[tharian]

Crossed the 5000 kms mark on a trip to Coimbatore over the weekend.

It has been three and half months since I got the car and it has seen 4 long trips. It reminds me of my Bullet on which I averaged 1000 kms per month for the first couple of years.

On this trip I tried Shell V-Power diesel and must say it did make a difference. The engine at high revs was much smoother in feel and the sound was a nice tight thrum which felt good to hear. I am not sure if there is any difference in power, although I think this is mainly for smoothness than power. That said, I will use it only for trips and not city.

The car was loaded with luggage and 4 on board and that made a positive difference in stability. Bangalore-Coimbatore toll road doesn't have many curves, and I was doing good average speeds with no discomfort felt inside. On curves there is no other way apart from dabbing the brakes a couple of times to shed speed and then take the curve and accelerate gradually through the curve which doesn't make it feel uncomfortable inside. There is no way it can be taken in high speeds without the occupants all shifting to one side.

Must say the engine is brilliant in the way it picks up speed with the car being loaded. I didn't have to scrap with other cars on road to get ahead, instead I let them go whenever there was a rolling block and then power ahead when the road got empty. All this in 5th gear, or at the most 4th.
For comparison on my old petrol Figo, I had to be in 3rd and rev the nuts of the engine and even then I had to get a clear stretch of road to gain speeds at which I am cruising most of time on the Aspire now.

Got an average of 18kmpl with the rpms above 2.5k most of the time.

[DragonHawk]

Congrats Tharian for your latest acquisition and thanks for sharing the detailed report. To be frank, after reading your thread I have been seriously thinking to get Figo Sport and keep the current one for my family use. Hopefully I should be able to convince my better half and conclude on this soon.

Regarding Shell V-Power diesel, I believe Ford diesel engine just love Shell diesel. I have been filling it consistently for last few months and as you said there is considerate difference one can feel when it comes to engine response. I could clearly make out less engine clatter, good engine response and slight increase in efficiency.

Anyways congrats once again and wish you many more miles ahead.

[tharian]

Update post 5k kms.

Nothing much to report. The car is running fine and the engine seems to be getting better and more free revving as kms are added. The sound has reduced as well, especially when revving.
The fun part of this car is the lack of turbo lag which makes driving in the city comfortable. Want some power to overtake someone annoying, lead foot

I have ordered the EGR blanking plate from Ebay UK and should be getting it in few weeks. I did some reading as well as with some useful information from member Sankar, decided to go with it.
Only difficult part is fixing it since it is not easily accessible or else I could have done a DIY.
I will have to find a good FNG or take it to a Bosch Service Center.

[tharian]

Did a 650 kms trip today to Guntakal and back.

The journey was on Bangalore - Hyderabad highway till Gooty and then cut off to Guntakal. So most of the drive was on almost empty 4 lane road.
The engine gets better after every drive. I made it a point to use Shell Vpower diesel for trips and it makes the engine feel and sound just right.
I was doing good speeds for most of the trip and was topping out on many stretches. What I noticed was the engine just wouldn't rev more than 4k in 5th gear. I am hoping it will increase as the engine gets more kms.

This drive was solo and must say the car was quite stable at some high speeds.I don't know what changed or probably it is me getting used to the car.
There was just one occasion when the shocks bottomed out and full throttle speeds on a bridge and was quite violent on the inside. What the car doesn't like are bumpy highways although they look fine from a distance. That is when it starts hopping if curves are taken at high speeds.

Got an average efficiency of 17 kmpl with the revs mostly at 3k rpms or above.

Have covered close to 6k kms now.

[tharian]

EGR Delete

Crossed 6000 kms yesterday, got the EGR delete plates through a friend from UK and being a holiday, i thought i'll try a DIY.

I had spent almost an hour few weeks back to be sure of the location and the screws to remove etc.
It is a pain and yes it was actually painful and I ended up with some cuts too on my skin.

The EGR Valve on the Aspire is located behind the engine block and towards the middle, but reachable to people with long limbs like me. There is a mess of wires and pipes which makes it more difficult to remove and loosen the screws.
I had to remove the plastic cowl below the wipers so I have more access. It is almost impossible to do this without removing that.
It took a while since I didn't have the right tools for this and had to use a monkey spanner which was long and difficult to squeeze in.
I removed the egr pipe fully as I just couldn't fit it back with the blanking plate. I blocked the valve opening with one plate and the hole on the intake runner with the other. It was a set of 2 plates I got.
One is with a small hole for partial delete. I used that on the intake runner by covering the hole.

The car has run 6k kms and the oil in the intake runner mixed with exhaust gas had caused a gluey residue which was the reason I did this. On the long run, it will effect the performance for sure.
When I put my finger and felt the inside, there was oil on the surface and on the other side after the exhaust enters was this residue.

This will throw a CEL but should not affect the engine or performance as I am hoping. The CEL will be taken care when I do a egr soft delete soon.
It was a learning for me as well since I realized the reason the blanking plate has open ended holes for the screws are because you don't have to remove the EQR pipe fully and instead loosen them and slide the plate in.

Thanks to D-Bhpian Sankar for sharing all the info I and more.

Some pictures.
Peugeot -Citroën marks on the EGR pipe.
I remember reading that this engine was Peugeot derived.















Took the car for a spin and it felt like it was in limp mode and engine was noisy too.
I just couldn't drive with the noise which sounded typical old school diesel.
So put in the blanking plate which has a hole in the centre and managed to fix the pipe back.
Engine is back to normal now and no CEL.

[tharian]

Observations post EGR partial delete.

I would have driven around 50 kms or less after this DIY. First off, this is a difficult DIY due to location and absence of a ramp and my limited tool kit. I would have spent close to 6 hours altogether over two days on this.

Yesterday was the first drive I took after the complete work and yes , there is a difference. There is a long flyover near my place which I normally use to check my car since there is a signal just before and I wait for that to turn red so I get an empty stretch. So I already knew how my car is on quick acceleration on that road. This time I noticed, smoke has reduced quite a bit. There is slight smoke but it wasn't that black smoke like before. What I noticed clearly was the grunt has increased, not by a huge margin, but it could be felt. I am sure it has since obviously the engine is getting to breathe some clean air without hot exhaust in it.
I have used the blanking plate with a small hole in it as in the picture in the earlier post. I would guess now the EGR port is just 10-15% open as compared to the original port dia.


Coming to the DIY which wasn't complete earlier since there was a leak whenever the turbo kicked in and was audible inside as a whoosh sound. I wanted to get it done fully so I am satisfied and can enjoy the drive.
Luckily, the authorities were re-doing the drain near my place and being a Sunday , I borrowed couple of blocks to lift the front of the car. Went under and realized it is much easier to work from below. There is a coolant pipe right behind the EGR pipe which makes it really difficult. I removed the screw holding the coolant pipe to a clamp and manged to move it a bit to get access.
Finally I removed the plate and placed it properly and put back both the screws. All this was at the EGR valve end and unlike the first time, I didn't touch the intake runner end. Removing the plastic cowl under the windshield is required if you want a clearer view, or it can be done from below.

Having put back everything and made sure there was no leak, I was hoping there would not be any CEL or leaks or even limp mode since I faced that the first time. Took it for a blast and all was good.
I guess the first time, it went to limp mode since I had accidentally yanked a rubber pipe which went into the EGR valve which I noticed later and put back.

Ford TDCi engines are weird to say the least.
Crankcase vent pipe (oil)+Turbo+intercooler+EGR = intake charge which is cooled by the intercooler , but again heated up with exhaust gases, not to forget the oil.

In the picture below, the thin shiny plate is the blanking plate

[tharian]

Update post 6000 kms.

The engine noise has slightly increased in idle after the EGR partial delete. I confirmed it when I unplugged the vacum pipe to the EGR valve and listened to it idle.
Unplugging the vacum pipe was what I did accidentally initially when I did the EGR blanking which is why it went to limp mode. If it hadn't, it is the easiest way to disable the EGR.

The rattles in the cabin are present on and off which is annoying especially since the suspension is hard and almost similar to the old Figo when it comes to slow speeds.

Smoke from the exhaust has definitely decreased as well post the EGR work. Using Essar diesel also helped.

Few trips coming up in the next couple of months and should know the full effects of the EGR work.

Picked up this LED park lamps online.

[N4Nikunj]

Dear Tharian,

Belated congratulations on your newly acquired beast. Glad that you are enjoying the 1.5L TDCi to its fullest. I love the particular car for its engine and driveability it offers.

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by tharian

Picked up this LED park lamps online.

Is the switching off instant or gradual like the OE bulbs? I have Leds in the cabin lamp and I found the cutoff to be too abrupt.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by samaspire

Is the switching off instant or gradual like the OE bulbs? I have Leds in the cabin lamp and I found the cutoff to be too abrupt.

It is instant. I like it that way and I think that is how LED's are. I've ordered brake LED's too which should arrive soon. Will post a video on how it looks.

[samaspire]

Originally Posted by tharian

It is instant. I like it that way and I think that is how LED's are. I've ordered brake LED's too which should arrive soon. Will post a video on how it looks.

I have bought this and it is less brighter than the OE bulbs.

1156 P21W BA15S 33 LED 5630 5730 auto brake lights fog lamp reverse light car daytime running light white red yellow Car styling
http://s.aliexpress.com/nIBri6rm
(from AliExpress)

Can you share the specifications or the link of your parking and brake LEDs.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by samaspire

I have bought this and it is less brighter than the OE bulbs.

1156 P21W BA15S 33 LED 5630 5730 auto brake lights fog lamp reverse light car daytime running light white red yellow Car styling
http://s.aliexpress.com/nIBri6rm
(from AliExpress)

Can you share the specifications or the link of your parking and brake LEDs.

These are the ones;
The park lamps are bright. Not sure of the rear LED's for brakes which I am yet to receive. And I have a feeling I ordered a plain LED and not red.

https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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

Since these are unbranded and low cost, don't expect good quality. One of the park lamp LED's had a loose connection.

[tharian]

A set of simple mods done with. These are to do with lights.

In the first week after I got the car, I had replaced the main headlamps with Philips Xtreme vision which made a huge difference.
I wanted to replace the fog lamps as well to a more brighter set since the ones on this car are not as effective as the old Figo.
Checked online and found quite a lot of options for the replacement. I saw a set of yellow Osram h11 bulbs which were available for a good price and picked them up. Got them fixed today at Ford since I couldn't reach the lamp on the left and must say they are effective compared to the stock ones. Of course it will come in handy when required as well and something different too.

Earlier I had picked up LED bulbs as well and was shipped the wrong size. These were the 5w ones for cabin/boot/number plate. Since there was no return option, I decided to replace all the 5w bulbs in the car and the results are much more brightness in all areas.

Some pictures

[tharian]

On the 6 months birthday, the car completed 7000 kms on a trip to Coorg.

It was a round trip of 650 kms with an average efficiency of 18 kmpl.
On the return on Mysore-Bangalore highway, I tried keeping the revs at 2k rpm and was successful in doing so for most of that stretch and hence the 18 kmpl.
Roads from Mysore to Coorg as quite fast and is difficult to keep a light foot.

Something I noticed this time was the engine was a bit louder than usual on the return when I was cruising above 2.3k rpms or thereabout. I use Shell V-Power on trips and the extra 200 bucks I spent on it over the normal diesel is just so the engine runs smoother which doesn't seem to have worked this time. I am thinking of going for an additive from Liqui Moly which is being discussed on another thread to get the engine to run smoother and quieter.

Got my first scratch as well, or rather a rash on the front when a truck rolled back at a speed breaker and the rear crash bar of the truck nudged my car. Thankfully there is no dent, and just a line of small scratches on the top lip of the grill. The deep inset of the grill helped or it would have got damaged.

With few more trips coming up in December, the car is going to be busy.

[tharian]

December didn't turn out be as expected regarding high running.
There was just one trip to Madras and the car was idle rest of the time as I revived my biking days.

Car has crossed 8k kms and fuel efficiency in city and highway remains the same thanks to my right foot. 15/18 kmpl

The fuel additive from Arbo was a good find and is something I will continue for sure. If not in city, I will keep them for highway use.
No issues to report either.