[subramaniamj]

So sorry to hear about your experience with your vehicle.
I'd like to say a similar experience which happened to one of my friends who too bought a Tata Altroz. For him, the vehicle would overheat and show warnings, which would eventually turn the vehicle off when ran continuously for more than 100 kms at a stretch. This happened to him twice, in the middle of nowhere. He had to wait for ~2 hrs for the RSA to come, pick up the vehicle on both occasions.

Any similar experiences here?

Due to this, my brother is concerned if he should go for Altroz or Baleno, any suggestions are much appreciated

[sachin_cs]

Originally Posted by roamer012

Is the yellow cap, adjacent to the leak, engine oil fill cap? If yes then Could this be a case of over filling of engine oil from factory?

Hi there, the leakage seems to be from the cam sensor O-ring, not the oil cap and we have checked the engine oil level couple of times and it is at a normal level usually.

Originally Posted by saikarthik

Ask for a root cause this time and insist of being there while changing the O-ring (since previous suspect was it) or whatever. The reason I say this is that I am unable to find any cost for replacement part mentioned in the invoice. Going by the invoice they have simply cleaned it and toped up the oil.

Hi saikarthik, unfortunately, I could not get hold of someone accountable to speak with, it appears as if it's not unusual for them.

Originally Posted by TrackDay

Some questions :

1. Is there blue smoke from the exhaust while driving ?
2. I see the color of the oil to be golden/brown. Kindly confirm it to be the same.

Hi Trackday, there's no smoke as such while driving and it indeed is engine oil that is leaking.

Originally Posted by akshay380

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. The oil leak appears to be from valve cover.
Please check for the following.
1. Don't let them simply change the valve gasket unless it's visibly faulty.
2. Check for PCV valve, if it's clogged. Also confirm that the breather hose connecting the valve if not collapsing under load, is high rpm.

Thanks akshay380 for the suggestion, your points are noted and I will discuss it with them. From whatever conversation I had with them(which is very few, to be honest) it appears the seal in the cam sensor o-ring is getting bad

Originally Posted by Leoshashi

There is something seriously wrong with Altroz Petrol N/A engine, this isn't the first case of leak I have seen. I remember a friend sharing many screenshots from a Facebook group.

Exactly my thought sir, there seems to be some design fault for sure and yet again a half baked product from them. The screenshots you shared are really helpful and now I know we are not the only one out there.

P.S. We are interacting for the first time Leoshashi however I keenly follow your threads and just love the way you care for your rides

Originally Posted by vishy76

It is extremely disturbing to see such major issues cropping up in the newer generation TATA cars. The Harrier first and the Altroz now. Cars like the Nexon, Zest, Bolt, Tiago and Tigor based on the older architecture seem to be far more reliable not only mechanically but also on the electronics front.

If it is indeed the tappet cover again, then I think it's just poor workmanship on the part of the dealer. Might be down to improper tightening of the tappet cover since the seal has been replaced already.

Hi Vishy76, your point on the reliability of particular cars are spot-on, I couldn't agree more. There seems to be a pattern for sure. And regarding the oil leakage, I'm yet to get a satisfactory response from them and it certainly has something to do with Cam sensor O-ring as stated earlier and now they are saying the O-ring along with plate assembly of tappet cover or something of the sort. Let's see what unfolds ahead.

Originally Posted by arjab

Earlier Tiago models did not have this issue. Since the engine is same between Tiago and ALTROZ, is this failure because of some value engineering/cost rationalisation exercise done by the manufacturer's team and not properly validated before being put into serial production?

This deserves a thorough investigation/diagnosis by TML personnel from factory end to find the root cause. Earlier the better.

Thanks arjab for highlighting this point, it may indeed be a cost rationalisation method without proper testing. And yes, this case needs a thorough diagnosis by TML personnel but going with the current developments so far, I'm not really sure how seriously they are about the case.

Originally Posted by Sankar

Like I suspected the valve cover/tappet cover need to be replaced. Either the part is faulty (good news) or the plastic used to make that is not able to withstand heat cycling (bad news). If its the former the issue would be resolved but if its the latter there is a chance it could manifest again. Seeing other posts with similar leaks from the valve cover I have a faint suspicion of the latter. Anyway make sure that all o-rings and gaskets are replaced and not re-used.

Thanks Sankar for pointing it out, as suspected by you, it indeed appears to be a fault with valve cover/tappet cover. They plan to replace it by next week, however, I have not been communicated about the exact part details from their side. I really hope that its the former and not the fragile plastic going bad. Whatever it is, it should be a headache for Tata motors and not the customers, I hope they come up with a solution for once and for all, because this oil leak stuff is really spoiling our new car experience.

Originally Posted by subramaniamj

So sorry to hear about your experience with your vehicle.
I'd like to say a similar experience which happened to one of my friends who too bought a Tata Altroz. For him, the vehicle would overheat.....
Any similar experiences here?

Due to this, my brother is concerned if he should go for Altroz or Baleno, any suggestions are much appreciated

Hi Subramaniamj, thanks for the concern & regarding the engine heating part, no we have not faced any instance of overheating as such. Even I saw some videos of Altroz with coolant leakage and heating issues in youtube. As far as choosing between Altroz and Baleno is concerned, from our experience, I don't think I would suggest you to go ahead with Altroz for the moment, let them properly sort out the niggling issues with the car first and then maybe you could consider it at later stages. If your brother is okay with Skoda, then for the same price range he might consider Rapid rider or Ambition with discounts, we have been driving Rapid for last two years (odo is at 40,000kms) and the ownership experience has been flawless so far.

[arjab]

Originally Posted by sachin_cs

Thanks arjab for highlighting this point, it may indeed be a cost rationalisation method without proper testing. And yes, this case needs a thorough diagnosis by TML personnel but going with the current developments so far, I'm not really sure how seriously they are about the case.

Make friends with the service guy and take him into your confidence. Request him to fit a 2020 Altroz cam sensor / cam cover or Tiago petrol pre facelift cam sensor/ cover in your car. Then run your car and check.

[Tassem]

Tata should reroute some of their 'Anti Hyundai' marketing budget to build better cars and provide better service instead.

I was and am a huge fan of the shelved Hexa. What stood between Tata and my money is exactly this reputation.

[akshay380]

I have brought this to the notice of someone very high up in Tata Motors. Let's see how they handle this. I am a big time Tata supporter but issues like this are a strict no-no.

[JJ1991]

Same kind of oil leak occured in my 1 month old petrol nexon, it took about 2 weeks just to sort out the issue and I was told that this is the first case pan India( yay, lucky me) and it just resurfaced again later. It took another 2 services to solve the issue ( Typical Tass) .To OP you should take this to higher officials of Tata else episodes like these happen again. All the best.

[mercedised]

Oil leakages from Tappet cover is not a new issue with Tata cars. I have owned Indica, Indigo, Aria, Safari (TCIC and DICOR) all of them after some kms developed oil leakages from tappet cover. As the cars were not under warranty, every time I had to get the tappet cover gasket changed, after this the problem vanished for 20-30K Kms and then resurfaced again. Again I had to change the gasket, this was a repetition cycle. Although there was no performance issues or damages to engine noticed due to this leakage as all the cars ran fine well above 1L kms with this issue still being unresolved till I sold them. Shockingly the newer generations of Tata's still have same issues, very sad to know that.

[sachin_cs]

Originally Posted by arjab

Make friends with the service guy and take him into your confidence. Request him to fit a 2020 Altroz cam sensor / cam cover or Tiago petrol pre facelift cam sensor/ cover in your car. Then run your car and check.

Thanks arjab for the suggestion, I will wait till next week when they change the cover which they have ordered, if that doesn’t work then would go with this method.

Originally Posted by Tassem

Tata should reroute some of their 'Anti Hyundai' marketing budget to build better cars and provide better service instead.

That is so true Tassem, agreed that they have made good NCAP rated cars & they are selling like hot cakes but that doesn’t give them the benefit of walking away from infamous niggles.

Originally Posted by akshay380

I have brought this to the notice of someone very high up in Tata Motors. Let's see how they handle this. I am a big time Tata supporter but issues like this are a strict no-no.

Thank you so much Akshay for the gesture, hope they take cognisance of the matter and solve it for once and for all. I am also a Tata supporter and I appreciate that they have come a long way since early TML days, however they still need a lot of improvements in the line up, QC and after sales service for sure.

Originally Posted by JJ1991

Same kind of oil leak occured in my 1 month old petrol nexon, it took about 2 weeks just to sort out the issue and I was told that this is the first case pan India( yay, lucky me) and it just resurfaced again later. It took another 2 services to solve the issue ( Typical Tass) .To OP you should take this to higher officials of Tata else episodes like these happen again. All the best.

Thanks gentleman for the information and I’m glad that your nexon issue is solved. So far, I have sent mails to whatever contacts I had & it seems like my mails were diverted back to the dealer, hence I decided to go ahead with the TeamBHP way, let’s see how things go from this point.

Originally Posted by mercedised

Oil leakages from Tappet cover is not a new issue with Tata cars. I have owned Indica, Indigo, Aria, Safari (TCIC and DICOR) all of them after some kms developed oil leakages from tappet cover. As the cars were not under warranty, every time I had to get the tappet cover gasket changed, after this the problem vanished for 20-30K Kms and then resurfaced again. Again I had to change the gasket, this was a repetition cycle. Although there was no performance issues or damages to engine noticed due to this leakage as all the cars ran fine well above 1L kms with this issue still being unresolved till I sold them. Shockingly the newer generations of Tata's still have same issues, very sad to know that.

That was quite an insight mercedised, I really hope that Tata is listening to this and they do address the issues in future Tata cars. So far from our driving experience, it is clear that there is no direct effect in the performance as such, I really hope that internals of the engine don’t take a hit in the long run. Also I have started getting a feeling that Tata should extend us a warranty and assurity that nothing would resurface in the future, since practically we have lost confidence in the car and its reliability.

[SN88]

So sorry to hear about your ordeal. It is quite hurtful to buy a car with hard earned money and be delivered a lemon and land up making trips to the service centre rather than enjoying the new possession stress free.

There is no excuse for lack of quality control for such important aspects of a car. Tata needs to understand that their operations team needs to justify their cocky advertising which more than often try to portray other brands inferior to them. This issue of oil leaks seems to be cropping up repeatedly by passing time for their new line ups.

It is usually the drivability / durability / badge value which make a car brand top charts, none of which Tata has been the best at.

[lsjey]

Sad to see once again Tata brand not doing well in the service department. There should be no issues with new cars. If there are issues with new cars, the way it is handled by the service guys makes or breaks the brand.

I've owned two Tata cars in the past 10 years. I feel sad that Tata needs to improve on Durability, Reliability and Service dimensions of quality. Without these basic things they will never win the confidence of the market.

I cannot find a single Tata car which has not had many niggles. And rather than support a product they kill products after some time in the market. This is terrible. I really felt bad when they stopped Manza. A good product but not supported with quality in durability, reliability and service.
Regards,
lsjey

[Sri Vathsa]

There has been no update for last 7 days in this thread, did tata motors get back to you?

Problem with newly manufactured cars had occurred even in the past(different manufacturers), but the way the company responds makes a lot of difference. looks like the recent success with new launches has gone to their head.

[sachin_cs]

UPDATE after the repair :

The car was sent to the service centre on 23rd February and I decided to update it here after a few days of observation.

Current status:

• Morning 23rd February- The car was picked up from our office by the service centre folks
• The Cover assembly cylinder head was replaced under the warranty as per the communication
• The car was delivered to us in the evening
• We are driving her daily and also keeping an eye under the hood
• There's no trace of oil for the time being
• Fingers crossed, hope it doesn't resurfaces in the future.
• If anything goes wrong God forbid, I will update the thread

Few pictures we clicked :


Car being picked up















The parts replaced

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by sachin_cs

UPDATE after the repair :

Yes that is the tappet/valve cover as I had speculated Hope it's solved for good.

[sachin_cs]

Originally Posted by akshay380

Yes that is the tappet/valve cover as I had speculated Hope it's solved for good.

Yes Akshay, it indeed was the tappet cover, kudos to your observation and analysis. I was wondering, when a BHPian can figure out the exact issue sitting thousands of miles away, what was keeping those service folks from rectifying it when it was first reported. Anyway, we are happy with the turn around time and really hope that we don't have to visit the service center anytime soon for their sub-par QC issues.

[akshay380]

Originally Posted by sachin_cs

Yes Akshay, it indeed was the tappet cover, kudos to your observation and analysis. I was wondering, when a BHPian can figure out the exact issue sitting thousands of miles away, what was keeping those service folks from rectifying it when it was first reported. Anyway, we are happy with the turn around time and really hope that we don't have to visit the service center anytime soon for their sub-par QC issues.

Ah no no. I know because I have a freaking leaking cover on my ford Fiesta for last 20000km and I am living with it. I'll probably spot a oil leak even when sleeping