[Anandg]

HI Doc,
That is really sad to hear. You were one of the guys on whose recommendation i brought my swift. Anyways make sure you write to Mr A K Tomar - chief general manager with all details along with letters of this episode to all car websites and magazines. This will bare face the honeymoon maruti has been enjoying behind the clouds of populism by selling of products with low QC.

[Habanero City]

Originally Posted by Mevtec

Dear Friends,
we got the car back in december last week.Total bill was near RS.90,000/.The car is running fine for the last one week.
According to my brother the turbo charger didn't have any problem.We are very happy that we got the car back.Will upload the final bill as soon as I get it.Thank you all for the support.

Mevtec,
Glad to know that the car is repaired and back in use again.
Please tell us the details of the repair works done, the analysis of the failure with causes and any suggestions to be taken care by the existing users.
Did Maruti repair the car or did you get it done outside?

HC

[funkykar]

Oh my! Oh my! What a horrendous experience you have gone through. I have no words to describe Maruti's service and competence.

I owned a used Palio SDX for some time before my 2010 Palio came home. The owner of the used Palio had got the oil cooler changed on the Palio, under extended warranty. I remember correctly, it was the exact symptoms that the Palio had when the issue occurred. Luckily, incident happened after he was returning from work and noticed issue when he was very very close to his home. TASS came in the very next day morning and towed it to the service center. The car was diagnosed, the part replaced and car delivered in couple of days. The only charge was for coolant and oil. TASS never even pointed a finger at the owner. In fact, regarding the part replacement, no conversation happened. After the car was towed, owner got a call and was informed that so and so part is failed, everything is under warranty and you need to pay only for oil and coolant. It was as simple as that. Incidentally around the same time you noticed the issue, all this happened and I never happened to look at this thread. The story is here, but not the complete story. You can see the evidence of the part being replaced under warranty:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...-warranty.html

Incidentally, since I happened to verify with the SA about this during that time, he was very cool about it. He said, customer has extended warranty and have replaced the part. I happened to interact with the same SA few more times ever since, 2 times for my 2010 Palio and couple of times for friends Palio. What I have learnt so far from him is: "We try and replace any defective part under warranty. We never even question the customer to find if the part went bad due to misuse or any other customer action". Seeing the customer smile is my goal. Moreover, I was pretty impressed on how knowledgeable they were and they never mind explaining anything that I have asked them.

Also, to check if they really honor warranty, I did a small trick. I simply reported at first service that the wipers are not wiping properly. SA did not even check, just replaced it under warranty.

I am not saying even Maruti should replace easily underwarranty. Atleast, they should show some care and trust customers. They should never forget that they exist since there are customers willing to buy. I am really happy to be having a TATA FIAT car.

[ACM]

Mevtec I guess the work was done at the Authorized centre just due for the convenience of the car being there already.

The warranty is i guess already void for the remaining period thanks to the higher wattage bulb that you have changed.

Feel sad for you while reading the thread but also feel that this thread brings out in open a truth contrary to what a lot of others have been stating that the Maruti Service experience is way better than that for others. - That is not really the case.

I guess there are a few learnings that can be taken on your side as well and the foremost is that during warranty perior for any car manufacturer we must get absolutely notihing done outside even in emergencies, and secondly that we must document even minor visits to the service centre.

Hope the car delivers on the original promise in due course.

[funkykar]

I agree with what ACM says. Also, I feel there is a need to "Know your car well" and also know your service centre/manufacturer well to avoid any such nuances.

A few years ago, this was what advices I heard from many to prospective car buyers:
1) If you just want a car for practical purposes, just meeant for transportation and with least hassles of A.S.S, go to brands like Maruti/Hyundai and so and so. Example given was: Say there is a problem with the clutch. You need not mention that during serviceing, good A.S.S would detect and correct it. As a customer you need not worry. Seeing instances like these, I am not sure if such statements are valid anymore.

2) If you know and learn about your car and can make basic diagnoses, go for cars like Tata or Fiat. You need to explicitly tell them what the problem is and its corrective measures, they will fix the issue.

Learning from threads like these are, no matter what brand dont trust A.S.S blindly, ensure every experience/issue is documented and adhere to it. To minimise any damage, know your car and its functioning well.

Am atleast happy that this Swift is back on the roads, even though it made a big hole in the pocket.

[Mevtec]

Hi friends ,sorry for being late reply.I was really upset with the attitude of MASS.So I didn't have any motivation to post anything.The car is running fine after repair.My brother says the turbo is ok.They didn't find any defect in the intercooler and turbo.

So what went wrong!.We reported the loss of oil 1000 km before the engine seized.MASS didn't do any thing.The SA who checked that says he doesn't remember our car!.Cheaters.Now they are saying that the quantity oil in the seized engine is more than normal,so there is no warranty.

The "extra" oil is the oil we topped up when we found there was a low oil warning.The oil was added hoping that the car will limp to a MASS.The engine was switched off before adding the oil.After adding the oil the car never started.So it is clear that the oil added was not the cause of engine failure.With my limited knowledge I believe that the engine had a gasket failure.So the oil leaked and was trapped in the engine.We topped up with about 2500ml oil.When they drained the seized engine they found this oil as extra.So no warranty.

So does it mean that we cannot top up the oil in a Maruti.These cheaters (MASS and Head office) will learn a lesson only if the car sales drop.They should learn a lesson from Honda.You can read how I am going to get the EPS + Steering ?rod replacement.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post2249099

No questions asked.The issue didn't even reach the manager.My ANHC (31000 km,March 2009) also needs the preventive part preventive part replacement of the lost motion spring in the valve train.

Please don't think that I am writing this to hate Maruti or praise Honda.The overall experience with our DDiS was traumatic.I didn't post all the replies from Maruti.Some were even worse than the examples posted above.I am unable to find the final bill.Will post it as soon as I find it. Please don't buy cars like these for the sake of good service.

[Mevtec]

Dear friends sorry for not updating the thread. I was waiting for the car to run at least 5000 km before the update. After the engine replacement (short engine) and repair the car was perfectly allright.But the bad experience we had at MASS still upsets me. My ANHC update also suffered due to this.

The car was repaired at about 22000 km in Dec 2010.The engine was checked at 23000 km. The car was doing fine. The new engine has has done 7000km in 8 months after the repair. My brother is using the car in Bangalore city. The mileage is about 15 – 16 km/L in city.Now car has 29000 km on the odo. Today within a few kilometers of his residence the oil low warning lamp blinked a few times and went off.The oil low warning lamp didn’t stay on. He checked the oil level and its near empty! It’s about 7000 km since the last oil change. The oil level was near normal about 2 weeks back.
Based on the previous experience he did not top up the oil.

Called the MASS. They say technician who attended our car is on leave due to Independence Day, so will attend the car tomorrow They are not even interested to tow the car to MASS. The car is lying on the roadside in Bangalore city. Even TASS will provide roadside assistance 24 hrs.Hope at least some knowledgeable person will attend to the car this time.

Now I remember what Kulvinder Singh sir has told me after the initial analysis and the diagnosis of the MASS technician"Take the car out of that MASS as soon as possible”. When the car ran about 7000 km without any trouble after repair I thought he was wrong. I was about to write an update thanking the engineers at MASS for the nice work. But I was always pessimistic about the car.

My technical knowledge is limited. The primary problem seems to be with the turbo charger! These fools have not considered that. When go through the final bill in the left lower part it is written –Turbo charger needs attention! I am attaching the final bill along with the post.Will update on this matter.

[nkrishnap]

Just too surprised and mum about what has transpired over the past 6-7 months or so with your car.

These morons read as MASS in the name of service, recommended engine flushing, decarb, coolant flush, brake oil replacement and what not for a car thats run 20,000 kms. My friend who knows not more than driving was surprised at the estimate given to him, he asked to cross verify with the SA. I call the SA up and asked him to write an email to me mentioned that these were mandatory. The very next moment, all these mandatory things became optional.

I asked my friend to take the car out of the MASS and went to a smaller Maruti Service center and got the servicing done. Total bill was around 4.5k, instead of 15K.

So much for Maruti Service.

[humyum]

Pathetic experience Mevtec. If anything serious is found in your engine now, ask for an Engine replacement. Maruti cannot treat you like dirt and do not take it lying down. Do not take delivery of the car unless they give you in writing that everything is sorted out and will remain that way from now on. These guys are very hesitant in the 'giving in writing part' because they themselves are not sure about their quality of the job done.

Maruti's service has gone to dogs, I remember the care my 800 used to get at a service station and my Swift does not get even half of it. Although I am happy with Navneet because I have learnt to 'let go' of some things and accept the happenings. Cheers, I hope everything gets sorted out to your liking.

Ps: I just checked the oil level before a day and my car has run 5 thousand kilomteres after a service/oil change and its still hanging at the full mark. I don't plan to get the oil changed/service for another 5 thousand kilometers. The odo is standing at 42400 mark right now.

[Mevtec]

Yesterday we had informed Bimal Motors Whitefield about the problem. After 24 hours technicians from nearby MASS (Bimal motors, Hosur) came to check the vehicle. About 1 litre of oil was left in the engine. So about 2.0L was consumed in less than 2000km.They started the car after filling the oil. My brother says that he noticed some black smoke (more than normal) from the exhaust, especially when the car was revved.

They told my brother to take the car to Whitefield (about 35 km form Hosur) by himself since there is no trained person / facility in Hosur to diagnose the problem. He told that he will not take the car to Whitefield by himself. So the MASS technician agreed to take the car to the main workshop at Whitefield. Hope the driver didn’t rip the car on the way. The technician informed us that the car has reached Whitefield. No diagnosis yet. The responses to the previous emails send to Maruti were very disappointing. So I have not sent one yet.Should I send one more email?.

Owners please note that the parts which are not covered under extended warranty include the turbo charger! Anyway our car has completed 3 years. One of my client’s father is a consultant for engine related complaints for Maruti in Kerala.He says there are good mechanics here.As a last resort we might bring the car to Trivandrum.Hope everything gets sorted out at Bangalore itself. Will keep updating

[Mevtec]

Hi all. After the initial checkup the technician of MASS called us and told that the oil consumption is normal! He told us that the car is in working condition and the turbo is working normally. They didn’t check the turbo for oil leak. He suggested taking the car back and reporting if there is any further problem.

We were a bit worried. So we send an email to Maruti regional office. The engineer from the regional office made them check the turbo. The turbo had traces of oil in it. At last they have acknowledged that the turbo has a problem. They have decided to make us a guinea pig. They told us to monitor the oil levels and review after 1000km.The MASS changed the oil for free and washed the car as a compliment. The turbo will have to be replaced soon. Hope this update will help Swift owners.

My wife says that I was the one who recommended Swift diesel (2006 Vdi) for my father-in-law. She tells me that I will have to repair it if something goes wrong. So I will have to start praying that nothing goes wrong. Next time I will recommend a Honda.

[Lalvaz]

Hi Mevtec, Long time no update on your car. Is it working fine now? Hope there is no more trouble with excessive engine oil consumption.

[Habanero City]

MeVtec,
How is the Swift now?
I came across the following news paper article with similar problem by another customer and the consumer court has order for replacement with new car or refund the money.
Hope this information would be useful to you and others who have faced similar problems and would help in strengthening your case legally and possibly to a class action one.
How is the white ANHC? Hope you are enjoying the iVtec to the max

HC

[Mevtec]

Originally Posted by Habanero City

MeVtec,
How is the Swift now?

Dear Lalvaz,Habanero City and friends,

"Wish you a Merry Christmas and Blessed 2012"

Sorry for not updating the thread.I sincerely thank you for the support.I didn't update because I was not sure about the reliability of the car.After repair the car has done about 3500 km.It was driven mainly in the outskirts of Bangalore.The oil consumption is about 500 ml.As I mentioned earlier the turbo had traces of oil in it.The MASS says that turbo will have to be replaced if there is persistent problems.But it seems that the oil loss will be significant only if the car is taken for long distance drives or when the turbo is used more frequently.

The car feels normal now.But we are not confident to take the car for long drives.Plan to take the car back to Kerala after my brother's exams and get it checked by a client of mine (ex-MASS engg & consultant at MASS at present)
If there is no solution we are planning to sell the car and buy another Swift!

We have lost the evidence to prove that the car initially had features of high oil consumption.The crooks at MASS didn't take the job card or report the problem in the car's case record.It is partially our fault that we trusted the MASS and the reliability of DDiS.

Originally Posted by Habanero City

How is the white ANHC? Hope you are enjoying the iVtec to the max

About the white ANHC (March 2009),it has completed 49000 km today.The car is great.Will surely update at 50000 km.

[Mevtec]

Hi all,
Recently we have noticed high oil consumption.The car was brought to Kerala from Bangalore last month.About 2000 ml oil was consumed in the last 2500 km! We have noticed that the oil consumption is high when the car is taken for long trips.

The car was checked at the MASS (Indus Muvattupuzha).They couldn't find any major engine problem or oil leak.Planning to bring the car to Trivandrum and get it checked.I know a senior engineer who works for Maruti.Will update on the matter.