[Guderian]

Originally Posted by BBR_SHR

2. I did pick up a silver Fort

I am indeed connected to the Thal Sena thru my Father and father-in-law + several friends.

Hi BBR_SHR,
Congratulations on the acquisition. The tribe grows.
Bravo Zulu !


Awaiting a detailed report and pictures.
And what's the name, sir, of the 'photocopy' ?

Glad to hear of the Thal Sena connection too !

And here are the snaps of thre days deluge and Admiral's continued tryst with waterworld !

(Note: All the snaps have been taken when the vehicle was at a dead halt or stopped at the side. No other motorists on the road were inconvenienced due to this filming. No animals were injured during the shooting of these scenes.)

In the morning.
Wat-er Day ! At a signal stop at Sion:


In Amchi Mumbai not just low lying areas - but high flying flyovers also are innundated with lots of water ! It becomes an aquaduct. Dadar flyover:



At Parel waterworld:






In the evening - was quite petrified of this spot - shown below. This was the spot where on Monday I had described all the drama.
300 meters of 2 feet water. Mill wall on one side:


The manhole - still open waiting for water and BEST buses. This time with some warning.


And chawls on other side - the other day it was filled with families watching drama in real life !


Today luckily there was no water around. And no gawking crowds either !

At this rate with the amount of water splashing I will need to get the propeller shaft greased again. Oh curses - the need to convince the ASC chaps again !

And boy am I glad that I got the Wurths rust proof work done really well. Worth the money spent.

[dot]

It is raining heavily in Bombay -Pune region. Already the river is highly swollen. It has swallowed a few bridges and threatening to do some more. We went out for an after dinner night drive a little while ago and were amazed to see that the river is almost touching the new Yerawada bridge's under-deck. If Holkar Bridge is swallowed tomorrow, will post some pics of that.

Originally Posted by Guderian

(Note: All the snaps have been taken when the vehicle was at a dead halt or stopped at the side. No other motorists on the road were inconvenienced due to this filming. No animals were injured during the shooting of these scenes.)

Interesting disclaimer.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by dot

1.If Holkar Bridge is swallowed tomorrow, will post some pics of that.
2. Interesting disclaimer.

Hi dot,
1. Trust you didn't have any heart stopping moments in the rain today.
2. Quite. Came after I was warned off riskly road snaps.

Incidentally wasn't able to try out the Dupli-Color 2in1 ScratchFix on the Admiral today either. For couple of reasons. One that
it was raining pretty hard today as well in the morning and secondly there is actually nothing to fix on the Admiral as of date (touchwood !). But my gut feel says that the shade/colour of the paint pen is almost a perfect match.

In case folks are wondering and scratching their scalps on the para above -I am talking about this:
Dupli-Color :: Scratch Fix eStore

And have been using these 2in1 ScratchFix pens for years now with great results. The last pile of the stash was brought in by dot last month. Will post a couple of snaps duly.

Otherwise a peaceful Sunday for Admiral.

[BBR_SHR]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Hi BBR_SHR,
Congratulations on the acquisition. The tribe grows.
Bravo Zulu !

Awaiting a detailed report and pictures.
And what's the name, sir, of the 'photocopy' ?

Thank you Sir. I named it 'baLwinder!' (yes the exclamation is part of the name and no it is not named after my friend from Punjab).

I wanted to know if the avg. on MID changes frequently with respect to change in driving style/traffic? To be more specific, I did a 100km run in city/higway conditions and my MID didn't budge from 11.4km/L. I was expecting it to fluctuate a bit. Am I wrong here?

[Swanand Inamdar]

HG, if it werent for the ToFu, I believe it would have been time to rent those highh speed boats to travel on roads like that! Pune has seen un precedented rains over the last few days. @Dotty, if this continues, Holkar bridge would surely be under water. Wish we could hire Fort's for a season and then return them back!

[Monaro CV8]

Hi HG!

The illustrious road conditions does a Warcry for the Fortuner!
Nice to see the admiral in action, and kudos to your driving skills too Generale'!
That car does come in handy during such situations.
One of the many advantages of the T-Fort!

And, those pics also reminded me of a similar situation I was in with my truck, during the last week of May, when the pre-monsoon showers had turned a lot of Pune roads in 1 to 2 feet ponds.

Originally Posted by BBR_SHR

I wanted to know if the avg. on MID changes frequently with respect to change in driving style/traffic? To be more specific, I did a 100km run in city/higway conditions and my MID didn't budge from 11.4km/L. I was expecting it to fluctuate a bit. Am I wrong here?

Congrats on your aquisition of 'baLwinder!'
Re: your MID query, you might want to reset the Fuel Average before you start your run.
Long press the reset button below the Info button (on the right side of the steering wheel) to restart your current fuel economy figures.

Let us know how you go.
Cheers

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by BBR_SHR

1. I named it 'baLwinder!' (yes the exclamation is part of the name and no it is not named after my friend from Punjab).

2. I wanted to know if the avg. on MID changes frequently with respect to change in driving style/traffic? To be more specific, I did a 100km run in city/higway conditions and my MID didn't budge from 11.4km/L. I was expecting it to fluctuate a bit. Am I wrong here?

Hi BBR_SHR,
1. Congratulations ! Unique. A change from the trend of projected macho/toughie names etc for SUVs. OK but then baLwinder is also supposed to be a projection of 'might' or force/strength - but it's fresh.Great.

With all the water around and water wading Admiral seems to be doing of late - I think I should rename him or at least give him a nickname of...
Jal-winder !

Await your thread with everything in it !

2. The Ave FE figures on the MID does take some time to change. However as Monaro indicated - you may want to reset before setting off on a long drive to check the pucca efficiency. But don't bother if you are trying to check the overall tank to tank FE figures.

Originally Posted by Swanand Inamdar

HG, if it werent for the ToFu, I believe it would have been time to rent those highh speed boats to travel on roads like that! Pune has seen un precedented rains over the last few days. @Dotty, if this continues, Holkar bridge would surely be under water. Wish we could hire Fort's for a season and then return them back!

Hi SI,
Aye sir - the weather is rough indeed.
But with all this water am worried about the corrosion angle - underbody especially. However good the corrosion proofing etc something does get impacted as water and salt are the worst enemies of any automobile and Mumbai has adequate measures of both.
Keeping my eyes peeled - for countermeasures if required.

Hire TForts ? Are you sir trying to equate a TFort with a TInnova ? Don't you dare. Hire a Tinnova for all I care...ooops...hope I haven't started another round of acrimonious TFort Vs Tinnova debate !

Originally Posted by Monaro CV8

Hi HG!
The illustrious road conditions does a Warcry for the Fortuner!
Nice to see the admiral in action, and kudos to your driving skills too Generale'!
That car does come in handy during such situations.
One of the many advantages of the T-Fort!

Hi Monaro,
Thanks.
Do you notice any rust spots yet on your TFort other than the obvious ones on the wheel drums and engine block ?
I am keeping a check on the underbody and parts around as well as the engine bay.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Hire TForts ? Are you sir trying to equate a TFort with a TInnova ? Don't you dare. Hire a Tinnova for all I care...ooops...hope I haven't started another round of acrimonious TFort Vs Tinnova debate !

I was thinking of "hiring" your ride for a coupla days .
Dont worry about those acrimonious debates. You've got a wonderful ride, enjoy that to the fullest.

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by Guderian

I am keeping a check on the underbody and parts around as well as the engine bay.

@General - Reporting to duty after keeping a silent watch on the TOGO channel.

Now the above got me thinking. How are you possibly checking the under body? Now is going under the Admiral also part of the Sunday routine? Or do you have those mirrors attached to long handles (don't quite know what are those called) which security folks place under your car while entering Malls, Offices etc

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

1. Reporting to duty after keeping a silent watch on the TOGO channel.

2. Now the above got me thinking. How are you possibly checking the under body? Now is going under the Admiral also part of the Sunday routine? Or do you have those mirrors attached to long handles (don't quite know what are those called) which security folks place under your car while entering Malls, Offices etc

Hi Amit,
1. Not done. Silence is not golden on Togo Channel. Still awaiting your KM output for the Togo Channel.

2. Checking the underbody on the Admiral is fairly easy as I found out thanks to the high ground clearance. Most of the UB can be checked by by kneeling and peering up from the 4 sides and having a good dekko/looksee with a good torch. Can check most of the stuff. But once a couple of months it is fun to crawl underneath and check the entrails in detail and keep a look out for issues. And crawling underneath is also no issue at all thanks to the GC. Just keep a tarpaulin underneath and wear a pair of glasses to prevent muck from falling into your eyes from up above. Ensure that the vehicle's gears and handbrakes are engaged/ engine in cold condition.

[Raosaheb Desai]

Water wading depth 70 cm...WOW!!!
My X trail have just 350 mm.
Man you have a real beast.

[Guderian]

Lordy Lord ! It's been quite sometime since I came here...and look how all the vehicles here have grown since !

And so on completion of 15K KMs of running Admiral had to be taken for his IV service and so the two of us sailed off last Saturday to the ASC, by which time Admiral had touched 15,508 KMs. And the 15K KMs service is not really a major service. Just checking and cleaning. But of course from now on I had to pay as the three free services were through/done with... sniff !

This time the entire process was rather chaotic and time consuming. So what happened to the famed T service levels ? Nothing really except that all the huge sales numbers of T-Etios and Liva is begining to show on the ASCs and they are begining to creak - as all the Etios and Livas are coming back for their manicures and pedicures ! Plus the fact that all the good folks who had kept off the servicing till the end of the Ganapati season came back after their drives and functions etc. Another issue was the ASC's transformer had blown up the previous week and they were running on DG sets - which was being frequently shut down ! And to top it the ASC has started taking in 85 vehicles a day. Need I say more ?

Went in at 0930 Hrs and came out at 3.30 pm.
- All checks done. NAD.
- Air filter cleaned.
- Brakes cleaned with cleaning spray.
- One of the skid plates - below the oil sump was slightly bent after I had crushed a tallish flower pot during my recent trip to Bangalore - hadn't seen that in the darkness while parking for the night ! Evidence as below:

The skid plate was straightened.

- Electricals etc etc checked.
- Washed. Washing line with a large number of vehicles in line. And some confusion - as Admiral was once removed out from the line as they thought I wanted it fast and then when I bared my teeth they docked back Admiral after some deft manoeuvering.
- I wanted to get the alignment done - but their alignment yantra had broken down. So got it done from outside.

Electricity kept walking in and out of the life of the ASC ! Spent time on the shopfloor despite some very strong protests etc - finally they relented for sometime and got me a "pass" to stand there etc - Wooo aren't they getting bureaucratic !
But guys were very polite and eager to help. Give it to them. Each interaction showed that they were a cut above the rest of the ASCs despite all the pressure, frayed tempers.

The final bill came to about Rs. 1800/-.

Thanks MonaroCV8 - you know what I mean...

Didn't take any snaps as there was nothing different from the earlier visits.

After serving time at the ASC (yes, something like a correctional facility or politely referred to as jail ?!!) went to get the alignment done outside - as I couldn't wait till 20K KMs to do it at the ASC. The alignment-wallah was recommended (on asking) by the Head Technician at the ASC and is a leading WA chap in Thane.

Nothing great at the alignment except that the toe was a wee bit 'out' - but within acceptable range - could have run even without correcting it. But corrected. But it took 4 trials (including the final one on Sunday morning !) till they got it pat to my satisfaction - including getting the steering dead center.
All well with camber and caster. Contrary to my apprehension the alignment process of the Toyota Fortuner is rather uncomplicated and almost like the Innova, despite the 4X4. No shims and stuff for the caster adjustment just a measured nut adjustment. Of course that wasn't touched at all.

WA charges - Rs. 400/-.

Some snaps at the alignment center - from the pit !

Getting ready:


Some underbelly shots - looking aft n fore:



The camber adjustment nut.


The steering link rod U joint.


The T Case:


The humungous 80 Lt fuel tank from underneath with protective cladding.


Front right side rubber boot, lower suspension arm and brake calipers.


And the left:


Achtung !



Getting the tyres to 'toe' the Admiral's line !


Everything hunkydory and Admiral all fresh. But had to drive back in sudden rains ruining all the cleaning efforts. I guess Admiral, the rains and water have some karmic connection !


Soon, back at the colony, when I was putting things back in shape Admiral had a friendly visitor. Guess who ?


Oh yes, the good ol' kidney bean !



The X1 and the Admiral:


Due to space and time constraints couldn't get a side by side shots for a comparision. Next time.

Next day, didn't have to do much on the Sunday routine. Engine bay was sparkling clean:



Even the mighty nostils were rather clean !



And so could go home early much to the annoyance of the folks there at the unexpected early return.

Overall the service experience was not all that great due to the delays and the crowd. Toyota needs to I think open up many stand alone ASCs like the likes of MASS to cope with the rush. And yet ensure that the famed Q is maintained. Can see some of the Q also slipping thanks to the pressure.

Now coming to couple of points on the Toyota Fortuner.

- The underbelly protection S plates are very thin. Paper thin steel but with some rigidity due to the shape and fastening points. Though they do the job OKayish but a little thicker plates would have helped, to my mind. A thought has entered my mind to replace them duly - with 4/6 mm aluminium plates.

- Though many folks have expressed it here earlier - about the skin of Toyota vehicles - the Toyota Fortuner is a knight in a paper mache armour ! Dents rather easily. And the paint too scuffs very easily. Like the TInnova as someone would say.
But can't do much about it except drive carefully - or let it, over the years, accumulate dents and dents on dents and proudly display them like a tough, grizzled old veteran.

For scars look great on rough hewn faces. Heard of ol' Scarface ?!!

Note From Support Team - Please note using short forms for vehicle Names is no more allowed(Refer to mass PM sent on September 10), we have corrected this time. Also mention company name in full alphabets instead of using single Alphabet.

[dkaile]

Nice to see you back Herr' Generale'.

Just wanted to know why the underbelly is looking so dirty at the time of wheel alignment? Did they not pressure wash it during the service?

BTW the Beemer sure looks drooling! It may be smaller in size but is sure has character!

[Monaro CV8]

Hi HG!

All's good under the brethren : T-BHP !


And while I was happily reading your post on my mobile device tonight, I suddenly burst out laughing - the nostrils part. Har Har...LOL !
My wife looks at me, she's like - u and your T-BHP buddies!!

Re: your Q about the rust spots. Had a look at my Truck's down-under. Apart from the usual suspects (R brake drums), didn't find anything doubtful.
Maybe the sultry climate of Thane is getting to the Admiral. But I think you mentioned somewhere in your thread that you've got the underbody anti-rust treatment done for the admiral.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by dkaile

Nice to see you back Herr' Generale'.

Just wanted to know why the underbelly is looking so dirty at the time of wheel alignment? Did they not pressure wash it during the service?

BTW the Beemer sure looks drooling! It may be smaller in size but is sure has character!

Hi dkaile,
1. Great to be back.
2. I can think of 3 reasons - because this is not the first time I am noticing this:
a. I had to drive to the alignment chap on wet roads.
b. You see as mentioned in one of my earlier posts - I had gone back to the ASC once, immediately after the delivery of Admiral, bawled at them, and had them to redo the Anti Rust treatment - wherein I think going by the evidence - they sprayed huge quantities of Wurths. Now this substance when it dries up has a very rough pitted surface and attracts a lot of dust and mud. Some of the surfaces they shouldn't have coated too received some attention !
c. They may not have done a thorough job. But then I did check them out last time and this time and saw them slaving with the HP jets.

The only way to prove or disprove the hypothesis is to take Admiral to a car wash chap and HP wash the underbelly and check the results out. Am planning to do so in the near future.

Originally Posted by Monaro CV8

Re: your Q about the rust spots. Had a look at my Truck's down-under. Apart from the usual suspects (R brake drums), didn't find anything doubtful.
Maybe the sultry climate of Thane is getting to the Admiral. But I think you mentioned somewhere in your thread that you've got the underbody anti-rust treatment done for the admiral.

Hey Monaro,
Nope, there are no rust spots on Admiral under chasis or anywhere except for the brakes - all and the engine block. Was just asking you out of curiosity.

And about the laugh at the wrong time ! Just do be careful will you. Ladies are mighty suspicious. A few more of that and the good lady would be checking your shirts for lipstick marks or worse calling the white coated guys who come in blaring loony bin vehicles and with jackets with belts all over and declaring that TBHP stands for - Tu Bechara Hai Pagal !