. What the hell is wrong with him. Could he not dry the old ECM in sun for a day after we washed with solvent and then tried. At least could he not have the patience until he confirms that the old ECM still has two working fuel injectors and then bought another one. That too, I bought some used fuel injectors only the other day and I know that used ECU costs 5-10k. But I guess you have to accept consequences when you are not in control.

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Technical Section. Thanks for sharing!

[aveemashfaq]

Guys, do anyone in chennai know a broker or an officer in RTO office CHENNAI ( S ) - Tiruvanmiyur. I am about to pick the vehicle up and do the procedure of NOC etc maybe this week between 11-18 March. I am flexible with dates, so any help as to the procedure or agents is much appreciated.

[greenhorn]

I recall reading elswhere how swami69 took his ECM to a electronics service guy who changed the capacitors & some other parts & got it going.

Perhaps you might get lucky with some dude in ritchie street?

[aveemashfaq]

Ok. The final update is that he changed the ECU which he says costs him 20,000 rupees and then after he asked 21,000 rupees, he bled all the brake lines, changed coolant, replaced engine oil, changed transmission fluid, power steering fluid. He told us to inform him when we are coming as he said he will wax it and buff it and detail the interiors before handing the car to us.

I will be making the trip to chennai shortly and getting the car back, getting the documents changed etc.

With retrospect, I should have waited one more day and changed the ECU with my own hands. I would have gotten a working car after which it is just a matter of getting the clutch changed. I could have saved a lot of time and money not giving it to him.

All electrics of the car are simple. There is a switch. Spray some WD-40 into it and it will clean the terminals so that the switch functions. There is a connector which needs to be sprayed or cleaned with petrol and there is a relay in the fuse box. Clean them all and your component will most definitely work. It atleast worked for all components for me.

About the ECU dying, I must confess that I should have opened and cleaned the ECU before connecting the car to a battery. That would have saved the ECU from short-circuiting and I would have a working car without the extra 20,000.

And a big note, if you want to do this procedure and rescue your car, remember that it is possible only with Maruti, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, Chevrolet, Mahindra. This is because these are present in the market for long enough that the second hand market has parts stacked up for them. For VW and fiat, you will be struggling for parts. If you would like to buy parts first hand, I am sure it will cost a lot.

And if insurance is paying money for you, get a small lad from a mechanic for a day and get him to do the same procedure. You can use his bill to claim your insurance.

One more thing, you should most definitely change the battery because it will be dead. If you are short on budget, get it refurbished.

All the best.

[aveemashfaq]

And finally, we took the delivery of the car from the mechanic. After a long and arduous wait and bleeding a lot of cash, we finally got the car home. It was a month since we did the restoration ourselves. And so, when we heard that our car was ready, we jumped in joy. Dad wanted to get the car home first. I told him that it would be a good idea to get the NOC done so that we would not have to go to chennai once again but dad was not so patient. He just wanted the car home and then bother with the procedures. So, we got the car back. Here are the pics of car midway.







Here is our old car, turned her face away from us and crying at a distance by the current pole as the smug Getz getz the hall of fame, our dedicated parking spot

Brief review of the car
I will be posting an ownership report. But here are our observations from the trip back home. The car is BIG. In fact, it is even bigger than the ford figo in every aspect. We parked it beside a 1st gen i20 and found out that only the bumpers of i20 were protruding a bit outside but rest of dimensions are the same between getz and i20. And the same inside as well. The seats are midway between low slung and tall boy. It is not as low as honda city but not as high as wagonR. This makes ingress and exit convenient for the elderly while not compromising on comfort because tall boy cars with upright seating position are not so comfortable over long distances.

The seats themselves are wide and supportive for large frames too. I felt in other cars that seats are designed for people with smaller builds. I am 5'10" and weigh 100kgs with reasonably good muscles as well as fat. And I felt that seat was of the right size only in a Honda city and now the getz. The ecosport, swift, figo, indica, logan were not so much suited for me. There was not much fatigue even after 14 hours of journey everyday for two days (of course with breaks and driver changes).

The tyres are shockingly big. It comes with 175/75 R13 tyres which is HUGE for cars of that era. To put it into perspective, it is the current tyre size of figo, top end swift and i20 of today. So, when we went to our mango garden en route to home, I did not feel that tyres were loosing traction on soft surface. Also the ride felt planted on highways even at 120 although I only did that momentarily.

Engine was a big disappointment. I thought that being a 1.3 petrol, it would be a hoot to drive. The performance was strictly average. My maruti 800 felt much more lively to drive while pedal to metal acceleration. Car had no problem with overtaking lorries. But fifth gear comes up early and you will be cruising at 80kmph to not have engine noise in the cabin. On the rather empty three lane dual carriageway, all the other cars were going at 120 and were zipping past by. I thought that our car was slow and tried increasing speed to catch up. The engine noise was discouraging that we settled down as the loser.

A comment on mechanic's work
One word for it. Rubbish. How the hell is it possible that you give your car for service and when it comes back, the cable that ties your petrol cap to the lid is broken. Their work was miserable and pathetic. They also lost the glove box lid stopper. So now, when you open the glove box, it opens completely dropping everything on the floor. They lost/broke or something with the fog lamp grill and they charged us 2000rs to get a new one and also took fitting charges for that. The bumper is misfitted on the right side. He did not adjust the head light projection at all. The left headlight was showing light on the right lane of the car and the right head light was pointing at the sky to the left of the car. He did not even get the wheel alignment done. The car was pulling a bit to the left on the highway but the fat tyres and the power steering were masking it.

All I could see the evidence of his work is that he changed the clutch which is glaringly obvious since he showed me the old clutch completely worn out.


He changed all the belts although I doubt they needed replacement because on visual inspection, I did not find anything wrong with the old belts. He also changed timing belt although it was in perfect condition. Apart from that, he got it waterwashed, polished and waxed, changed the horn, fixed cabin light. That's about it. And he charged us 60,000rs for that. It was absolutely rubbish. I wanted to protest. But my dad gave me strict warning not to utter a word but just take the car and come back. He put on the bill that clutch change was 8500rs. I don't know if that is normal.

He put in the bill that he replaced all the bearings in the engine bay. When I started the car, there was screeching sound like you get in old indicas with damaged clutch release bearings. When I asked him, he told me that the new bearings were taking time to warm up. I waited for half an hour and the noise disappeared. We waited for the engine to cool down as we settled the accounts. And when the engine was started cold, the noise re-appeared. He told me that it must be the idler bearing and he told me that he would get it replaced. They took the idler pulley out, he took it to some place, came back in 15 minutes and put it back on. And the sound is not there. I took the car to the lodge and the next day we start the car, there is still noise. It must be that they never changed the bearings in the first place. They just oiled them and charged us the money for changing them. They charged us a lot of money for a lot of things they never touched. Even the brake lines and the reservoir had age old dirt on it and he told me that he bled all the lines, changed the pistons in callipers.

The owner of the workshop, Mr. Yahya was not there at all. He came on demand and went away for some business. The workshop guys were playing most of the time and rarely working at all.

One doubt that needs clarification from fellow getz owners
When I was on the highway, no matter if I put the accelerator modestly high or pedal on the floor, it still gives me the same acceleration. I first thought that it must be that the car is tuned extremely for mileage and so I was not getting power on demand. I can verify it's mileage tuning because I got 20kmpl approx when I was driving the car. But I still suspect that the Throttle position sensor is broken and so it is not registering how much throttle input is given. I suspect the workshop guys did not do an OBD scan to check for faults. I will be doing a scan shortly but right now maruti 800 is undergoing an overhaul so that has to wait.

In the meanwhile, can any petrol getz owner verify that even if your accelerator input is high or on the floor, you still get the same acceleration

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

In the meanwhile, can any petrol getz owner verify that even if your accelerator input is high or on the floor, you still get the same acceleration

Obviously not, now I should clarify that I've never pushed the car to an extent that the pedal gets floored because I drive mostly within city and also I like to keep it safe & sane. However I can confirm that the Getz petrol can run circles around modern Hyundai cars like Grand i10 or Elite i20, it is powerful, period. I can also confirm that I can get to comfortable city speeds with a minor push of the accelerator, just an inch of movement or so gets me to 40, once the RPM crosses 1800 I change gears and all I have to do is hold a light pressure to get the speeds climbing to 80 and that is done without any fuss and in fact feels there is so much more pull left with added throttle.

In summary my experiences are the total opposite of what you've been facing, the acceleration in the car is so smooth and fuss-free that I've been spoilt by it. This is of course the 1.3 petrol that I'm talking about, I know people who've had no problems with smooth acceleration even with the 1.1 engine and the 1.5 diesel, well that one can give any diesel hatch nightmares. The rest of the car descriptions of yours about space, seating height etc are true. Do check the engine and accelerator linkages, however if the problem lies only in the higher gears where going beyond a certain speed gets harder it may be less of a linkage problem and more to do with clutch/engine. If your mechanic isn't all that good which you have suspected already, change him for a better one.

P.S I think the tyre size for top end Swift of today is 185 R14 and Elite i20 195 R14, Getz is in fact under-tyred in stock form. 185 R14 is the sweet-spot for it just as it had in Europe/Australia.

[Ragavsr]

I am thinking of buying a flood affected car and repairing it as well after reading your thread.

I have a good mechanic who is skilled enough to handle all the problems my Ford Figo creates from time to time very efficiently and quickly . He is ready to fix flood cars as well.

I was anyway on the look out for buying a second car in the house preferably a used reliable car. But I am apprehensive that flooded cars might be sold as unaffected ones.

So, the solution is buying an affected car for cheap and fixing it properly.

I want to know if I can inspect the car before buying it. I live in Porur on the western edge of Chennai City and Stiperumbudur is quite accessible and moreover my college is over there as well.

[vinit.merchant]

I feel bad for you.
First you paid 92k for a flood affected Getz. One can get a perfectly fine running Getz at that price point.
Then you spent for a 4 day vacation self driving in Chennai traffic.
Then you spent a bomb at the garage and

After all this, the car still isn't running perfect.

Moreover, when you will try to sell it (since the satisfaction level will not be there), you will fetch an amount north of 50k

You should have moved out of bidding at the auction. And once it was all over, you could have convinced your father to buy something in running condition.

But it is a car for your father and if this makes him happy, then it is money well spent. This learning will help you when you go out buying a car for yourself. I feel probably there is a lot of DIY coming up for you on this car, which should keep this thread active.

Till then, ciao.

[aveemashfaq]

Thanks for the encouragement. My father indeed loves the car although he feels that the engine is a bit lazy. To be completely honest, the only other car he drove is a perfect condition Maruti 800 which can put today's petrol hatchbacks to shame.

And I was busy with restoring the Maruti 800 until now, a new thread coming soon. That is followed by the current project I am pursuing i.e. a three wheeled ATV aka trike. And then it would be DIY on Getz.

[pganapathy]

@aveemashfaq, I know it is not nice to laugh at people, but I have to admit to having a chuckle whenever you described your father's attitudes and explanations with regards to cars. Sorry

Anyway, I have to ask the question, considering you spent about 1.5 lakhs on the car, do you now feel it was worth it. Also, does it make your dad happy now that he has a "new" car

[aveemashfaq]

Originally Posted by pganapathy

@aveemashfaq, I know it is not nice to laugh at people, but I have to admit to having a chuckle whenever you described your father's attitudes and explanations with regards to cars. Sorry

I understand that. Even I was frustrated with the decision. But at the end of the day, it is his decision and his money. So, I don't get excessively in the way. Just to clear off the point, his logic behind the purchase was that second hand cars in the market maybe old disused ones (which is less likely because the owner will be using it), or crashed and bodged back into shape (I have seen an elantra bought for 2 lakhs and spoke with the owner and he told me that it was an accident vehicle written off and he refurbished it) or cars with long service bills and questionable parts availabilty. But flood damaged car was once in use and so it is safe.

Anyway, I have to ask the question, considering you spent about 1.5 lakhs on the car, do you now feel it was worth it. Also, does it make your dad happy now that he has a "new" car

I wanted to reply to this question for a long time but not without considerable observation. So, here comes my fully formed final opinion of the car.

First thing that strikes the mind is the looks of the car itself. Doesn't feel boxy and from a previous generation. Does not look ugly and hideous unlike some radical modern cars. Feels just right. Smart and handsome. And the paint lustre is still pretty much there. The previous owner might have done lots of teflon coatings on the car. No one who looked at the car could even comprehend that the car was 10 years old. Also, I opened the door panels and found anti-rust protection inside the doors and to the bottom of the car. And it feels well built. No squeaks or rattles. The cabin does not look outdated by any standards. Good texture on soft touch plastics. Good black, carbon fiber like textured swappable plastics and beige roof adding to the airiness. Not so complicated like modern hondas. Not so boxy like WagonR or alto. And it has a double din slot for the big touch screen stereos of today. So, I can add a reversing camera and make it a perfect choice.

Second thing is on sitting inside, it feels incredibly spacious. I matched it against an Innova and found the width of Getz equal to Innova or the Duster. So spacious. I was actually shocked when I sat in the so hyped about Innova and found it a tad cramped than the Getz in the front seat department. Getz is a full size bigger than the swift and figo and equal to the i20.

Engine is smooth. I don't know how many kms it has run because the speedo console was swapped by the mechanic but dead sure it must have crossed 1 lakh given it's age. It is audible more than I expected out of a petrol (read:not as silent as swift petrol) but smooth. Gives me 15kmpl on highway fully loaded with AC on state highways. Cruises at 90 silently. I wont go faster than that anyways. Happy with that. Packs good punch although I still maintain that my maruti 800 can outrun it upto 60.

AC is powerful and works well. Other points include, the first car where I am satisfied with wheel caps rather than scolding people for having lame excuses for alloys. I have a lot of gap in the wheel well begging me for a tyre upgrade so that I can cruise faster. But I have seen one car with big wheels and felt it spoils the beauty of perfect proportions. So, sticking with originals.

Hydraulic steering is a boon. I hate the video game steering feel of modern EPS of swift or the overweighed feeling in Ecosport. Feels just right stiffness. Just as I wanted. Brakes are good but tyres work well till stopping from 80. Anything more than that and for hard braking, you need ABS.

So, to sum up perfectly, he got the car he wanted. It makes all of happy, smiling and proud. And it is a massive upgrade from having to do with M800 on highways. So, I can't comment on whether it is the value for money choice for us. But it surely feels tailored for us in every way.

Ownership review coming soon.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by aveemashfaq

Also, I opened the door panels and found anti-rust protection inside the doors and to the bottom of the car. And it feels well built. No squeaks or rattles. The cabin does not look outdated by any standards. Second thing is on sitting inside, it feels incredibly spacious. I matched it against an Innova and found the width of Getz equal to Innova or the Duster. So spacious. I was actually shocked when I sat in the so hyped about Innova and found it a tad cramped than the Getz in the front seat department. Getz is a full size bigger than the swift and figo and equal to the i20.

Yep, fully agree. The funny thing is I felt the Getz is even more practically-spacious than the Elite i20, thanks to better height and larger windows. Never have I seen a car that is 3.8 meters long yet have the kind of space and boot-space (290 L) as the Getz. Xcent comes close.

Engine is smooth. I don't know how many kms it has run because the speedo console was swapped by the mechanic but dead sure it must have crossed 1 lakh given it's age. It is audible more than I expected out of a petrol (read:not as silent as swift petrol) but smooth. Gives me 15kmpl on highway fully loaded with AC on state highways. Cruises at 90 silently. I wont go faster than that anyways. Happy with that. Packs good punch although I still maintain that my maruti 800 can outrun it upto 60.

The Getz, actually has an engine so silent that people cannot understand if its running or not, I've myself felt the car is electric sometimes. The reason why the engine loses its silent nature 1) Hydraulic mounts need replacing every 60-70k km conservatively and 2) Engine needs to be serviced immaculately with proper grade engine oil and also O2 sensors and fuel injectors need to be checked. In my case I replaced the mounts and problem solved, as good as new.

AC is powerful and works well. Other points include, the first car where I am satisfied with wheel caps rather than scolding people for having lame excuses for alloys. I have a lot of gap in the wheel well begging me for a tyre upgrade so that I can cruise faster. But I have seen one car with big wheels and felt it spoils the beauty of perfect proportions. So, sticking with originals.

Air-conditioner is so far above the leagues of todays cars that its almost funny, it has a 155cc compressor and all it needs is gas top-up every 2-3 years, (it has to be done religiously to maintain optimum cooling). The maximum size of tyre that can be put in my view is 185/65 R14. Anything above is overkill.

Hydraulic steering is a boon. I hate the video game steering feel of modern EPS of swift or the overweighed feeling in Ecosport. Feels just right stiffness. Just as I wanted. Brakes are good but tyres work well till stopping from 80. Anything more than that and for hard braking, you need ABS.

Steering is PERFECT, as you said the right amount of weight, feedback and accuracy. I have hated every steering I touch after driving the Getz and that included even the Punto because I felt it was a tad too light, although very close and better in precision.

So, to sum up perfectly, he got the car he wanted. It makes all of happy, smiling and proud. And it is a massive upgrade from having to do with M800 on highways. So, I can't comment on whether it is the value for money choice for us. But it surely feels tailored for us in every way. Ownership review coming soon.

The Getz is built well and is built to last.. just clean, replace and service wherever necessary and it will give back the fill-shut-forget ownership experience that everyone craves for. No other Hyundai comes close, except from the Elantra upwards.