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-   -   Renault Duster AWD : An owner's point of view (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/test-drives-initial-ownership-reports/202700-renault-duster-awd-owners-point-view-5.html)

I am from the same or close to the same location as he is so I too face this issue hence dropping by for the comment.

Technically it's Election Commission which is taking the vehicle. Rather the word is hiring, or more precisely putting the vehicle in service of the election duty.

Practically they use local police department for procurement. They first go for most of the yellow plate vehicles, bus/trucks/cabs and everything they can get their hands on. But sometimes they run out of those & need more. In those cases they target private number plates too.

Usually police will stop you for a legal road violation. Now a days rules are made really tough but normally they would challan you & call it a day. However if their intention is election procurement, they will trap you in a much larger offence & will offer you an option to either accept election duty or face the consequences of that larger offence.

SUV, specially the 4x4 are the primary target for election duty.

In case if you are wondering it's against the law. Yes, it is but in last decade or so I could only remember handful of cases where owners went with the legal battle to win the case.

Congratulations on the beast!

Shade red looks amazing on the Duster.

I recently let go of my FWD one, I miss the torquey 110bhp diesel.

Great pictures by the way!

Wish you many happy and safe miles with it

Off topic,

Happy birthday Samba

stupid:

9,700 km update

The 10,000 km second service is due, this month end.

Did a 1,300 km round trip from Gangtok. Duster performed flawlessly. Had some off-road fun on the Teesta river bed too. The AWD gave us the added confidence. :thumbs up

The AC worked like a charm in the summer heat.
The mileage we got this time was only around 13 km/ltr. Thanks to some spirited driving.

The only niggle in this trip was the faulty fuel meter, which needed some time to show the actual fuel level after every refueling.
Renault service guys have promised me to take care of the erratic behavior of the fuel meter during the 2nd service.

Have not noticed any rpm fluctuation during this trip.

Works to be done during the service-

Change engine oil and oil filter. (I will mostly go with mineral oil)
Change the air filter.
Will check the diesel filter. If required will change it too.
General check-up.

Will buy the 5th year extended warranty, which i have already blocked over the phone.

Checked the dip stick yesterday to see the condition of the engine oil.
There is a slight dip in level after driving for nearly 10,000 km. This seems to be normal before the first oil change in a new diesel engine.



Got the blotting paper test done for the engine oil yesterday.



The procedure was beautifully explained by D-Bhpian SS-Traveller.

From the above explanation, it looks like the oil is reaching the end of it's life. The center still do not have a dark zone but looks like, its on the way. So at max this oil is good to go for another 500 km. Am getting it changed before driving more than 100 km itself. :)

Now, few pics from the trip-


















Thanks a ton.

Beautiful pictures and great ownership thread Samba!

I am not sure if you know this already but this is a known issue with Duster. If you keep the engine running during re-fueling, meter doesn't show correct reading. To fix this, please switch off the engine before refueling and start once it is done. Work every time for me.

Hope this helps!

Why would anyone keep the engine running while refueling? Isn't it advised to switch off the engine while refueling?

I am only stating the known problem with Renault Duster. Of course its is advised to switch off the engine during refueling.

10,000 km/ 2nd service update

Work done at Renault Budgebudge in Kolkata.
Will rate them 10/10 on the personal attention they have given to the car.
Very satisfied with their work.

Work done-

General check up

Everything seemed to be fine. Brake pad has enough life left, the diesel filter and A/c filter looked okay.

Injector value-

Because of the rare rpm fluctuation noticed, i got the values checked for all 4 injectors. All the 4 injectors gave healthy results.

Parts changed-

Engine oil.
At the end, i could not resist myself from buying the full synthetic oil.
The oil used was Elf 5W40 SN grade as suggested in the owners manual.

Oil filter

Air filter

Total service charge came around Rs 5,864.

This includes wiper washing fluid and 4 steel valve caps with Renault logo on it. This small thing looks sweet and it just costed Rs 120.

Apart from these i bought the 5th year extended warranty which costed me added Rs 5,319. So my car is covered for 5 years and 100,000 km as of now.

In my previous posts, i reported about the faulty fuel meter.

The service center guys first updated the software and checked but it didn't work. The float and the sensor looked to be working fine too.
Renault Budgebudge consulted the matter with the technical guys at Chennai. After an hour, Renault Chennai advised them to change the whole fuel tank with the fuel filler. According to them, they have made some internal changes on the latest model and that should solve the issue. The whole assembly will cost around Rs 35,000 which they agreed to change under warranty. They have ordered the parts, once it arrives i have to go and get it changed.

Hope this will solve the matter.

A pic after the service. :)



Thanks.
Any particular reason for letting your Duster go or it was for an upgrade?

Thanks.

I always take the keys out before refueling! So even by mistake, the engine is never on. :)

Congratulations on utilising the extended warranty even before it comes into effect. 35k for fixing a faulty fuel meter would have been a shocker for anyone without warranty.

I feel 6k for a general scheduled service for a luxury (by Indian standard) 4x4 SUV is very reasonable. That too with full synthetic oil.

Okay brother, I finally took the plunge! I recently brought home a new Duster RxZ AWD, same trim as yours, coloured "RED", same colour as yours. It has since been named "Gryphus" (more on that on its dedicated thread), and has been ably standing by me like his able - bodied bigger brother, Pegasus (the Bolero LX 4x4).

Though Gryphus was purchased from Kolkata (Renault Rajarhat), he has since then promptly joined me in New Delhi. And since I have completed nearly 2 months with him, all I can say is your recommendation was the best! Thank you, Samba!

I will put up a detailed Ownership Review and Purchase Experience (OMG!:Frustrati) thread soon with all details and more pictures of Gryphus, but until then, here's a pic of my two boys :

Warranty claim Update

The first issue-

I received a call from Renault Budgebudge a couple of weeks back, that the parts have arrived.

So yesterday, i took my car to the service center by 9Am.

In the first half they worked from 10 Am to 12 Pm and changed the whole fuel tank unit with the fuel fillers.

After the change, they updated the Ecu settings and since then the fuel meter is working fine. Hope this works as a long term solution. Will keep that updated.

The second issue-

My drivers side seat adjuster was not working. They checked it and confirmed, it got jammed for not using it. They sorted this issue in 5-10 minutes and its working fine now.

Now the third issue-

Before the 2nd service the Medianav player used to get on once the key is turned on and used to get off once the key is turned off.

But since the latest update installed on the second service things changed.
The system started to get on while unlocking the car and it started to turn off 3 mins after locking the car.

By turn on & turn off i meant the clock. To play music, one has to manually press the power button.

I reported this. They checked everything thoroughly and even interchanged the player with my friends Duster to see if there was any problem with the head unit, but everything was found normal.

They escalated it to Chennai and they told, once the new update is installed, post 2018 manufactured Duster's will work in this way. It's same with the Captur too. We checked in a Captur and found the same. To make sure the service center guys even did a video call with their sales team to show a 2019 manufactured Duster which was parked in their stock yard. That worked in the same way too. So at the end, it looks like, its not an issue, Renault has changed the settings.

Overall am very satisfied by Renault Budgebudge. The way their service manager, service advisor and technical team looked upon the issues and solved them with special care is just phenomenal. :)

Congrats brother. Wish you thousand's of happy and safe miles ahead. :thumbs up

Finally managed to conceal the charging cable of the dash-cam.

Thanks to Bhpian PapaBravo for showing me an easy method to do this DIY without opening the plastic panels.

The easy 5-10 minutes procedure!

Tool used was just a screw driver.

Inserted the cable inside the ceiling.



Took it out and inserted it inside the rubber beading.





It was a bit difficult to insert the cable inside the rubber beading beside the dashboard as the space to insert the screwdriver was very less, but with a bit of patience i managed it.



Took the cable from behind the lower part of the dashboard and tied it with the other cables.





The final look.

I think it would have been a little more better if you keep the wire inside the plastic covering on the A pillar. I believe the rubber beading is easily removable by just pulling it and the plastic covering can be easily pulled out. After that you could direct the wire to lower dashboard area through the space available at the A pillar - dashboard meeting area.

Note: I used to do the same when ever I feel to damp the plastic parts, in case of any rattles in my Honda City.

Was trying to weed out some rattles in the A-pillar area and what has been suggested above is easily doable. Just pull the rubber beading off from over the plastic A-pillar cladding. That itself will give you enough wiggle room to shove the wire inside. If you want to be thorough, the plastic cladding has 3 clips which hold it in place. You'll need the help of a screw driver to pry the clips open.

I'm also planning to get a dash-cam and will run it off the power port rather than a fuse tap. Can you tell me why you didn't go for the 70mai?

Yes, i agree that's the proper way. Actually, i was a bit skeptical to open the company fitted parts. I was thinking, if i fiddle more with these parts they will start rattling earlier! That's the sole reason i left it intact. They are on plastic clips, if they become lose it might rattle.

What i have heard is, 70 Mai is a very good cam.

When i bough the cam, i read this review by Bhpian SamfromIndia - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modif...sh-camera.html

The review looked promising and when i bought it, i got a very good deal from Aliexpress, as there was some sale going on. So i just picked it without further research. Am happy with it till now.