[Rahulk76]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

BTW, Leh plan is in place. We are starting from Pune on evening of 14'th June, returning by evening of 30'th June. It will be great if any of you can make it. I am preparing a list of things to check and will post tomorrow. Please review and advise.

Cheers!

Anand, I ll be behind you en-route this journey by 2 days . Lets catch up (sent you a PM)

[anandpadhye]

Wow.
This is great. Will call you.
P.S. Why are you wasting the weekend in Pune? Start on Friday :-)

[anandpadhye]

I uploaded the trip plan (route, things to carry) at:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3127840

[anandpadhye]

Setting the mood for Leh, I found some reasonable offroading videos of the Tuc:

In and out of a stream, watch till the end - AWD works (even though wheel articulation is not great):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Vv8LVQNPOM&NR=1

Careful and effective use of the AWD :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-F6maNmvJ70

Tucson and Vitara (Tuc could do it!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xl74...ture=endscreen

Failed attempt across a sand bump (wooden planks would help get out of such situations me thinks):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9s7AyufoUE

Overall, in the hands of a reasonable driver, with reasonable care, Tucson can definitely do better than a regular FWD/RWD!!!

Cheers!

[K a s h]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

BTW, Leh plan is in place. We are starting from Pune on evening of 14'th June, returning by evening of 30'th June. It will be great if any of you can make it. I am preparing a list of things to check and will post tomorrow. Please review and advise.

Cheers!

Wow . Thanks for the invite, but i have some important stuff to take care like Kid's school, etc at this time. Looking forward to your travelogue.

[anandpadhye]

A few days ago, spotted coolant leakage from somewhere around right lower arm (lucky that a parking attendant spotted it). It was a steady flow of coolant. Engine temperature was normal, and the coolant level did not go down drastically yet. So topped up and drove cautiously to the service center - they attended immediately (in spite of the fact that they were full, no ramp available, etc), and the technician immediately said "water pump"

As usual, not in stock, but they arranged it in 5 days, and replaced the pump, timing belt, idler and tentioner. Last timing belt change was in Feb 2009 (and ~50,000 km ago) and I was already behind my SA pursuing to replace it before Leh and he being a conservative, kept telling me "aur 10,000 km chalega...". Thank god this happened right here in Pune and left us with no choice.

The pump bearings are almost worn out, there is quite a play and the pump fins had started touching and scoring the wall. If this was not spotted in time, it may have gone off, snapping the belt, sending pistons on to the valves...scary.

Here are the pictures of the pump:

The drive (belt) side:


The inside (observe the scoring):


The bill:


Cheers!

[K a s h]

Good to hear that everything is sorted out now.
When my water pump was due, it used to make some funny noise when warmed up, that too intermittently (when u take an incline or some pot hole). In fact it was so dodgy that initial diagnosis pointed to the tensioner pulley and it was replaced first. However the sound came back during the test drive! So they finally narrowed it down to the water pump. There was a little bit of ply on that but it still managed to make such a racket.
With that much of scoring on your pump, you must have heard it first for sure! How is the engine noise after replacing it?

[roadjourno]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Technician immediately said "water pump"

Good that it happened before the long trip and you said that you were going to drive overnite to towards the destination .

Anyways, do get it double checked before starting for the trip and in between for peace of mind say like Himachal etc.

Cheers and looking forward to your travelogue.

[rocky080]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

The pump bearings are almost worn out, there is quite a play and the pump fins had started touching and scoring the wall. If this was not spotted in time, it may have gone off, snapping the belt, sending pistons on to the valves...scary.


Cheers!

Forgive if i am wrong, as far as i know the Hyundai Tucson and Elantra CRDI have similar engines, isn't the water pump run using the drive belt or is it the timing belt?

If water pump is run using timing belt, would the water pump failure be so drastic so as to snap the timing belt without any prior indications. Reason me asking is that when i changed timing belt on my Elantra at 70K, my service advisor told that the water pump was perfectly fine and did not need replacement. Please advice

Regards,
Rocky

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by K a s h

Good to hear that everything is sorted out now.
When my water pump was due, it used to make some funny noise when warmed up, that too intermittently (when u take an incline or some pot hole). In fact it was so dodgy that initial diagnosis pointed to the tensioner pulley and it was replaced first. However the sound came back during the test drive! So they finally narrowed it down to the water pump. There was a little bit of ply on that but it still managed to make such a racket.
With that much of scoring on your pump, you must have heard it first for sure! How is the engine noise after replacing it?

In my case, no drastic sounds was ever heard. But you remember I was complaining to Anoop all along that I feel a flat spot in 2500-3000 RPM range? When we saw leaking Turbo, i thought it may be the culprit, then the leaking intercooler inlet pipe. Once both were fixed, the flat spot reduced (but it was there). In fact to better describe it, engine felt a bit more strained in that rpm range, it did not like to rev through that zone, once past 3000, again the engine note felt cheerful. Now after the water pump is replaced, engine builds up revs enthusiastically all the way from 1800 through 4000...so that may be it.

Also, Anoop should remember - there is that metallic noise coming from somewhere at 160+, I will now try and check if that is also gone...

Originally Posted by roadjourno

Good that it happened before the long trip and you said that you were going to drive overnite to towards the destination .

Anyways, do get it double checked before starting for the trip and in between for peace of mind say like Himachal etc.

Cheers and looking forward to your travelogue.

Yes, we are still driving overnight to Ambala (what's the point in spending time in the plains when we have only 2 weeks of vacation...). Of course, this now is an 8 years old car (with ~1,20,000 km on the ODO) so it may need due attention. I am willing to provide that attention but the problem is - things may fail without warning/symptoms and if I want to religiously follow the preventive maintenance schedules (e.g. replace timing system every 4 years regardless of the mileage, replace brake fluid every 3 years, or the transmission and diff oil every 4 years), the SA just does not listen to me. In fact, he ends up convincing me that I am going overboard. And in a way, he has a point - parts are not cheap, and if we go by the book, we may end up replacing every part within a year .

But yes, I appreciate (and share) your concern - I am also going to get all tarnsmission and diff fluids replaced, and have him check everything before 10'th June, so that I will do alpha trials in and around Pune for 3/4 days before setting off. Real-time support for this car is tought to get - even in Pune, forget Himachal/Leh...

Originally Posted by rocky080

Forgive if i am wrong, as far as i know the Hyundai Tucson and Elantra CRDI have similar engines, isn't the water pump run using the drive belt or is it the timing belt?

If water pump is run using timing belt, would the water pump failure be so drastic so as to snap the timing belt without any prior indications. Reason me asking is that when i changed timing belt on my Elantra at 70K, my service advisor told that the water pump was perfectly fine and did not need replacement. Please advice

Regards,
Rocky

Timing belt IS the drive belt, isn't it? This is the main belt - that drives camshaft (and hence valve timing) and water pump. There is an outer belt (accessory belt, if I can call it) that drives alternator, power steering pump, AC compressor, vaccum pump for the brake booster and ABS. So if this outer one fails, we will have hard steering, hard brakes, no ABS, no AC and no battery charging...

I think there is no need to replace water pump every time you replace the timing belt. They should inspect it and replace if necessary. In my case, this is the second timing belt change - the first one was at ~66000 km and the water pump was not replaced at that time.

[rocky080]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

Timing belt IS the drive belt, isn't it? This is the main belt - that drives camshaft (and hence valve timing) and water pump. There is an outer belt (accessory belt, if I can call it) that drives alternator, power steering pump, AC compressor, vaccum pump for the brake booster and ABS. So if this outer one fails, we will have hard steering, hard brakes, no ABS, no AC and no battery charging...

By drive belt i meant the accessory belt. Thank you for the information regarding the timing belt driving the water pump.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

I think there is no need to replace water pump every time you replace the timing belt. They should inspect it and replace if necessary. In my case, this is the second timing belt change - the first one was at ~66000 km and the water pump was not replaced at that time.

So i guess i am fine without the replacement then. Also, are there any noticeable change in performance/behaviour to lookout for before the water pump packs up, other than the obvious sound mentioned by KASH and leak, power flat spot mentioned by you.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by rocky080

Also, are there any noticeable change in performance/behaviour to lookout for before the water pump packs up, other than the obvious sound mentioned by KASH and leak, power flat spot mentioned by you.

Not that I know of. This is first water pump failure in my life.

[anandpadhye]

Here are the pictures of the old lower arms and front shockers that were replaced:















And the shock absorbers that were replaced:

[anandpadhye]

Rear diff (drain plug is at the bottom):


Rear diff (note the breather valve at the top, the SA said he needs to think how a breather tube can be installed without damaging anything, so we did not rush it):


Transfer case (drain plug is at the front bottom):


Transmission (drain plug is at bottom left, fill cap at top right):


The rear diff and transfer case require API GL-5 80w90 (rear diff takes about 0.5 L, transfer case takes around 1.2 L).
Transmission requires API GL-4 75w85 (~2L).

API GL-5 80w90 I bought myself (~Rs.300/L).
API GL-4 75w85 is tough to get in the market, so bought from the service center (whooping ~Rs.1300/L).

[devsoftech]

Dear friends, need a quick advice. Got to meet a person selling his Tucson, 2006 model, 3rd owner, 90,000 kms. He has upgraded the ICE, put Stanley Leather seats and repainted the car in Matt black finish (From the greenish color). Tyres are new (done less than 5k). He does not have spare keys or owner's manual. He is expecting around 6l.

I took a brief test drive and here are my findings:
1. Slight noise while turning steering
2. Brakes were weak (though he said that pads were replaced).
3. Whoosh noise of turbo was audible
4. Exhaust felt greasy on touching
5. Suspension felt good
6. Timing belt has not been changed ever.
7. Clutch replaced by 2nd owner.
8. Headlights have become dull.
9. Car shudders at first gear till half clutch
10. Gear slotting is spongy (can this be fixed)

Anything else I should specifically test while going on a TD this saturday. Also, what are the expenses I should look forward to (inn between 90-120k duration). I'm planning to keep this for 1-2 years. Is the car's age healthy enough to be taken to Leh/Bhutan, or should I look at different kind of 4X4.

I'm proposing to close the deal at 5l, and I have set a budget of 2 lakh for annual maintenance for the same. Is it reasonable. I won't mind maintaining it for its reliability.