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-   -   2nd-gen Mahindra Thar | Niggles, Problems & Solutions (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technical-stuff/233764-2nd-gen-mahindra-thar-niggles-problems-solutions-18.html)

I had a similar experience with my X1 20d, that was totally my fault. I had installed a tuning box that connects to the fuel rail connectors. But I was careless enough to not keep the wiring harness properly secured. This caused it to slip and touch the belt pulley, thus wearing away the insulating cover. Suddenly while driving the dashboard lit up like a christmas tree (including the check engine light) and the car went into a 'limp' mode, not revving above 1500rpm, also seemingly misfiring continuously. There were many (un)helpful messages displayed on the car screen asking to visit a service center urgently. On pulling over and inspecting, the above problem is what I found. Removed the tuning box with great difficulty without tools at hand and the engine returned to normal. But it had logged a few errors 'Injector short to ground', do not remember the codes though. Cleared all those and they never reappeared. Clearly this indicated a short connection somewhere in the circuit. Water ingress into the rail plugs might be your problem here or something wrong with the wiring harness.

I have been facing an issue with my Thar for the last couple of days. The problem is as under:

1. When my car is running for 30-40 minutes at a speed of about 80-90 km/h, it experiences a sudden dip in acceleration. The AC stops working, and a check engine light comes up on the instrument console.

2. This happens quite frequently. To get past this issue, I need to stop the car, slot the 4x4 lever into 4H, and then slot it back to the normal position. This fixes the issue for, say, another 15-20 minutes, and then I experience the same drop in performance again.

3. Alternately, I need to turn off the AC, and the car gets back to normal after 5 to 7 minutes. It seems to me that the check engine light is coming on because the engine is getting extremely hot. I believe that it is a serious issue as the car suddenly loses momentum when the check engine light comes on.

Can someone help diagnose this issue? I am sending the car to an authorized service center for a thorough check-up, but I thought of checking this up with the community of Thar users here.

Problem:
I got these warning/error lights twice in the past 1000km. I'm currently at ~46k on the odometer. On both occurrences, I got these lights within 5 mins of getting out from home in slow moving traffic in the city.

Had a similar issue on my dad's Thar which has done less than 10k. He faced the warning light 4-5 times until now. He drives exclusively in the village to his farm.

Solution:
A quick restart of the engine would dismiss these lights.

Question:
Does anyone know if this is a serious issue that needs attention? Or is it just another of the Mahindra electronics' pranks?



The errors are

1. HHC Malfunction (Hill Hold Control)
2. HDC Malfunction (Hill Descent Control)
3. ESP Malfunction (Electronic Stability Programme)

Here are the relevant pages from the manual:

Started getting this more often recently and decided to take the car for a check at the service center. Initial diagnosis is that the battery is swollen and my not be serving up enough power. I don't buy the argument.

If the battery was at fault why aren't any of the other systems throwing the error lights? Still waiting on a final diagnosis. Will update here.

Just got back from the service center with my Thar. Here's the rundown:

• Battery: My 3-year-old battery read 12.6V with the engine off, but the service center insisted it was bad because it was swollen and causing the ESP, HHC, and HDC warning lights. They wanted ~8k for a new one (market price is around 6k). I refused and requested written confirmation that the battery was at fault and I would get the battery replaced from the market.
• Stalemate: I asked for written remarks of the diagnosis and they deflected by offering a day-long battery test at Exide, which I declined since it would delay it further. They then had me meet the CXO (customer experience officer). They weren't comfortable with it.
• Twist: The CXO stuck to the bad battery story, but I mentioned my other Thar (1.5 years old, 8k on the odometer) with the same issue. I'm no expert at this, but I was skeptical about the diagnosis. Finally, he suggested that the Brake Switch could be faulty(which they didn't have in stock) and reset it instead.
• Outcome:
  • ✅ Warning lights are gone after the Brake Switch reset.
  • ⁉️ I got a written statement saying Complaint not resolved since battery replacement is necessary for further investigation but customer refused. They'd investigate the brake switch if the issue returns after a new battery is installed (no mention of the brake switch reset) :Frustrati.

Next steps:

• I'll monitor the car for a week.
• If the lights return, I'll replace the battery.
• If the lights return after replacing the battery, I'll get the brake switch replaced.

It felt like they were trying to push for battery replacement instead of eliminating other possible points of failure. I seriously hope that this was not the case. I actually like this service center.

An update on this issue. My Thar has clocked ~22.5k km, around 5k km done after the first instance of this issue. And as some of the members pointed out that the issue could be because of mud or pressure washing the engine bay, i refrained from going in to muddy offroads and kept the engine bay clean.

During the first 3k km before the 20k km service I had one more instances of check OBD light coming on and cutting off power. But this time, i switched off the ignition and restarted the car and the engine power was back!!. Drove for few kms and the warning light automatically went off. I didn't bother to go to the service center as 3rd service was nearing. During the service i informed about the issue and the OBD was checked and I was informed nothing unusual, they cleared the past error history and gave back the Car. No issues for another 2K km.

During this time I was regularly using the car and also doing occasional off-roading, no issue what so ever. Then in Sep 2024, I traveled to my home town in Kerala and took my car to a river bed (no driving in water). While climbing back from the river bed on a steep incline (in 2WD) i had to break the car mid course and suddenly felt engine vibrating unusually, and there it was the check OBD light came back. I was worried as if i got stranded there it would be very difficult to get the car back on to a level surface. But as before i quickly switched off the ignition and waited for some time and switched it ON again, to my relief the engine was revving normally but the check OBD light was still ON. I moved the car to a level surface and repeated the ignition OFF-ON cycle few times and the OBD light went away.

As i was returning to Bangalore the next day and this happened on a Sunday, i thought I will check with service center after reaching Bangalore. Next day while we were on the way back to Bangalore, the issue returned, this time i was driving at around 60kmph when i felt loss of power and check OBD light came ON. The usual ignition OFF-ON helped to recover the engine revvs but the issue repeated again after few Kms. I decided to not drive further and check for a service station, luckily I was only 4km away from ERAM Mahindra service center near Kalpetta, Wayanad. Took the car there and explained them the issue, but the OBD warning light was no longer ON by the time i reached there.

On the last two occasions from Bangalore, first from India Garage ITPL, and second from Sireesh Mahindra E-city, i got similar response, no issue as the OBD light is not ON anymore, they just clear the OBD history and gave back car with 0 bill. I was really concerned about this as how can I live with such a Car that can randomly go into limb mode, how can i go to remote locations with confidence. But this time the technicians looked at the Car and started inspecting the engine bay, and informed the OBD error was same Injector Short to Ground and there is a wire touching the body of the CAR. I was actually relieved, they informed out of the 2 such errors (one for each injector 2 & 3) they were able to Identify wiring issue with one of them and rectified it (not sure what they did though, assuming some insulation added). Since there was no visible issue with the second one, they asked me to take the car and drop it for a further thorough inspection if the issue repeats. I drove back to Bangalore and its been couple of weeks now and haven't seen the issue again yet.

I am glad that there was an actual issue that was root caused relating to the OBD error and hoping the work done by ERAM Mahindra technicians actually solved the issue permanently. Also i have lost confidence on the service centers in Bangalore for their "Its OK sir" attitude and not doing a thorough inspection while the OBD history clearly had errors regarding injector short to ground.

I got this on my drive back after a pressure wash, initially thought it was wheel sensor which may have got water in during the wash. But since it did not go away even after being parked in sun for a while, decided to dig deeper.

So on a hunch opened the ECU coupler and lol there are 2 small drops of water on one side. The great Mahindra QC had missed checking on the seal for the ECU connector, that it was intact or not. In my Thar the seal is loose and had come off on one side. And had let in some water which caused all this issue. Do note I was there when they washed the vehicle, and it was not even direct spray, while trying to spray to the bottom of the engine bay via the bonnet top, some splash, that is all it took.

Blew the water off the connector using mouth, microfiber and skewer sticks to dry the area completely, fitted the connector back and problem solved. Placed the seals back around the connector before plugging the connector back in. The connector or the pins were not even wet, still all this drama.

Once fitted back error lights are gone. ECU / check engine light remained. Second start and ECU light also cleared.

Today morning while reversing the AT gear selector shift just lifted up! And now I need to do this.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Yys-K7hpd4A

A friend who works in Mahindra to me on whatsapp "see we build engineering skills in our owners!" rl:

I replaced the battery and haven't faced the issue since.

Fixed with a DIY.

Step 1 - Pull the shifter handle up and remove the leather trim cover at the base. It has a electrical couple for the gear position indicator illumination at night, decouple that.

Step 2 - Removed the bigger plastic trim that surrounds the shiny gear lever indicator. It can't be completely removed since the 4x4 shifter knob sits inside this.

Both these covers are just clips and can be pulled out with some moderate force.



Step 3 - Searched for the screw, top screw was still inside the shifter knob cover coz it was partially covered by the leather trim that is attached with a cable tie. Looked everywhere for the second screw and finally found it exactly at the middle of the shifter mechanism. I had lost my magnetic stick that is very handy in such instances, finally landed up removing the four nuts that hold the shifter mechanism to the floor. Lifted the mechanism and found the stupid lil screw!


Step 4 - tighten the screws back properly. It had thread locking marks but seems like it was never tightened properly due to the location. The small ratchet from Stanley and star screw driver bits came in very handy for me to tighten them up.

Step 5 - Reverse the step 3, 2 and 1 and you are done.

Took about 20 mts of struggling in the tight space and few cuts and bruises on the hands thanks to those sharp plastic trim edges.

I had this issue last week. I was driving from Bangalore to Hyd and throughout the journey the Check Engine System warning would show up, kill the accelerator, turn off the AC compressor. It would clear itself randomly every few seconds. There would be stretches of an hour or so without any issues.

Took it in to the service center and they diagnosed it to be a Radiator fan that was not working. It was replaced under warranty. I have 2021 Thar that has done about 54k km till date.

What is confusing to me is that the temperature guage on the cluster never crossed the halfway mark throughout the 580km journey.