[rohitgaur]

In the Tucson, Clutch Clatter is a Integral part of the Car, I have tried everything, Whole Clutch Assembly+Timing Belt Replacement, secretly hoping that the Clatter would go away. Then I went in for a TD Racechip. Now it cruises like it s got a Jet Engine but in Low RPMs, there is still Clatter.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by rohitgaur

In the Tucson, Clutch Clatter is a Integral part of the Car

Absolutely :-)

I have learnt to live with it and want to only address the hardness of the clutch. How hard is your clutch?

BTW, what is TD Rachip?
And can you share some details on the exact improvements it has brought to the Tucson? e.g. pickup, top-speed? I briefly used RaceDynamics and it only mildly improved the pick-up, but sadly no change to the top speed :-(

I am planning to go to Bangalore and get the remap done like the fellow Tucson owners there have done...

Cheers!

[rohitgaur]

I wish I Could go to Bangalore with my TUC but that's so so far away. The TD Race chip was bought from a fellow member here at TBHP. Its a German Universal Common Rail Modulator
I really feel some Power as well as Mileage change But then I m not the measuring king and I ve been enjoying my Babe for 2 and Half years now.
There are some kinks like Headlight issues(Faded) but overall, I am not changing since a Captiva or an XUV offer equal comfort at a much Higher cost to me. Later when Time and (Wallet) permits , we will get some more work done......

[Digital Vampire]

Originally Posted by rohitgaur

In the Tucson, Clutch Clatter is a Integral part of the Car, I have tried everything, Whole Clutch Assembly+Timing Belt Replacement, secretly hoping that the Clatter would go away.

It has been proven that Clutch Clatter will go away 100% for at least 15k-18K kms if you change the entire assembly including the flywheel. The clutch fitment and integration is critical as well since there are steps which are often forgotten/skipped which will cause clatter earlier or even immediately. Post the 15K kms or so, the clatter will start surfacing again and will keep increasing as we rack up kilometers. At around 40-50K kms, its time for a new clutch again since Tucson has an inherently weak clutch.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

I am planning to go to Bangalore and get the remap done like the fellow Tucson owners there have done...

Yawn!!! Wake me up when that happens!...

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Digital Vampire

Yawn!!! Wake me up when that happens!...

I have a new master and slave cylinder and fresh engine oil now.
I will PM you right away. Hope you will be there for me.

[anandpadhye]

I am back from Bangalore with a successful remap - HUGE thanks to Anoop. The Tucson is now so agile and fun to drive that I have decided that I will keep it forver and pass it on to my son :-)

During the remap and testing, Anoop sensed that my Turbo was leaking boost (looking at the data collected by"Torque" via OBD-II). Even I was feeling a flat spot between 2500-3000 RPM. We also spotted oil leakage from the air-intake plumbing. However, the Tuc has this oil leak issue since last 2 years or so. When we had first detected it back in 2010 (details: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/long-t...ml#post2133499), we only fixed the symptoms (by replacing the leaking hoses) but not the root cause (which possible was the turbo). So we decided to go ahead with the remapping as planned - to best utilize everybody's time and then attend to the Turbo after coming back to Pune. The remapping was a fantastic experience and I will write about it in details soon, but first things first - the Turbo:

After coming back, I took the Tucson to the service center, we opened all the plumbing and removed the Turbo. I asked the workshop manager (a terrifc guy and a good friend since last 4 years) to replace the turbo if required (so happy I am with the remap, you see). Of course, I requested him to arrange as much discount as possible as it's expnesive (Hyundai list price: Rs.75000). He inspected the turbo and suggested that we first try to repair it rather than replacing as he thought it was possible. I asked him if turbo can be repaired reliably and he said, all the truck and bus turbos are always repaired. Those are big and expensive, the transport guys can not afford replacements. That seemed sensible and I agreed. He sent the turbo to a local workshop: Samarth Turbo Repair Works, right here in Pune. Also, knowing my interest levels, he asked me to go there and get it done right in front of my eyes. I happily obliged.

The guys at Samarth seemed very reasonable and know what they are doing. They opened the turbo and diagnosed that the intake side oil seal is gone. Also, the compressor blades showed slight damage at the edges. As per Samarth guys - this is generally caused by dust in the turbo inlet path and/or super clogged air filter that causes severe low pressure/vacuum at the turbo inlet causing the compressor blades to warp. At high RPMs that are normal for the turbo, the dust acts like bullets fired on the blades and clogged fliter can create such a low pressure that turbo starts to suck particles of the filter paper, which also then act like bullets!!

In my case, they ascertained that the blade damage was within tolerance limits and only replacing the oil seals will be enough. They ordered the repair kit for this particular turbo (by referring to the Hyundai part number), which arrived from Mumbai the next day. They replaced the oil seals and bearings on both sides - intake as well as exhaust. They said it's better to replace all as the kits comes with all bearings and seals anyway. After this, they checked the shaft balance (they can re-balance the shaft if required), it was OK, so they re-assembled everything, tested the turbo using compressed air (instead of exhaust gases) and gave it back to me. They charged me Rs.9700.

I took the refurbished turbo back to service center, asked them to clean all plumbing, intercooler and the EGR valve before refitting the turbo. It's all done and I got the Tuc back. The car now gallops like a cheeta, pulls linearly all the way (the 2500-3000 RPM flat spot is now almost non-existent).

I got an additional feature as a compliment - I now hear a loud turbo whistle between 900 to 2200 RPM. It's like a police siren!!! You can listen to the attached wave file (recorded using a Nokia E63 placed in the bottle holder between the front seats) to get a feel :-)

tucson_refurbished_turbo_whistle.zip

I will follow up with pictures of the turbo repairs and some facts that I learnt along the way.

Cheers!

[debuda]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

In my case, they ascertained that the blade damage was within tolerance limits and only replacing the oil seals will be enough. They ordered the repair kit for this particular turbo (by referring to the Hyundai part number), which arrived from Mumbai the next day. They replaced the oil seals and bearings on both sides - intake as well as exhaust. They said it's better to replace all as the kits comes with all bearings and seals anyway. After this, they checked the shaft balance (they can re-balance the shaft if required), it was OK, so they re-assembled everything, tested the turbo using compressed air (instead of exhaust gases) and gave it back to me. They charged me Rs.9700.

Thanks a ton for a very informative and useful post. Though I don't own a Tucson (I have a XUV) I may need turbo repairs in the future and it is good to know that there are specialist turbo repair workshops in India.

Most modern diesel engines are turbo-charged and soon we are going to have many turbo-charged petrol engines (like the Ford EcoBoost) in India. Turbos don't last forever and replacements are costly. With the Authorized Service Centres invariably taking the expensive repair-by-replacement route, it makes sense to take one's turbo to a specialist turbo repair facility after the expiry of the manufacturer's warranty.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by debuda

Turbos don't last forever and replacements are costly. With the Authorized Service Centres invariably taking the expensive repair-by-replacement route, it makes sense to take one's turbo to a specialist turbo repair facility after the expiry of the manufacturer's warranty.

Absolutely.

And with cars changing hands (like in my case, I am not the first owner, so I have no control over how the car was maintained before it came to me), such repairs may come up with age. I really like Hyundai for their customer friendly attitude - they did not try to enforce replacement. Even though they do not repair the turbos themselves, they refer to such vendors. It's not only my regular service center, even Trident Hyundai in Bangalore where we took the car to get their opinion (as the leak was spotted while I was in Bangalore), suggested us to get the turbo repaired. They fixed the leaking pipe so that I can drive on to Pune. That's commendable service. I will post those details as well.

[anandpadhye]

While testing the remap on Hassan road, we took a break and casually checked the air filter condition - to our horror, it was wet and dark on the outside (the bottom surface) and there was a pool of oil below the filter in the air box. At first, we could not ascertain the cause, so wiped it off and decided to drive on and check after a few KM. We stopped after around 10 KM and opened the filter again and there was fresh oil. I suspected the drain hole at the bottom of the air box as the pool of oil was concentrated around it, so oil must be getting sucked from below. We really got concerned, Anoop called up Mr. Anil who is an SA at Trident Hyundai who asked us to come over (it was around 5PM, Sunday), We drove cautiously, 80-90kmph and reached Trident by 6:30 PM. Anil attended the car right away, asked one of the technicians to have a look. The removed the battery, the air filter box and checked the plumbing (I hugely appreciate that they really got their hands dirty on a late Sunday evening). They found oil, so they asked us to come back next morning so they can thoroughly investigate.

I was really worried and upset and requested Anoop if he could spare some time next morning to be with me at Trident to get the investigation going. Anoop came with me and stayed the whole day, what a wonderful person he is . Most of the SAs, and technicians are his friends now (in fact, Trident is his second home, he literally lives out of Trident whenever his Tucson is in for any service/repairs). The car was attended promptly and two techs started looking for the leak. They started the car with the air filter removed and immediately spotted the source of leak from the pipe below the air filter (this is the pipe from turbo to intercooler).

Here is the picture of the pipe (the battery and air filter box removed):


Tucson being a rare vehicle, as expected, this pipe was not in stock, but Anoop suggested that we can weld it. The Trident guys helped arrange it. They removed the pipe, made some calls and identified a workshop that does Aluminium welding (it's an Aluminium pipe, the black color on the outside is heat shield). They gave us a car and a driver to go to this workshop. We got the pipe welded, came back to Trident. As the welding destroyed the heat shield, Mr. Anil got a new heat coating done using some 3M material, got the pipe installed by afternoon.

A huge thanks to Anoop, and the Trident team - SA: Mr. Anil, technicians: Sukumar and Thaiappan and manager Mr. Sandeep!!!

[sagarpadaki]

Boy, that turbo whistle is so good! I just love it. And the fact that the phone captured the whistle shows how loud it is in reality! Super! In my i20 too, i just love this whistle. It starts at aound 1900 RPM and stays till 2300 RPM after which the engine noise shadows the whistle. It is especially pronounced dusing night drives on highways when everything around you is errily silent.I just love it!

Tell us more about the remap. About the process and how much you gained from it and also the damage to the wallet

Wishing you many more thounsands of happy miles with the whistle!

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by sagarpadaki

Boy, that turbo whistle is so good! I just love it. And the fact that the phone captured the whistle shows how loud it is in reality! Super! In my i20 too, i just love this whistle. It starts at aound 1900 RPM and stays till 2300 RPM after which the engine noise shadows the whistle. It is especially pronounced dusing night drives on highways when everything around you is errily silent.I just love it!

Tell us more about the remap. About the process and how much you gained from it and also the damage to the wallet

Wishing you many more thounsands of happy miles with the whistle!

Thank you Sagar!

Yes, I am enjoying the whistle , but Anoop is concerned that it might be an indication of something not done right. The turbo repair guy told me there will some whistle after the rebuild, but I will visit them and show them the car to understand why there should be such a change after rebuild. iIRC, they told me that they sand polish the intake pipe of the turbo and that can cause this, I am not sure why they really sand it though, and I want to clarify that.

Regarding the remap, I am testing it so that I can put together all the observations over a good number of kms. I want to hit the *new* top speed once and I hope to do that soon .

Thanks again for your wishes.

[Digital Vampire]

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

they sand polish the intake pipe of the turbo and that can cause this, I am not sure why they really sand it though, and I want to clarify that.

That "sounds" like a plausible reason and the turbo whistle could be because of the turbulent vortex over smooth surfaces due to high speed air movement. Nevertheless get it checked up to be on the safe side than speculating.

[K a s h]

I missed the opportunity to test your remap . Looking forward to your feedback.

Originally Posted by anandpadhye

I want to hit the *new* top speed once and I hope to do that soon.

Well, the 5-speed GB in our Tuc theoretically allows a top speed of 186 kmph. Lets hope you get some road to achieve it .

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by K a s h

I missed the opportunity to test your remap . Looking forward to your feedback.
Well, the 5-speed GB in our Tuc theoretically allows a top speed of 186 kmph. Lets hope you get some road to achieve it .

Yes, you should have been there with us on the Hassan drive (especially after Anoop flashed the second remap)! What a drive it was inspite of the not so healthy turbo...

I will post a detailed feedback, testing in progress .

So as I have been saying all the time, let's search for a 6-speed GB. It's even more worth it after the remap. Anoop, .

[anandpadhye]

Here is a picture of the compressor blades from a bad turbo and good turbo:



Look at the edge of the blades:



A super close-up:



As per Mr. Makarand (Turbo Repair Shop), this damage is acceptable, so we did not change the compressor wheel. It's been 250 km since the repair and the turbo is boosting very well. No oil leak so far.

Cheers!