Need Advice: My low-mileage 2014 Hyundai Grand i10 suffers a breakdown

The A/C did not work initially and when pulled to the side, the engine switched off and refused to start back up again.

BHPian petrolhead345 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hello all, my family owns a 2014 Hyundai Grand i10 AT which has only covered 20k km in 8 years. We hadn't given the car for service since November 2020 and just a week ago when my dad took it out, the car ran for like 500m away from home and my dad noticed that the a/c did not work so he tried pulling the car to the side of the road to check and while doing so the car switched off and refused to start. We called a local mechanic that we found through google and upon inspection he said that the alternator belt was torn and that the coolant tank was completely empty. we had no other option but to tow the car to the Hyundai service centre. The mechanic had offered a tow truck from his known contact but when my dad called the Hyundai service centre, we explained the whole situation and they offered to help us and informed our situation to their emergency response team. So we decided to take Hyundai's help as it would be with experienced hands or so we thought. This incident happened at 3:30 and my dad had urgent work that he had to complete so he parked the car on the side of the road and left to finish the work. We hadn't heard from the Hyundai emergency response team till 5 and after trying to contact them multiple times they said that they were taking care of another breakdown so they would attend to us after they took care of the other breakdown. Since the car was parked somewhat safe to the side of the road we didn't mind it and went home. After almost 2 hrs we get a call saying that the morning guy's shift ended so they would send us the night shift guy and we were fine with it. By 8 p.m we lost our patience and after we gave them a lecture, they sent the guy finally. My Dad and I went to the car's location and were waiting for him. After another long wait, to our surprise, the guy comes in a Santro. We were shocked and furious as we specifically told them that we need a tow truck and that a mechanic had already checked the car's condition. The Hyundai service mechanic said that they hadn't explained our situation to him at all! Then we asked him whether he can get a tow truck and he was like we don't tow cars and we had to arrange one on our own. We were again back to square one. My dad then called the local mechanic who then called a tow truck finally at 9 the tow truck had reached the car's location and took the car to the service centre.

So the moral of the story is that never trust Hyundai Road Side assistance as they are useless and don't provide any support whatsoever.

The next day they topped up the coolant and replaced the belt and went for a test drive to notice any other issues which were none according to them. We also opted to change the engine oil and general servicing as it had been more than a year since it was serviced along with wheel balancing.

Now there were 2 questions that were left to be answered, that is:

1. Why was the coolant tank empty as it had barely been driven 2000 km in 1.5 years.
2. How did the alternator belt tear suddenly out of nowhere as again the car was driven less and is driven by my dad and mom who are sedate drivers.

I asked these questions to the service advisor and his answer was that the car is old and wasn't serviced for a long time but me being a BHPian (a new one) myself, I wasn't satisfied with his answer. This is where I need your opinion, BHPians.

Any suggestions on what I should do are welcome

P.S: The car was back from the service centre 2 days ago but hasn't taken it out yet. Also please excuse me for my mistakes as this is my first big post on Team-BHP.

Here's what BHPian asit.kulkarni93 had to say on the matter:

Even if the car wasn't driven a lot. 8 years is sufficient time for weathering on belts. When was coolant last checked? Being a BHPian, You may not be happy with the service centre's reply but basic things need to be checked on a regular basis. Look for some leakage with a radiator hose or some elbow. Being a petrol i10, a water pump shouldn't be an issue.

Here's what BHPian sunikkat had to say on the matter:

8 years is a long time for this kind of issue to crop up, be it any brand car. So as long as it’s running fine now, it should be okay.

But the terrible thing here is in a city like Hyderabad Hyundai could not arrange a tow truck even after almost 6 hours. Now there is no excuse for that. That’s shady customer service.

Here's what BHPian shancz had to say on the matter:

Do check for indications of external damage like rat bites. That could explain both of your issues.

I don't expect the coolant reservoir to go from full to empty in 2 years unless there's a leak. Do check for the same.

Usually, the coolant (non-long life) change happens at 20k km / 2 years in most cars and the reservoir is more or less at the same level when last filled.

No idea on the alternator belt though but you should get some indications before the belt wears out completely/breaks but not sure on this.

Could be ageing as mentioned earlier.

Do remember that any RSA although pitched by the manufacturer is handled by local parties and their level of professionalism can vary regardless of the manufacturer. But the responsibility rests with the manufacturer since they sold you the package in their name.

Do raise a complaint about the same.

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