[Nissan1180]

Though I have posted earlier about an issue about the alternator belt,I cannot help admiring the car for its practicality. Today I completed a 350 km journey over broken ( I mean partially surfaced roads with intermittent potholes) and came back amazed. Here is a car that can steadily maintain 70-80 kmph and deliver a stellar FE of 26 kmpl under mixed conditions ! I deliberately pushed her to the extreme today and she performed brilliantly. No squeaks or rattles over 1feet deep potholes. She even beat a couple of swifts.
I do not recommend driving a nano over potholes at high speed but if you happen to do so, rest assured. It can take a beating and reward you with a cost per kilometer that is comparable to that of most bikes.
The trick is to use the AC intermittently- like when you are stuck in traffic and keep windows at 1/4level to compensate for air drag. The car is very economical and can put competitors like Eon and Alto to shame. The driving position and headlights are so good that you won't feel fatigued even after driving on less than ideal roads inhabited by drivers who have the least regard for road etiquette. It is truly marvel that people should explore.

[alphahere]

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

Though I have posted earlier about an issue about the alternator belt,I cannot help admiring the car for its practicality. Today I completed a 350 km journey over broken ( I mean partially surfaced roads with intermittent potholes) and came back amazed. Here is a car that can steadily maintain 70-80 kmph and deliver a stellar FE of 26 kmpl under mixed conditions ! I deliberately pushed her to the extreme today and she performed brilliantly. No squeaks or rattles over 1feet deep potholes. She even beat a couple of swifts.
I do not recommend driving a nano over potholes at high speed but if you happen to do so, rest assured. It can take a beating and reward you with a cost per kilometer that is comparable to that of most bikes.
The trick is to use the AC intermittently- like when you are stuck in traffic and keep windows at 1/4level to compensate for air drag. The car is very economical and can put competitors like Eon and Alto to shame. The driving position and headlights are so good that you won't feel fatigued even after driving on less than ideal roads inhabited by drivers who have the least regard for road etiquette. It is truly marvel that people should explore.

Agree with you on the "beating swift" part! Even I have come back impressed with the agility and the initial response of the car. But the condition is that the road should not be too free ahead. If theres a free and open road ahead swifts will blast off compared to the nano.
Another issue that I have noticed in this car is that the rear wheel tends to lift on slightly steep oblique slopes. This will not be an issue on FWD cars but it definitely is an issue on RWD! The smaller wheel diameter amplifies the problem. I was caught off guard with this multiple times when the car refused to move forward with one rear wheel spinning in the air. The only option is to attack a slope at as close to a right angle as possible.

[jagzrk]

Originally Posted by alphahere

3. I got my car with JK Ultima LXT wheels which are really crappy. One of the back tyre seem to have a manufacturing defect as in the centre of the tread is recessed and the two outer edges of the tread are pushed out like an inverted U. Planning to junk these and go for some better brand by 10k kms.

Congratulations on your purchase! I have a 2012 Nano LX @ 28K still going strong. Done drives ranging 400-500 kms one-way at a time. Great vehicle, just wish the steering height or driver height was adjustable because that's become a big pain for me.

Don't you think Point No.3 is responsible for the problem you mentioned in point no.2? AFAIK, Active return or not, a vehicle not staying in straight line on an un-indented road is a defect if alignment is good.

Originally Posted by alphahere

4. The rear suspension seems to be very noisy on less than smooth roads even if the vehicle is driven at 1-2 km/hr. Something like a rattling+squeaking sound is coming from day 1 when I got this car. I am unable to place if this is coming from the suspension or from the crappy JKs.

I've endured this, and it turned out to be the battery bracket!

Originally Posted by alphahere

5. The AC is OK and does not make you sweat. It does not chill either! Seems to have a very conservative cut off point. You can hear the compressor cutting off quite soon after you switch it on. It might have been done like this in the interest of economy.

The Nano chills to the bone. Much better than many cars higher above in its segment! This is the specialty of Nano.

Originally Posted by alphahere

6. Yesterday the car refused to start on me in the centre of the road after switching it off at a traffic light. Looks like there is a loose connection on the battery which I need to fix today.

Not good for a new car. Pull up the service center on this one and ask how it can happen on a brand new car. I hope you turn off all accessories including headlights and AC when you crank the car ON. Frequent starts with the accessories on will drain your battery, especially Nano's.

Originally Posted by alphahere

7. Rattles are quite common here. Some rattles are heard only during the day whereas some other rattles are reserved for the nigh time! I have decided to live with these if I am unable to fix them myself as they seem harmless. Don't want to report these and make the SS guys take apart the dashboard which might lead to more problems.

Do report them. They do their best to fix it, speaking from personal experience. But, because of the rampant cost cutting, the rattles may appear at certain temperatures (mostly cold). This is common to me in mornings when creaks and rattles appear.

Originally Posted by alphahere

8. Careful with the brakes on this one. They bite quite good and the vehicle stops quite well and in a straight line. But I feel they cannot handle an emergency braking situation. Thy feel like a rock under sudden braking and you feel as if the power booster is dead. The travel of the pedals is longer too when compared to other cars.

Learn to pump the brakes and do not use them in a single go! I've learned the hard way on the Nano when in an emergency braking situation the brakes gave up as I stepped on them and I had to swerve into another lane which was luckily empty. Couple this up by down-shifting to engine brake and you have perfectly great stopping distances.

Originally Posted by alphahere

11. No day-night inside RVM as standard.

AFAIK, the 2012 Nano LX did come with day-night IRVM. This is new to me that the highest costing current Nano does not offer such a basic safety feature.

Originally Posted by alphahere

16. Another very important pointer to nano users is to remember never to lift the car up on posts or jack up at any point other than the specified lifting points below the floor of the car. The rear of the car is so heavy that the bottom ridge below the running board where the spot welding of the panel is done will buckle inwards if lifted up by this area. Almost everyone tries to lift the car this way and I am a victim. Extra caution warranted at tyre wallahs.

I didn't know this and never faced it. But thanks for the warning though. Anybody else victim of this? Or does this happen with other cars also if not positioned perfectly at designated points? This looks like ultra-rampant cost cutting if true.

Originally Posted by alphahere

In conclusion the vehicle is a good deal for the price paid but being prepared for a few niggles is necessary if you really want to enjoy the car. It serves its purpose well and the user just needs to be aware of its limitations. First time car owners may expect more which may not be fulfilled by this car but as a city car it is just excellent.

The Nano is my first car. As far as my version goes, the only niggles are the squeaks and rattles albeit at specific times only and the ultimate lack of comfort for well built ( ) near to 6 ft people like me which is evident once you cross the 100 km mark of continuous driving.

[nijelj]

It seems that I run into some niggles, the moment I gather some courage and praise Tata motors.

I had given my Nano for the 3rd year service and a interior clean. They returned the vehicle to me after the service, two days later with wet seats. So me and my son had a very cool behind for two kms until I reached home.

On the way, I noticed that the engine firing was "missing" . I attributed it to thorough wash which was given to the vehicle (Some idiots run high pressure water into the exhaust pipe). Over the next two days, I drove a maximum of 8 kms. After a particularly longish deceleration in gear, the MIL came on and the vehicle went to Limp home mode. I drove it home and called the Concorde guys. I checked the OBD errors and found that 1 cylinder was misfiring. They came home the next day and took it to the service centre. In the evening, they had checked and replaced some wire under warranty. (I assume the HT wire to the ignition plugs?)

It doesn't end. Now I'm facing a very weird behavior. An early morning start is excellent. One crank and it starts. But after a drive for around for 2 kms and THEN a 2-3 Hrs cooldown, If I crank, the engine catches and then sputters to a stop. I have to repeat this for 3-4 times after which the engine will run continuously.

If you guys have any ideas let me know. I'm going to give it to Concorde over the weekend.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by nijelj

An early morning start is excellent. One crank and it starts. But after a drive for around for 2 kms and THEN a 2-3 Hrs cooldown, If I crank, the engine catches and then sputters to a stop. I have to repeat this for 3-4 times after which the engine will run continuously.

I faced a similar issue a couple of weeks ago. Gave it a dose of the Italian tune up and a tankful of Shell Super petrol. The vehicle is ok now.

Continuous slow speed city driving tends to clog up the injectors resulting in situations like this. You could also use System-G for every alternate tank of petrol to keep your fuel lines and injectors clean.

[Nissan1180]

There are two issues plaguing my car:
1.The gearshift from second to third gear has become very difficult. It often results in a noise similar to what you experience on any car when you try to shift without properly engaging the clutch. Could this be an issue with the gearbox?
2.The driveshaft coupling of the left wheel is making a metallic noise when accelerating even mildly (at speeds of 20-30 kmph in dense city traffic). This noise disappears when the car is loaded with 1-2 passengers on the back seat.
The gear shift issue is really annoying and I'll get it checked next weekend. However, the problem has become more acute with time- it improves after every service but recurs after driving for 4-500 km. I have to double check the gear engagement at each shift and this has started giving me shoulder pain.
I wonder if this is the beginning of the end of the pleasant experience with the Nano. I looked up on the thread and a similar issue has been reported earlier.

[Motard_Blr]

Originally Posted by Nissan1180

There are two issues plaguing my car:
1.The gearshift from second to third gear has become very difficult. It often results in a noise similar to what you experience on any car when you try to shift without properly engaging the clutch. Could this be an issue with the gearbox?
2.The driveshaft coupling of the left wheel is making a metallic noise when accelerating even mildly (at speeds of 20-30 kmph in dense city traffic). This noise disappears when the car is loaded with 1-2 passengers on the back seat.
The gear shift issue is really annoying and I'll get it checked next weekend. However, the problem has become more acute with time- it improves after every service but recurs after driving for 4-500 km. I have to double check the gear engagement at each shift and this has started giving me shoulder pain.
I wonder if this is the beginning of the end of the pleasant experience with the Nano. I looked up on the thread and a similar issue has been reported earlier.

The gearshift problem might be because of excessive clutch pedal play. If the pedal play is excessive then the clutch does not fully disengage when the pedal is fully depressed. This leads to hard gear shifting and crunching noises. If adjusting the play does not solve the problem, it could point to a more serious problem - either the clutch itself has a problem or worse, the gearbox has a problem.

If the clutch cable has never been changed, it is a good idea to have that replaced.

Good luck!

[alphahere]

Originally Posted by nijelj

It seems that I run into some niggles, the moment I gather some courage and praise Tata motors.

I had given my Nano for the 3rd year service and a interior clean. They returned the vehicle to me after the service, two days later with wet seats. So me and my son had a very cool behind for two kms until I reached home.

On the way, I noticed that the engine firing was "missing" . I attributed it to thorough wash which was given to the vehicle (Some idiots run high pressure water into the exhaust pipe). Over the next two days, I drove a maximum of 8 kms. After a particularly longish deceleration in gear, the MIL came on and the vehicle went to Limp home mode. I drove it home and called the Concorde guys. I checked the OBD errors and found that 1 cylinder was misfiring. They came home the next day and took it to the service centre. In the evening, they had checked and replaced some wire under warranty. (I assume the HT wire to the ignition plugs?)

It doesn't end. Now I'm facing a very weird behavior. An early morning start is excellent. One crank and it starts. But after a drive for around for 2 kms and THEN a 2-3 Hrs cooldown, If I crank, the engine catches and then sputters to a stop. I have to repeat this for 3-4 times after which the engine will run continuously.

If you guys have any ideas let me know. I'm going to give it to Concorde over the weekend.

I face the same issue of misfiring, though it happens only once in 2 weeks or so. I drive close to 30 km daily. When it happens I have noticed it happens when I switch off the vehicle at signals. On green I try to restart the car, it fires and then sputters to a stop. Next I try to start it will run fine but starts after a longer than usual cranking time. I have to keep the starter turning for maybe 2 seconds more than the usual cranking time. And when I start off in first gear after this episode and accelerate it misses once or twice while in motion and then no problem at all! I believe we are facing the same issue here. Have not raised it as it occurs so infrequently and difficult to replicate. But there are 2 error codes registered when I tried scanning with Torque Pro OBD. P1615 and U2423. I was not successful in getting what they stand for.

[Cuatro]

Originally Posted by nijelj

On the way, I noticed that the engine firing was "missing" . I attributed it to thorough wash which was given to the vehicle (Some idiots run high pressure water into the exhaust pipe). Over the next two days, I drove a maximum of 8 kms. After a particularly longish deceleration in gear, the MIL came on and the vehicle went to Limp home mode. I drove it home and called the Concorde guys. I checked the OBD errors and found that 1 cylinder was misfiring. They came home the next day and took it to the service centre. In the evening, they had checked and replaced some wire under warranty. (I assume the HT wire to the ignition plugs?)

I suddenly felt someone was narrating my experience with the Nano.
I drive the Nano (my only 'vehicle') for about 100 Kms a day currently. We live in a place thats a bit far from the main city and are forced to get Cabs if the car is unavailable for a day or two at the rate of about 1000 bucks a day on cabs, so I dread the idea of the car going on breakdown mode. This happened last weekend(luckily): The car was 'missing' firing after reaching a distance of 4-5 kms after the start of the engine. I posted this earlier on the forum and some members on the forum doubted that I might be driving it on low speeds on high gear, but I clarified later that this was happening for the first time and definitely not because of low speed driving on high gears. I then suspected fuel quality and changed the fuel station that I am more confident of, but on that weekend day when I was about 8 kms from home, the car shuddered and refused to go ahead and "suddenly" there was an Amber light flashing and immediately after that there were these loud beeps from the centre console. I immediately stopped the car by the side of the road and called Tata's 1800 number which was always on the windshield. I was clearly in a panic mode thinking it might be a 'Major' engine issue possibly leading to writing off the car and was explaining to the call center about the incidence. To my shock the call centre guy told me that the warranty ended "2 days ago". So, Tata takes the manufacturing date as start of the warranty period and not the sale date or registration date. And he was trying to sell a Rs.900 maintenance package that includes 'Towing'. I was furious with this- Here I am stuck in the middle of the road, and instead of helping me with solutions, they are trying to sell a maintenance package?

My fear now got deeper, as I might have to write off the car and get a new one as I cant handle daily runs for work/ school without it. But then, I thought I should get advice from my Mechanic whom I knew for over 10 years. I hung up the call with Tata call centre and called my Mechanic and asked him if its engine seizure? He said no it couldnt have been that as if it had happened, it would have a few kilometers earlier and it wouldn't run on the mis-firing mode. He said if you can drive it slowly, take it home and he shall send a mechanic on Monday morning, since no one is available on a sunday.

I followed the advice and started driving slowly. It did manage to get home. Then I called my regular Tata service station and got the car to their work shop. They examined the car the next day and said there were some 'wiring issues' which was causing this terrible misfiring and stopping of the car. I was relieved as its not some 'Engine Seizure' I was dreading. They fixed this issue and I am now driving the car since 5 days. Though the car runs okay, there's still some slight misfire on-and-off after the car warms up and runs for about 5-6 kms.

Sorry, I am unaware of what the exact electrical/wiring issue was as I did not investigate further into the details (my bad). I guess I should be there at the work shop by the side of the car to get the details.

Members of the forum - Do you think I should send it back to the service station to get it checked again or would the issue again, as it's a slight issue currently? Also I read somewhere that the misfiring could also be caused by glow-plugs. Would replacing them solve the issue?

[avingodb]

A lot of members here have listed misfiring. What exactly happens in that scenario?
Some detailed write up would help.
Thanks!

[suzuki san]

Originally Posted by Cuatro

Also I read somewhere that the misfiring could also be caused by glow-plugs. Would replacing them solve the issue?

Hi Cuatro,

The Nano has a petrol engine so is fitted with spark plugs and not glow plugs which one would find on a diesel engine car.
Presuming you meant spark plugs, then Yes! the issue could be with the plugs and they are cheap enough to change.
Could also be a problem with the HT leads from the plugs.
Best to get it checked out properly once and for all.

Regards,
SS

[Cuatro]

Originally Posted by suzuki san

Hi Cuatro,
The Nano has a petrol engine so is fitted with spark plugs and not glow plugs which one would find on a diesel engine car.
Presuming you meant spark plugs, then Yes! the issue could be with the plugs and they are cheap enough to change.
Could also be a problem with the HT leads from the plugs.
Best to get it checked out properly once and for all.
SS

Thanks for the correction. I thought they are interchangeably used. :-)

In any case, the problem continues even today after a week of checking the issue. I will have to pay another visit to the service station to check the issue.

Thanks for all your suggestions!

[Cuatro]

Sorry for the late update about the 'mis-firing' of the Nano CX.
After the computer checking and fixing of the electrical issue. The mis-firing had started again after a couple of hundred kilometers. I took it to the service station and this time they changed the spark plugs. The misfiring issue stopped. The pick up has improved as well. Now the Nano sprints quite well. The reading is now 48K+ kilometers. Hope this helps other Nano owners who face similar issues.

[Nissan1180]

An update about the driveshaft issue :the car went for its 20k kilometers service and the driveshaft was replaced. Sadly, the combination sitch was malfunctioning when we went to take the car. They did not have a spare at lexus motors and I have to take the car one more time to have it replaced.
The car runs smooth now, and the rattles were addressed through the change of the fastners holding the door pad.

[knaveen]

Got my Nano Twist XT last tuesday. Ran about 250kms so far.

Two little quirks till now:
- There is a shrill grinding noise behind the dashboard while on the move. This is inconsistent and happens only if the car was driven for a while and stopped, then started again. Happens only when the car is moving. Not while stationary. Not with the AC, speakers etc, tried switch off everything. It seems to emanate from behind the speedometer console, but can't say till we check it. Not sure whether to wait till 1st service to report this. Anybody else got this issue?

- 1st Gear and reverse gear or notchy and difficult to engage. Ended up grinding the reverse on a couple of occasions, needs patience sometimes. Other gears are smooth.