[amit_mechengg]

There is a valve which opens up to let the hot coolant in the coil for heating purpose. When you turn the dial to blue i.e coldest this valve closes and cuts off collant. I suspect this valve of yours is getting stuck sometimes.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by amit_mechengg

There is a valve which opens up to let the hot coolant in the coil for heating purpose.

It is actually a blend door made of plastic/polymer and not a valve per se as blackrider has pointed out. Pictures would greatly help in helping a lot of people here by you or blackrider.

Also, since it slides on a plastic/polymer rail, it has to be well made in order to function properly when the cable pulls or pushes it.

My Nano has been having a similar issue where a lot of air comes to the feet instead of the face even in the "face only" mode.

[black_rider]

Sadly I don't have pictures of the exposed HVAC on my car. I was shown a video of the same, which was captured by CSM as he was working on it. Temp control dial was towards extreme cold position and corresponding blend door position was shown. Then dial was moved to extreme hot, but the blend door moved just a little bit and stopped, instead of moving to other extreme position.

Attached diagram of a generic HVAC shows how a blend door really controls temperature of air by blending hot+cold.

[condor]

Originally Posted by black_rider

Temp control dial was towards extreme cold position and corresponding blend door position was shown. .

@black_rider, can you share the mechanism of modulating the temperature ? How is heat generated, and how is temperature modulated to match setting on the dial ? Does it affect FE ?

[lazy]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Sorry to butt in, but owning both the Storme Vx and now the Hexa Xta, in my opinion,as of today I wouldnt pay 16 odd lacs for a Storme which doesnt offer anything. The platform is simply too old in 2017. Also the build quality (in terms of interior fit and finish) simply doesnt cut it. Hexa from the same stable has left the Storme for dead. But will I sell off my Storme? NO.

16 odd for V-400 4x2 is a full 4 lakhs lesser than XT 4x2 price, and consequently the lower count of gizmos.
For me the really important stuff that Storme is missing are - extra airbags, ESP, rollover mitigation and those lovely wheels.

I wish Tata would update the Storme !!! Sigh.

cheers
lazy

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by lazy

16 odd for V-400 4x2 is a full 4 lakhs lesser than XT 4x2 price, and consequently the lower count of gizmos.
For me the really important stuff that Storme is missing are - extra airbags, ESP, rollover mitigation and those lovely wheels.

I wish Tata would update the Storme !!! Sigh.

cheers
lazy

I agree. The biggest miss in the Storme is fit and finish. Although vastly improved over the Safari, the Hexa shows how rattly, squeaky and loosely fit the Storme feels on the inside. Its not impossible for Tata to improve the fit and finish of the Storme, if they want to ask 16 lacs then atleast reach the quality levels of the 5 lac Tiago first!!

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by condor

@black_rider, can you share the mechanism of modulating the temperature ? How is heat generated, and how is temperature modulated to match setting on the dial ? Does it affect FE ?

Here is how it works.

1. Heat is generated using the engine heat that is transferred via the hot coolant which travels through the "heater core" shown in the picture. This is why when the engine is cold, it takes time for the warm air to start coming into the cabin.

2. Temperature modulation is using the blend door, which allows the air in contact with the heater core to mix with the air coming off the cooling coil and then be blown via the vents thereby mixing hot and cold air. When you turn the dial, it opens the blend door to different levels thereby mixing hot and cold air from the heater core and the cooling coil respectively.

3. It doesn't simply because today's compressors are very efficient and hot air is drawn from engine heat that would have otherwise been dissipated by the radiator.

[doc_zeus]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

Having said that, here is the all encompassing question - "Would you buy the Storme today if you were to buy a new vehicle and you didnt have a Storme?"

Definitely Dev, without a second thought. With the current market and the budget, I will go for the Storme anytime. I'm okay with the multiple visits to the ASC.

Though I might opt for 4x4 VX this time, if given a chance.

Originally Posted by black_rider

First of all congratulations for completion of first year! Those pictures are really nice. For the A/C issue, I would suggest to have the company customer support involved. Dealership staff mostly is good enough only for servicing, they are unable to diagnose complex issues. Same problem on my car was successfully resolved only when people from A/C supplier Subros were called in by the Tata CSM. They opened up lower part of dash and identified that HVAC blend door was not moving properly when temp-control knob was rotated. Hope this helps.

Wish you many more "happy" years with your Storme

Thank you black_rider

What solution did the service Centre offer you for the AC temp control issue? Did it work?
I'll inform my service manager regarding the blend door issue next week and let's see what lame excuse he'll come up with.

[doc_zeus]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Sorry to butt in, but owning both the Storme Vx and now the Hexa Xta, in my opinion,as of today I wouldnt pay 16 odd lacs for a Storme which doesnt offer anything. The platform is simply too old in 2017. Also the build quality (in terms of interior fit and finish) simply doesnt cut it. Hexa from the same stable has left the Storme for dead. But will I sell off my Storme? NO.

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

I agree. The biggest miss in the Storme is fit and finish. Although vastly improved over the Safari, the Hexa shows how rattly, squeaky and loosely fit the Storme feels on the inside. Its not impossible for Tata to improve the fit and finish of the Storme, if they want to ask 16 lacs then atleast reach the quality levels of the 5 lac Tiago first!!

Though I liked the Hexa, I would still go for the Storme. With TML, I would wait a few years before zeroing on a new release vehicle, after all the glitches are ironed out. And I honestly believe that even Hexa won't be niggle or rattle free. (This is strictly my personal opinion based on my little experience, and not to start a debate on Hexa vs Storme and I might be wrong too after all).

[black_rider]

Originally Posted by doc_zeus

What solution did the service Centre offer you for the AC temp control issue? Did it work?
I'll inform my service manager regarding the blend door issue next week and let's see what lame excuse he'll come up with.

HVAC supplier says that he updated the firmware on AC front panel (The black thing with 3 rotary knobs on it for temp control, fan speed and HVAC direction). I would've liked to have more details on how actually the door was getting stuck because of software issue, but this was all the info I was given.
The solution has worked for me. Its been 3 months, and I can successfully control the cooling, each and every time I turn temp control knob. Unlike earlier, when sometimes it would work, and most of the times not. Don't get entangled in the dealer's back n forth mess. Drop an email to customer support address and tell them that you''ve been facing this for long and service center has not been able to resolve it.

[avinash_m]

Originally Posted by black_rider

HVAC supplier says that he updated the firmware on AC front panel

Surprised to learn it is a firmware issue?! Is it really connected to some control unit (ECU?) somewhere, needing a firmware upgrade; if so, how is the question?! More so, since in my case it was the (temp) knob controller which was replaced as a solution, albeit diagnosed and worked on by the TASS folks only! Although, mine is mostly working now, the 'most' part is because the temperature changes are still not instant (2-4 sec lag). And as someone else had also mentioned, the degree of knob rotation (clicks) does not translate to proportional temperature changes.

Can you please check if this is true in your case too!?

Don't mean to beat this to death, but really want to understand what is the real reason for the erratic behavior and sure shot resolution for that.

[black_rider]

Originally Posted by avinash_m

Surprised to learn it is a firmware issue?! Is it really connected to some control unit (ECU?) somewhere, needing a firmware upgrade; if so, how is the question?! More so, since in my case it was the (temp) knob controller which was replaced as a solution, albeit diagnosed and worked on by the TASS folks only! Although, mine is mostly working now, the 'most' part is because the temperature changes are still not instant (2-4 sec lag). And as someone else had also mentioned, the degree of knob rotation (clicks) does not translate to proportional temperature changes.

Can you please check if this is true in your case too!?

The control panel itself has an embedded microcontroller. Panel gives electrical signals to servo motors to move HVAC doors, to compressor relay and receives signals from temperature sensors, inputs from knobs (which will be turned by car occupants). Turning knobs on control panel generates an electrical signal which is processed by control panel MCU and appropriate action is taken. From what I gathered in my brief telephone talk with the Subros person is that not every mechanical click on temp control knob will translate into blend door movement. You see those blue and red bars making up a circular segment on that knob? After my talk with the HVAC guy, I take these red/blue bars as discrete steps in temp control ... 6 in all. With the now "fixed" control panel, and updated expectations from knob itself, I would say the A/C is behaving in expected manner. Yeah, I know the mechanical click is kind of intuitive, we expect that to make a change in temp; but sadly that is not how it works. And the worse part is, nowhere is it mentioned in the user manual that this is how it is supposed to be operated. They should've had only as many number of clicks on knob, as many temperature gradations are possible.

Could it be possible that when they say they changed temp control knob for you, they actually changed the whole panel which mounts all 3 knobs? I suspect this because one knob would not be available as child part. Even Subros sources control panel as a unit from some other supplier for their HVAC system.

I would discount the 2-4 sec delay. It takes some time for blend door to move and actually cause perceptible temp change at vents.

[avinash_m]

Thanks for the detailed explanation @black_rider!

Originally Posted by black_rider

Could it be possible that when they say they changed temp control knob for you, they actually changed the whole panel which mounts all 3 knobs? I suspect this because one knob would not be available as child part. Even Subros sources control panel as a unit from some other supplier for their HVAC system.

In my case, they showed me a squarish black box of about 4"X4X1" (approx) with a small plastic pinion gear in the middle, to be the problem. If I recall correctly, it didn't even have any other elec. connectors (input or output) on any side. They said the pinion was not moving properly (to knob inputs) because of which the temperature changes were not working! I asked to keep the part but was denied for want of warranty claims; forgot to take a pic as I was in a hurry.

I guess it's futile now to bring this up, without any pics to support. Maybe, will try and have a casual discussion with my SA about this issue the next time I am at the TASS, I'll post back if there's anything significant.

[doc_zeus]

Originally Posted by black_rider

HVAC supplier says that he updated the firmware on AC front panel (The black thing with 3 rotary knobs on it for temp control, fan speed and HVAC direction). I would've liked to have more details on how actually the door was getting stuck because of software issue, but this was all the info I was given.
The solution has worked for me. Its been 3 months, and I can successfully control the cooling, each and every time I turn temp control knob. Unlike earlier, when sometimes it would work, and most of the times not. Don't get entangled in the dealer's back n forth mess. Drop an email to customer support address and tell them that you''ve been facing this for long and service center has not been able to resolve it.

I'll try contacting the customer care and escalating the issue higher up. Good to hear that the issue has been resolved in your case. If it doesn't work out here in my service center, I'll try to get it done at bangalore next month when I visit. How did they update the firmware for the microcontroller? Through the ECU?

[Car&me]

Doc, you are having a wonderful run with your Storme. Hope this AC issues gets resolved soon.

My Storme completed 1 year last month and the odo stands at 36000 kms. Absolutely no issues (except for the turbo which was changed by TML as part of the warranty in less than 10k kms.) I only have rattles, here and there; but hey how can we have a safari and still not have rattles.

I have been toying about the idea of getting a Hexa (for the lovely dashboard), but the moment I see my beast, I am not able to let it go. My wife and daughter don't want any other vehicle if the height of their seats come down by even a few millimetres.

I should also say that After Sales Service by Tata has improved a lot compared to 2001/2002 when we had an indica v2. The Service center, listen and are honest, they make sincere attempt to help a customer. I give it in Concorde Motors in ECR at Chennai.

I did get that AC dial experience once (where the cooling got reduced), but since in Chennai (and most of TN) the dial is always on the coolest side; I never venture into the hot air side of things. But I will keep a watch on this thread.

Happy munching miles