[Turbanator]

Are the clutch plates manufactured by Mahindra or they simply put there mark . Can we get some from reputed manufacturer like LUK ? I am very sure it does matter who is manufacturer of the parts , LUK is one of the best manufacturers of clutches and they have set up something In India - I don't know if they produce it yet for Scorpio - if not then only reason can be low Target rates by M&M .. but you can try in after market maybe you get one

[Ranga]

My friends CP went for a toss @ 20K Kms . This was replaced under warranty. This was a SLE 2010 model .

I and my friend went to Nanjangud recently and found his clutch plate was erratic and we could not change gears smoothly. I told my friend to have it checked . He reported clutch failure 2 months after our drive to Nanjangud .

So its true that 2010 models ( SLE ) does have a problem

[Guderian]

Yet Another One......!

This morning at about 6.30 am received a call from a friend Manu B who stays at N Mumbai and currently on a trip to Udupi, in his 2009 MHawk Vlx - 55K KMs, that his cluth had given up on the way back about 4 KMs short of Bhatkal town. He was/is travelling with 2 of his family members. Luckily no ladies or kids.
Heard the description and realised that it was yet another one ! The clutch slave cylinder was toast.
Luckily for me/him one of my contacts and friends is the proprietor of M/S Karnataka Agencies (the largest dealer/ASC of M&M in Karnataka) in Mangalore whom I contacted and he is organising all the help.
His chaps with all the parts and fluid and break down from their Udupi ASC (about 2 hours away) will be reaching Manu by 10 am or so.

They will identify a local garage with a pit where they will carry out the all the work instead of towing back the beast to Udupi ( a 3 hour tow story). Let's hope all goes off well and there are no more surprises for Manu ! Like in addition that the master cylinder is cooked or something else.

Well all I can say for sure - the parts/components that the M&M, R&D team, tests and the ones that the vendors supply finally to go into the vehicles that are sold are of two things altogether !
And not surprising though. Pressures of cost reduction etc on the vendors would also lead them to cut down the quality parameters. Even the QC check on bought out items can't be 100% and may I dare say - even lax ?

Net result is I have a friend stuck in Bhatkal with a longish wait ahead of him, tension, carefully laid out plans all awry.

And worse has his F-i-L travelling with him and now stuck with him - not the best of things to happen to a bright S-i-L !

[4x4addict]

@HG:

Not to worry. Superman is driving a Thar CRDe at 140 kmph to Bhatkal to the rescue :-).

Frankly I used to be of the opinion that imported SUVs are not worth twice the price of their desi counter parts, but if you look at the reliability, ergenomics, comfort, handling, etc of a Pajero 2.8 or Fortuner, I now believe that if you can afford spring for the Pajero or Fortuner or any of the new imports that will hit the market shortly. If you need a people mover in the 10 lakh range get the Innova.

In hindsight, I feel, I should have bought an Innova and a 4WD Marshal. Mahindra does a great job building spartan vehicles like the Major, Marshal, Bolero etc. But north of 7 or 8 lakhs I don't think it is worth buying from Tata or Mahindra.

[starter]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Frankly I used to be of the opinion that imported SUVs are not worth twice the price of their desi counter parts, but if you look at the reliability, ergenomics, comfort, handling, etc of a Pajero 2.8 or Fortuner, I now believe that if you can afford spring for the Pajero or Fortuner or any of the new imports that will hit the market shortly. If you need a people mover in the 10 lakh range get the Innova.

In hindsight, I feel, I should have bought an Innova and a 4WD Marshal. Mahindra does a great job building spartan vehicles like the Major, Marshal, Bolero etc. But north of 7 or 8 lakhs I don't think it is worth buying from Tata or Mahindra.

Agree with you 100%!!
Cheers,
Deepak

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

@HG:

Not to worry. Superman is driving a Thar CRDe at 140 kmph to Bhatkal to the rescue :-).

Ha ha !

Breaking News:

The latest story from Bhatkal is as follows:
1. The ASC at Udupi discovered that they do not have the Clutch Slave Cylinder - so two chaps on a bike were sent to their main center - Karnataka Agencies, Mangalore - and were asked to pick up all types of the CSC (there are 2 varieties just for the MHawks !).

2. Guys arrived at Bhatkal at 2.30 pm (approx).

3. Work is underway currently and should be over in about 30 minutes.

It was indeed the CSC that had packed up and the clutch oil had completely leaked out into the clutch bell.

Thankfully the folks at Karnataka Agencies were very, very helpful and greatly reduced the pain of the misfortune !

My friend meanwhile knows every shop, shopkeeper, lane and resident of the small mofussil area just 4 KMs short of Bhatkal ! Besides of course the F-i-L & S-i-L bonding has grown real strong.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by Guderian

And worse has his F-i-L travelling with him and now stuck with him - not the best of things to happen to a bright S-i-L !

Ooh, I wish him well; will he include this in his complaint to Mahindra ***?
I am sure this will deter a lot of use from using Scorpios when the inlaws are around!

Originally Posted by 4x4addict

Frankly I used to be of the opinion that imported SUVs are not worth twice the price of their desi counter parts, but if you look at the reliability, ergenomics, comfort, handling, etc of a Pajero 2.8 or Fortuner, I now believe that if you can afford spring for the Pajero or Fortuner or any of the new imports that will hit the market shortly. If you need a people mover in the 10 lakh range get the Innova.

In hindsight, I feel, I should have bought an Innova and a 4WD Marshal. Mahindra does a great job building spartan vehicles like the Major, Marshal, Bolero etc. But north of 7 or 8 lakhs I don't think it is worth buying from Tata or Mahindra.

I agree with you that the price point probably at least gives better peace of mind in terms of reliability. However, any specific reason you brought Tata into this mix, any specific incidents? These days, it seems that we need to always carry the contact details of someone higher up in the *** and even those of the other service centres en route

Disclaimer: I am no Tata fan, but would like to know if there are any relevant incidents faced by Tata vehicles

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Disclaimer: I am no Tata fan, but would like to know if there are any relevant incidents faced by Tata vehicles

Ah ! New round these parts eh ?!!
Seek and you shall hear of plenty !

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Ah ! New round these parts eh ?!!
Seek and you shall hear of plenty !

Not around these parts, but new around Tata vehicles since the Nano
I am certainly interested in more than a look now!

Didnt intend to thank you for the post; used the wrong button to quote you, time to go home

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Breaking News:

Latest latest:
1. Job done.
2. Payment discussions on - around extended warranty. Karnataka Agencies contacted.
3. Friend ready to roll.
All details will be posted tomorrow.

Early reports indicate that F-i-L is very impressed with the S-i-L. Situation saved.

[DDDHRUV]

I agree that with both TATA and MAHINDRA the customers are the scape goats suffering on account of pathetic parts quality and poor fit and finish. Come on these companies cannot continue to use the excuse of lower final on road prices vis a vis foreign counterparts to cover for their non existent quality controls on the shop floor. I think these quality guys should be made to visit the *** once a month/quarter to experience the frustrations of the customer.
In my case the right indicator does not function in my TATA Safari inspite of 3 visits to the TASS. Everytime the relay/switch located behind the glove box is changed it works for barely 3 days. It's frustrating to roll down the window and poke your hand out to indicate to all that I wish to take a right turn. Mind you the left signal working absolutely fine. I wonder what I will do once it's starts raining.

[mercedised]

Originally Posted by DDDHRUV

In my case the right indicator does not function in my TATA Safari inspite of 3 visits to the TASS. Everytime the relay/switch located behind the glove box is changed it works for barely 3 days. It's frustrating to roll down the window and poke your hand out to indicate to all that I wish to take a right turn. Mind you the left signal working absolutely fine. I wonder what I will do once it's starts raining.

Are the indicators working when you switch On the hazard warning switch? If yes then I only see one reason, the fuse is the culprit, might be due to a loose fuse the relay is going kaput. Tell them to check all the fuses, or check it yourself.

[Guderian]

Originally Posted by Guderian

Latest latest:
1. Job done.
2. Payment discussions on - around extended warranty. Karnataka Agencies contacted.
3. Friend ready to roll.
All details will be posted tomorrow.

Early reports indicate that F-i-L is very impressed with the S-i-L. Situation saved.

Final Update:

1. The job appears to have been done fairly well given the circumstances. Though my friend feels gears 4&5 stiff.

2. Last night he drove up to Yellapur on the Ankola-Hubli NH63 and took a break.

3. Set off early this morning and has reached Kolhapur and crossed it after b'fast. Should be home and dry soon.

And now about the costs:
1. The clutch slave cylinder which costs Rs 3120 was fitted free due to the extended warranty and a discussion with Karnataka Agencies in Udupi/Mangalore. There was a bit of a chatter as to whether clutch components are covered under EW or not etc. Normally I guess it isn't. But with large number of failures, I guess, M&M may be replacing it free or when customers are annoyed ! Or was it a largesse of M/S Karnataka Agencies - not sure !

2. Labour charges 1800 + travel of the mechs etc - Rs. 3500/- was paid by my chum. The Mechs stated that since it was a warranty part he needn't pay the labour charges - but he paid them nevertheless and got a receipt.

What a pity really ! As mentioned in one of my earlier posts here - the earlier external clutch slave cylinder costed about Rs 500 + Rs 180 labour for replacing a defective one. Job could be done in 30 minutes flat. And the earlier CSCs were relatively sturdier.

Now it's 4 hours of labour + all the enhanced costs !

One could have clearly appreciated the philosophy of progress, if the CSC was of such a high quality that it needn't have been changed at all for say 1-1.5L KMs and so the move of placing it inside the clutch bell would have been great. But with the CSC howling like a baby with wet diapers every 15-25 K KMs the move appears to be a killer for the customer.

My sincere thanks to M/S Karnataka Agencies and particularly its Prop (Hey SR that's you !!!) for organising/coordinating all help in a remote location and being extremely friendly and concerned during the crisis and helping my friend and a fellow denizen of Indian highways !

[manubharadwaj]

Hi Ppl,

Have been following this thread, and thanks to Guderian, my ordeal was detailed properly. without getting into technicalities, of the clutch slave cylinder and its working i only have one question to the Mahindra ppl who are in this forum

1) It was early morning ( 6.15 AM)and the roads were relatively empty on the NH-17 Highway near bhatkal, and i was cruising at 100 KMPH, and this Damn clutch gave way without any warning. And mind you this VLX is just 2 years old with 55 K KMs. I want to ask the Lab guys out here, that should there have been a vehicle in front, or some pedestrian trying to cross the road in a distance, or some other unforeseen event, with the Gears refusing to engage or coming back to neutral, and immediate Braking out of question - is it a potential life threatening situation for the people outside or inside for that matter?..

This is the second time that the Manufacturer has failed me - first when it did not warn me to change the security code and i lost the first VLX to thieves, and this is the second time when Clutch Salve - an integral part of the vehicle goes kaput in middle of nowhere.

Tell me guys how do we get the management to look seriously into this defective - unreliable mechanism of theirs.. How will we make them hear our voice.

I have half a mind to involve Hormazd sorabjee once again to get his team do a detailed investigation into this clutch issue, and educate the masses. What say ppl?..

[4x4addict]

What has upset me the most about this episode is that if Mahindra knows that a part is prone to failure, they should do a voluntary recall and fix it. Sure it will cost them about 3 grand a vehicle, but they will retain a customer.

There are 1000s of VLXs on the road which the clutch waiting to fail inconveniencing many families, but who cares about customers, saving the 3K on a vehicle for which you just took 11 Lakhs from the customer is more important I guess.