[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by tharian

Done with another Chennai round trip with the odo standing at 25900 kms.

No specific point to highlight as it was business as usual for the car.
This time I tried a different fuel additive from Liqui Moly which I felt was on par with Cetane X when it came to engine smoothness, especially at low revs. Cetane X I felt works better in high revs when it comes to NVH.

Speed tec diesel? That one was really good on my Ecosport as well.

I haven't tried Cetane X.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Speed tec diesel? That one was really good on my Ecosport as well.

I haven't tried Cetane X.

This one;
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B01...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'll try the one you mentioned, the next time. I am trying to keep the engine as clean as possible on the long run and in turn, trying different additives on alternate tankfuls.

[Vid6639]

Originally Posted by tharian

This one;
https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B01...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'll try the one you mentioned, the next time. I am trying to keep the engine as clean as possible on the long run and in turn, trying different additives on alternate tankfuls.

I tried this super diesel additive many times. Finished quite a few bottles. The very first time I thought it felt better but I think it was all placebo. The difference is very minimal. I drove till coimbatore then on way back put this bottle to see the difference. Hardly anything on highway.

When I tried Speedtec diesel (also 2-3 times). Everytime there was a noticeable surge in power and refinement. It felt more revv happy and easier to drive.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I tried this super diesel additive many times. Finished quite a few bottles. The very first time I thought it felt better but I think it was all placebo. The difference is very minimal. I drove till coimbatore then on way back put this bottle to see the difference. Hardly anything on highway.

When I tried Speedtec diesel (also 2-3 times). Everytime there was a noticeable surge in power and refinement. It felt more revv happy and easier to drive.

Yes, I too feel that all of them have more of a placebo effect than reality. But then, I am hoping with the additives, more than performance or better NVH, they keep the internals clean on the long run.

I'll try Speedtec on my next trip.

[NaXal]

My personal experience, tried premium fuel / additives but more than those two, what makes most noticeable difference for me is as follows,

1. New Air Filter (Rs. 360/-)
2. Simple pressure washing (spraying that radiator / intercooler section)

Even that second step only somehow makes the drive smoother, responsive & free revving. Difference between pre & post washing or specially that Air Filter change is much more pronounced compare to fuel supliment or premium fuel.

Thanks

[tharian]

Originally Posted by NaXal

My personal experience, tried premium fuel / additives but more than those two, what makes most noticeable difference for me is as follows,

1. New Air Filter (Rs. 360/-)
2. Simple pressure washing (spraying that radiator / intercooler section)

Even that second step only somehow makes the drive smoother, responsive & free revving. Difference between pre & post washing or specially that Air Filter change is much more pronounced compare to fuel supliment or premium fuel.

Thanks

Air filter is replaced every 5k kms. Pressure washing, I do not so frequently mainly because I look to see if it dirty enough to give it a pressure wash. Don't want to end up bending the fins by pressure washing it frequently.

[Vibhanshu0923]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I tried this super diesel additive many times. Finished quite a few bottles. The very first time I thought it felt better but I think it was all placebo. The difference is very minimal.

. I too tried a few bottles of super diesel additive in my Figo sports hoping that i will see a difference. But it was truly a placebo. I have shifted to Cetane X since then and I find a distinguishable difference in mid/high rev smoothness of the engine. Also the engine seems to sound less coarse on cold starts.

Never tried the Speed Tec though. Might give it a try soon.

[tharian]

Car has run 26,800 kms with another Chennai trip done over the weekend. The annual service is due this weekend at the new service centre.

I got a good fuel efficiency of close to 18 kmpl when I topped up before the trip. The last refill was at Kancheepuram on my last drive to Chennai a month ago on the onward journey. I drove another 80 kms or so to Chennai on that trip and the return to Bangalore and driving around Bangalore during Feb in that same tankful.

I had Speedtec diesel additive from Liqui Moly and actually wanted to try on this trip, but I was carrying the Cetane X bottle in the boot and ended up filling that. Since the oil is 9k kms old, the initial kms were rough, but smoothened out after for the whole trip.
The return was a fully loaded car with luggage and a full house and I was cruising at 100 kmh for most part. The car handled the undulations and bad roads well with the full load. The last 100 kms is when I opened up and I could make out the the difference in the engine note and revs because of the load, but being a diesel, it doesn't require gear changes. The maximum I shifted was to fourth and that would be because of an incline and when I was in low revs. Towards the end, the engine had a nice thrum and with the muffler removed on my car, it was a nice note as well when there was no tyre roar.

This year will see hardly any trips or almost none since my 4 month old is back home and I am planning only on Velankanni somewhere down the year.

[tharian]

Gave the car for it's 30k kms service today although the car had run 27k since one year was up since the last one.
This was at a new service centre(Cauvery Ford)which was around 8 kms away since the one which I had been visiting (Metro Ford) had closed down last year.Thanks to Bounce scooter rental, I was able to drop and pick up the car with no hassle.

The service centre is located away from the main Hennur or New Airport Road and is in a quiet locality. It is a big facility and just few months old. There were just two SA's one of whom who I knew from Metro Ford and attended to me. I think, including my car, there were just 3 other cars for service which was a good thing since they did a splendid job which is the first time for me. The car for once was cleaned and shining like the way I like.

The fuel filter was replaced as per the 30k schedule. The air filter was not clogged enough to be replaced, moreover I have couple of new air filters with me to replace when required.
The brake pads were worn and had 2k kms left in it as per the SA,which I felt was not right and it was something which could have been replaced at the 40k service. I asked them to replace it anyway as during the last trip, during some hard braking, I could hear some loud rubbing noise during high speeds. Now the bite is quite crisp which is good. The disc as per them has another few thousands left.
I remember on my old Figo petrol, they asked me to do the same when the car had run around the same and I asked them to leave it. But on this car, due to the higher speeds it is capable of, I gave them the go ahead. Actually, I was expecting it to last atleast 50k kms since I downshift and use engine braking too. The total bill came to 8.7k which was close to the 9.5k which was the estimate on the app.

Car felt nice and quiet on the way back. I have ordered the usual Liqui Moly oil additive which I fill after every service.
It was the first time I let the fuel run quite low since I wanted to top up after the service. It drank 41 litres which meant I had got fuel efficiency of 18 kmpl on my last Chennai round trip which was done on a single tank.

[tharian]

Thanks to the current situation, it has been 5 months since an update.

The car hardly saw any action for few months since work had moved to home from office. In the month of July, with lockdown relaxed, I decided to take it for a spin every 2-3 weeks on the Old Madras highway. Since offices are closed, there are no jams and I can get out of the city quickly and do a quick sprint of a 100 kms and get back in couple of hours.

The lockdown started just after I got the car back from annual service in which the brake pads were replaced. Since I could hit some serious speeds only recently when I took the car out on the highway, I realized the car pulls to a side on hard braking. I am not sure if I need to wait for it to bed in or whether it is an issue. Also, brake fade showed after a couple of high speed braking which I think is normal. Will keep an eye out in the future runs.

Performance is still the same and there is no drop. The car still pulls rapidly to umentionable speeds and holds corners with confidence. The only grouse being the light weight feeling after crossing a certain speed and the diesel nosies at a particular rev range.

A picture taken during lockdown.

[tharian]

Did a impromptu trip to Chennai and back yesterday which ended up being the longest I have driven in a day. Covered 700 kms to and fro.

Onward was via Krishnagiri and I left home at 430am and was able to reach Beasant Nagar just after 9 am which was a quick trip. It reminded me of doing the same time on a return from Chennai on a KTM 390 years ago. Traffic was unexpectedly high with lots of private cars right from Electronics city to Krishnagiri and then the two wheelers and local traffic after Vellore.

Return was slow because of traffic, frequent stops and the never ending under construction roads near Chittoor. Back of the sheet calculation for overall fuel efficiency says around 17-19 kmpl. This was good since the average speed for the onward journey was above 80kmph for most of the 350 kms.

The tank had just above half a tank when I left Blore which also CetaneX mixed in it. I wanted to try the LiquiMoly Speedtec additive which I had picked up few months ago and so I almost emptied the tank and topped up with Shell and added the additive. Shell fuel never worked well with this engine and I had noticed that from the beginning. It was no different this time and the additive helped in reducing the roughness and noise. There was just one stretch when I was at around 2000-2300 rpm when the engine was smooth and silent and felt like a petrol engine.
I still prefer CetaneX when it comes to constant high revs driving. The onward journey was enjoyable because of how smooth and nice the engine was sounding and it feels like the engine likes to rev with this additive.

The car crossed 28000 kms during the trip and is at 28650 kms.

Due to constant rains nearing Chennai and till I left Tamil Nadu, the car was covered with mud and spray from vehicles in front.

[tharian]

Update on the LM Speedtec fuel additive. Like I mentioned in the previous post, I didn't make out much of a difference over the other additives I had used.

This morning, I took the car for a short drive within the city and the smoothness was quiet prominent. This was not revving above 2k rpm. The smoothness on the pedals and inside the car itself was obvious. Not sure if it was the cold outside weather, but it felt good. It was more of a feel that I would like to have with this engine all the time, but cost of can doesn't make sense to use it often.

I picked up an Iftex diesel additive so I can use it in every tank full as the dosage is less.

[tharian]

Crossed the 30k kms mark on the way to Chennai yesterday.
There was a one day return trip to Chennai from Bangalore couple of weeks back and in which I was stuck in a bad jam leaving Chennai and wanted to make up time and was driving quite hard most of the journey and the car performed perfectly and in the process putting some bigger cars to shame.

Yesterday was more of a relaxed drive with less traffic with the RPM at 23-2400 most of the time and the fuel consumption average showing 28 kmpl for the whole trip. This was the same tankful I filled before leaving Chennai last time and need to see what the average is when refill. It is the first time I saw those figures for the whole journey.

The engine is more or less settled in now and smooth at certain rpms. It is only at a certain band in the rpm that the NVH increases. Once I cross 3k rpm, depending on the load, the engine actually becomes smooth again with a nice note. I'm using System D now and will know how good it is in the next refill and the drive back since the last one had some of the Cetane X left in the tank as well. The best experience was with the Speedtec from Liqui Moly.
A word about the stock tyres. The Alnac4G were something which I wanted to replace when I bought the car and was advised against it by Nikhil of Madhus and it has performed way better than expected in grip, tyre noise and wear. I was thinking of replacing it with a sticker rubber soon, but this looks like it will easily last another 20k kms.

Plane spotting with my daughter from a distance, the second runway of Bangalore airport and a picture from the last one day drive to Chennai and back.

[tharian]

Completed another Velankanni trip over the weekend.

The car is done around 31700 kms and due for the 4th year service next month. The last one year saw only highway drives mainly due to the lockdown.

On the Velankanni trip, on the onward journey, I had encountered some bad roads and some new sounds cropped up which I noticed on the return. One was a tak-tak noise from the rear left drum brakes when I hit the brakes. It is not very loud and can be heard when braking in slow speeds due to less background noise. The other noise was more of a concern since it was a slight squeak when I release the clutch pedal. It doesn't last the whole way, but just for a second during the release. I didn't observe it when I was driving in city traffic and it was heard only at slow speeds during the trip, few times. Another issues was that the TPMS showed the rear right wheel pressure at 30 psi and 31 when I increased the speed for a while and went down to 30 after. Since it didn't drop further, I didn't bother and with the other tyres hovering between 33-35psi, I got back home. It seems to be a puncture but haven't checked yet for a piercing.

Tried the Wurth diesel additive this time which probably was the 6th or 7th different additive I tried. Similar as some other additives, it made the engine smooth while cruising around 2-2.3k rpm. On the return, the engine became a bit coarse but not as smooth as the onward journey. I am planning to use synthetic oil which keep the smoothness regardless of how much the engine has run on a trip.

With diesel price at an unbelievable Rs.84/-, I managed to get a decent efficiency of 22 kmpl which was a blessing since the journey was 1000 kms long.


As with all my trips to this part of Tamil Nadu, there are some very scenic places which I see and this time, I stopped at one of those place which was near Tranquebar, for lunch.

[AYP]

Hello Tharian, looking to get my 3.5 year old, 23.5k run Figo remapped. I have a few queries.

1. My extended warranty for the 4th year shall be expiring in August of this year. I do have the option of taking the 5th year extended warranty. My query is, how do warranty and remaps go along with each other? If something goes wrong with the engine, I doubt they'd honour my warranty. So if I do decide to go for a remap, I am thinking of not opting for the 5th year extended warranty. Now I know this is not exactly related to the remap, but any insights would be great to hear your opinion.

2. I am based in Mumbai. I am thinking of going with code 6 as they have an dedicated distributor in Mumbai and in general, I have seen positive reviews about them. Any other alternates in Mumbai? Any reason why I should or should not stick to code 6? Any risk considering that Mumbai only has a distributor and not a full fledged setup?

3. What is the difference between stage 1 and stage 1+ tuning? I have seen a post from their Kochi Instagram page featuring a stage 1+ remapped Figo and multiple Ecosports. Should I get the stage 1+ if available?

4. Is the only con of EGR delete, higher emissions? Do I have to take any precaution(s) post EGR delete since code 6 does a hard EGR delete. Hope that getting PUC won't be an issue.

5. Let's say the guys at Ford decide to update the car's ECU software, the remap tune shall go away right? Are the tuners in general, understanding of such issues? Or is it 20k(another remap) yet again? How often can such a scenario take place? In general, what is the type of support than tuners provide once a remap is done?

6. The car is running of stock 14 inch wheels. I am thinking of replacing the tyres around the 5 year mark. Keeping in mind the remap figures of 130PS/290NM, should I upgrade to 15 inchers? I mean technically speaking, I am of the opinion that I should. However, would like to know the opinion of fellow members if that is really necessary and if yes, how much would be the impact? Can it be managed with 14 inchers? Can it wait for an year and a half?

Will Ford offer me some value for my old alloys if I buy the new 15 inchers from them?

7. I do like the mid-range Turbo kick. It is quite addictive. That kick is actually missing on the stock Figo and often, I do find myself taking out my dad's Jetta just to get that kick in the pants feel. Having experienced the code 6 remap(and now the Wolf Moto), was the low range too bad? While I would lean towards a strong mid range, the low range should be atleast decent if not great.

These are all the questions that are there in my mind. Will really appreciate any other pointers/advise that I may have missed.