[mohansrides]

Mechanical whizkids of Team BHP... I desperately need your help.

Car: 2011, Maruti Ritz ZXI (Petrol). Some 42k KMs on the odometer. Running flawlessly for 3 years. This is the 4th year of ownership for me (2nd owner).

Problem: In early June, I was driving in stop & go city traffic when all of a sudden the car started jerking forward. Although I had the accelerator pressed down with steady pressure, the transmission of power came in waves. And quite unpredictable at that. It was quite scary.

I parked the car for an hour locally. Then I took it to a local garage. I had no issues during that drive to the shop. They asked me to leave it there overnight. The next say, they gave me the car back saying that they could not find any problems. But, they had cleaned the spark plugs and the throttle body for good measure.

I took the car home and had no issues for another week or so. Then same problem.

This time I took it back to the garage and made the guy drive it with me. He could see the problem. Again I was asked to leave the car overnight. I told the guy that he needed to keep the car running and maybe warm the engine for a while before he is able to notice the issue. That certainly seemed to be the case for me. Next day, I was again told that everything was fine with the car (ek dum makkhan hai gaadi... aap kyaa kaali peeli tension le rahe le??!!). I reminded the guy, that he was with me the previous day when we experienced the issue. But, he sent me home with the car with all assurances that everything was A OK with the car.

No problems for another 2 weeks, then same issue again. This time, the car was parked and idling in neutral when the RPM surged up and down; and then the engine switched itself off!!

This time, I took it to a different garage. There too, I got the same response - "....nothing, no problem. But, we cleaned and overhauled the throttle body..."

Again no issues for 3 weeks, and finally today, the vehicle surged so bad that I was scared ****less. It was all I could do to get it back to the first garage properly. They had it for 3 hours and said that rats seem to have chewed out some cable which they fixed. Again they said that they can't find any issues.

So, this is the 4th time that I am experiencing the issue. And I can't seem to get any of these mechanics to zero down the issue.

Can someone here please help? I am at my wits end. This is my only car, and I need the mobility.

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

.. the vehicle surged so bad that I was scared ****less. It was all I could do to get it back to the first garage properly....

Hi,

You need to check:

• The Ignition Coil
• The HT Cables
• Clean the Fuel Lines
• Fuel Pump
• Wires to and from the MAF/MAP sensor, and lambda senor.

[mohansrides]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

Hi,

You need to check:

• The Ignition Coil
• The HT Cables
• Clean the Fuel Lines
• Fuel Pump
• Wires to and from the MAF/MAP sensor, and lambda senor.

Thanks Dhanush.... The mechanic was telling me that he will replace the fuel pump and have me drive the car for a while. But, I am a bit scared to be testing it out on my own. Also, he seems reluctant to take on the expense of what is called a "scan" wherein some other 3rd party guy shows up at the garage with a machine that essentially scans the car for problems. I told him to go ahead and do what is needed.

In the mean time, I will transmit your lines of inquiry to my mechanic. Still, it is so surprising to me that experienced mechanics aren't able to quickly help me. I'd have thought that with 20 years under his belt, he would have encountered this problem before.

[--gKrish--]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

Problem: In early June, I was driving in stop & go city traffic when all of a sudden the car started jerking forward. Although I had the accelerator pressed down with steady pressure, the transmission of power came in waves. And quite unpredictable at that. It was quite scary.

I parked the car for an hour locally. Then I took it to a local garage. I had no issues during that drive to the shop. They asked me to leave it there overnight. The next say, they gave me the car back saying that they could not find any problems. But, they had cleaned the spark plugs and the throttle body for good measure.

.

First Check Fuel Pump Relay and Fuel Filter (and if possible do a pressure test). A faulty MAF sensor can also give similar symptoms so check it too.

Check with another MAF sensor for some days and then check if problem resurfaces, then check IAC. Though the spark plug and throttle body cleaning should be done for rough idling, many a times these problems have been found to emanate from fuel pump/filter related issues(MASS just does this without even checking for vacuum leaks, have seen this with my own eyes, the hose was dislodged and they were busy inspecting spark plugs).

Have you by any chance refilled lower quality fuel or from a new place? Then check fuel filters first and do try injector cleaner.

Anyways, my intuition is that it is either related to the fuel pump/vacuum leak/faulty MAF. If you are sure that there was no misfiring of the engine at that time then check above three and IAC. If there is misfiring, then only you need to be bothered about the ignition coils/ spark plugs etc.

Regards,
Gokul

[saket77]

Check TPS- throttle position sensor. It's a kind of potentiometer. Bad sensor can lead to such issues.

Regards.

[mohansrides]

Thanks Gokul,

Originally Posted by --gKrish--

Have you by any chance refilled lower quality fuel or from a new place?

That would be a no. I always fill from only one pump. Have been doing so since I got the car. Now unless, they screwed up, or intentionally adulterated, there isn't any chance of a different quality of petrol entering the vehicle.

But, I will run through your list with the mechanic. That's a lot of useful information.

Saket.. Done. TPS added to checklist. Thanks


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[IshaanIan]

Members have already summed up what the issues you ought to be looking for based on the tell tale signs. Now, why do you give your Ritz to a local garage that cannot even guess what the issue might be? If your local garage cannot handle a basic little Japanese hatchback, then I think you ought to stay away. What for did you buy a Maruti? Go to the best service center in your city and leave it in their hands. Considering it is a Maruti your service costs won't be all that much higher either and there will be service engineers who have been trained and taught to shortlist and deduce all the possible problems that us BHPians have already mentioned. Your local garage guy may seem like a lovely guy but it is pretty clear that he is incompetent as a mechanic.

[mayankk]

Get an OBD scan done to see if anything is logged. Sounds like a gremlin.
As a start, why don't you disconnect the battery, pump the brake pedal a couple of times, and reconnect the battery after 5-10 minutes. The ECU reset might help.

[scorpian]

I would suggest you replace your fuel filter,clean your air filter for starters.
Next step would be to disconnect the battery and let the ecu reset,meanwhile dump a bottle of injector clean and go for a long drive with a proper pull in each gear to clear any carbon formation.

yes a tps could also lead to this issues,and so could faulty plugs and ht wires/coil.

Suggest you do a step by step elimination and get to the bottom of the problem.

[ObsessedByFIAT]

I have been meaning to post this for sometime now. I have a similar issue; however, the car is different - Nano XTA (approx. 2K on odo).

In stop-go traffic, this little beast just surges ahead in first gear. Almost like it wants to do a wheelie. Once the gear shifts to 2nd, the drive is normal. However, the 1st gear is un-nerving in stop go traffic. This mostly happens when the engine is heated up. In cold start conditions, the car is smooth to take off.

Any inputs/pointers I can check?

[mohansrides]

Ishan, Mayank and Scorpian,

Thanks for your inputs. Going to the Maruti service place is my next step.


All,

For now, we are back to square 1 - No issues. To his credit, the mechanic didn't ask me for any money so far.

Next time I experience this nonsense, I am going to drive this thing straight to a MIL service center.

Mohan

[vinit.merchant]

In all probability it is the Ignition coil.
If not, the next culprit would be the fuel pump.

[johnruben]

@mohansrides, I had the same issue with my indica once and the culprit were the rats, take it to Maruti authorized service station, the only thing that will solve the problem is to replace the wiring completely destroyed by rats and ECU has to be re-flashed, in my case the scenario was very bad I even used to get engine check light coming up frequently.

[mohansrides]

Originally Posted by johnruben

@mohansrides, I had the same issue with my indica once and the culprit were the rats, take it to Maruti authorized service station, the only thing that will solve the problem is to replace the wiring completely destroyed by rats and ECU has to be re-flashed, in my case the scenario was very bad I even used to get engine check light coming up frequently.

Thanks to everyone who helped with their inputs. After many many months of investigations at multiple locations, I am happy to report that this issue is hereby solved. And johnruben, you deserve some sort of prize for nailing it. Same cause and same consequence. After I replaced the rat-chewed wires, I waited a full 2 months to accept that we had gotten to the bottom of it.

Thanks a bunch.

[yoscenario2000]

Originally Posted by mohansrides

Thanks to everyone who helped with their inputs. After many many months of investigations at multiple locations, I am happy to report that this issue is hereby solved. And johnruben, you deserve some sort of prize for nailing it. Same cause and same consequence. After I replaced the rat-chewed wires, I waited a full 2 months to accept that we had gotten to the bottom of it.

Thanks a bunch.

In my Wagon R, I'm facing the problem of engine check warning light ON continuously, which does not goes off after the engine started.

Sometimes it goes off on its own but reappears again. There is no jerk at all so far.

I'm suspecting a rat chewing thing here. How much it cost you to replace rat-chewed wires ?

Was total wire harness replaced or some specific wires only ?