“The Blue Elephant” My Safari 4x4 Review & Mods

[bhvm]

The Elephant is back after a 900KM trip to Saputara, Dang & Don (And around).

1. Clutch worked as expected. Just as hard as before. No issues noted.

2. 4x4 worked admirably and allowed us to dare a few more side roads than normal SUVs. 2L mode allowed me to crawl slowly, preventing Wear on Clutch and Suspension.

3. Got Lot of LIMP modes on the last leg of journey, accompanied by SERVICE lights. The beast lost all power when doing steep inclines of DON hill. A quick switch to 2L allowed me to crawl up at idle without reversing back or holding up the traffic.

4. Enjoyed the narrow but well built roads of Rural Gujarat along with the the friendly locals. Sedans can go most places except the last few kms.

5. Niggles noticed-
Meter bulbs are not working
One brake light is out.
Parking brake indicator is not working.
Limp modes as described above.
Getting diesel smell in cabin. Could be an exhaust leak.


Pictures will be uploaded in separate T-log.

 

[Chetak]

Looks like a mutual patience test between you and the BE.
Am surprised to see so many issues cropping up every now and then inspite of your TLC across most areas. The bulbs could be the rains playing spoilsport but limp modes are worrisome.

 

[bhvm]

Elephant hates rains.
On and off, these issues started in my parking as beast was parked for 20 days. Generally, a long trip solves issues within an hour, but this time it did not.

Water & Moisture getting into connectors spoils stuff. Although, every connector I now open are cleaned with WD40 and filled with Vaseline.
I am not worried about bulbs much. LED replacements have turned up just now at my office.
Limp modes will definitely need personal inspection. Will be running an OBD scan today evening.
It could be usually Diesel quality/ Water in fuel issues at rural areas mostly. Safari ECU is very sensitive to stuff.

 

[bhvm]

The Elephant Just received its Ganesh Utsav Gifts.
High quality LED Brake light bulbs!.
As opposed to usual ill-designed crap, these ones are dual Brightness ones, which means Running as well as Brake function on BA15D spec works correctly. Most of the Indian cars use this spec and is done using a Dual filament bulb.
The LED bulb uses lots of LED chips. These are Claimed as CREE but to my eye are actually Generic 3030 Chips. 6 Chips on both sides and 3 on top. Overall 15 chips.

OEM dual filament BA 15D-

Halogen Bulb-

LED bulb (Running mode)

Close up-

The LED is extremely bright. Running mode is as bright as Prev Brake intensity.
Brake mode is about 3x the running.
Best thing is Safety. The sharp, Instant on Light from LED gives better reaction than Halogen bulbs, which are actually slow to ramp up when you have both side by side.

 

[deville_56]

The Elephant Just received its Ganesh Utsav Gifts.
High quality LED Brake light bulbs!.
As opposed to usual ill-designed crap, these ones are dual Brightness ones, which means Running as well as Brake function on BA15D spec works correctly. Most of the Indian cars use this spec and is done using a Dual filament bulb.
The LED bulb uses lots of LED chips. These are Claimed as CREE but to my eye are actually Generic 3030 Chips. 6 Chips on both sides and 3 on top. Overall 15 chips.
View attachment 263140 View attachment 263141 View attachment 263142

OEM dual filament BA 15D-

View attachment 263143

Halogen Bulb-
View attachment 263144

LED bulb (Running mode)

View attachment 263145

Close up-

View attachment 263146 View attachment 263147 View attachment 263148 View attachment 263149 View attachment 263150 View attachment 263151


The LED is extremely bright. Running mode is as bright as Prev Brake intensity.
Brake mode is about 3x the running.
Best thing is Safety. The sharp, Instant on Light from LED gives better reaction than Halogen bulbs, which are actually slow to ramp up when you have both side by side.

Details please.
It's next to impossible to get one's without strobe effect here.

 

[bhvm]

No Strobing observed at all,
US $8.95 10% OFF|2Pcs New 1157 P21/5W BAY15D Super Bright 1800Lm CREE Chips LED Auto Turn Signal Lamp Tail Brake Bulb Car Daytime Running Lights-in Signal Lamp from Automobiles & Motorcycles on Aliexpress.com | Alibaba Group

Make sure you select RED only. Don't try stuffing in a white bulb even if your housing is Red.

Forgot to tell that the color is not orange or yellow as it appears in Camera.
Its pure red and is Indistingshable from Original OEM bulb eff

 

[bhvm]

5. Niggles noticed-
Meter bulbs are not working
One brake light is out.
Parking brake indicator is not working.
Limp modes as described above.
Getting diesel smell in cabin. Could be an exhaust leak.

Got some time to Fiddle with the beast.
There are some good and bad news. The Good ones first.

1. The brake light socket had some moisture, Cleaned it but bulb still didn't work. Found out that engine bay has LH & RH Tail Lamp fuses. One Fuse was corroded and blown. Learnt that respective Parking light is also merged with the said fuse. But most importantly, METER Console Backlight is merged with RH tail lamp fuse. Cleaning the socket and adding new fuse has fixed both Brake light and Meter console!

Now the bad news-
Looks like repair guys have knocked out Vacuum lines for the Engine when working on Clutch cylinders.
The Master cylinder is exactly behind this joint here (Silver thing with nut on top). They have tried to cheaply repair the joint using Metal wire and fevi quick. And they have also knocked out hoses from other joints.

I was expecting better service with TASC. Even if they messed up the stuff, they should've told me what they broke . Unfortunately due to broken vacuum controls, Beast got into LIMP mode and turbo was turned off. Which means no power and made last leg of journey very difficult.

The Master cylidner which was replaced. made by TVS Gurling.-

Tried repairing broken hoses but not satisfied. I have ordered entire set from Boodmoo which costs 1800.

In the meanwhile, I paid attention to other vacuum joints on the engine. Undid them and used Teflon tape (Plumbers tape) to get a more secure fit. Hoses are very nicely tight now.

Take a look at Ball like thing hidden behind yellow cap. That's the Vaccum Resiorvior. See the broken Pipe which should've been ideally secured to its port.

very nicely labeled parts. Shows part location as well as flow direction.

The hose on other end was broken at vaccum resiorvior. This was a tricky part to get to. Finally after lot of backache, got the Entire ball out. Now to remove the half broken pipe from inside.

Now coming to the bad part, Diesel smell is actually compression leak.
Injector 1 has leaked.
I don't know if this was just bad timing for a failure or Running a bit with Limp modes have caused it. (I ensured cool-down every 10~15 mins during the drive.)
I am having a hard time finding copper washers for these. Seems like even new Injectors do not come with these washers. Found washer for 3.0L DICOR on boodmo and ordered them but they mailed me back they are having a hard time sourcing them. So the wait is on.

 

[bhvm]

Now comes the hard part of removing broken Hose from Vaccum ball. The ball nozzle has a collar which made is very difficult to get in any tools/screwdrivers to pop out the hose piece. Tried using needles, pliers etc. But then made this method of sinking thin screws in the rubber hose, and pulled them out, along with the hose piece.

 

[bhvm]

Bad luck continues,

Dear Sir,

I am an receipt of your Parcel Package #2308/0300050-2,
However to my Horror, The package for SEALING WASHER (BS-III
INJECTOR) TATA, 253401169209 has been delivered empty. This was not
expected form a company of your reputation and I was expecting you
check items before shipping. Please look into the matter and send the
required part as soon as possible. Thanks

 

[mayankdixit]

What are you up-to.? Why so silent?
You did nice things with your safari.and made us addicted to this restoration/modification saga,I will give you that.
What now??
Come-on man ,you are leading the pack,and are a source of motivation!

 

[bhvm]

On a tour.

 

[mayankdixit]

Wow man,this has to be the smallest reply ever on TAI. Just 3 words and only 7 letters!
Anyway,best of journey.

 

[bhvm]

It's 12. The day of Ganapati visarjan. Decided to pay some attention to my own Ganpati (Blue elephant) & get it working.

1. Installing vacuum pipes was a 15 min job. brought pipe clips which clamped beautifully to original Tee. Installed back vacuum accumulator. Everything done & tied up.

2. Opening the injector took most of the time. Liberal spray of wd40 multiple times. First fuel line. Then injector claw. Do note that I had the Injector soaked in WD40 since about 15 days now. I had sprayed it before leaving on the tour. Brought out the injector by slowly rocking,twisting it around. Takes a 15mm spanner and you can spin the injector a few degrees using that.

3. Unfortunately injector came without copper washer, which is back down very firmly. Got a wire in with a hook which grabbed something but washer is still stuck.
Got the wire out. Washer is still in. It's soaking in wd40.

Here is the new vacuum Line. That ball like thing is Vaccum accumulator-

Got fuel line opened-

Pipe clip on joint-

Injector out after much patience-

Happily having a Spa (Soaked in WD40)

Note- These are pre-cleaning images.

 

[bhvm]

Day 2 with the elephant. After soaking washer overnight I was pretty confident that it'll come out. It didn't.

Used screw driver no.
Used cloth in screw driver. No.
Used tape on screw driver. No.
Cranked engine over. no!

On a freak decided to put everything back and crank it up. Brought it to operating temperature. Undid everything in a jiffy and washer came out in 2 seconds.
Cleaned injector once again. New washer was also sanded a bit. & fixed in. Keeping one Electrical socket out allows you to bleed the injectors nicely..
Fired up And all fine!

Old injector washer has become pitted with a lot of carbon. Sanding will help, slowly.

Finally the elephant is ready to roar. As usual in my excitement I forgot to take pics.

Had a trial run late night.
Injectors are fine. Power is ample. 4x4 worked Beautifully. Drove a bit in 2L to get the oil circulating.
It seems driving in 2L generates a lot of heat. Engine bay was wafting quite a warmth at Home.

Some pics which I have-
Here is the culprit- Old and new.

Look at the pitting on the old one. Under zoom, even new one has very fine scratches. These will be sanded out.

Tried sanding.

Looks like old one will need far too much sanding. In goes the new washer!

 

[bhvm]

With my Zest to make myself and my Rides safer on the Road, I have ordered some 3m Reflective strips. These strips will be installed at the front (White) and rear (Red) to promote Conspicuity. I have been working with various options where I may have good visibility along with good style. Please suggest me some good locations to paste the tapes. I have worked out a few and more are welcome.