[pramods]

What is the Oil change interval, I checked the oil it looked too dark!! I asked the service center and they told me 15K and it the oil was changed at 5K and next at 20K means 4th service. Do I go ahead and change it right now? or as I have already driven I can still wait for 4K and get it done at 20K, because service center will anyway change it at 20K fourth service.

-Pramod

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by pramods

What is the Oil change interval...

The recommended change interval is at 15k km, but I am always happy personally to change the oil (and filter) a little early - a 10-11k km interval is fine.

Why wait if you have even the slightest reservation about how the oil looks like? That said, the oil always looks dark in a diesel after the first few km - not something to worry about.

[4x4addict]

@pramods: Oil cannot be judged by looks. As doc pointed out deisel oils always turn dark within a few 100 kms usage.

My cousin has a 2.6 Non-CRDe scorpio. The service interval for those vehicles are every 10K kms. He has stuck to that and his Scorp has clocked over 170,000 kms. So, I will be comfortable with 15K oil changes in the Scorpio. As you pointed out, it is at 5K, then 20K and then every 20K after that with the latest maximile oil.

[pramods]

I will go by the manufacturer recommendation then, change at 20K, and now if they have got the new oil then then after 20K. I don't know when Mahindra will remove this ridiculous 5K service interval, at these 5K they don't do anything apart from just washing and looking at vehicles!

-Pramod

[MileCruncher]

The 5K service interval is just to fleece customers and nothing else. I would say stick to 15k interval, even though the new oil is 20k because all your other components like Oil Filter / Fuel Filter changes are at 15k interval. I would prefer going to the workshop once and getting all things done at one shot rather than piecemeal.

[4x4addict]

5K services are purely inspect that and this and unscruplous dealers use it fleece customers and unwanted stuff. The pilot guy from coimbatore used to send his mhawk every 5k with the driver and they were doing a full oil change every 5K kilometers. In my case I plan to not take it for the 5Ks that are only inspections. I don't see how they can void my warranty for not using those silly 5k warranties since it doesn't involve changing any fluids.

[pramods]

I got my ECU flased with a new available dataset today, the factory loaded dataset was of March 2009 even though my vehicle is Dec2009, I am not sure if there any more new dataset available, because the list from which they came to knew about the availability of dataset looked like sept 2009, anyway it was newer than what was originally there, MT, AT data sets are different and so for with ESS and for pre and post Refresh model , I saw lots of dataset available for Manual 2.2 without ESS and with ESS, but the Service Center guys are more reluctant to flash the new dataset unless something major come up!
I am not able to see much difference but looks like i am not hearing some tik- tik noise that was before, and some smoothness is also observed, may be more observation and analysis is required.

-Pramod

[pramods]

The alignment was completely out, went to alignment specialized center and got the alignment done, alignment are getting out very frequently, any one know of reason why this might be happening so frequently?

-Pramod

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Can you post details of the Alignment values (Pre and Post), when did you do last W/A? What symptoms did you notice? Any wear pattern observed?

Are you setting the ride height correctly?

Spike

[pramods]

I will post the snap of report with pre and post value later today evening, as you mentioned correctly they checked the ride height and figured out that front left was lower than front right, corrected it by adjusting torson bar and then aligned.
The last alignment was done on 23th July at service center because of some uneven wear on the inner side of front left tire, but never checked the height or anything else, while this time the professional after taking a test ride checked the height first!

The vehicle was pulling left and the steering was more toward right, if I get it at center the vehicle would go to left. After the current alignment the steering come to center and stay there till vehicle passes over some uneven surface, then it tilt toward left slightly and vehicle goes in that direction too.

I hope I was able to tell what was happening and you would be able to let me know what else need to be checked and corrected.

-Pramod

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by pramods

st!

The vehicle was pulling left and the steering was more toward right, if I get it at center the vehicle would go to left. After the current alignment the steering come to center and stay there till vehicle passes over some uneven surface, then it tilt toward left slightly and vehicle goes in that direction too.

I hope I was able to tell what was happening and you would be able to let me know what else need to be checked and corrected.

-Pramod

Seems like front alignment problem Used to happen to my Ambassador and Fiat regularly. Then I got a Guru to look into it and he commented that to get the vehicle to go straight you need to get the "castor angle", that is the offset from vertical correct (you can see it in motor bikes). Castor ensures that the steering will always return to the centre. After castor angle is corrected, the camber and toe in are adjusted to correct the uneven tyre wear.

The correct angles are arrived at during the design process and the service centre should have the data for correct alignment. It seems that your vehicle is not getting set correctly.

In case there is some play in the front suspension or if some nuts are not tightened up to correct torque, any jerk would knock the alignment out. So I suggest that you check the tightness of the whole front suspension train when ever the alignment goes off.

Another reason though chances are low, is that the chassis is slightly warped (could have happened when they transported it from Leh) hence standard alignment values are not giving the desired result. All these are conjenctures, but you can check it by standing the vehicle on a flat surface of constant level and measuring the chassis to ground distance and compare it with a vehicle which stears correctly.

[pramods]

I am worried now, need to get it checked all around, the Alignment center did check the shockups and others before doing the alignment this time, I am hoping this fixes the problem, else will have to go back to service center and let them check every thing from ladder frame to shock ups!
Not sure but it looks like my Scorpio front height is less that other 2WD scorpios, do anybody know what is the factory height of front fender from ground? Every time service center guys tells me its correct, but now after the alignment center corrected the left side height I am more worried and need to be 100% sure what is the actual height and what are other parameters that need to be checked for this alignment and height?

-Pramod

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Pramod, for Scorpio 4wd with 235/70R16 tyres, ride height is specified as 265 +- 8mm. This height is measured from the ground to the LCA front pivot point. Tyres pressure must be correct. You still haven't posted the pre/post W/A values. I can provide the specifications if you require.

Spike

[pramods]

Originally Posted by SPIKE ARRESTOR

Pramod, for Scorpio 4wd with 235/70R16 tyres, ride height is specified as 265 +- 8mm. This height is measured from the ground to the LCA front pivot point. Tyres pressure must be correct. You still haven't posted the pre/post W/A values. I can provide the specifications if you require.

Spike

Thanks, I saw the report, its not worth to post its just have a value of 2.5 and corrected to 3.0, let me know what is the standard value then I can push for that value at service center, do also let me know what are the remedies that need to be done to achieve that values.

I do think they should have there in the service manual, but I have never seen any technician referring any service manuals once! I asked one of them to look at the service manual and the reply was been in this field for 10 years and don't need any manual for any thing.

-Pramod

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by pramods

I do think they should have there in the service manual, but I have never seen any technician referring any service manuals once! I asked one of them to look at the service manual and the reply was been in this field for 10 years and don't need any manual for any thing.

Hi Pramod,

I know how these guys work, next time you are there, ask them when was the Torsion Bar adjustment introduced in Scorpio 4wds? Also ask, how many types of Torsion bars are there for the similar front suspension geometry (answer is 2). I would take the living daylights out of these guys if I happen to hear such answers, sadly this is the way these guys work. I also happen to hear such things every other day e.g. "Kya umar hai tera (What is your age?)" Me- 23*, Other guy "Main 25 saal se idhar kaam kar rela hai (I'm working here for past 25 years)". I know there is no point in banging my head against these walls, I will loose whatever I have.

I am giving you basic wheel alignment values for your reference purpose:-

The sequence of adjustment must be Caster->Camber->Toe in
1. Caster 2.75 deg +- 1 , cross caster must be less than 45'
2. Camber 0.14' +- 30' cross camber must be less than 30'
3. Toe in (Total)- 1 -3 mm
4. Shock absorber stand out - 23 mm
5. KPI- 10 deg 45 min +- 1 deg
6. Ride height 265 mm +- 8 mm (variation in LH and RH side must be less than 4mm)

Spike

PS- Still if you face problems I will tell you the W/A procedure Step By Step.