[karthikshan]

If there is a different thread that this message should get on to, please let me know to repost.

I own an XUV500 purchased in Apr '16. I made the purchase with great pride & passion as an Indian SUV (in my options were Toyota Innova and Hyundai Creta). My situation now is, I have to replace 2 rear doors & in future 2 front doors. I had high expectations for the quality of Mahindra vehicles. It is very disheartening, disappointing to see the amount of rust in the vehicle. Attached are photos. I never expected this in my car. People who know me well, know how much effort I spend to keep my car in pristine condition.

One can think about different reasons such as maintenance, house on the sea-side etc, but in this case it is beyond all those reasons. I have another Toyota car in the same semi-closed garage very next to XUV500 which is at least NOT maintained in the same manner as XUV500. My Toyota car has NO single rust till date & it is 5.5 yrs old. I was of the mindset that I should be holding my XUV500 for at least 10 years & again go to another XUV500/Mahindra vehicle. But I am really worried now how I can continue with this vehicle with so much rust and with what confidence I will be able to purchase another Mahindra vehicle/another XUV500.

Why & how premium product like XUV500 will get so much rust? I am planning to write to Mahindra on this. Can someone help me with Anand Mahindra's and Pawan Goenka's mail id? I will add customercare@mahindra.com too in my mail.*

[mtnrajdeep]

Has anyone faced a U1001 error in their XUV500? I did a random scan using TorquePro just out of curiosity as my extended warranty is almost ending and it threw up this error. Apart from this, there are no warning lights when I drive it and everything is working as expected. Car has done only 33k km in these 5 years.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by mtnrajdeep

Has anyone faced a U1001 error in their XUV500? I did a random scan using TorquePro just out of curiosity as my extended warranty is almost ending and it threw up this error. Apart from this, there are no warning lights when I drive it and everything is working as expected. Car has done only 33k km in these 5 years.

Torque Pro and third party OBD isn’t always accurate. Get the car scanned at a Mahindra dealership so any issues can be identified.

Before that clean or replace the air filter - that is often the culprit for such an error.

[mtnrajdeep]

Originally Posted by hserus

Get the car scanned at a Mahindra dealership so any issues can be identified.

Yes. Idea was to raise this during the service before my extended warranty expires.

[SamarthMehrotra]

Recently having a major issue with the Entertainment system of my 2015 W6. I did a long highway trip recently and noticed the following:

1. While playing music, suddenly a bang noise from the speakers and the entertainment system would hang up.

2. On restarting the car, it would function normally for the next hour or so

3. The system has now permanently hung up even after fresh start.

4. Climate Control and reverse parking sensor functions on the infotainment screen are working fine.

Assistance in diagnosing the problem are welcome! It is a stock unit.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by SamarthMehrotra

Recently having a major issue with the Entertainment system of my 2015 W6. I did a long highway trip recently and noticed the following:

1. While playing music, suddenly a bang noise from the speakers and the entertainment system would hang up.

Maybe a wiring short circuit - possibly due to rat bites. Get the deck and its wiring checked.

[Pulse500]

Originally Posted by SamarthMehrotra

1. While playing music, suddenly a bang noise from the speakers and the entertainment system would hang up.

2. On restarting the car, it would function normally for the next hour or so

3. The system has now permanently hung up even after fresh start.

My W6/2011 had same issue, loud bang and then complete silence. On one occasion, the ICE Audio portion stopped functioning and did not restore even after fresh start, battery terminal removal and restoration, Nippon/Mahindra ASS replaced the 'silver box' during warranty.

The replaced box (with newer hardware/SW) continued to have symptoms you mentioned - gives a loud bang, atleast three speakers stop working (occasionally one of the rear ones continues to function with degraded sound) but so far lucky it didnt stop permanently.

Suggestion: If the ICE "Silver box" needs replacement, explore the option of replacing it with a new Android ICE that supports CANBUS unit. This may give you a upgraded multimedia system and still save you some money. Auto dealers in Navi Mumbai quoted me Rs. 14K (30W/Ch, 1GB) to 19K (45W/Ch, 2GB) in different shops, and the package included the Android ICE unit with screen resolution of ~800x600, Canbus interface / interpreter box for XUV500, mounting brackets, labour etc), and a reversing assist camera thrown in. One option at 17K looked optimal to me - included 2GB system and all of above, with sufficiently good screen, all features I expected and blanking functionality (I hate bright screens distracting me during night driving) and promised me the front console similar to stock fake wood pattern.

Accessories dealers claim the new android unit will support the existing ultrasonic reversing sensors and all other existing functionality, including mileage, errors, steering based controls etc. Ofcourse, all are China made units.

[Pulse500]

Originally Posted by karthikshan

Why & how premium product like XUV500 will get so much rust? I am planning to write to Mahindra on this. Can someone help me with Anand Mahindra's and Pawan Goenka's mail id? I will add customercare@mahindra.com too in my mail.*

My W6/2011 has similar rusting issues, and I detected a few ones soon after delivery in 2011. On escalation, Mahindra provided free underbody rust treatment and wax on whole car. Although that might have slowed down rusting to some extent, I do regularly inspect vehicle, spray WD40 and after scrubbing/wiping the rusted portion, paint that portion with black paint. I even used a can of black spray paint purchased from a local hardware shop and sprayed on certain portions - e.g. door sills, non exposed part of doors, fuel lid cap (hinge from inside), inside parts of boot door etc. Make sure not to spray in excess or from close distance, as this spray can gives a shiny but flat finish and could look different than the original black paint with coloured glitter.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by Pulse500

Accessories dealers claim the new android unit will support the existing ultrasonic reversing sensors and all other existing functionality, including mileage, errors, steering based controls etc. Ofcourse, all are China made units.

Which means they have reverse engineered a copy of the Mahindra firmware and bundled it with their deck.

[Pulse500]

For last few weeks, I was wondering what caused jamming of window glass and then failure of regulators and rear latches in quick succession on my 2011 XUV5OO. Ofcourse, after the failures, I got the regulators (front, both) and latch (LH) replaced. But soon after that, the audio started deteriorating fast, I could feel continuous vibrations in the door and irritating noises. So I decided to investigate myself without taking the car to any mechanic. Mechanics are not always interested in root cause analysis, nor interested in any preventive measures, and do not handle the customer's old car the way a true car owner treats his car purchased with hard earned money.

Being a DIY guy till I got into 'true corporate world', I always loved building electronics / electro-mechanical gadgets, repairing and servicing my own vehicles and fix household items. COVID lockdowns gave me an opportunity to revive some of my old hobbies and memories. So, I opened the door panels, one by one, to see if I can find anything unusual, and at the same time to clean and lubricate the window channels with silicone spray. And during this process, I did find the root cause of atleast three of the above issues.

I noticed that the car came with factory fitted 3 rectangular damping mats inside each the passenger doors, and a water-proofing transparent membrane on the metallic partition (not sure what it is called) on which all the window regulator, speakers and cabling was mounted. Ofcourse, the transparent membranes in all 4 doors were already torn, coated with dust, and hanging behind the plastic panel, thanks to poor workmanship by Mahindra service centers and local mechanics (front LH door).

These stock damping mats had canvas like fabric as the visible top layer, and probably had poor quality rubber that hardened over time. Or the adhesive may have made the mats to turn brittle and finally fall off and get stuck in the regulator channel. The fabric in one case had fallen, and in RH doors, loosened and pieces of the hardened rubber had fallen down, the canvas hanging on one side.

Some pieces of the loosened hardened rubber were causing the rattling noises. And as the damping effect was lost, the doors would vibrate, rather resonate whenever audio system was turned on, and also let a lot of external noise to come in and interfere with the sound from speakers.

I scraped those hardened stock mats carefully, and removed the debris from the inside of doors where these pieces had accumulated. The water drain was clogged too, so opened it up, lubricated the channels and refitting the doors.








Certainly I was not happy with what I saw. The sound quality had degraded too much and I had to do something. I visited a couple of car accessories shops, who suggested me to change the stock head unit with an Android based system and replace the stock speakers, which would cost approximately Rs. 30,000 to 50,000 depending upon what speakers and HU, amplifier I chose. All the android HUs the dealers showed me were from some unknown brands, the first one itself hung during a standalone demo, so reliability was an issue. And there were mounting issues with totally different fake wood scheme I did not like. I also did not want to tinker with the core system or CANBUS, lose any of the functionality or steering based controls, nor spend so much.

I decided that I just fix things that have gone wrong, and not disturb things that are working fine. So simply, I need to put in new damping sheets first and hoped that would solve the vibrations issue and improve sound quality.

I began my research, shot out inquires over internet for damping mats checked ecom sites and visited a few car accessories shops. I noticed that one of the damping sheet in a shop felt or smelt like bitumen sheet / flashing tape used in waterproofing roof. I saw some very thin and light, no way would absorb noise. I was also worried if these damping sheets will not harden over next 2-3 years, would not smell bad in the car, not melt in hot sun, and wont catch fire. I was also worried if the damping sheets are made of any materials that would corrode the sheet metal, or would be really effective. Shortlisted 3 options.

After a bit of further analysis, I found the Vibrofiltr 2.3mm thick butyl option most interesting. It claimed to have anti-rust compounds in the adhesive layer, tested to work safely upto 160 degree Celsius, no smell, no smoke, fire retardant. These were not available with local shops, but were available through some dealers I found via Indiamart.

I had another challenge even if I get those sheets, how to get them installed. Local accessories shops in Navi Mumbai run a cartel and they dont allow their mechanics to carry out any labour / repair works if the customer brings their own spare parts or any materials. I still decided to go with Vibrofiltr 2.3 and prepared myself to carry out the installation myself.

I estimated 7-8 damping sheets would be sufficient for the 4 doors to partly damp (30-40% on the inside and to cover all the access points and holes on the side which holds the panel. I also though I might need one or two for the boot door, so ordered 10 mats. The Mumbai based supplier made sure the sheets get shipped quickly from the distributor's Delhi warehouse, however the courier, Fedex, took 8 days to deliver them in Navi Mumbai.

The sheets arrived well packed in branded box and felt heavy. The next day, I opened the car's front LH door, cleaned up the whole surface with regular glass cleaner and soft fabric, wiped clean with a wet cloth, then used a dry cloth, before cutting and pasting rectangular pieces of the damping sheet on the inner surface of the door.

I made sure that the new mats are not installed on the top of the stock mats (whichever were good and not scraped out) or over the anti-intrusion bars. Took me slightly above an hour to carry out the entire job. This included, cleaning, cutting pieces of damping sheets, pasting so as to minimize trapping of any air, pressing with cloth and then a roller to make them stick properly, and some damping on the plastic interior panel too, especially over the the joints.

Since I did not have any specialized tools and did not want to buy any metallic roller to cause any scratches on the painted door surfaces, so I made a roller out of a heavy PP castor wheel set and attached a ceiling fan rod to it.

The next day, I took up the work on driver side door, and completed it in approximately 45 minutes. And finally, yesterday, I carried out the damping of rear doors (Avg 30 mins each).













During the process, I noticed that the rear stock speakers (Nippon) were not properly installed (another manufacturing defect, niggle, or carelessness of Mahindra service centers?), resulting in permanently deformed rubber surround rings at multiple places. The diaphragm (cone) was not moving freely along the axis. Even the yellow foam rings were deformed and stuck to the moving members of the speakers. This was one of the causes of poor sound quality from rear speakers.

Damping did improve the sound quality hugely. I am still using the stock head unit and stock speakers (two in poor condition as above). The bass is now far deeper, mid-frequencies are clearer although a bit distorted at rear, highs are below average. Now the door also closes with a damped 'thud' and not the 'tunck' sound I had gotten used to.

Although the sound quality improved significantly even without replacement of head unit, adding any amplifier or replacing the defective / deteriorated speakers, it is still away from perfect clarity or high-fidelity sound that audiophiles like. It is now comparable with the sound from Harman stock system of Tata Nexon XM, definitely not better.

I will be ordering two new speakers to replace the deteriorated / defective ones. I am not expecting earth shattering bass or extreme loudness, but need music to sound better than with the stock speakers, pleasant even on long drives. I am definitely not a fan of bass tube or huge woofers. Any recommendations for fairly priced good speaker set would be highly appreciated.

[msivasan]

I drive a 2017 w6 have done 50000+ kms. Recently i have been encountering starting issues, At random instances when is stop and start the engine (eg: after a fuel fill up) Starter motor clicks but engine does not crank, if i give it few seconds engine cranks and starts. I do not face this issue if i had not started the car for a week or 10 days it ccranks on the first click but occurs randomly on a short stop and start

I have verified the battery and the battery service guys assureed no issues with the battery and it can last for a year more.

Appreciate any pointers here, Vehicle is under extended warranty.

[stallmaster]

Originally Posted by msivasan

Appreciate any pointers here, Vehicle is under extended warranty.

Ask the service folks to check the injectors. Bad quality diesel can cause the injectors to gunk up sometimes. Even if they say everything is okay, use some injector cleaner additive in fuel and see if the issue resolves.

[Drive Head]

Originally Posted by karthikshan

I own an XUV500 purchased in Apr '16. I made the purchase with great pride & passion as an Indian SUV

I am totally aghast to see the amount of rust you have on your ride. Haven't you noticed them earlier? Now, fixing them would be real difficult.

Do you regularly wash the vehicle and normally park the vehicle in a closed garage? Should be a reason but shouldn't be the reason to spare M&M.

Mine is Sep '2015. Have no issues of rust. Seeing your vehicle, now I understood, why service center guys always asks and compliments the vehicle for not attracting rust.

I normally wash the vehicle, may be once a month thoroughly in a wash care other than that its only dry dusting and wet wipes.

You should definitely take this up seriously with M&M.

BTW, how are you now dealing with it now?

[Drive Head]

Originally Posted by Pulse500

For last few weeks, I was wondering what caused jamming of window glass and then failure of regulators and rear latches in quick succession on my 2011 XUV5OO.

This is an eye opener. Thank you for the post and for your DIY skills. Though I have no issues till now in my Sep' 2015 W10, but now I know where to hit it, when I have these issue.

I too did a lots of DIY for all the rattling issues and now quite happy that I don't have them.

My ride has served me very well in these almost 5.5 years with 130K on the odo and hopeful of keeping it for some more time.

[Ritesh_Dogar]

Hi, I drive a 2014 XUV W6 which has completed 87k KM. I am facing a peculiar problem.
Once while driving at around 50 kmph, I switched to third gear, which slotted perfectly fine. I was at a slope going uphill. As soon as I pressed the accelerator, the car kept moving at the same speed and didnt respond to the inputs. The RPMs didnt go beyond 6k and were stuck there and werent moving beyond. The gear indicator displayed the gear as 'N' while the gear lever was slotted in third. The clutch wasnt slipping and after a few seconds of pressing and releasing the accelerator, the vehicle started taking the accelerator inputs and speed started increasing.
The same thing happened again after a few days and happens randomly every once in a while.
I took the vehicle for inspection to the ASS, however the issue couldn't be duplicated. No error messages were picked up by the OBD scanner either.

Any idea what is happening.
TIA