[Akki272]

Lovely travel post! Very picturesque, amazing clicks and back drop. Always wanted to visit Spiti and will take your post into consideration before i plan a trip there.

Just one question to my fellow Bhp-ians. I drive a Skoda Superb MK2 1.8 Elegance TSI. Which head light sets do you recommend for these foggy drives for better visibility? The stock ones IMHO equipped with the Superb are low on visibility and i have noticed this during long drives. What upper and dipper lamps do you suggest for night drives considering if i plan drives to Spiti or Leh-Ladakh during winters?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Subhadeep82]

Originally Posted by PointZero

Thanks for reading -
Point Zero

A very detailed travelogue with lovely pictures. Landscape photographs were specially beautiful.

[Samba]

An incredible travelogue from the incredible Himalaya!
Being an owner of a Duster AWD, it feels great to see people doing such solo trips in a Duster AWD, & the car performing as per expectation.

What people do in two different trips, you have covered in a single trip!
I remember calling you before taking my Duster AWD for the winter Spiti trip & your inputs were immensely helpful.

Am unable to find the 5* rating button, else would have definitely rated this thread a well deserved 5*.

Sharing a couple of pics of my Duster from the same region.

Winter Spiti, on the road to Losar.



Between Harsil to Gangotri

[spaceunicorn]

Awesome travelogue with pictures. Such a trip is a dream for many, and only few really get to do that. I envy you. Great to hear that Duster AWD too lived up to your expectations and was a trusted companion. Kudos!

[Shiv_Hyd]

Awesome clicks and thanks for detailed narration of your lovely trip. Being the owner of Duster sibling Terrano I am more than inspired and motivated to do a similar trip from Hyderabad this December. Appreciate if anyone can help me with the planning and checklist.

[Saurabh Saini]

Bro i have the same duster in my garage, same color also. Its Duster RXS 4x4 2020 model. However, this January end i visited Jibhi, HP where i encountered an issue with my duster. I felt the fuel i filled before the trip was adultrated (realised with low pickup of car) and the car refused to start even after putting hot water on engine and keeping the engine bay open under the sun. For the record the temperature did not drop below 0 or -1 for the whole night as jibhi is at moderate altitude only. The car was trying to crank after keeping the self on for 10 seconds or more but didn't start at all. The car was only starting on slight pushing down the slope with usual gear and clutch release combo. This happened twice on both nights. Battery was not an issue as i alrdy replaced stock battery with bigger 65 AH Amaron in 2022 before the Leh trip in June. Also i didnt face this issue in sub zero temp of pangong lake where it was snowing in the morning last year. Got to know about anti freeze additive a few months ago and planning to use it on my next trip. However, Can u please guide what all things are to take care of before making a trip to an area with sub zero tempratures with duster since u guys didn't face any issue even at -12 deg C. Thanks

[Samba]

Originally Posted by Saurabh Saini

However, this January end i visited Jibhi, HP where i encountered an issue with my duster. I felt the fuel i filled before the trip was adultrated (realised with low pickup of car) and the car refused to start even after putting hot water on engine and keeping the engine bay open under the sun. For the record the temperature did not drop below 0 or -1 for the whole night as jibhi is at moderate altitude only. The car was trying to crank after keeping the self on for 10 seconds or more but didn't start at all. The car was only starting on slight pushing down the slope with usual gear and clutch release combo.

Check the glow plugs.

I have jotted down few points on how to start a diesel car in sub zero temperature.

You can read it here-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post5491287 (Sailed through Winter Spiti in three Duster AWDs : Snow Drive)

We have done winter Spiti trip with 3 Dusters, two of the Dusters started without any issue at -15 degree C, but mine refused to start due to a faulty glow plug. You can read the whole story here-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...now-drive.html (Sailed through Winter Spiti in three Duster AWDs : Snow Drive)

[PointZero]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Great travel guide! The pictures, especially the ones of the food, were amazing. I half-expected to see some stovetop cooking – that would've been a treat. I'm currently planning a trip and I've never experienced a snowfall. I suppose December would be an ideal time. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks raptor_diwan. You can follow the weather forecast to predict snowfall

Originally Posted by Akki272

Lovely travel post! Very picturesque, amazing clicks and back drop. Always wanted to visit Spiti and will take your post into consideration before i plan a trip there.

Just one question to my fellow Bhp-ians. I drive a Skoda Superb MK2 1.8 Elegance TSI. Which head light sets do you recommend for these foggy drives for better visibility? The stock ones IMHO equipped with the Superb are low on visibility and i have noticed this during long drives. What upper and dipper lamps do you suggest for night drives considering if i plan drives to Spiti or Leh-Ladakh during winters?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Akki272, in this tripe have covered very less places in Spiti. However, you can consider the below one for better navigation.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...l-pradesh.html (On the road again! Spiti Valley, Himachal Pradesh)

Originally Posted by Subhadeep82

A very detailed travelogue with lovely pictures. Landscape photographs were specially beautiful.

Thanks Subhadeep82

Originally Posted by Samba

An incredible travelogue from the incredible Himalaya!
Being an owner of a Duster AWD, it feels great to see people doing such solo trips in a Duster AWD, & the car performing as per expectation.

What people do in two different trips, you have covered in a single trip!
I remember calling you before taking my Duster AWD for the winter Spiti trip & your inputs were immensely helpful.

Am unable to find the 5* rating button, else would have definitely rated this thread a well deserved 5*.

Sharing a couple of pics of my Duster from the same region.

Winter Spiti, on the road to Losar.

Attachment 2523677

Between Harsil to Gangotri

Attachment 2523676

Thanks Samba Da, Harsil was really a good experience for me too, specially the roads. Three Dusters simply rocks in Spiti

[PointZero]

Originally Posted by spaceunicorn

Awesome travelogue with pictures. Such a trip is a dream for many, and only few really get to do that. I envy you. Great to hear that Duster AWD too lived up to your expectations and was a trusted companion. Kudos!

Thank spaceunicorn.

Originally Posted by Shiv_Hyd

Awesome clicks and thanks for detailed narration of your lovely trip. Being the owner of Duster sibling Terrano I am more than inspired and motivated to do a similar trip from Hyderabad this December. Appreciate if anyone can help me with the planning and checklist.

Thanks Shiv_Hyd. As I do not drive Duster in my daily life, I can not tell you the checklist for the vehicle let Duster owners comment on this. For the trip, if you have any specific questions, will be happpy to help you.

[Saurabh Saini]

Originally Posted by Samba

Check the glow plugs.

I have jotted down few points on how to start a diesel car in sub zero temperature.

You can read it here-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...ml#post5491287 (Sailed through Winter Spiti in three Duster AWDs : Snow Drive)

We have done winter Spiti trip with 3 Dusters, two of the Dusters started without any issue at -15 degree C, but mine refused to start due to a faulty glow plug. You can read the whole story here-

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...now-drive.html (Sailed through Winter Spiti in three Duster AWDs : Snow Drive)

Thanks a lot for the checklist. I had already read your post about 3 dusters. Infact i planned the trip after reading your post only. I was confident that my trip will be easy since the car is so capable. Just a few days after returning from the trip my duster met with an accident on my way to work. So , the car was parked at renault workshop for way too long. The first thing i got checked were the glow plugs as u had mentioned in your post. But they wre fine. However, bro i wanna mention that compared to summers my duster takes 2-3 more seconds to start in winters even in regular tempratures of plains (like punjab, 0-2deg C). I am sure this was not the case in my previous 2 years of ownership. When insisted for a thorough inspection, the SA said they had checked everything and that the car is fine. Since you guys are lot more experienced, could there be any other issue with the car. I was thinking about a faulty timing belt.....????? Please guide

[Samba]

Originally Posted by Saurabh Saini

I am sure this was not the case in my previous 2 years of ownership. When insisted for a thorough inspection, the SA said they had checked everything and that the car is fine. Since you guys are lot more experienced, could there be any other issue with the car. I was thinking about a faulty timing belt.....????? Please guide

There can be a lot of reasons for this, but the most common ones are-

Weak battery (Though in your earlier post you mentioned that, you have replaced the battery in 2022, still get it checked once.)

Weak fuel Injectors (Get the back-flow values checked for all the 4 injectors, if any one is showing a higher back-flow, then that can be the culprit.) Fuel additives like Liquimoly are good injector cleaners.

Weak starter motor

Using thicker engine oil during the winters. If you are using 15W-40 mineral oil, shift to 5w-30 full synthetic oil and then check.