[BulZire]

Hi,

I became the owner of a pre-worshipped Safari EX recently and i am very happy about fulfilling my very long time dream.

The journey just started and i hope it needs some time to understand each other.

After i do central locking, the lock alarm in dash board keeps blinking. I assume it is something to do with the immobilizer.

Please highlight if there is any immediate action i had to take, as i had planned for a long drive coming weekend.

Point to note is, the car has a new Battery.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by BulZire

Please highlight if there is any immediate action i had to take, as i had planned for a long drive coming weekend.

Point to note is, the car has a new Battery.

Congratulations for your new aquisition is your vehicle purchased directly from first owner or through a dealer ?

I hope you got it already evaluated by T.A.S.S and they would have given you a technical report. If not then probably it will be best if you take it to T.A.S.S and as them to evaluate the charges are around 400Rs.

Also check the fuse box both inside the cabin and in the engine bay
and familiarize yourself on how to change fuse, buy a set of spare fuse from T.A.S.S and keep in the vehicle. Tata motors provide a 24X7 roadside assistance in conjunction with myTVS for 500Rs a year so buy it before you go out on a long travel for peace of mind.

This sunday I went to a nearby auto acessory shop for purchasing Bosch wiper blades and came across a guy who had purchased a second hand safari and it refused to start from the shop.

Upon examining I found that ,There was an amplifier and subwoofer in the vehicle but with no dedicated wire running from battery to amplifier I could spot few burnt spots in the fusebox. At couple of places there was no relay but a direct wire was used to complete the circuit. It was clear that earlier user had abused the wiring and then fixed it cheaply. The ACC relay was superhot and probably it was gone due to load.

[BulZire]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Congratulations for your new aquisition is your vehicle purchased directly from first owner or through a dealer ?

I hope you got it already evaluated by T.A.S.S and they would have given you a technical report. Also check the fuse box both inside the cabin and in the engine bay
and familiarize yourself on how to change fuse, buy a set of spare fuse from T.A.S.S and keep in the vehicle. Tata motors provide a 24X7 roadside assistance in conjunction with myTVS for 500Rs a year so buy it before you go out on a long travel for peace of mind.

Thanks Amit.

I bought the Car from my Ex Colleague and it has a detailed service history. The car is in excellent shape and i noted this alarm only yesterday. Even I doubt about the fuse. I will try to get in checked in TASS before i leave.

Thanks for your myTVS suggestion as well, should be definitely useful.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by BulZire

... After i do central locking, the lock alarm in dash board keeps blinking. ...

If you mean the red lock icon in the dashboard flashes once every some seconds, this is normal - it is to annunciate the immobilizer is active (the car won't start if you try).

[comfortablynumb]

Originally Posted by BulZire

After i do central locking, the lock alarm in dash board keeps blinking. I assume it is something to do with the immobilizer.

Quoting from page 36 of the Safari user manual at http://customercare.tatamotors.com/m...dicor-OMSB.pdf

"By pressing lock push button on remote all doors of vehicle gets locked and lock indication in the instrument cluster starts flashing ensures automatic activation of immobiliser"

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Vikram

[simpleman]

It has been mentioned elsewhere on this thread that the recommended engine oil for the tata safari has been changed to Petronas 5w40. However when I gave my car today for her 4th free service, the service incharge said that it is only for quadra jet engines and showed me the notification to the same effect. I contacted the head office in Chennai for the same and they also confirmed it. Can anyone else clarify?

[Irish]

Hi Experts,

What is the recommended interval for Fuel Filter change? My safari went for 3rd free service (15,000 kms or one year) yesterday at Concorde Motors, Mathura Road, Delhi. It has run only for 9,000 kms in the last one year.

The service adviser replaced it even after me showing him the service booklet which recommends interval as 30,000 or 2 years (Point no. 4 at page 145). It has costed my more than Rs. 1600. He did show me some communication (refer to picture below) from TATA motors dated back to 4th Oct 2007 and charged me the amount. This document shows "Every Service" under frequency and he didn't bother for the current kms (9k) covered. So now I have new fuel filter at 9,000 kms.

Please advise if this is fine or I've been taken for a ride by Concorde (like other TASS) too?


By the way, he was forcing me to get the air filter replaced too without looking in to the actual condition (red band on service indicator) of the existing air filter. He didn't force me when I asked him to open up the bonnet and check in front of me. He was showing my "Every Service" under frequency of service schedule but I insisted upon just cleaning it with air pressure.

I hope that I saved Rs 600 but lost Rs 1600 in my 3rd free service of Rs. 4,993.

Here is the detail breakup (INR):

• Engine Oil: 2,005
• Assy. Oil Filter: 204
• Assy Fuel Filter: 1539
• Front & Rear Axle oil: 508
• Fevi Quick: 12 (to paste the central roof light cover, which fell off while driving)

Please note that the above amounts are after getting 5% discount on total, which I could manage somehow.

The problem which could not be rectified: Left side window glass vibrates and makes a lot of noise when opened (10% - 90% of window), while driving at any speeds.

Resolution Provided: It will remain like this only as this is by default in a Safari and I have to drive with a fully opened or a fully closed window glass, which I currently do.


Cheers!
Irish

[dadu]

Originally Posted by Irish

Hi Experts,

What is the recommended interval for Fuel Filter change? My safari went for 3rd free service (15,000 kms or one year) yesterday at Concorde Motors, Mathura Road, Delhi. It has run only for 9,000 kms in the last one year.

Fuel filter change is recommended at every service, as per their new directions which came out 2 years back, if I remember correctly.

Air filter change should be done after looking into the condition of the Air filter, if the running is not much and not in too much dusty conditions, should be fine every 2 years.

[Dragonov]

Hi All, have an issue with my Safari. Today morning the blower started making a humming noise and the airflow got restricted. Even at the speed 4 the air throw is not much, what could be the issue ? Is it the blower motor or there is something else I need to look at before getting the dashboard opened up. Btw, the vehicle is about 6 years old and the AC is working fine.

[Rahulk76]

Originally Posted by Dragonov

Hi All, have an issue with my Safari. Today morning the blower started making a humming noise and the airflow got restricted. Even at the speed 4 the air throw is not much, what could be the issue ? Is it the blower motor or there is something else I need to look at before getting the dashboard opened up. Btw, the vehicle is about 6 years old and the AC is working fine.

6 years Nice

Time to get the muck accumulated cleaned up i guess

[ankur_gupta10]

Originally Posted by Dragonov

Hi All, have an issue with my Safari. Today morning the blower started making a humming noise and the airflow got restricted. Even at the speed 4 the air throw is not much, what could be the issue ? Is it the blower motor or there is something else I need to look at before getting the dashboard opened up. Btw, the vehicle is about 6 years old and the AC is working fine.

Might sound silly, but it just maybe that the knob which adjust where the air has to go, has malfunctioned, or is not set correctly.

[gowda79]

Ok people tell us how do we find out the workability of the Alternator means if it working fine or not, how do we identify if the alternator is GOOD or BAD

Asking this question as the service advisor in the TASS says it cannot be identified until it fails and you are stranded in the middle of the road.

We learnt the above in a very hard way along with our family, very bad experience & 1st time experience with any of our TATA vehicle in our 6Yrs ownership at around 2AM while on our way back from our recent trip to Hyderabad.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by gowda79

Ok people tell us how do we find out the workability of the Alternator means if it working fine or not, how do we identify if the alternator is GOOD or BAD

Asking this question as the service advisor in the TASS says it cannot be identified until it fails and you are stranded in the middle of the road.

We learnt the above in a very hard way along with our family

Sorry to hear about the Hyderabad experience. The problem with Alternators is they can fail for any of the following reasons.
1. Mechanical : Bearings failure: Damages the armature. Can be avoided if proactively serviced.
2. Electrical Failure: Semi-conductor failures - No warning and happens 'suddenly'. The tell tale battery indicator comes on. The car can still run as long as the load is reduced. Brush failure can be avoided if proactively serviced at regular intervals.

I have suffered Alternator failures for all the above reasons at one time or another in my Isuzu engined Amby. I used to carry a spare alternator at that time. That alternator also had a Vacuum pump for the power brake.

[gowda79]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Sorry to hear about the Hyderabad experience. The problem with Alternators is they can fail for any of the following reasons.
1. Mechanical : Bearings failure: Damages the armature. Can be avoided if proactively serviced.
2. Electrical Failure: Semi-conductor failures - No warning and happens 'suddenly'. The tell tale battery indicator comes on. The car can still run as long as the load is reduced. Brush failure can be avoided if proactively serviced at regular intervals.

I have suffered Alternator failures for all the above reasons at one time or another in my Isuzu engined Amby. I used to carry a spare alternator at that time. That alternator also had a Vacuum pump for the power brake.

Our vehicle has been serviced proactively and being serviced only at the TASS, the vehicle was serviced at 1L kms & now it is 1.18L kms and due for the 1.20L kms service.

The battery indicator did not light up at any given time of the drive and only the ABS, SRS lights came up once these 2 came up the service light switched on & the whole vehicle lost the power and the engine went off immediately while driving at 80kms speed.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by gowda79

... The battery indicator did not light up at any given time of the drive and only the ABS, SRS lights came up once these 2 came up the service light switched on & the whole vehicle lost the power and the engine went off immediately while driving at 80kms speed.

1. If there is no electrical output from the alternator, the red Battery symbol HAS TO show up first since the battery is no longer charging

2. ABS / SRS light coming on is an indication that the ABS ECU has indicated failure, or engine ECU is unable to find it (if the ABS ECU powers off)

3. If the Service light has come on, Engine ECU was working OK. Service light is only a summation of all errors

4. If the engine went off, this was a cascading failure: the engine ECU must have been the last one to lose power. Once it did, the engine would have stopped as there wouldn't be any injection any longer

It is quite likely that battery would not have been charging for quite some time, and would be draining heavily with the headlamps on (faster if you have fog and other high-power lamps on). The battery can support a high level of discharge for a decent time, but ultimately dependent systems will switch off one by one when they sense that the battery voltage is not high enough to support reliable operation. Engine ECU is designed to work down to 9.6V, which is 12V -20%. Once the battery dips below this, the ECU will shutdown, switching the engine off