So here i am writing my own first travel log. A little bit of background.
We usually do an outing once every quarter for a few days, and usually drive close to 500 Kms around south India. The last trip we did was last year (2010) November and since then we have been thinking of doing another trip but have been slightly worried about our car. Wondering if she will be able to do the trip successfully.
Why are we worried, as in last 5 years of ownership she has never complained but in last 3 months things have gone wrong and needed urgent replacements.
Sometime in March we wanted to attend a marriage in Bhopal and seriously thought of driving the car to Bhopal, were almost ready to do it but somehow elders at home convinced us to take the train instead. After going by train and coming back one fine day the car broke down on its way to drop my daughter to school. The driveshaft had given away. It took about 1 week to repair as Baleno parts are not readily available. If only we had taken the car to Bhopal and same had happened in between we would have been completely stranded. Hence the worry to take the car on highway.
So finally the schools are starting in June and kiddo was not happy about not going out someplace, so we choose Kodaikanal. We had been to Kodai 10 years ago (just after marriage) and this would be the first trip with my daugher.
The plan was to start on Thursday (02 June) morning (@ 4am) and reach Kodai in time for lunch. One of my dear friend and a fellow T-BHP reader (Not yet a member) but very knowledgeable about cars advised me to get the car checked. Although i had done the service few months before and did not feel there is any need to do so, but just in case so went to get the car checked.
Everything was fine, until he drove the car. Said the clutch was very hard and it seems the clutch plate is nearing its use-by date, and said it should be fine for another 2K kms. Hence initially thought of driving with the same clutch and replace after coming back from the trip.
The whole day i was wondering how accurate these estimates are, did some T-BHP reading on Baleno Clutch plates (Usually they last anywhere between 40-50K) mine is already 52K (Something tells me it can give up anytime). There is no apparent loss of pickup but haven't checked the fuel-efficiency figures in awhile.
Discussed this with one of the other SA's and he casually asked where i was going on long drive. "Ohhh boy don't go sir" was the response. After some discussions what i understood was when going in ghats the Clutch and brakes do the most of the work hence they need to be in top condition. He did mention that if i was going on a flat highway it would last for some more time but on ghats the chances of Clutch plate giving up was very high possibility.
Decided not to take chance, to gave the car for clutch plate replacement on Thursday, and move the trip by one day starting friday. That means one day school loss for the kid (took some efforts to convince wifey "Well its just UKG, and just one day").
So here it is things that you need to check before driving on a longish trip (especially if your car is old, and over 50K Kms), and more so if it happens to be a Baleno. Why? because some of the parts aren't are easily available as for some other cars.
- Suspension (Although it will tell you much before going really bad, might not go bad sudden)
- Engine (Usually will last over 1L Kms hence no need to do a detailed check, just the basic check in terms of oils and Spark plugs)
- Drive Shaft and other related areas (They last about 70K KMS but still getting them checked is a good idea)
- Brake shoes and oils etc
- Gears and Clutch (The Gear box would surely last much much longer, but the Clutch plates go bad in about 50K Kms, although it depends a lot on driving style)
Finally the car is back form repairs, for details see my ownership thread. Feels completely a different car now, didn't knew what i was missing all this time. Now we are ready to "Rock & Roll".