[ninjatalli]

So a plan was put to head to BR Hills to the lovely Gorukana Eco Resort over the long weekend of 10th - 12th Sept. With only a ~150km ride from Bangalore, initial plans were to take the Interceptor 650. But working till late on the previous night and pure laziness next day morning swung the pendulum towards the S-Cross instead.

And a good decision it turned out in the end, with the occasional rains we experienced over the long weekend. The route via Kanakpura turned out to be a messy one with numerous diversions but overall with limited traffic in the morning, the drive turned out to be a pleasant one. We learnt an important lesson that day - do not trust Google maps entirely; some of the 'shortcut' options it picked up took us through narrow village lanes instead of a slightly (by ~2 kms) longer state highway route. We learnt it the hard way, wisely opting for the slightly longer but much better roads on the return trip.



The final ~10 kms through the forest reserve climbing up the BR hills is a beautiful stretch that is constantly climbing up. Gorukana is located at one end while the road goes on through the bulk of the forest area to reach the other main Jungle Lodge Resort towards the other end of the forest range.



The stay was a wonderful cottage based setup located in a ~12 acre coffee estate (although the majority of the estate has been cordoned off). The place is a pretty one with a small pond on the premises and filled with the sounds of numerous birds all around us. The cottages were pretty big for the two of us - each cottage could easily house a family (or a group) of 4 adults/kids. We weren't complaining though.



The setup is perfect for someone who's expectation is to leave away the bustle of city (and work!) and tune out completely. Most of the time over the weekend was spent sitting out on the verandah with a cuppa and a book in hand. We only got out of the cottage for the 4 rounds of meals We even skipped the evening bonfire and tribal dance (and documentary viewing). Finally on the 3rd day, we eventually did move out off the premises to go on a (pretty boring in retrospect) safari organized by the JLR staff.



In the end a worthwhile weekend it turned out to be. Alas, Monday blues hit us with renewed vigor the next day morning!

[ninjatalli]

So the previous owner had done the last servicing (PMS90) pre-emptively at 86k kms last November. The car lapped up the ~10,000 kms (3k done by us in <3 months) pretty fast so the next servicing was up. With a long (~1300 kms) drive plan coming up next week, I was already on the lookout for a MASS or even better, a bhpian-certified multi-brand car service center that I could go for.

@laluks thread on Swastikaa Auto Centres caught my attention and a follow-up PM to him (thank you!) made the selection of this garage final. The reasons were aplenty - the car was nearing 100k kms, with potential wear & tear and/or preventive maintenance covering suspension overhaul, timing belt (and the works), clutch overhaul and other aspects - I needed a reliable evaluation to tell me what's on the cards. And certainly a sales hungry Maruti service center wasn't going to fit the requirement for sure.

So I landed up yesterday evening at the garage and found Mr. Lokesh all happy to listen to my requirements. We went for a short ride with him driving, and he shared his observations on what felt right and what needed further inspections. It also helped that Lokesh owns a S Cross 1.3 diesel. His overall feedback on the car was that it was in very good condition and especially the suspension felt fine; although in his opinion the clutch felt a bit hard.

The list of work was made
- Regular servicing with all fluids replenishment (as needed)
- Suspension check-up (one of the lower arm bush had a crack as per the previous service record + anything else that needs work)
- brakes to be checked (I supplied a set of pads)
- install/setup dashcam (I supplied the gear)
- clean roof stains (from previous owner's parking related issue)
- replace headlights (I supplied a pair of better bulbs)
- wheel balancing & alignment
- report on clutch (he felt it was hard, I disagreed)

A day later Lokesh confirmed on the lower arm bush with a photo which was immediately replaced. His report on the suspension came out - everything looked good and no work was needed on the immediate front.



The brake pads were still in good shape so no changes were needed (and the new set was returned). The roof stains were removed (about 90%) - far more than my expectations as my conversation with the previous owner had indicated this would require extensive detailing work due to which he never got around removing them.

A few images shared by him during the work.





I picked up the car later today with two clear recommendations from his side
- Timing belt and oil pump replacement at 1 Lac kms
- Tires replacement (current ones expected to last another 5k-10k kms)

Overall, the experience was quite good - next time I'm heading over there, I plan to push for a test ride of his immaculate Yezdi Roadking. I'll offer a ride on my INT 650 to sweeten the deal


PMS100 bill

[ninjatalli]

So the d-day finally arrived.

Car serviced and all repairs/work done: done!
Last mins checks (air, fuel, etc.) done: done!
Work and related hassles thrown tdown the drain: double done!

Left Bangalore by 5 and reached the Bangalore-Bombay highway pretty fast. The road on the highway was quite spiritedly done (we had @paragsachania's recent 4 hour trip to Hubli as a benchmark ) with no constraints - minimal traffic (after Tumkur) and both drivers taking turns till we reached the exit point near Tadas just a shade before 9 without any halts.


route taken to pass through the ghats

The options were many but we decided to go via Tadas - Mundgod - Yellapur - Ankola - Karwar - South Goa. The route was excellent, especially considering the single lane route between Mundgod and Yellapur had minimal traffic and hence not a big issue as faced by others. The route was bea-uti-ful with lush green cover on both sides and hills surrounding us all around us.



Yellapur to Karwar had perfect roads with hardly a few minor potholes at places. Around this stretch, I heard a weird rattle coming from the front right side - it wasn't that clear where the sound was emanating from - we identified it to some rattling plastic stuff lying in the right side door and as the noise stopped after that, we (erroneously) assumed that was the cause.

We were stopped at the Goa border - on noticing the wife driving, the cop just asked her if we had vaccinations done, nodded his head and asked us to go ahead. Beating our own expectations, we reached Patnem beach by 1.45 PM (total ~9 hours of driving including halts).


our wonderful beach-front stay at Patnem beach


and at Agonda beach - we spent more time at the restaurant than the hut we paid for


if there was an image that represents the days spent in Goa, it is this!


mornings were spent running on the beaches - here a view of Agonda beach from one end


with tiny coves like these still yet to be 'commercialised'

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

In between we decided to get a scooter for rent to go around. It really baffles me why one would lug around their big cars across the tiny streets of Goa (beach side). At Palolem beach, there was a non-stop traffic jam we saw throughout the ~2 hours we spent there. All caused by big SUVs/sedans/hatchbacks with MH and KA numberplates mostly. Thankfully our scooter could squeeze in though whatever was thrown at us.

Later during the day, I decided to hit one of the numerous waterfalls that dot the mountains of Goa. Surprisingly many of them are less than an hour's ride from the beaches of South Goa.


Bamanbudo watefall - right adjacent to the state highway and practically empty of tourists

3 days later we finally had to call it a day and head back home. It was then this conversation with @paragsachania came back to me. And lol - this 'quirk' of an habit turned out to be quite an adventure for us!

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

I want to try different routes for to and return journeys hence the Q. But not interested in doing a too long detour.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

I always do this. Take a different route for both directions.

A more 'scenic' route taken to pass through the ghats

And so I did - taking a more scenic (and longer) route via Anshi national park and Dandeli to hit the main Bombay-Bangalore highway. On it's own, the route is a fine one with a few bad patches spread all across the route (but doable) till we reach Haliyal. The route is beautiful with several small falls and rivers enroute.


Anshi falls that passes right next to the highway


with some breath-taking sceneries in front of us

What cooked our goose was the rattling sound that we had completely forgotten about. That came back with a vengeance! With a more clearer sound, we were able to identify it came from the right front tire, but we couldn't identify what was making it. The only time the sound came was when ONLY the right front tire went over bad road patches. With practically no network till we reached Dandeli, the drive was mellowed down to sub-50 speeds, with even local 2 wheelers overtaking us quite frequently.

We finally located a Maruti service center and got the issue diagnosed and resolved (more details on this thread), and then were able to get back to normal speeds. The delay ensured we reached the main highway only after 6; and we finally reached home at 11:45pm (total ~12 hours of driving including halts), a clear 3 additional hours of driving as compared to the first part of the trip. But all's well that ends' well, I guess!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

And so I did - taking a more scenic (and longer) route via Anshi national park and Dandeli to hit the main Bombay-Bangalore highway. On it's own, the route is a fine one with a few bad patches spread all across the route (but doable) till we reach Haliyal. The route is beautiful with several small falls and rivers enroute.

That is the beautiful Sadashivgadh Joida Dharwad route passing through some of the thickest of vegetations of Western Ghats.

This was when the tarmac was freshly laid on this entire stretch from Sadashivgarh till Dandeli turn-off.



This was in 2014 during one of the Monsoon drives and the experience was just fantastic. Hope you also stopped by at the viewpoint in the ghats overlooking the Kaiga township.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

That is the beautiful Sadashivgadh Joida Dharwad route passing through some of the thickest of vegetations of Western Ghats.

This was when the tarmac was freshly laid on this entire stretch from Sadashivgarh till Dandeli turn-off.

Attachment 2221529

This was in 2014 during one of the Monsoon drives and the experience was just fantastic. Hope you also stopped by at the viewpoint in the ghats overlooking the Kaiga township.

Unfortunately, we did see a few viewpoints enroute but didn't stop except for the falls. Basically the rattle started the moment we turned off the Goa-KA highway at Sadashivgadh, and all our attention from then on was spent figuring out where/what was the issue. The road is still good, albeit a few minor bad patches throughout the drive. In fact, only in / around Dandeli, the roads started deteriorating; till then if the rattle issue hadn't surfaced, I'd be going at almost decent/regular speeds.

Worst part of the drive was between Haliyal and Tadas; the entire single lane route (via Kallaghati) was filled with tractors carrying sugarcane loads, causing numerous traffic jams. We took nearly ~1.5 hours from Haliyal to reach Tadas (and the highway).

[ninjatalli]

2022 so far has been a sleepy affair as far as the car is concerned with the only driving happening is for a few short drives within the city. So when an opportunity arrived for a long weekend break, the car was preferred over the train.

We left early morning by 5 and decide to go via the Charmady ghat; I had last attempted it exactly a year ago on an Enfield. The route was pretty good most of the way except for the few irritating hiccups due to the closed Tumkur flyover (you'd assume traffic to be minimal at 5 in the morning, but no - Bangalore does surprise you sometimes!). But once we got on to the highway, the route was blissfully nice and we mostly saw good roads till we reached Hassan.


Our default breakfast halt on the Bangalore - Hassan highway. Good food, extremely fast service and very nice and clean setup overall

The ring-road/bypass around Hassan to reach Belur was a bit of a pain due to roads under work but we soon passed that quickly and headed ahead towards the ghats. We stopped at the amazing Ibbani cafe and picked up a lot of goodies in addition to a few hot cups of coffee. Once we got down the Charmady ghat, we got stuck up in some traffic jams but otherwise we reached home in time for lunch.


Passing through curvy roads meandering through coffee estates (although we saw more pepper than coffee)



For the return trip, I wanted to try a different route. Conversations with @Samurai and others pushed me towards the Shiradi ghat which I hadn't done so far. We left an almost empty/sleeping Mangalore city at 5 in the morning and passed through the ghat just after sunrise. We reached home (/Bannerghatta road) by 11:30am, with only a ~30 min halt for breakfast.


Warming up to the sunrise (pun intended)

I found the Shiradi ghat route fun to do (maybe because it was over a weekday) compared to the Charmadi ghat (which we did over the weekend), especially given that we only had some moderate truck & bus traffic during the early hours. The boring part was after we passed Sakhleshpur with all those cemented sections with breaks every few kms.



Comparison of both routes

1. Bangalore to Mangalore via Charmady ghat: Left at 5 am on a Saturday morning and it took us about 6H 15M hours of driving, not counting for the halts and detours that we took.

2. Mangalore to Bangalore via Shiradi ghat: Left at 5 am on a Tuesday morning and it took us about 5H 45M hours of driving, not counting for the halts.

[ninjatalli]

With the car chugging closer towards the 6 digit kms (/1Lac), it was time for the timing belt to be changed proactively. As per the manual, it was the earlier of 140,000 kms or 5 years. With the car entering the seventh year, I finally decided to go ahead and get it done without any further delay.

Reached out to Swastikaa Motors who had done the previous service, and I was told they needed to check their contacts for parts availability and they'll get back in a day. A week passed and no update and I called them up again; and the same story repeated again. Getting no response from them, I decided to look for other options.

@audioholic had suggested MyCar (Kanakapura road) - a setup run by ex-MASS folks with whom he'd had very good experiences. Called them up and was connected with Kiran Gowda (main lead) who explained that getting parts might be a constraint and he'd check and come back to me within a day. By the end of the day, I got a call back that all his contacts couldn't confirm the availability of parts so suggested me to talk to Maruti service outlets directly. Even though they weren't able to help, it was nice and professional of them to atleast call back and let me know the status.

Reached out to Kalyani Motors (Bannerghatta road) basis feedback from a fellow S-Cross 1.6 owner who had got his belt replaced there recently, and was informed that it would take about a week for the parts to be ordered and I had to make a part deposit for the same. Long story short, after about 2 weeks later, the work was done and the car was finally back with me


Unnecessary add-on "AC gas top-up". Overall was quite happy with their service so just let it go


Trivia: I had the dashcam connected and running when I dropped the car. The SA requested me to remove the dashcam saying it was not allowed. I told him it was stuck and unremovable, to which he removed the usb power supply and said this was now the norm/rule for all cars being taken in for service. Wonder if this new rule came out due to the incident with a tbhp member's dashcam (and other such cases) capturing the poor service by some dealership(s).

[ninjatalli]

Did a weekend ride to Chennai and back alone so it was a fast paced run both sides. On the first side run towards Chennai, about 100 kms away from my destination, the 'check engine light' came up. I stopped for a while to see if it goes away - nothing of such happened. There was no visible difference in the car's performance - sound was normal, the pickup and power output was normal and so were other aspects (braking, etc.). So I went on with my journey albeit at more reduced speeds over the next 2+ hours.

Next day morning took the car to Maruti Service Masters (Guindy, Chennai) basis recommendation of another S-Cross owner who got his car serviced there. @DrNaren had mentioned the brake switch most probably was the cause of this so in my mind, I wasn't really worried too much about it. Ironically the CEL light disappeared just when the service advisor took reins of the car. They cleared all error codes and told me to bring it back in case the CEL light comes up again. I missed asking out what error code exactly caused the light to come up but in my mind, I kind of expected the light to come up again so the diagnosis was to be done again soon.

Surprisingly, nothing of that sorts happened. I rode back to Bangalore (in my own 'spirited' manner) and the car functioned perfectly fine. Well, all's well that ends well, I guess.


P.s. 100k coming up (Currently at 99.5k+)

[ninjatalli]

So the car's been chugging along with just in-city and nearby rides and passed over the 100k km mark sometime last week. Since the last two-three days, I get to hear a slight "moaning" kind of sound when I start and turn the car in the parking. The sound is not there (or not audible) while turning when driving; nor do I hear it when I'm heading back to the parking after a drive. Only time I get to recreate this sound is after an overnight halt.

Any suggestions? I'll be taking it for a check later this week/weekend.

[ashis89]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

So the car's been chugging along with just in-city and nearby rides and passed over the 100k km mark sometime last week. Since the last two-three days, I get to hear a slight "moaning" kind of sound when I start and turn the car in the parking. The sound is not there (or not audible) while turning when driving; nor do I hear it when I'm heading back to the parking after a drive. Only time I get to recreate this sound is after an overnight halt.

Any suggestions? I'll be taking it for a check later this week/weekend.

In my WagonR, I got a groaning sound from the front wheels while turning them. One of the lower arms was identified as the culprit.

[100Kmphormore]

Is the 1.6/DDiS 320 badge present on the engine casing in the hood? Point 8 of ninjatalli to remove the badges might be real work to the next car owner while verifying if it's indeed a 1.6!

[ninjatalli]

The guys at Kalyani Motors, when they did the timing belt work, seemingly were responsible for causing the car to lose the wolf mods and reset to factory settings. This made the car extremely boring to drive, especially in city traffic. So a trip to Engineering Exponents was made for getting the latest mod for an additional cost. The work too about ~2 hours and I waited it out at the location while the job was getting done.

A day after the above work done, on the way to the office, the CEL lit up. I quickly ran a few checks and two errors came up



The P2299 was possibly due to the brake switch which is a known issue with the 1.6s and was expected for a while. The P010F probably meant a faulty MAF sensor which would have to be replaced (is what I assumed). The PMS110 was coming up so I decided to club both work together.

So landed up at Swastikaa again for the service and also informed about the CEL error codes. Ironically while heading to the workshop, the CEL light went off and when Lokesh and team ran the diagnostics, the errors weren't reflecting as current errors but only showing as historical records. So for now, no changes were made with regard to the error codes.



Along with the usual servicing, the wheel balancing & alignment work was added to the list. The hit to the wallet was slightly more as compared to the last time, primarily due to the higher cost of the engine oil.



Brought the car back home and currently, the vehicle is not being used as much as I would want it to be. I could only do about 6k kms over the last 12 months; hopefully I make much more use of it in the next 12 months.

[revvharder]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Along with the usual servicing, the wheel balancing & alignment work was added to the list. The hit to the wallet was slightly more as compared to the last time, primarily due to the higher cost of the engine oil.

Brought the car back home and currently, the vehicle is not being used as much as I would want it to be. I could only do about 6k kms over the last 12 months; hopefully I make much more use of it in the next 12 months.

Sir i was curious as to why 5w40 is being used instead of 0w30 ?

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by 100Kmphormore

Is the 1.6/DDiS 320 badge present on the engine casing in the hood? Point 8 of ninjatalli to remove the badges might be real work to the next car owner while verifying if it's indeed a 1.6!

Debadging efforts were discarded; as were many more ideas I had back then. As to your Q, I don't remember seeing the 320 badge in the hood; but will have to check and confirm on this.

Originally Posted by revvharder

Sir i was curious as to why 5w40 is being used instead of 0w30 ?

Primarily feedback from other 1.6 owners who gave good feedback on 5w40 and recommended it for remapped engine (that or 0w40). Plus I trust Lokesh's view which aligned with the feedback I got from others so didn't dig any further. 5w40 was also used on the last service and no negative experience over the year so continued with it. However 1k+ INR per liter is a bit too much so next time I'll be more selective on which brand to pick.

[sandeepskarobar]

Bought 2016 Model 63k on Odo 2nd Owner 1.6 from Spinny 3 weeks back. It was expensive buy at 8.91 but got a good one .

Turbo Lag is evident and overtaking was tough on highway (Coming from Petrol Ritz) . Infact after I overtook, the turbo used to kick-in many times .

Very informative thread and thanks for the 1.6 Mini PDF.

Quick Question , Can I directly go with Remap Stage 2 and Skip Stage 1 or Is it incremental and have to first go with Stage 1 and then Stage 2 ?