[sandeepsc]

I posted this query on official Hexa thread but did not get much response there. So I have created this new thread as it is necessary to bring to notice to large section of members who might have experienced this kind of problem and to attract the attention of TATA folks (If they do read it).

So the story is:
I was on my way to Nasik when this 5th gear problem occurred. I was driving as usual and car was running in 5th gear. When I tried to shift to the 6th gear it was observed that gear is trapped/jammed at 5th position and unable to shift to 6th gear position. Initially I thought I am not pressing clutch properly so attempted to fully press the clutch. However gear lever refused to shift from 5th to 6th or 4th gear position. As I was driving on busy Mumbai-Nasik highway slowly moved the car to one side of the highway, switched off the engine and tried to bring it to neutral position. However gear lever didn’t budge to shift. After several attempts and pumping the clutch the gear lever came to neutral position. Then I started the car and gears were shifting properly upto 4th gear. When I shifted the gear to 5th position, the real problem occurred. The gear was slotting into 5th position but was not accelerating. The 5th gear position behaved like a neutral where gear was engaged but car was not moving. Then I shifted to 6th gear which was working perfectly. It means I had to shift the gear directly to 6th position directly from 4th skipping 5th gear which was acting as neutral gear. This was a sudden problem as I never faced any issues related to gearbox before this.

Part II of the story:
I brought the car to Wasan service centre on Saturday 27th Nov-21 to resolve the issue. The SA took the car for round and confirmed the issue. The SA was not sure about the cause of the problem but said there might be misalignment of the gear and in worst condition synchronizer ring problem. First two days they carried trial and error on gearbox but could not find the cause of problem. After two days SA informed me that they are concerning with engineers at TATA plant and will open the gearbox after their approval. The SA said I have to bear the repair cost to which I strongly objected and said the car is still in manufacturer original warranty and issue is related to premature failure of gearbox. After three days they agreed on warranty part. But still solution for the problem was not found. They again asked to TATA engineers at plant for the solution. Then they opened the gear box. Till then 8 days passed without concrete solution on the cause of the problem. I saw the gearbox opened at service centre and person working on my car said there is no problem with synchronizer ring and any other gear components. The gear oil also did not contain any metal part. He observed slight play in gear shifting. He said a bush part might be culprit here and they have ordered it from plant. However as per him those bush part is modified for Hexa and will take time to arrive at service centre. All these visit and conversation happened on Saturday 4th Dec-21. They assured me that part will come on Tuesday 7th Dec-21 and car will be handed over to me max upto Thursday 9th Dec-21. Yesterday on Tuesday in the evening got a call from SA to inform me that bush part is still not received. Today morning I called their Service Manager for delay in service. He informed me that some inter connected parts of the gear assembly are ordered from the plant and he will call back me after confirming with TATA plant. After half an hour Service Manager called me and gave me another shock. He said parts will arrive only on Saturday 11th Dec-21 and will take another two days for installation and inspection and then will deliver the car. Upon asking which parts they have ordered he did not give straight answer and said some inter connected bush parts and synchronizer ring. Now I am in two minds whether service centre actually found the right solution for my problem as service manager himself not confident about which parts they have ordered. Every time I call them and they give me reasons for delay. Now I am heavily doubtful about their technical capabilities. Even if they do the job how reliable will it be? Till date I am not sure about what went wrong with 5th gear. My concern is what the real cause of problem with 5th gear is. Car was running fine without any issue with gearbox and all of sudden this problem occurred in the middle of the highway.

All the elite members and moderators are requested to help me in my way forward to this problem. The car is with service centre for last 12 days and no solution in sight. Is it not the responsibility of TATA Motors to make available the spare parts for discontinued model? Or am I paying cost for buying discontinued model? Such a capable and once flagship car of Tata motors but incidents like this ruined the whole ownership experience. I can understand that there might be delay in parts supply but the way service centre handled the situation have shaken my confidence in Tata Motors.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by sandeepsc

I was on my way to Nasik when this 5th gear problem occurred. I was driving as usual and car was running in 5th gear. When I tried to shift to the 6th gear it was observed that gear is trapped/jammed at 5th position and unable to shift to 6th gear position. Initially I thought I am not pressing clutch properly so attempted to fully press the clutch. However gear lever refused to shift from 5th to 6th or 4th gear position. As I was driving on busy Mumbai-Nasik highway slowly moved the car to one side of the highway, switched off the engine and tried to bring it to neutral position. However gear lever didn’t budge to shift. After several attempts and pumping the clutch the gear lever came to neutral position. Then I started the car and gears were shifting properly upto 4th gear. When I shifted the gear to 5th position, the real problem occurred.

The issues appears to be with the Synchronizer & Sleeve corresponding to the 5th Gear.

The Entire Gearbox needs to be opened, dismantled and then the components have to replaced.

[sandeepsc]

Thanks for your response abhishek46. Actually last Saturday when I visited the workshop, the person working on my car said synchronizer ring and sleeve are ok but there is some play in gears due to bush wear which needed to be replaced. I don’t know which bush part he was talking about. Experts can throw light on this. Now yesterday when I called service manager he informed me that they have ordered some inter connected part along with synchronizer ring which will be arriving on coming Saturday. First they said synchronizer is ok and now are saying they ordered synchronizer and other parts.

Is there really scarcity of such critical gearbox parts at plant? Can someone having contacts at Tata plant help in this regard?

[gkveda]

How old or new is the car in terms of running and years after purchase? If it is new, you should directly write to Tata senior leaders and ask for replacement of gear box. This is required to bring the seriousness in the dealer and manufacturer. They will start opening their eyes and look at the issue and work for resolution.

Else, issues in cars are not new to Tatas. Every second car will report issues to dealer.(one or the other) it remains one out of lakhs of cars that keeps coming to the workshop.

So, it is essential to make big noise and public in social media to get required attention to your car.

[sandeepsc]

Originally Posted by gkveda

How old or new is the car in terms of running and years after purchase? If it is new, you should directly write to Tata senior leaders and ask for replacement of gear box. This is required to bring the seriousness in the dealer and manufacturer. They will start opening their eyes and look at the issue and work for resolution.

Else, issues in cars are not new to Tatas. Every second car will report issues to dealer.(one or the other) it remains one out of lakhs of cars that keeps coming to the workshop.

So, it is essential to make big noise and public in social media to get required attention to your car.

Well the car is June-19 manufactured and purchased in Jan-2020 means effectively less than 2 years of ownership. The car has done 23K Kms so far.

The purpose for this thread was to bring this issue to our platform so that Tata motors people can be made aware of this (If they read this). I am not social media friendly so opted this route.

[TROOPER]

While I don’t have any ideas about the technical aspects, all I can say is try being patient and cordial with TASS. I don’t think any service centre is ever a fan of having a car the size of a Hexa waiting and occupying space. Ya we need to keep prodding them to get the job done, no doubt. Plus waiting for spares will definitely be a pain. A fellow owner’s flood damaged Nexon had to wait over 2 months for spares to arrive. And Nexon is in production. The spares availability at Tata is pathetic.

My two cents is, don’t trust Tata company officials one bit. They’ll do everything in their power to pass the buck and paint the service centre and customer as the villains. Try having a good rapport with the SA and general manager of service. Every ounce of your patience will be tested.

Is your car at Deonar Wasan? If yes then I won’t be much worried, cause the GM Manoj Shetty is a pretty reliable and trusted guy. Would have told you to go there earlier but even I had no idea he had left Inderjit Mira Road for Wasan. The other ones I’m not so sure.

Even my Hexa has developed a minor rattle/squeak which comes from the steering wheel area on rough roads and undulating concrete roads. It’s irritating. This too only at 17k kms. Honeymoon period is over I guess. May God have mercy on all the Harrier And Safari owners plonking 25 lacs on those niggle boxes.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by gkveda

Else, issues in cars are not new to Tatas. Every second car will report issues to dealer.(one or the other) it remains one out of lakhs of cars that keeps coming to the workshop.

This is a rather generic statement. I would go so far as to say it is a false statement based on the number of cars Tata sells these days versus the number of complaints. One has to distinguish between a minor rattle and gearbox failure.

Originally Posted by sandeepsc

Well the car is June-19 manufactured and purchased in Jan-2020 means effectively less than 2 years of ownership. The car has done 23K Kms so far.

The purpose for this thread was to bring this issue to our platform so that Tata motors people can be made aware of this (If they read this). I am not social media friendly so opted this route.

From what you’ve said, the techs at the service centre are looking into the solution, and Tata has accepted warranty. The problem seems to be that you want an expedited resolution, which isn’t the best approach IMHO. Patience first, and escalate if they refuse to fix it or if issues remain after the fix.

Example - I recently had my car in the workshop for about 15 days as a result of a botched front suspension job a couple of months ago. It took four trips to the service centre and in the final week when the car was there at a stretch, the replacement of a few (of the previously replaced) parts to solve the problem, but it was a bit of trial and error.

On a side note - for what it is worth - I’m not for TBHP becoming a platform for people to start threads to get expedited solutions to problems unless they are exceptional.

[ashokabs]

Problems do occur in even new cars. They are not frequent and some are peculiar and the service centres do not have the experience to diagnose them quickly. Spares for cars which are sold in small numbers are relatively scarce thanks to 'zero' just in time inventory. I had a problem with my Tiago bought in 2016 which left me high and dry and for which the vehicle had to be towed two or three times. The car would only idle and any attempt to accelerate would be futile. It was escalated to the senior service management and customer service of Tata Motors. Solutions were attempted and problem supposedly resolved only to recur again. Finally after replacement of throttle body it seemed to have been solved. Fast forward 4 years and it happened again - not once but twice!

Last time the workshop told me that their computer analysis showed some wiring error. They struggled for a full day checking the entire wiring. Then they tested the car and said that probably it is okay. If for any reason the problem recurs then I would have to get the entire wiring harness replaced. So there you are. Sometimes problems are very difficult to diagnose as in my Tiago's case. However, in the gearbox I am sure they will find out the problem but parts will take time to be obtained and you will have to have patience and deal, as has been said earlier in this thread, with the service centre staff and management so that they are happy to do your work.

[bullitt1]

Originally Posted by sandeepsc

So the story is:
I was on my way to Nasik when this 5th gear problem occurred. .

My wife drives a 2019 March XM covered around 24k kms. Long time back, we faced issue of gears not slotting to 5th and with difficulty to 3rd, anyways 1st is terrible, started using 2-4-6. SA could not solve the issue, was told that he will check with TATA and get back and that never happened.

Somehow it disappeared on its own and right after this from 5th, the gears were not slotting to 6th, it was going to Reverse. Now, these have become intermittent popping at its own will. Service centre has been of no use at all.

Other issues facing are slightly hard and springy clutch, increased lag, suspension noise.

[padmrajravi]

The delay in part shipping that you are experiencing now has nothing to do with Hexa being a discontinued model or an unpopular one. This was the case even when Hexa was new. If it is any consolation, this is going to be the same with Harrier and Safari owners too. If a part has to be replaced, it will take a minimum of 10 days of time. There is some provision for placing a vehicle off-road order, but it is with the mercy of the dealership. I have had some success once with a vehicle-off-road order when my wiper motor was replaced in 4 days.

About dealership being clueless, unfortunately, this is the case with all manufacturers out there. If the problem is an uncommon one ( Like a gearbox or engine issue), they will have no idea and is dependent on plant engineers and experiments. For some manufacturers, because of the inherent quality in manufacturing, the customers will not experience this much. But we all know Tata is not in that league yet. Hope you get your car soon and get to enjoy the beast. This is just a minor hiccup in the ownership experience and will pass.

[sandeepsc]

Update:

As per Service manager 5th and 6th gear assembly has been replaced and after warranty formalities car will be delivered to me tomorrow.

Originally Posted by TROOPER

While I don’t have any ideas about the technical aspects, all I can say is try being patient and cordial with TASS. I don’t think any service centre is ever a fan of having a car the size of a Hexa waiting and occupying space. Ya we need to keep prodding them to get the job done, no doubt. Plus waiting for spares will definitely be a pain. A fellow owner’s flood damaged Nexon had to wait over 2 months for spares to arrive. And Nexon is in production. The spares availability at Tata is pathetic.

My two cents is, don’t trust Tata company officials one bit. They’ll do everything in their power to pass the buck and paint the service centre and customer as the villains. Try having a good rapport with the SA and general manager of service. Every ounce of your patience will be tested.

Is your car at Deonar Wasan?

I was never impatient or over anxious while dealing with service centre as my above posts might suggest. Their inability about proper diagnosis of problem and lack of communication from them made me skeptical about their service. Whenever I called SA, he said “ Kam chal raha hai sir. Aur time lagega”. Service manager was also unreachable on phone. Later on when I met him personally, he assured me that job will be done as per my satisfaction but need time. Throughout the process I was very cordial with them and agreed every time line they asked. But yes it is to be agreed that spare parts availability is pathetic from Tata Motors.

Yes my car is at Deonar Wasan only. Don’t know about the GM but Service manager is nice and polite guy.

Originally Posted by VeluM

From what you’ve said, the techs at the service centre are looking into the solution, and Tata has accepted warranty. The problem seems to be that you want an expedited resolution, which isn’t the best approach IMHO. Patience first, and escalate if they refuse to fix it or if issues remain after the fix.


On a side note - for what it is worth - I’m not for TBHP becoming a platform for people to start threads to get expedited solutions to problems unless they are exceptional.

You took me wrong brother. As I explained above was never behind them taking hunter. I kept patience while they kept postponing the solution.

Also it is completely worth to start a new thread whenever car has any particular issue. That’s why people post their queries and solutions to bring into the knowledge of other members. Our forum is flooded with such threads for each and every car issues. In this process, if any member helps someone to escalate his problem to senior management or anyone from the company then what’s harm in that? We are here for to help out each other. If I would not have shared this issue here, then how would members and owners of Hexa come to know that Hexa has gearbox issue and make them aware about this beforehand. It is just like engine leak issue reported here which alerted fellow members.

Originally Posted by ashokabs

However, in the gearbox I am sure they will find out the problem but parts will take time to be obtained and you will have to have patience and deal, as has been said earlier in this thread, with the service centre staff and management so that they are happy to do your work.

Thanks ashokabs for sharing your experience. Parts availability is major concern for every Tata customer. As I said earlier I kept patience from my side and dealt with care so that they seriously work on my car.

Originally Posted by bullitt1

Other issues facing are slightly hard and springy clutch, increased lag, suspension noise.

You will need good amount of time to get these issues resolved from TASS. Good luck.

Originally Posted by padmrajravi

Hope you get your car soon and get to enjoy the beast. This is just a minor hiccup in the ownership experience and will pass.

Thanks. Your words are morale boosting for owners like me who are dealing with such issues.

[rajeshks777]

Originally Posted by bullitt1

My wife drives a 2019 March XM covered around 24k kms. Long time back, we faced issue of gears not slotting to 5th and with difficulty to 3rd, anyways 1st is terrible, started using 2-4-6. SA could not solve the issue, was told that he will check with TATA and get back and that never happened.

Somehow it disappeared on its own and right after this from 5th, the gears were not slotting to 6th, it was going to Reverse. Now, these have become intermittent popping at its own will. Service centre has been of no use at all.

Other issues facing are slightly hard and springy clutch, increased lag, suspension noise.

Are you still driving the car that way

Anyway I had a similar problem with my first generation Dzire. Happened 7-8 years back while driving on busy Trivandrum city roads Suddenly it happened, only 3rd gear was working. Not even first or reverse gear. I struggled to reach home (3-4 km away) as I couldnt find a place to park the car. Next day Maruti A.S.S came with recovery van, took the car to service center, replaced a rubber bush (20 rupees) and returned the car by evening.

I do frequent night drives between Thrissur - Trivandrum. Had it happened during one of those, I would have been in real trouble.

[bullitt1]

Originally Posted by sandeepsc

Update:

You will need good amount of time to get these issues resolved from TASS. Good luck.

Dont have any hopes of improvement. As this is under company lease, have to bear with this couple of years and say "OK TATA BYE BYE".

Hope your issues are resolved.

Originally Posted by rajeshks777

Are you still driving the car that way

Nowadays, 5th is slotting, but as I said earlier, it has a mind of its own. Suddenly it'l stop slotting. More scary thing is when it was slotting from 5th to Reverse instead of 6th. We hear a kind of metallic grinding noise, never let the foot off clutch.

Good that you found a solution, but as you said it can be terrible to breakdown in unknown time and place.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by sandeepsc

Update:

As per Service manager 5th and 6th gear assembly has been replaced and after warranty formalities car will be delivered to me tomorrow.
.

Good to hear this is fixed, please let us know the list of bits that are replaced. 5&6th usually are overdrive, this issue is happens due to the sleeve but interesting to know what was the actual culprit.

[sandeepsc]

New update:

Received the car yesterday evening. The 5th gear engaging issue is now resolved and gear are working perfectly now. But I will reserve my opinion till I take it to long drive which will happen on coming weekend. Both the SA and SM of the workshop helped me a lot in resolving my issue on priority. But as per discussion with them spare parts availability is major concern for every car which has major faults. Only after approval from Tata plant dealer is asked to carry out major repairs which cause more delay in deliveries.

In my case 5th and 6th gear assembly along with other components have been replaced in warranty. Attaching the work carried out on my car under warranty: