[ad75]

this is going to be a long post ...

I had taken my Esteem for few running repairs.to CARS INDIA LB Road Chennai

My car was taken up by Service Advisor

DATE 27 JUN 2010.Sunday. I need the car during working days thus i chose a sunday to get this work done.

1. MIL(ENGINE MALFUCTION LIGHT) ON
2. REPLACE BRAKE PADS/SHOES AND FULL BRAKE OVERHAUL
3. A/C BLOWER CLEANING

STATUS
1. MIL - they said that the IAT sensor needs to be replaced and that they dont have stock of the same.it needs to be ordered.AS per them TECH two was showing P0112 error code which is IAT circuit low input.I asked them to try with another sensor to see if actually its a faulty one for which they refused and Repeated the same "it needs to be ordered".

how do they expect me to order without confirming the fault?
I asked them the price and they said they will check and let me know.I was expecting them to provide me an update on monday.no calls.
today I called up the service adivsor Anandsekar again he said he will get back about the price and that it needs to be ordered. he did not call back after 2 hours thus i called back and he didnt answer the phone.

(Read on you will know that it may be a grudge...)

Need help from experts here.Can i buy and fix this myself and how much would it cost ? is it OK to drive the car with IAT sensor kaput?

2. Brake pads replacement and brake overhaul.
I had told them to replace the pads and shoes if required and do brake bleeding.the advisor was saying only pad change in front will not help the disks/rotors needs to be changed.i clearly told him i dont want to change the disks,just change the pads.

around 1 pm i got a call from Service advisor that the rear shoes are fine and the front ones would require a change and that it would cost addl. 2500 (they had given an estimate of 1500 in the morning).I said OK to it under the impression that the pads cost that much.

I reached the service centre by 3.30 post a call from them that the car is ready.Saw the car and go to the billing counter.saw the bill and it included the disks costing 1500 +tax +labour (2K)

I had heated arguments with the guy at the counter and the service advisor that i didnt ask for a disk replacement.they said that they had done it after taking consent from me on phone.they had taken the consent for the pads and not the disks.

I asked them to remove the disks and install my old disks, to which they said that they would remove everything done by them and give me the car back in the same condition as i gave it to them.

to which i said I will decide what needs to be fitted in my car and not you.after lot of talks they agreed to fix my old disks back.

while removing the FL wheel one nut was not coming out and the guy removed it with great difficulty.I guess he had tightened it wrongly. this damaged the wheel nut and the bolt.both the threads were damaged.

Now the bunch of guys were using blades, sand paper and what not on the bolt and the nut to repair the damaged threads.can you repair a damaged thread by all these. ?

any ways after 30 mins or so i told them to replace the bolt (dont know the correct name).which they did.now another problem i had was that the nut since damaged wont fit the bolt and i had to drive the car back home with three bolts on the front left wheel.
bought a nut on monday fixed it.

While tightening the calipers back one of the bolts which tightens the brake pistons where not getting tightened properly.it was actually slipping, for which this guy had put a washer to tighten it.
Is there a chance of failure in case of excessive stress say during hard braking?

We had planned to go out in the evening but didnt have the courage to take my family in the car.

[bblost]

I feel its a case of misunderstanding.

They said it would cost you 1,500. Then they said an additional 2,500.
You said ok, to the additional amount.

They meant brake discs and were quoting its price.
You thought brake pads cost that much and hence said yes.

The FL wheel nut is very bad on the part of M.A.SS. Thankfully it was resolved by changing the bolt itself. I hope they did not charge you for the bolt.

However I feel that you should have gone ahead with the disc replacement. Atleast get a second opinion on it. Braking is too important to risk a bad disc.

[ad75]

Originally Posted by bblost

I feel its a case of misunderstanding.

They said it would cost you 1,500. Then they said an additional 2,500.
You said ok, to the additional amount.

They meant brake discs and were quoting its price.
You thought brake pads cost that much and hence said yes.

The FL wheel nut is very bad on the part of M.A.SS. Thankfully it was resolved by changing the bolt itself. I hope they did not charge you for the bolt.

However I feel that you should have gone ahead with the disc replacement. Atleast get a second opinion on it. Braking is too important to risk a bad disc.

agree with you, it sure was misunderstanding

however, he was pushing me for a disc change in the morning for which i had refused and told him that i will get it buffed outside knowing very well that MASS wont do it.

during our telephonic conversation, he mentioned that the rear shoes are fine and the front pads need replacement which will cost 2.5k.anyone would assume that its the cost of pads.had he mentioned that it includes discs i would have repeated my refusal again.he did not mention about the discs during the conversation.

discs can be buffed and re-used unless there are cracks, or chipping, there is none in my case.there are minor scratches which can be removed with buffing.
had done it for my alto and was fine till i sold it.

and yes they did charge me for the bolt Rs.11/- thus i didnt bother.i had to buy the alloy nut outside for Rs.50/- as MASS doesnt sell it.

its not the money, its more of those guys pushing me to buy what i dont want, that pissed me off.

[Cesc]

Originally Posted by ad75

discs can be buffed and re-used unless there are cracks, or chipping, there is none in my case.there are minor scratches which can be removed with buffing.

its not the money, its more of those guys pushing me to buy what i dont want, that pissed me off.

Absolutely agree. A**s often try to get the discs changed with the pads even when a simple buffing can make them as good as new. You can get the discs buffed for around 200 bucks while the replacement usually costs ten times that much amount. I got the discs on my Octy buffed some 5k kms ago and no issues whatsoever. They had developed some scratches as the brake pad sensor on my car did not inform me that the pads were wearing thin. As long as they are of decent thickness and not damaged one doesn't need replacement.

You often see these kinds of things from these guys. Trying to push things down your throat that you can easily do without.

[Abeer]

[quote=ad75;1958886]agree with you, it sure was misunderstanding

discs can be buffed and re-used unless there are cracks, or chipping, there is none in my case.there are minor scratches which can be removed with buffing.
had done it for my alto and was fine till i sold it.
quote]

How is this done?
During the last service of my Accent, the Advisor told me that the Disc needs to be replaced with the pads as there was some rust. When I asked him that is rust not common, he agreed as just replaced the pads.

[bblost]

Originally Posted by ad75

during our telephonic conversation, he mentioned that the rear shoes are fine and the front pads need replacement which will cost 2.5k.anyone would assume that its the cost of pads.had he mentioned that it includes discs i would have repeated my refusal again.he did not mention about the discs during the conversation.

Bad service advisor. Do use the feedback form from the dealer.

its not the money, its more of those guys pushing me to buy what i dont want, that pissed me off.

I agree. Its something that will make anyone's blood boil.

[ad75]

Originally Posted by Cesc

You can get the discs buffed for around 200 bucks while the replacement usually costs ten times that much amount.

yes IIRC i had paid 200 per disc for my alto.

Originally Posted by Abeer

How is this done?
During the last service of my Accent, the Advisor told me that the Disc needs to be replaced with the pads as there was some rust. When I asked him that is rust not common, he agreed as just replaced the pads.

im not sure of the process, i faintly remember my mech in bangalore telling me about sending the discs to a lathe.

Originally Posted by bblost

Bad service advisor. Do use the feedback form from the dealer.

they did not give me the feedback form, i too forgot to ask. thinking of writing to maruti if i dont get a feedback phone call.they generally call after 2-3 days of service. should i write to maruti?

im told that the SAs have a daily billing target, probably thats the reason they resort to these activties.

forgot to mention earlier, they had charged Rs.84 for some rust spray and some Rs.14 for teflon tape, they said they use the spray to loosen the nuts/bolts. since it was a small amt i didnt pursue it further.

[ad75]

Originally Posted by ad75

Need help from experts here.Can i buy and fix this myself and how much would it cost ? is it OK to drive the car with IAT sensor kaput?

While tightening the calipers back one of the bolts which tightens the brake pistons where not getting tightened properly.it was actually slipping, for which this guy had put a washer to tighten it.
Is there a chance of failure in case of excessive stress say during hard braking?

Would request answer to these queries.

[yzfrj]

Originally Posted by ad75

the disks/rotors needs to be changed

How many Kms on the Odo ?

[nitrous]

@ad75,
Vehicle maintenance cost matters a lot to you, I feel.
You should ditch MASS and go to an independent garage.
Btw, The MGP brake disc of the esteem costs 650 rupees.

[aargee]

I agree with Nitrous here. Though not as bad as yours, I've experience from Cars India (Ambattur) ripping me off in the past, but I must admit the work was good. Long story short, I could've got the same work done at much lower cost else where. Also coincidentally, we've another small M.A.S.S player workshop near my home & hence I switched over to this guy. I see a great difference even with the way the car is being washed between Cars India & this guy. I've settled down with this small player instead of big players like Cars India or MSM as they've their own targets to achieve every month.

[Gilead]

Originally Posted by aargee

Also coincidentally, we've another small M.A.S.S player workshop near my home & hence I switched over to this guy. I see a great difference even with the way the car is being washed between Cars India & this guy. I've settled down with this small player instead of big players like Cars India or MSM as they've their own targets to achieve every month.

Me too! I have shifted to Pit Stop which is a small M.A.S.S. Big ones like Khivraj, ABT and MSM are all crooks and I have had enough of them.

[pranavt]

There is a service limit to every part in your car. Buffing and skimming the rotor beyond that limit is not something that is recommended. If the thickness of the rotor was beyond service limits, they will obviously ask you to replace it. Cracking a rotor during braking is much more dangerous than losing a couple of thousand Rupees from your pocket.

You can drive without the IAT sensor, but the ECU (I'm assuming it's a fuel injected variant of the Esteem) will not get the IATs and will be unable to do fuel corrections as per the intake temperature. Best to buy it from a spare parts shop and fit it yourself since it's probably just connected by a single wire somewhere on the intake manifold/air filter assembly.

[ad75]

Originally Posted by nitrous

@ad75,
Vehicle maintenance cost matters a lot to you, I feel.
You should ditch MASS and go to an independent garage.
Btw, The MGP brake disc of the esteem costs 650 rupees.

nitrous,

I wish you had read my post/s fully before posting.

No, the costs does not,Pl read my post again.I would spend on what and where I like to, a MASS or the SA will not decide what needs to be done to my vehicle.I will tell them, they will execute.coz I dont run a garage at home.
I was ready to pay 2.5k only for the pads.and was ok with a total bill of 4k plus.

by suggesting to ditch MASS do you mean to say that MASS is like this, and they would continue to replace parts without the owners knowledge/approval and expect them to pay for whatever they do? do you expect them to continue to con and cheat this way? while i look for another FNG?

let me tell you that this is my 4th maruti vehicle and i have been going always to mass and at very few occasions at independent garages.

dude im not on an austerity drive to distribute money to mass.

[ad75]

Originally Posted by yzfrj

How many Kms on the Odo ?

52k

Originally Posted by pranavt

There is a service limit to every part in your car. Buffing and skimming the rotor beyond that limit is not something that is recommended. If the thickness of the rotor was beyond service limits, they will obviously ask you to replace it. Cracking a rotor during braking is much more dangerous than losing a couple of thousand Rupees from your pocket.

what would be the kms specified for rotor replacement? My alto had 88k kms on ODO when i sold it and it was buffed once around 60k kms.