[svsantosh]

During the last update in Jan 15 in this thread, the car was at around 10K on ODO. It slowly inched towards 23K Kms till May-17, not much happened for me to update this thread - other than the 1 service around 18K mark that left a sour taste at the local C.A.S.S and I swore never to return to them even if it meant warranty would be void.

But the last 10 months suddenly saw lots of action on the Sail UVA and it completed a brutally trashed 37K kms (approx).

Some highlights of the 23K to 59K (as of today) journey.

1) Car was a work horse, absolutely no time or money or interest to spend on it. Just tank up every 5-6 days and drive around, wash it once a fortnight and trash it again. Partly because a 6Km stretch of road outside my home was and is still dug up in the name of PWD works very badly, no end in sight for another 3 months at least.

2) No wheels alignment or balancing since 19K kms (till 59K), may extend beyond also.

3) Trusted old jeep mechanic engaged once in 7.5Kms to change the oil, oil filter and air filter, check and clean brake pads and shoes, replace if necessary.





4) Big hassle to get OEM Chevy parts even before them closing down - settled down for after market brands of spares, absolutely no issues till date other than the hurt ego and guilty conscience. OEM Brake pads are 1600Rs, Local ones are 800Rs, they last 15-18K and I change them at around 80% of wear mark. Brake shows in rear are still very good at 59K mark - kudos to Chevy.







5) Electrical issues are a pain in the butt. Headlight would come on by itself, without flicking the switch, a tap or two on the harness under the bonnet would make it go away. Also while overtaking, if you flash the high beam, it would stay ON (REDFACE) this was so embarrassing considering that I have done 100-200Kms on a bright day, with high beam stuck in ON position - Diagnosed & Isolated the headlight from the relay box and routed a full length of wire from dash/switchgear to relay box - 300Rs

6) After market AutoCOP central lock failed, running without it for now.

7) Major failure till date was engine failing to start recently - diagnosed down to CRDI unit not getting power thanks to a sheared wire - again shame on Chevy for using a very low gauge wire on such a critical part. Labor + (Gujri sourced) adaptor was 950Rs.





8) Suspension in front gave up thanks to the roads around my home, running board has taken a hit, that was how big the potholes got at one point of time. As usual not able to source OEM spares, especially after they have shut shop. A walk to JC Road Bangalore and into 'Manu' Automobiles, we managed to get the lower arm bushes and strut upper bush kit. Replaced them and car is riding high again and without any squeaks and metallic grinding noise during suspension travel. (Note - in pic you can see the lower arm rubbed badly against the chassis mount, and the strut rubber kit having sheared at top)







9) Oh and the tyres - the OEM ones wore out at around 48K kms mark, actually one bulged sideways and gave a nauseating ride for a few days, thanks to the road conditions wasnt interested to spend on new ones, and also by the 50K mark the suspension sound had crept in. I wasnt ready to do the suspension job then, so settled for 4qty half used tyres at 500Rs/Pc from OLX. They are still holding good for another few months at least.

So main take away from this update is not all hope is lost for car owners who have been abandoned by the car maker. There are may ways - branded after market service centers like Bosch, Mahindra First Choice Services, etc and also my way - a dusty and dinghy road side mechanic who charges 200Rs for a oil change and brake clean, and 1000Rs for a front suspension job, and a trusted electrician who can handle the lights, central lock and also a Crdi unit in case its needed.

[svsantosh]

Car is being absolutely thrashed around and still not close being a trash, thankfully.

One of the major problems in maintaining a car that is orphaned by the OEM is spares - Forget getting Genuine; even getting after market or spurious becomes a hassle.

At around 60,800Kms I gave it a STP Engine Flush Treatment. At around same 61K Mark i changed the tyres and upsized them to 185/75/R14.





One fine day one stop lamp bulb had fused, while changing it realised what a mess the body behind the light fittings and fenders were.





So did a quick 1 hour job and identified all rust spots, cleaned them with large grit emery paper, applied some primer and bolted them back on.Should last a year and I intend to do this inexpensive check before every monsoon.













Once I got a chance to sight OEM branded brake pads, I didnt want to miss it and by sheer coincidence the pads were nearly worn out, so I replaced them right away.





Along that way I managed to procure and use a brand called AEKO air filters and recently I got a brand called ZIP air filter. Seem to the do the job, I cant complain.









Once found the rare OEM filter!





Found the Oil Filter of Beat also fits!



Finished 83K kms as of now, doing around 4k-ish Kms month on month steadily. I am dreading the 1Lac major service and finding spares for it. I came to know Madurai(?) Alagendran Automobiles is a major stockist for all brands and I will surely get the timing chain kit from there. I am risking the thought if all 1.3DDiS kits are the same, can I risk the Maruti Kit itself. I need to do some more research into it. Let see, fingers crossed!

[pg83]

Hi there,
I also have a Sail Sedan (Diesel), till date the car has clocked about 1.26 lacs km. The car is fine and sourcing spares is not very hard here in Delhi and Chandigarh. As a matter of fact I am getting my car serviced at Chevrolet ASS only.
For one thing is sure that at times even I have to wait for them to source the material they don't keep stock of all material now and at times would ask for advance payment for sourcing the part.
Till date following are few things that the car seeked for replacement:
1. Timing kit at 1 lac km
2. Rotors replaced at 1.2lacs
3. Shocker mounts replaced twice till date.
4. Coolant and brake oil replaced at every 50000km
5. Never got Engine flush done but using System D relegiously.
6. Battery replaced twice.
7. Tyres replaced twice. OEM lasted for 37k after that relying on Michelin till date.
The car runs perfectly and hoping that it will last for about 1-1.5 lac KM without any Engine issues.

[svsantosh]

In the early weeks of ownership (Page-1) it may be noted that I had massive issues with the power window winders - both front doors. But the car was under warranty coverage and they were promptly replaced in a days time.

Now, after 4 years and Chevy shutting shop for good, the problem crept up again on driver door and at toll-booths the problem really gets on your nerves. You have to alight from the car and pay the tax - even a tractor driver doesnt need to do that!

Thankfully the JC Road (A popular auto spare joint) in bangalore also wasnt very helpful to chevy owners. I was lucky to find a road side mechanic in JC Road (Bylanes) who repaired the broken winder in a matter of 1 hour.

Issue was a broken plastic bracket through which the wire runs.



This had caused the wire to get kinked up.



The mechanic had to cut open the riveted housing and shear the crimped end wire and replace the clip from a donor-winder unit.



Donor winder unit from a santro.



The brains behind this whole operation is to accurately measure the length of the wire needed for the glass to reach TDC & BDC - Period. His bill is 10% for the job, 90% for the ingenuity.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGKh...ature=youtu.be

To ensure the length, he took 2 trial and errors (on the footpath itself) and for the crimp end he uses a M2 nut (I am approxing the size visually) and hammers it onto the wire to use as a wire crimp end. Once the length was finalized, he wound the wire back over the plastic spool and bent the bracket back into place and bolted the whole assembly up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxu8...ature=youtu.be

Hope this fix holds for a while.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Now, after 4 years and Chevy shutting shop for good, the problem crept up again on driver door and at toll-booths the problem really gets on your nerves. You have to alight from the car and pay the tax - even a tractor driver doesnt need to do that!

Instead of trying out various shops at JC Road, I would suggest go to:

Trident Chevrolet
No.122/1, C. Shankar Reddy Layout,
Kalyan Nagar Outer Ring Road,
Bengaluru, Karnataka 560043

I'm sure you'll get all the support there. In fact, I'm pretty happy with their support and service.

If you need I can pm you phone number of the service manager I deal with.

[svsantosh]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

...I'm sure you'll get all the support there. In fact, I'm pretty happy with their support and service

Spoke to the head of works at Trident, Kalyan Nagar. He gave me a very shocking input which I would like to discuss/hear from members here.

He recommended not to worry about the timing chain kit replacement at 1Lac Kms - which is usually recommended by every manufacturer. I am thoroughly confused should I get the major overhaul done at 1Lac kms or not. He said these engines have a pretty much unlimited Kms life of a timing chain, I am not sure how though.

PS - 90K Kms has come up, changed the oil, oil filter and air filter, had got a spare brake pads and unsurprisingly it was a new unknown brand till date. They fit but keeping them as spare because the last set has still a long way to go.



Out of the 130Kms I drive in a day, 12Kms are in serene/pristine village surroundings, 12Kms in city jams and the rest 105+ kms in NH's. This is what a airfilter looks after every 7,500 Kms!!. No wonder yellow board cars have a different warranty rules/service schedule compared to white board cars.



Signing off 2018 Updates with 90,500Kms on ODO...!

[svsantosh]

Decided to do a fairly broader service schedule this time. Car has run 98K Kms and few things were not changed/replaced for donkeys years.

1) Oil Changed (last 7500 kms ago)
2) Oil Filter (last 7500 kms ago)
3) Air Filter (last 7500 kms ago)
4) Fuel Filter (last 78,000Kms... my bad!)
5) Engine Oil Flush (last 58,000 kms ago)
6) Coolant Changed (from factory, 98,000Kms...!)
7) Radiator Flush (first time ever, 98K kms)






Obviously the fuel filter was looking bad, and it was a surprise car was even running smoothly. Coolant flush didnt yield any surprises thankfully. Car is much smoother now...







Off topic, I tried BOODMO website for some spares and I tried a cheap airfilter to see their speed and service. Little delayed shipment, but surely came nonetheless. I have ordered front strut bushes and awaiting to service the front suspension.



Next weekend I am planning to remove and clean the EGR + Intake Manifold. Have heard some horror stories about EGR choked with soot. Hope it works out.

[svsantosh]

Never in my last 17 years of driving and changing multiple cars have I driven a car from 0-1Lac kms.

So here she is, munching more and more, and doing its job as a workhorse. No Major breakdowns, no manufacturing defects, no accidents (thank God), no major niggles. Typical Chinese designed (partially manufactured too) and assembled in India with the Italian Engine, except the maker is gone for good.

Car is well kept by my FNG and spares are easy to get (I have tried and tested many of the non-OEM spares as documented in this thread). I am nearing a clutch overhaul (& need to keep a eye on the timing chain too, skipping for now).

If only the maker had made a mark for himself and his brand, this would have been a better ownership experience. No qualms though for now.

Will keep updating this thread...

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

Never in my last 17 years of driving and changing multiple cars have I driven a car from 0-1Lac kms.

Congrats!

1L kms is always a special feeling! As long as the car runs like this and spares are all available, forget the fact that the carmaker has abandoned the Indian market - it doesn't really make a difference!

[bblost]

Originally Posted by svsantosh

If only the maker had made a mark for himself and his brand, this would have been a better ownership experience. No qualms though for now.

Will keep updating this thread...

Wow.

That is a special milestone.
My Sail UVA is a little over 78k and runs fine.

Its such a sweet car badly let down by the manufacturer.

[svsantosh]

A long pending suspension overhaul was carried out last saturday. Preparation for the D-Day started a month earlier in Boodmo website. I had ordered the following parts (pure guesstimate and basic understanding of a strut) some of which were not to be ordered, as I learnt later on.

My experience with Boodmo this time went sour and I am still awaiting some parts after 4 weeks of ordering.



I had ordered (2 sets of) 3,5,6 & 7 from this picture. My guess was these were the problem parts and causing a hell of a bad ride experience. Order got delayed and I couldnt wait anymore, so I went to well known shop in JC road Bangalore (Manu Automobiles).





The kit above made by Technix contains 1,6,8 & 9 from the drawing at nearly 1/3rd the cost. OK, lets say the quality may be sub-standard a bit. One of the judgmental error I made was to buy 3 & 7 unnecessarily because by function they can never wear out, I found out the hard way.

The only component that had failed was the "8" rubber boot which had torn/slipped out from the spring mount and caused the spring to come in contact with the shock plate and give a bone jarring "krrrr" noise over potholes. *Lesson Learnt about Strut rebuilds*

Some pics during removal of strut.

The Unwanted Metal part I ordered...


The top rubber bush is '5' per drawing


The full Strut


Rain water gully, got a good access to clean it


On the repair desk of the 'FNG' All-shocks-struts Repair Bhai - 500Rs for this disassemble and reassemble with new rubber kit job...



This torn rubber was causing all the noise and a bit of rust is seen.

Post which the shock & spring were cleaned up and new parts/bushes/bearings were fit and locked up.





I dont have pics of the rear new shocks, but end of the day this job of overhauling the front shocks/struts and replacing rear shocks (only, not springs) would have costed 6,700Rs approx which is fairly inexpensive.

End of the day, the Original suspension feel is back and things are back to normal.

[svsantosh]

Car has crossed 1,08,000Kms and gave its first *BIG* Spares bill last week.

Some of the updates since the 1Lac milestone...

1) Changed from Semi-Synthetic Shell Helix 10W40 (after 85K Kms) to Castrol Magnatec 'Stop-Start' 5W30 Full Synth at 1,05,000Kms.

2) Started to use System-D by Iftex for the first time since purchase (started at 1,05,000Kms)

3) Blanked EGR system (DIY : Chevrolet Sail UVA 1.3 TDCI - EGR blanking) and resulted in a little additional turbo boost (pickup and FE too)

These were the 'only' out of the normal things that I did and this resulted in the below issue while I was on a 1000Km road trip for official purpose.





Busted a turbo hose and was driving with extreme loss of boost and power for a week around TamilNadu and a irritating 'whooshhh' sound everytime the turbo spooled.

My trusted mechanic of 11 years in Hosur could not apply his mind to find the simple root-cause and I ended up for the first time in Bangalore at Bay6 Engineering - thorough bunch of professionals and they changed the hose along with 2 more as a precaution.

Same time the battery went bust, a simple home UPS charge overnight wouldnt help it, so had to get a new one.



I am not perturbed by the battery, which was EOL nearly, or the EPDM hose; which may be a result of extra boost due to EGR blank or diesel fume (blow by gases) deposition OR say fumes carrying a detergent off the System-D and which was settling on the hose lining and may be reacted with the rubber - I honestly dont know and dont want to think a lot, But....



....this is unnerving for me...

Only 3000Kms ago, under my watchful eyes, I filled 3.5Ltrs of Castrol Full Synth oil, and a few weeks (3K kms) later had a hose burst. And drove around with a sick engine which was struggling for power and boost.

WHERE DID THE EXTRA OIL come from?

I am at wits end wondering if the extra stress caused any injectors O-Ring to go bust and leak fuel into the combustion chamber - ruled our because there is not fuel smell in the oil.

No coolant leak via head gasket - coolant is crystal clear, no oil mixing!

Then only answer I can think of is, IS the full synth oil cleaning out the left over semi-synth residue all over the engine and increased its quantity a bit. Bay6 mech was able to check and tell about 350-400Ml of oil had to be taken out to bring the dip stick to its original level.

Car under observation for now, mechanic advised to check oil level every day and report back.

[lobojames9]

Great work @svsantosh. I own a 2013 Chevrolet Sail 1.2 Petrol. I will be following this thread closely. My car is at the garage currently. Will post an update once it is back.

I have been having issues with my horn. Got it rectified the last time around and was supposedly the steering wheel coil. This time around it is some wires being cut in the harness. I guess I am just unlucky with the horn even though I hardly ever use it.

My car also shudders in the first gear. So will have to see what's the damage within the transmission.

[svsantosh]

After the Turbo Hose Replacement at Bay6 Garages at South Bangalore It occurred to me that this is the place where I would do big ticket items like Timing Chain replacement or Say, Clutch O/H or other kind of jobs that need a proper facility and a very competent mechanic.

So bit the bullet and went ahead with a 1Lac Major Overhaul as follows.



1) Timing Chain Kit replacement (chain, tensioner, guide, etc)
2) Oil Pump replacement (Was OK, but strongly recommended by Head Mech)
3) 1 or 2 pulleys related to Timing Belt and Auxiliary Belt
4) Lower arm bushes (existing ones were cracked and cut)

Sump Cleaned out



New Timing Kit



Old oil pump, I used to notice Oil Light would stay on a second more after 1L Kms, that issue has gone away after new oil pump is fit.



Few of these timing kit related components were replaced.



NOT changed were
1) Water pump, looked properly good
2) Clutch set, still pulling strong

A small write up about this Chevy Sail UVA Tdci after 5 years.

--------------------

I have been wanting to write a fact check about the build quality of a China Made GM Chevy Sail UVA Tdci at 1,10,000+Kms.

Engine
Stock, no major repairs
Timing Chain kit was good - Changed at 1.08L Lacs as preventive check

Fuel system
Stock OEM, no pump or injectors serviced/replaced

Brakes
Stock Rotors at front - Pads changed at least 5-6 times
Stock Drums & shoes at rear, nothing changed till now

Steering
Stock TRE, rods and pump and all

Suspension
Front Struts rebuilt, cheap roadside job
Front Lower arm bushes replaced, 1st cheap roadside job (@ 60K Kms I suppose) and now at 1.1Lacs Kms at a better Garage
Rear Gas Shocks replaced at 1Lac~ kms
Rear Springs OEM
No Wheel Alignment or Balancing done for last 85k+ Kms, I dont feel the need

Clutch
OEM Not replaced, have smoked them once or twice during spirited runs, still tugging along

Tyres
2nd set, still good amount of miles left in them

Battery
3rd, replaced recently

Electricals
Both front Power window winders failed 2 times each, 1st time replaced under warranty, 2nd time built at JC Roadside
Headlamp bulbs fused at least 10 sets each side, lost count
Horn(s) failed, replaced with AFM ones

Air Conditioner
Still OEM Sealed, no refills needed till date, chills to the bone
At top fan speed there is a noticeable whine/whirr from the blower motor

Interior
Minor squeaks, rattles, bad quality of weather seals on doors, too much road noise coming thru
Keeping the beige interiors clean with a generous dose of Deteregent powder in water and a swipe cloth, no other easy way to scrub off the interiors

--------------------------------------

For the record, Turbo Hoses and Timing Chain Kit (& Oil, coolant and filters) and Suspension Overhaul (Parts and Labour) costed me a tad below 44K Rs. A small premium may be, compared to Roadside shops, for access to a superior grade workmanship and also a premium to source difficult to find Chevy OEM Parts. Battery went bust costing me 5K~ and insurance premium at 5K made the 5th birthday for this Chevy a very hard to miss celebration at 55K Rs

Looking forward for another happy 1Lac Kms ahead...

[rayjaycleoful]

I drove a friend's sail diesel done about 90k km recently and I was pleasantly surprised . I used to have an Aveo and I was expecting similar traits (bad gearshift/ weak brakes) but this was completely opposite.
The brakes had very good stopping power even with 5 people on board. I've hardly driven diesels but the turbo lag is manageable and definitely better than the earlier diesel Swifts.
The only strange thing was the entire car shook on operating the front power windows.
But otherwise, makes you wonder why this car was a failure despite being 4m+ and spacious.