Mahindra team solves recurring oil leak issue in XUV500

The second point that I would like to stress is the customer-centric approach that Mahindra took in this situation, which has actually left us pleasantly surprised.

BHPian GKR9900 recently shared this with other BHPians.

The story begins around May 2020. I was stuck at my workplace at Wayanad during Covid lockdown. So when things started opening up, I decided to visit home as early as possible. My home is at Ernakulam which is about 250 km away from my workplace. I drove home one weekend, spent some time with family, and was planning to leave after a couple of days. On the day of return, as I was about to get into the car, saw a small pool of oil lying beneath the hood area. I was alarmed and checked the oil level which showed a small dip, although above minimum level (have a habit of checking oil level every now and then, thanks to my dad). There were no warnings on the instrument cluster. We contacted the Mahindra dealer, Eram Motors Thrissur, from whom we purchased the vehicle. They asked us to bring the vehicle over. The dealership is 60 km away from my home, but because we had some good rapport with them, decided to take the vehicle there. The leak was inspected and the issue was said to be a turbo O-ring leakage. As the vehicle was under warranty, the necessary repair work was done and the vehicle was returned. I returned to my work place. The vehicle was working flawlessly. I did a couple more home-workplace trips in between.

A few months later, a second episode of oil leakage occurred, again while I was visiting home. This time, there were few drops of oil on the floor, but because of the earlier issue, we got suspicious and decided to get it checked out. We first took the vehicle to a nearby Mahindra dealer, Vayalat Mahindra, as I had to return for work the next day. They suspected that the issue could be a dislodging of oil that was caught up in between the components in engine room during the previous leakage episode. As the service center here was comparatively new, we were not convinced and decided to take the car to Eram motors, Thrissur. This time, the complaint was diagnosed to be an 'engine front cover packing defect'. As parts had to be ordered and brought in, repairing took a few days. The dealership assured us that the complaint will not occur again. The following photos were clicked during this visit. I'm not a technically inclined person and hence am not sure on what exactly to make out from them.

The vehicle was working fine again for a few months and guess what! The leakage occurred again! The leakage was not major, there were a few drops in the parking area, but it’s hard to miss. We were frustrated about the recurring issue and called up Eram Mahindra. The car was nearing its 40,000 km service and decided to get the repair done along with that. This time, the complaint was diagnosed to be a 'defective sealant for the engine front cover packing'. They said that this might be due to some air bubble that got entrapped when the engine front cover was pasted during the last repair. Anyway, they rectified the issue and promised us that it won’t recur again. But I had my doubts.

Now, the funny thing is, a detailed report of the work carried out was never given to me. When asked about it, the service staff say that details of work carried out under warranty are entered into a Mahindra portal and those cannot be divulged to the owner, as per Mahindra's policy. I fail to see the logic of denying details of work carried out on my vehicle. The details mentioned above were communicated to me verbally by the service advisor. I was advised to check 'With You Hamesha (WYH)' app for more details. But sadly, the WYH shows only a 'running repair' title with no other details. Aren't manufacturers supposed to share the details of the work carried out in a vehicle to the owner, whether it is under warranty or not? I wasn’t pleased with this reply from the dealership, but didn’t pursue it further as I got caught up with a really busy schedule, both personal as well as professional. I had changed my workplace closer to home in between. After the service cum repair work which was done in January, the car was seldom used, maybe for 500 kms or so. By February last week, the issue cropped up again, with the presence of a few drops of oil in the parking area.

Due to the recurring issue and the frustrating inconvenience it causes to my work and personal schedule, I decided to write a mail to Mahindra. Truth be told, I had no faith in getting a convincing reply other than ‘the dealership will look into the issue strongly’. Apart from the routine customer care email, got hold of the email ID of Mr. Abdul Syed, Head Customer Experience, Mahindra & Mahindra. Wrote an email to him describing the repeated issues, lack of provision of a loaner car, inconvenience in work and personal schedule etc. as shown below.

Within half an hour, I got a reply acknowledging the issue and an assured call from the Head of the Regional customer care team.

Enter Mr Kanteppa Patted, the Head of Mahindra Regional customer care, Kerala. This gentleman called me and apologised for the inconvenience caused and sought some time for enquiring about the issue in detail. I agreed and true to his word, he called me up after about an hour or so. He said he will dispatch two technicians as soon as possible to take a look at the vehicle and assess the degree of leakage. He also looped in Mr. Sreevid Sreedharan, who is the Assistant Manager of Mahindra Regional customer care. They also assured me a loaner car for my transport. The technicians reached my home by evening and upon inspection, they confirmed the oil leakage. I was planning to go to Wayanad the very next day to get my second dose of Covishield vaccine. The technicians insisted not to risk taking the vehicle for a long journey especially in the ghat section should something go wrong. They said they will report to Mr. Sreevid about the leakage and he will contact me regarding further details. Mr. Sreevid called me in the evening, again profusely apologising for the inconvenience caused. Upon learning about my travel plans, he offered to book a taxi with a driver for my Wayanad trip. The loaner car was not yet made available. I graciously declined and informed him that I will make the trip using my dad’s Elantra (I just couldn’t pass off the offer of driving a low slung sedan on winding ghat roads). He told that a flatbed would be arranged to take the car to Eram Motors, Thrissur. I insisted him to do that once I am back from Wayanad. He assured that the loaner car would be made available by then. I was back from Wayanad in 2 days. As already agreed, they sent a flatbed to my home to pick up the vehicle. The loaner car was not yet available, so they arranged for a rental car, a W6 AT XUV5OO as an alternative. Once the car reached the dealership, diagnosis revealed a seepage from the timing chain cover area. They informed us that repair work would be done and an extensive test drive and checking would ensure to check for any other leaks. They also mentioned about certain wear and tear items like axle bushes which would also be replaced free of cost. The vehicle was at Eram Motors, Thrissur for around a week. Multiple test drives of a combined 120 km or so were taken after notifying me. They were unable to replicate the issue during this period. In between, Mr. Kanteppa and especially Mr. Sreevid contacted me several times to assure a proper rectification of the issue and whether anything else needs to be done. I gotta say, even in between the frustration due to the recurrent issue, the etiquette followed by Mahindra customer care team was praise-worthy and alleviated us of our concerns.

Our vehicle was returned after a week. Currently no issues have cropped up yet, but fingers crossed!

Now I had shared some part of this post in the XUV500 thread, but to no avail. But I would like to know - is this issue fairly common in the XUV? I mean, none of the leaks were major, but it tends to linger at the back of one’s head thus robbing one off the confidence to take long trips for the fear of getting stranded. I hope existing owners can shed some light on this. I am not feigning ignorance to quality issues in Mahindra products, but has something of this nature been reported before? Is it a manufacturing defect? I will be surely going for the extended warranty. Is there anything else that needs to be done from my part?

The second point that I would like to stress is the customer-centric approach that Mahindra took in this situation, which has actually left us pleasantly surprised. I should have contacted them on the second instance itself, rather than waiting till the 4th episode. But the way in which they handled this issue was great, from arranging the flatbed to rental car, the timely updates, offering a taxi service for my trip. I usually see a lot of posts where our home grown manufacturers are bashed for the lack of customer satisfaction, but this sure looks like a turn for the better. I am not yet fully convinced that the issue won’t recur in the future, but the company has assured their assistance should a problem arise. Would love to know BHPians’ thoughts on this.

Thanks to GKR9900 again. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.