[avijayr]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

Thank you and here you go

Thanks for the link to the above product @mudhalaipatti - I have also added it to cart. btw, quick question: did you fix it yourself? is this easy enough? The one time I tried installing a cell phone screen guard (5-6 years ago), I messed up, and have been getting them installed by professionals.

[avijayr]

Originally Posted by Avinash_R

Sorry to hear about the scratches on your car. It sucks.

Thanks for the product links @Avinash_R - I am also looking for a front and rear dashcams. Are these good though? What did you finally get? Where can one get these installed? (I live in Chennai btw)

[Avinash_R]

Originally Posted by avijayr

Thanks for the product links @Avinash_R - I am also looking for a front and rear dashcams. Are these good though? What did you finally get? Where can one get these installed? (I live in Chennai btw)

Hey Vijay, I still haven't got my car. Eta - 2 weeks. So haven't got any of the accessories yet. Am leaning towards the DDPAI because it uses a super capacitor.

[avijayr]

We took our first out-of-town roadtrip in our Blue Thunder this past weekend. Went from Chennai to Srirangam/Trichy, and there to Karur, back to Srirangam, and thence back to Chennai. (Had I known that @Mudhalaipatti lived around there, maybe we could have met for a coffee - maybe next time)


The drive was fantastic, and I kept being between 85-90 kmph so as to run the engine in before the first service of 1000km. The FE ranged from around 8.2 kmph (in-city), to 13.5 kmph (highway) at those speeds.

The only issue I had was that that right-front tyre seemed to get overheated. Please see the attached pics. The difference between the right-front vs the left-front tyres (temperature-wise) hovered between 4-5 deg C.


This was constantly present during the legs from Trichy to Karur and back (a distance of around 180 km round trip). The next morning, when we started back from Srirangam to Chennai, the alert was gone, the psi didn't show up in red and the temperature difference between the 2 tyres was around 2-3 deg C.

The pressure was more or less the same across all 4 tyres, but this pic shows one of them in red.


Has anyone else faced this issue before?

[Mudhalaipatti]

Originally Posted by avijayr

yourself? is this easy enough? .....

I apply the tempered glass on my phones and applied this XUV screen protector myself. I had no issues.

Originally Posted by avijayr

... (Had I known that @Mudhalaipatti lived around there, maybe we could have met for a coffee - maybe next time)
...

Has anyone else faced this issue before?

Coffee anytime. There's always a next time.

And on tyre pressure. Are you sure, you did not have a bone rattling, butt clenching ride with that pressure setting ?. From the owners manual....

It is recommended to fill the pressure to 32 psi at a digital gauge station only "

Never to exceed 36 PSI...

[avijayr]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

And on tyre pressure. Are you sure, you did not have a bone rattling, butt clenching ride with that pressure setting ?

Yes - I realized that, but I attributed that to driving from Chennai and parking in the hot sun in Srirangam in the afternoon for 1.5 hrs, followed by driving again to Karur. (Before starting the trip, I started off with 33 psi on all 4 wheels)

Since the XUV 5OO (W8, 2014) that I owned, did not have the temperature gauge, I didn't know if this was due to the constant driving or not.

[Mudhalaipatti]

Originally Posted by avijayr

Yes - I realized that, but I attributed that to driving from Chennai and parking in the hot sun in Srirangam in the afternoon for 1.5 hrs, followed by driving again to Karur. (Before starting the trip, I started off with 33 psi on all 4 wheels)

Since the XUV 5OO (W8, 2014) that I owned, did not have the temperature gauge, I didn't know if this was due to the constant driving or not.

Did you just say 33 PSI increased around 50 PSI.


Highly unusual. The air wouldn’t heat up so much for sure. I suspect that the initial pressure was high or the TPMS system is malfunctioning. Did you try the TPMS relearn option from the MID ?

[avijayr]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

Did you just say 33 PSI increased around 50 PSI.


Highly unusual. The air wouldn’t heat up so much for sure. I suspect that the initial pressure was high or the TPMS system is malfunctioning. Did you try the TPMS relearn option from the MID ?

Nope - didnt even know about it. Anyways, I crossed the 1k mark over the trip, and am taking it into the service center. Will ask them to check it.

[Mudhalaipatti]

What an eventful day today

Today was supposed to be a typical routine day. As always, it's a pleasure driving this vehicle. Later this afternoon, I parked the car and stayed in the car, with the car running for about 15 minutes. And then there's a heavy Petrol smell in the cabin. I ignored it, thinking that one of the many two Wheelers parked next to me was leaking petrol.

Then I hear a tap on my window and am told something is leaking from my car. I get out and find this.

https://youtu.be/2g-2dPtoMag

(sorry about this short video, it was a gif in loop motion but couldn't upload to TBHP as an animated gif)

As you can see from the pic below, the fuel leak has seeped out throughout from the wheel well.

The first suspicion is fuel overflow. I filled the tank yesterday and thought some runaway fuel was getting out. The pic below may give an idea of what I thought was the issue.

At the rate the fuel was leaking, the vehicle would be stranded by the next morning. I didn't want the car to be towed to ASC; hence I called the ASC. As usual, they were accommodating, and a team was waiting by the time I drove in after 15 mins.

The vehicle was hoisted up, and diagnosis started. However, the fuel leak had stopped by the time I brought the vehicle in. I showed the technicians the pics and videos, and they were also surprised. The mudflap and the wheel well were fresh from an oil bath. A couple of guys tried to trace the file leak. But couldn't. They let the vehicle run for 15mins. Still no leak.

In the meantime, the co-tech (apparently short for Technical Coordinator) comes in with a USB, mentioning that Android Auto is ready. And so guys, almost 5 months after deliveries started, Android Auto is available. Read on! You might head over to your ASC for those with Android devices if you were actively looking forward to this. But don't rush as yet.

iPhone users have to continue the wait.

Then we took the vehicle on some bad roads to simulate anything that may be associated with the leak while I was in the passenger seat. After an hour or so of running, the leak doesn't reappear, and the vehicle goes for a water wash to remove Petrol residue, and I am back on the road - still nothing.

And this is when the bizarre happenings started happening.

I'm barely a km from the SC and am on third gear. The vehicle stops. Yes, the engine stops out of the blue. While the ICE/MID is shutting down, the green light on the start/stop button is on. Uh! Did it stall? Btw the vehicle feels different. I couldn't pinpoint what it was. I thought I might have crawled in 3rd gear, and the car could have stalled. No issues.

I started the vehicle again, and I continued on. A few mins later, I'm on 4th gear and going around 50 kmph, and the power shuts off. Again! I'm without engine power, without power steering, and the brakes are sluggish. Now, this is unnerving. After the first incident, I was extra cautious, and I was not going at a slow speed to warrant this power cutoff. With vehicles behind and to my left, I slowly crawled to the side with whatever steering I could manage and stopped the vehicle. And I could see the "Start/Stop" animation is coming up. This is strange! I was not at a stoplight! I try to shrug it off and start the car again to continue on my journey home.

While these 2 freak incidents are running at the back of my mind, I wanted to take a longish drive home and take to the highway. This is when things started getting really really weird.

Now that the traffic is behind me, I could get a sense of the vehicle. Everything about this drive feels different. I mean literally everything. The acceleration is weird. There's no instant power delivery as it used to be. The upshift indicator, which used to come up around 2000 rpm, now randomly shows up at around 1500 rpm and doesn't stay on, but keep flickering. And as I'm about to upshift at around 1500 rpm and take the foot off my accelerator, the vehicle jerks. Never happened before. This is getting serious now.

I try to brake and the braking feels super weird. The bite is gone. I don't know how to explain this. I keep my foot on the brakes for, let's say 3 seconds. The first second would feel sluggish, the next second it be sharp and the next second, it goes back to sluggish. It's as if I'm pumping the brakes, while I'm not and it's the same constant pressure that I'm applying.

The steering response is weird. (I know, I know I'm using "weird" a lot here). But stay with me pls. Everything I loved driving about this vehicle is gone now. I'm driving super cautious now. While one part of my mind says there's something terribly wrong with the vehicle, the heart says "Naah, some part of your overthinking brain is in overdrive". I want to take a few more minutes to try a few things before deciding either way.

I then accelerate to 100 kmph (again acceleration is weird, not the linear acceleration I'm used to). There's a lorry in the right lane and I'm behind. As I'm about 100 feet away from the lorry, I decide to change lanes. At the moment I turn the vehicle to the left lane (fortunately this is a 6 lane highway, for a short stretch) the vehicle is half dead. Again. No power steering, no engine power, slugging brakes and I'm cruising at 100 kmph.

Pressing the clutch (thinking it was the auto start/stop that was enabled) didn't bring the engine power on. I'm like what the hell. I try steering the vehicle to the left to the slowest lane, but really can't with the hard steering. Try one more time with the start button and the engine comes back up. By this time, the vehicle has slowed down to under 60 kmph. The highway is relatively free and so no drama on the traffic front.

I decide to get off the highway and take the vehicle home. Enough of this. As I'm nearing my home and am in 2nd gear. Same thing again. Power failure again for the 4th time in 30 mins. This is not some random occurrence. Something is terribly wrong and I suspect it is to do with the recent software update. What's stranger is that we took the vehicle for a spin on some bumpy roads after the software update and nothing happened!

Called up the AGM and briefed him of this story and I tell him that I'm not touching this vehicle again until Mahindra makes this roadworthy again. As it's nightfall and I don't think anything would happen overnight at the ASC, a driver/mechanic is picking up the vehicle tomorrow.

Let's see how this pans out in the coming days. Hope the vehicle rests and gets back to its normal self tomorrow

What a week it's been!!

Not to end this as a sob story, the tyres are Eco tires eh!!

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

What an eventful day today

The scary thing for sure. And sad to see your car continues to have some or the other issue.

I suspect that Cotek applied the wrong software update - there are different packages for different variants. They get the patch files, load them on various USB drives and then use them. If they used the AT stuff on your MT or a non L to the L variant, things can be bad. I remember on my old XUV5OO, they applied a pack which started showing Wifi icon and there was so much joy to see that - apps button from waterfall console started having an action associated with it. Only to be discovered that it does nothing really - the reason was the pack applied wasn't meant for my car, it was for the latest 3rd iteration of the XUV!

If nothing, they can easily revert the software version back to the older one - you can live without Android Auto until they settle this issue but can't live with this scary thing.

[zeus_700]

Sorry to hear about this ordeal that you go through. BTW, which ASC is this?

I think you should go back to the previous version of the software till mahindra fixes the bugs and also strongly take this up with the higher ups in the Mahindra leadership. For Dealership its just another care with a problem. They don't give a damn and keep asking only for 10/10 ratings.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

Couple of guys tried to trace the file leak. But couldn’t. They let the vehicle run for 15mins. Still no leak.

The leak is most probably at the first joint from the refill inlet, which could be very near to the fuel cap. This may be the reason the leak stopped after running a few kms. The pictures and location of leak also confirm this and far away from the tank. You need to refill to reproduce it. Get a few liters in a can and fill it at the ASC to get it checked.

[kachamohan]

Sorry to hear about the inconvenience and it was a very scary thing. I was about to take my Blue Bolt (AX7 MT Petrol) to ASC for Software update today. After reading your post, I was worried and hence cancelled the appointment. Please let us know the root cause and resolution once Red rage is out of trouble.

[Mudhalaipatti]

Originally Posted by zeus_700

Sorry to hear about this ordeal that you go through. BTW, which ASC is this?

.....

This is Shiva Automobile, Trichy, TN.

Originally Posted by bejoy

The leak is most probably at the first joint from the refill inlet, which could be very near to the fuel cap. T....

I'll try to fill it to the brim next and try to reproduce.

Originally Posted by kachamohan

S....I was worried and hence cancelled the appointment. Please let us know the root cause and resolution once Red rage is out of trouble.

Please read on. No root cause found just as yet.


And so, after spending a day at the SC, the vehicle was returned last night with some vague remarks. I have been driving the vehicle since early morning and the vehicle seems to be back to its normal self. No more stalling and no more wired acceleration. All is well. The vehicle stays in the same Software, ECU/MCU versions.

In speaking to the co tech/tek, he mentioned something along the lines that the fuel line is always pressurised to ensure power on tap and on this day, something had triggered high pressure, that might have ruptured some joint, which might have resulted in the fuel leakage. The fact that, this leak didn't reappear after cooling off this vehicle lends credence to this suspicion. Also the software update doesn't seem to be the cause of stalling. But rather this fuel leak, might have induced air lock/air in the fuel ignition systems, which would have triggered the engine stalling scenarios and since this might have thrown the ECU/MCUs software out of sync, all the other associated issues might have occurred.

That was the gist from the conversation we had.

All of this was speculation between me and the co tech. However there were more unanswered questions, than answers.

1. What first triggered the fuel leak in the first place ? Root Cause and solution ? What is being done to ensure this doesn't reoccur.
2. If we go with the suspicions that the fuel leak induced a air lock/air in ignition situation, the numerous electronics/software shouldn't have shown a visible error to the driver. Why was it not shown ? Or at least this should have been caught during the flashing process. How did this vehicle clear that process ?
3. Despite the vehicle being at the SC for a whole day, there was no clear root cause identified.
4. One bitten twice shy. I'm driving extra cautious now, especially without knowing the issue and the solution. Takes the fun out of driving.

And so not satisfied with the answers, I called up the Mahindra CCM (Customer Care Manager), who shared my anxiety and promised to speak to the co tech and get me a detailed writeup in writing.

Let's see how that goes.

In the meantime, here are the software versions on the vehicle now.

When I wanted to turn on the wifi in the vehicle, I was not able to, at least not earlier. The toggle didn't work.

While fidgeting with the various settings, found out that there's another wifi enabling setting under "engineering menu". FYI - To enter engineering menu, you have to keep tapping the gear icon/settings icon a few times.
Do you see that "Access Point" toggle. That toggle also didn't work the first time. I had to tap on it multiple times to enable that toggle.

Once that setting was enabled, I was able to enable wifi from the settings menu.

However the password was a little complex and I tried to change the SSID and password from the engineering menu, but couldn't. There's an option to modify, which takes you to a entry screen, with an update button. But the update doesn't really happen. Stays with the default SSID and password.



Also when phone is connected to the car wifi, the speed is 1G speed . I wasn't expecting to stream videos anyway. Wonder if Mahindra plans to offer OTA updates and streaming services later. However with the Vodafone SIM, I don't think it's possible. Has anyone seen this Vodafone SIM in the car, in flesh ?

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Mudhalaipatti

While fidgeting with the various settings, found out that there's another wifi enabling setting under "engineering menu". FYI - To enter engineering menu, you have to keep tapping the gear icon/settings icon a few times.

The WiFi is necessary for Android Auto to work for wireless, isn't it? And that too in 5GHz mode, I was told.

Also, you can't connect to the Wifi from your Car - not allowing you to tether the Vi subscription from the car to your phone. The network anyway sucks!

Glad, the car is fine and it's back on road.