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Originally Posted by audioholic To reassure me of the same, my WagonR showed the same issue, and it still has coolant near the midway mark. And the same case too, coolant was replaced last service. This happened at Garuda autocraft and both cars were serviced there. So now since both cars are nearing service, I shall let them top up coolant on the Waggy. After Parag mentioned about an overheating issue with SX4, I am extra cautious now But from the last six years the car is with us, it has been the most reliable we have had in spite of taking it to places any other car would have never been to. |
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Originally Posted by abirnale I remember Alok facing the overheating issue with his SX4 that Parag helped him follow right recourse and that is the reason made me to worry about my SX4!
Let me watch it for a week with some more than average usage and report back if anything I can find out. |
Well, the one that Alok faced indeed surprised all of us who were following his road trip. Sorry, I missed this post where you guys have talked about the episode. I had few days before sent a PM to audioholic on the same.
The issue as mentioned by many people online is to do with the car overheating at speeds excess to 100KMPH. If one is constantly cruising at 120 or above, this happens.
Alok was driving between Tumkur and Sira on a hot Diwali afternoon and this happened.
First hint was the AC Stopped cooling completely. Then he sees the temperature needle pointing to "H" and that's when he pulled over. Upon inspecting under the bonnet, he could see coolant spilled all over and drops dripping out from the overflow pipe as well.
Followed all steps to bring the temperature down but it would shoot up again. Verified the Radiator and Cooling fans doing its job precisely too!
Maruti's On-Road Assistance arrived from Tumkur, filled up the coolant, diagnosed of any leaks and confirmed it could have been a one time affair and he continued only to find the issue cropping up again everytime he exceeded speeds in excess of 110kmph.
If he drove below 90KMPH, everything was perfectly normal and hence he returned back to Bangalore after his drive in the next 3 days and we were at the ASC to find out the cause.
There was no Radiator from a different SX4 to test. From the past experience of dealing with another case (SX4 again), the ASC replaced the waterpump first and I and Alok went for a TD along with the SA on NICE road one afternoon.
Everything remained normal but the real test case was doing speeds above 110kmph and no sooner that I crossed some good speeds the AC cut off happened and the needle would shoot up.
The issue now was partially resolved as the Temperature needle would come down to half as soon as the speeds were reduced but would immediately shoot up as we crossed 120kmph all the way to the H mark.
The OBD Device was connected and the SA was next to me who was noting down Temperature at various speeds. At once it touched 117 Degrees which was way beyond normal for a car and certainly a case of overheating and the fact that the issue is not resolved. But the silver lining was that the temperature non hesitantly dropped as soon as speeds were reduced which was not a case earlier when it took a long time to cool down.
This SX4 Petrol had now become part of the infamous and less talked about "Known Issue" now that the ASC had to escalate to higher ups who agreed for a Engine head replacement as the head would have easily got damaged due to all the overheating in the past and coolant not circulating effectively. (Thermostat was replaced and tested, It was removed and tested as well).
So finally, the engine head was replaced, all under warranty, thankfully, as it was just in time before it lapsed.
The ASC assured to have tested after head replacement (long hours in Idle and few TDs on highway) that the car was taken by Alok who came to my home on a Friday night for a TD.
I had insisted that we do a very thorough TD with proper test case of highway driving and we headed out on Hassan road that evening. With my ELM Bluetooth OBD connected to the port and my Phone running the Torque app, the temperature remained between 93-97 degrees all the times for those first 50 kms till I slowed down for a speed breaker (you are driving in KA you see
), and started to almost redline through all the gears and the AC cuts off now
!! Temp needle climbs but only to 75% mark, OBD displays 103 Degrees.
So now, the problem was to do with the load. Normal cruising never overheated. Everytime I braked and started again to speed it started to overheat.
Water Pump -
Replaced
Thermostat -
Replaced
Engine Head -
Replaced
Radiator - Not Replaced
The last resort now - Radiator replacement!
This one fully solved the problem. Alok even drove to Chennai and returned back carrying my OBD Adapter and monitoring the temperature and everything was back to normal.
While were were working on this issue, the Territory Service Manager suggested the ASC to use a IR Temperature Gun to measure difference of temperature at the Radiator Inlet and Outlet before replacing the Radiator.
Ultimately, the issue is 100% resolved now but since the approach was trial and error including the fact that the Head replacement happened due to overheating causing the head gasket to go bust (and damage the head as well), We suspect just replacing the Radiator, Water Pump and Thermostat may have also solved the problem.
(I still don't know if a coolant pressure test was done to ascertain any leaks or blockages as well)
Few Stories that you can refer to for this problem that many have faced (Internationally as well) -
Story 1 Story 2 Story 3 - One of our BHPian himself One more