The Grey Skid – Chevy Beat TCDi LS (December 2012)

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

The moron who threw it on the road and his dad will be remembered. Amen.

I felt this statement to be a bad thought. Just imagine, what if it was a screw which came off loose from a vehicular part like Mudflap .
Or the recent rainwater dislodging it off from initial position (maybe initially it might have been on the side of the road).

I know how you will feel when you are going out with an engagement or errand , and you get a puncture, but that doesn't mean you can talk bad about another person. You may curse your luck. You can ask whether had it been me , who had put that there, as I reacted to this statement.

 

[deville_56]

I felt this statement to be a bad thought. Just imagine, what if it was a screw which came off loose from a vehicular part like Mudflap .
Or the recent rainwater dislodging it off from initial position (maybe initially it might have been on the side of the road).

I know how you will feel when you are going out with an engagement or errand , and you get a puncture, but that doesn't mean you can talk bad about another person. You may curse your luck. You can ask whether had it been me , who had put that there, as I reacted to this statement.

Pun intended

Even if taken seriously, it's a non-automotive screw used for roofing purposes and not supposed to be on road. I have bought 50 piece of puncture repair strip from Amazon for the frequency by which I find the rare foreign bodies found in my compound.

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Whatever the reason is bro, you shouldn't curse or call names on another person right ?
Its not that am taking seriously, what I meant is a general thought, instead of that you can curse your badluck or misfortune.
We can say Indian roads itself aren't greatly built for the tax we pay, but saying the " the moron who built this, or moron who had looted away the money from this funding.." is not what we address in a forum.

 

[deville_56]

Whatever the reason is bro, you shouldn't curse or call names on another person right ?
Its not that am taking seriously, what I meant is a general thought, instead of that you can curse your badluck or misfortune.
We can say Indian roads itself aren't greatly built for the tax we pay, but saying the " the moron who built this, or moron who had looted away the money from this funding.." is not what we address in a forum.

That's a style of writing. It's not a personal curse or anything. Why so serious? Leave it.

Moron is indeed a decent word on forums than using abusive words. Clarkson would've quit his job if someone starts picking each and every word he wrote.

(If any issue with that, there is always an option on the bottom to report the post).

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Nothing personal bro , just told what came to my mind as first impression when I read .
Cheers, No worries

 

[deville_56]

August 2020 - AC Duct Cleaning

Bought Xxtra Armor AC Duct Cleaner from Amazon. It was the cheapest available with decent reviews. ₹ 330.00 + Shipping. Bought it to clean the ducts of the mould-infested Polo. There was enough quantity for 3 or more cars. Smells of something like a jasmine, but subtle.

Got long pipe for deep penetration inside the vents.

The end has a contraption that disperses foam in all directions instead of pointing in a direction.

Keep all vents open

and simply spray into the ducts as deep as possible.

Foam will break down eventually and dribbles through the bottom vent.

3M got better cleaner, but costs twice.

 

[deville_56]

August 2020 - Misc

Wash

and spin

Hits a close enough fancy figure after ages. The service soon light feels annoying at times though nothing serious has ever been scanned.

Went to @vishnu vichu's place. The cleanest and enviable Fiesta 1.6S and Amaze in town, or may be the country

Got it scanned with his high-end scanner and voila, error pops up for the first time. Confirms it's faulty glow plug.

Cleared the error, but popped up again in a week.

 

[deville_56]

August 2020 - New Car Cover

Old cover got torn and was tearing everywhere on the slightest pull. It was 2-1/2 years old. Cheap one bought for ₹ 700.00.

Bought a better quality one for ₹ 950.00 from Kakkassery Automobiles. Auto Storm Matty (2x2) AS2. Delhi brand I guess, Google didn't return any result. It's free size for most of the smaller hatchbacks.

Triple stitched.

Material is thick and water resistant, but not water-proof.

Gave a quick wash before trying the new cover.

Perfect fit. Got mirror pocket too.

Trimmed the shade to shape. Fancy palm was scratching the sides.

 

[deville_56]

September 2020 - AC packs up, again.

AC gas was refilled in February of this year. Seven months later, it was all gone. Found a new AC mechanic near home, SS Super Coolers, run by two young chaps with less rush than our usual guy. Checked and refilled, it was almost empty and happened all of a sudden. Asked to come back and do a complete leak check it if drops again. Charged ₹ 700.00. Also did a quick wash of the condenser. AC is chilling again. It's got the best AC of all the cars we have/had till date second only to a Nano, be it Polo, i20, Brio, or even the EcoSport, it cools really fast even on a sunny day.

 

[bhvm]

Lockdown have heavily impacted AC.
My Safari AC is also down.

 

[deville_56]

Lockdown have heavily impacted AC.
My Safari AC is also down.

Mech also suggested the same. May be due to long term disuse and nothing to worry of.

 

[bhvm]

I used to crank the Beast every week and run the AC as well. But looks like 15 mins of use wasn't enough.

 

[deville_56]

September 2020 - Glow Plug

Bought a single glow plug from Boodmo. OE plug was around ₹900.00. Chose HKT plugs since they were known Japanese brand.

HKT CB-249 - ₹ 510.00 (MRP ₹600.00) + Free Shipping.

Post-COVID most of the couriers are mishandling the package, luckily not damaged.

Print says Japanese Technology everywhere. Genuine ones over Google showed Made in Japan instead of that. No mention of manufacturing location. Only Marketed by Motorways India. Maybe came as pack of 10 retail box and the outer box had those details. No mention of this specific model in their catalogue. Not sure whether it is fake or made under licence in India.

Chevy part number GM 55564219.

Rest of the prints also exact like OE plug, except BorgWarner IND instead of DEU. Working voltage 4.4 V.

Yet to install. Not self installing since removing without braking is tricky and the blown one is located right under turbo with limited access. Have to buy long socket as well.

 

[deville_56]

September 2020 - New Fog Lamp Switch

As usual, I was sitting jobless scrolling through the Boodmo.com and came the ideal of searching for standalone fog lamp switches from OE. First gen Swift was the only one known to me, then Esteem and Zen stuck my mind. Esteem unit was available. Ordered right away without any plan on installing. Estilo popped us as the primary candidate.

Maruti 1000/Esteem Fog Lamp Switch - 37270M60C10 - ₹ 210.00 (+ ₹ 25.00 shipping).

Only three pins, in, out and ground for powering the indicator.

Checked continuity and found the connections.

Old MGP part. Price then was ₹ 197.00. 2006 make.

Skids already had a fog lamp switch with indicator, but it would reflect badly on the mirror causing distraction at night. That prompted trying it on Beat though I always wanted a fully functional LT variant's combination switch.

It was the common Anupam brand switch, which has been there since the Ambassador Nova era. I still remember my uncle's hard top LHD Willys with an array of all available colours with switch indicator only connected for no apparent reason Showoff thing of early 90s.

The Indicator was normal old school bulb. There is also provision for backlit, but not available in this model. Zen's got backlit and the marking on the switch was translucent.

The OE indicator effect .

Not a flush fit, but I can live with it.

Dimension difference with the Anupam.

Wild ideas Grabbed the #100 paper

and started sanding.

Popped the dashboard side cover

and the panel holding the switch, both of which were just on clips.

Panel with H/L leveller. Had to remove it as the switch wasn't sitting there properly.

H/L leveller had a Molex-type connector.

Finally, managed to sink the switch into the panel. The panel was curved, making it difficult.

Anupam had normal-size spade connectors. Esteem switch had smaller spade connectors. Replaced them.

Smaller spades.

Sleeved.

Connected and installed. Perfect.

In action at night.

 

[deville_56]

September 2020 - Misc Updates

Old wheel alignment/service stickers, which we usually tend to ignore or forget. I had the ones as old as 2014. Grabbed diesel and some cloth and wiped them off, took some effort. Left alone the factory stickers.

Before/after.

Never blindly trust the parking sensors. Gave way in pitch dark and it didn't beep for a pillar corner. Hit exactly the sensor. Cracked the old putty work on rear bumper and a slight dent on boot lid. Rain water seeping in through the crack causing water pockets/bubbles on paint job. It was a completely repaired bumper, almost torn and bent in half. Might replace the bumper as such. Short of vitamin M.

Pidilite Motomax Dashboard Polish. An el cheapo stuff at just ₹65.00. Comes with applicator sponge. Works decently with faded plastics and scratches. Just a few drops cover good area, excess makes the surface slippery. Hide scratches to a great extent. (My head unit have scratches over display, which is annoying at night, disappeared with this). Just for caution, application on dashboard creates reflection on windscreen (so do most of the dashboard polish). But nothing to complain about at that price point. Available at most supermarkets and accessory shops. Got it from a hardware store during tool hunt. Buying the second time, again out of curiosity