Update on my used Hexa with a bad AT: My harrowing experience continues

I started using Hexa in Bangalore’s dense traffic and for almost a week the transmission worked flawlessly and then started a three-second-lag.

BHPian krishbvmk recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Part 4
My travails and tribulations of buying a used Tata Hexa at Gurugram

Someone said that a dog is a man's best friend. Whoever it is, he probably hasn’t ever driven a car in his lifetime or has used it only for routine commuting purposes, and maybe he sees driving as another unproductive activity. For me, the car precedes and “car is my best friend." We just love our cars so much that if, God forbid, in the eventuality of an unfortunate event of an accident, we first jump out to see how the car's condition or the severity of the scratch or dent is without bothering to check on ourselves or about other occupants in the car! Am I right? Or should I say cars and dogs are man’s best friends!

Inside us there is something that has no name, that something is what we actually are. The irony is that in real life, we do not show this true side of ourselves. We keep trying to act older and often project a mature persona. It’s very difficult to lead and behave as a grownup and mature individual, as our true side can be something very antithetical to this. If we behave kiddish, or impulsive, fret over minor issues, be upset on issues which others feel are frivolous, or want our mom to treat us as a child, or be lazy, In short, behave as a manchild, we’re seen as immature and silly adult and are advised to grow up fast . We are forced to constantly maintain a façade kind of veil by which we transmit our identity that we had built painstakingly, over the years, suppressing our true emotional self, for showing to our folks and to the world that we are a sensible and sane adult. Phew, childish puerile behavior from a man is a strict no. Not at all easy for us, agree or not? I was advised not to make decisions in haste as I’m an immature adult, and I’ve paid for it heavily, it’s not just about Hexa. Sometimes, even major decisions need to be taken based on one single and just one single need or requirement, like GTO’s no advertisement stance on Team-BHP site. I’m sorry for drawing a wrong comparison as GTO’s is for a greater cause and is for the welfare of the car-lovers.

[Note to BHPians: In this article, I will not just be writing about my Hexa’s transmission unit’s fault, but will bring to light a surprising and disturbing fact, the existing corrupt and illegal practices prevailing at one of the TASS centers and unfair trade practices at a reputed transmission repair center, who believes he has monopoly in the market, but will stop short of naming them.]

Where do I start this last episode? Firstly, I would like to thank all the BHPians for their comments expressing sympathy, support and compassion. The suggestions and pieces of advice were overwhelming (pun intended). I am sure some of you have commiserated with me as probably you would have faced a similar issue with your automatic variant. This is the last part of the series and I still have a lot to convey. I actually intended to complete this much earlier, but got delayed, which was due to two reasons, first one is my perpetual habit of procrastinating everything, and secondly, and the more pertinent one is that I was hoping that by the time I start writing this part, I would have found a permanent fix to the transmission unit and that the Hexa would really be in a pristine condition. However, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. As I write this, the car continues to have the transmission niggles, albeit not as bad as it was at Gurgaon. Apart from carrying forward the legacy of the underlying transmission issue, I had to endure two more issues, one of which was a complete breakdown of the car.

Going back a little in time, when I first saw the Hexa at Gurgaon, the looks, the stance, the kind of SUV looks, the interiors and the name – “TATA HEXA” and finally the colour and the name of the colour – “Urban-Bronze”, all caught my fancy. There is something unusual about the colour naming ceremony, that almost all manufacturers do while naming the colours. I guess they wear their best creative hats while naming their car colours! It just can’t be brown, blue or black. The colour names are as complicated as German names! Abyss-Black, Atlas-White, Robust-Emerald-Pearl, Fiery-Red, Ranger-Khaki, Titan-Grey, Cosmic-Gold, Oberon-Black, Galactic-Sapphire, Stardust-Ash, Stellar-Frost, Supernova-Copper, Lunar-Slate. The exotic name-list goes on and can go more berserk and bizarre. Cutting back, I also got fascinated to the car’s colour name and not just the car! How stupid!
I know that I have still not written anything about the AT gearbox problem. I will start explaining the issue in my layman language, that will be totally devoid of technicalities as I am nowhere in the league of our Team-BHP grand-masters (read Mods) such as GTO or Aditya or bblost or Zappo or Rudrasen, or Jaggu, etc. With Hexa, I was very impressed. It was the best Indian car that was ever made, IMO. I thought it can be referred as the best tech diesel not only in its segment but of all the Indian cars manufactured thus far. A totally new cabin experience, turbo powered engine, DSG transmission, top-notch switch-gear, high-quality interiors, Harman entertainment system, it does bring a lot more to the party. It's a salivating tech proposition coming at a quarter of the price. These were my first thoughts. I don’t know why that I value machines, their emotions, and how they communicate in the ways only petrol-heads can decipher. Only Team-BHPians can understand these emotions. I would like to shout out and say that I'm not foolishly price-sensitive, but value-sensitive. I saw a big value in buying this car, at least at that point in time and at that price point. For any buy of a used car, apart from a good value proposition, there is deep appreciation for value in terms of ownership costs, reliability, durability, and comfort. I, therefore, defend my buying. I know I went horribly wrong. Technology can be veneer; can be superficial or deceptively attractive. Time for me to take it on the chin.

During lockdown period, in April 2020, I happen to read an article written in “Auto Tech Review” magazine by Mr Hirendra Divgi of Divgi TorqTransfer Systems. He wrote that Legislation was the driving force for Bharat Stage VI emission norms kicking in from April 2020, and that the OEMs had to relook at both engine and transmission technologies to achieve the prescribed emission norms. More number of speeds and higher ratio spread in the transmission help engines to run at the most fuel efficient RPMs. However, with manual transmissions this brings shifting fatigue and suboptimal performance. Therefore, the focus shifted to the competing technologies – Automated Manuals (AMTs), Dual Clutch Automatics (DCTs), Conventional Stepped Automatics (ATs) or Continuously Variable Transmission (CVTs). Till this time I always thought AT cars aren’t for me. Divgi’s article influenced me a lot and from then onwards, I started my search for auto-transmission car. Being a manual transmission stick shift car fanatic, I was skeptical as the shift in gears takes place automatically depending upon the car's speed. I can exercise more control and can overtake confidently while driving a manual transmission car than while driving an automatic. Divgi, in that same article, also stated that given the ecosystem of manual transmissions in India, AMTs and DCTs seem to be the technologies that can be best adapted to the Indian market. He added that as the number of speeds increase and customers expect better drive quality and features that can be enhanced by software, AMTs will give way to wet DCTs for their sheer durability with options of hybridisation to P2 or P2.5 levels. CVTs, though promising, face the challenge of large gear manufacturing capacities getting redundant and dependence on a few globally powerful chain and pulley suppliers, which I guess are Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.

As a novice to auto-transmission technology, I did a bit of reading to understand this segment of engineering. I tried to give a detailed reading about in “howstuffworks” and quote a few lines - In an automatic transmission; a set of gears produces all of the different gear ratios. The planetary gearset is the device that makes this possible in an automatic transmission. An automatic transmission contains two complete planetary gearsets folded together into one component. Any planetary gearset has three main components, namely a sun gear, planet gears and the planet gears' carrier and finally the ring gear. Each of these three components can be the input, the output or can be held stationary. Choosing which piece plays which role determines the gear ratio for the gearset As I was reading quite late in the night, for a moment I thought if I’m reading about the solar system. I only understood a torque converter connects the engine to the transmission and uses pressurized fluid to transfer power to the gears and this replaces a manual clutch. The principle of fluid dynamics and thermodynamics are the governing principles, I assume. But did not understand if Torque converter exists in a DCT or not.

I then read “The World of Automatic Transmissions” written by Mr Arunpools (url pasted below), wherein he said that this technology is tremendously complicated technology and explained in detail various types of ATs. Many thanks Arun for this wonderful piece of write-up, and your following lines were as soothing as the song by Shawn Mendes – “It'll Be Okay”.

“The bottom line here is that DCT is fantabulous technology for race cars and high performance sports cars. They are very quick in gear shifts with the least amount of power loss between shifts, they are relatively lightweight, low on parasitic losses compared to conventional autos and can handle oodles of torque and power.”

GTO said “Really sucks that we sometimes have to end up with an option we know will give us trouble, but as a wise man once said, there is no such thing as a "perfect car". I'd rather have a breakdown every 5 years than drive a boring engine / gearbox for 10 years. That said, I would pick a competent torque-converter AT over a DCT 10 out of 10 times”.

But is there a better automatic car than this 7-speed DQ381 DSG Skoda Superb or anything better I can find sub 10L category than a Hexa? Maybe for the next buy I should do a thorough research after giving a detailed reading of the articles posted by GTO, Arun, Chirag, etc. As of now, a positive alpha still lies in buying a DSG equipped car, IMHO. As opined by Sidchh, I too believe that a DCT is the holy grail of automatic transmissions, best for enthusiasts and that manual enthusiasts wouldn’t mind driving DCTs.

Well, back to the narrative at hand, the next day, after taking the possession of the car at Nelamangala, Bangalore, I met my friend, Mr Wilson, who runs YV Car Care (FNG), near Hiranandani Apts, and explained the issue. All the cars within my family and extended family and friends’ cars go to him for periodical maintenance and service. Hence I keep meeting this guy pretty often to which my daughter jokes that I talk to Wilson more than with my friends! Without even driving the car, he, seeing the struggle the Hexa was putting up with climbing the small inclined ramp to his garage, immediately came to the conclusion on the underlying transmission fault and advised me to leave the car and that he’ll be taking a couple of day’s time to identify the exact fault in the transmission unit. He connected his tab to OBD connector and an error code flashed – some number followed with the phrase which read as “function restriction due to pressure drop” He also dropped a bomb, which shattered me more, was that to be prepared to shell out as much as 4.20 L for a new transmission unit. What a number I thought, was it by design or by accident. He told me that he would flush out the transmission oil and refill the unit with the recommended oil, to see if this resuscitates the TU. Suddenly, I’m reminded of my bladder existence and that’s when I realized that I had gulped down liters of coffee during the course of the discussion. I just remembered these lines which I read somewhere, while resorting to the autonomic regulation of the bladder – “Maybe life doesn’t get any better than this, or any worse, and what we get is just what we’re willing to find: small wonders where they grow. Don’t know due to stress or helplessness, post relieving, I was jonesing for more coffee and was remembering what GTO had mentioned in one of his million advices – “The Honda torque converter AT is bullet-proof. Why did I not search for a Honda or stick to stick-shifts : Frustrati

I left the car with Wilson and the similar feeling of déjà vu started. I have to forget that I bought a Hexa and bide my time and wait for good news. Come morning, new thoughts, new ideas and new hopes. Given the limitations under which a FNG operates, I started to wonder if leaving the car with a FNG is a good proposition for solving such a highly technical fault. A TASS center probably is more suited and recommended to solve such critical issues as they will have trained professionals who will work systematically and do a proper analysis and giving due regard to the problem will fix the issue. Though the fault code was generated, not much could be identified by the FNG and hence I decided to move the car to a TASS. After a day’s gap, I drove the car to a Tata authorized service center. My good old friend wasn’t against the idea and in fact was supportive of the decision. Wilson, a man of good ethics said that a good mechanic maybe a master of his toolbox and equipment but a great mechanic is a master of anticipation and TASS certainly would be having an expertise in not only solving the transmission issue but will also solve the connected issues which may come up as a subsidiary faults due to the main fault. So, without antagonizing my friend, I drove the Hexa, which again was driving effortlessly, but for the initial hiccup, to TASS which was quite faraway. While driving, noticed that the Total Environment’s apartment complex by name “Magic Faraway Tree”, expecting similar magic would happen, and playing Selena Gomez’s Magic song, was cruising to the place. When almost near, after crossing the Nice road junction, the cruel warning light lit up again in the dashboard indicating a transmission fault. Though annoyed, I was still optimistic that I made a right decision by dragging the car to a Tata center. I just switched off the engine and restarted and yes, the trick worked yet again. The warning light vanished and after that and I reached the center. In the last episode, while the car was in transit, I had a discussion with one senior service advisor at TASS. He was the service advisor for my previous car, Tata Safari, and hence known to me fairly, though he turned out to be not so fair with me in the ensuing proceedings. During that discussion, he had forwarded an invoice that showed the cost of Rs 4.20L towards replacing of the transmission unit with a new one. He added that repairing the unit isn’t easy and likened it to heart surgery and that once opened, a transmission unit can fail again and hence suggested to give to him for taking up the repair works, once it reaches Bangalore. So with all this playing in the mind, expecting he would do some magical panacea, I met my savior, at least that’s what I thought that moment, and handed over the car. He said, he’ll do the inwarding procedure later, since the day being a Saturday, he told me that about 150+ cars, consisting a mix of IC and EV cars are waiting for service, and assured that he will get the repair tasks taken up on a priority basis. Next morning he called and said that there is major issue in the unit and that he is trying to replace the defective parts with new ones or will get parts by cannibalizing from any junked Hexa, due to short supply. Being a known guy, I thought he was trying to help me. But when he said the cost could be in the range of 1 to 2 lakh, I thought I heard him wrong, “what, I asked”. He repeated the same. I set out to think that instead of spending 4L, this be a much better offer, but was still in a dilemma. The amount isn’t less to give a go-ahead but I was also looking at the notional savings of 2+ lakhs. Exacerbated by the events, I again handed over the car, this time not to the good man, Wilson, but to a not so good man at TASS. At that point in time, I did not know that I was submerged under an illusion of control in the tendency of which people perceive that they have more control over their own behavior or their environment than they actually have, which consequently leads to the adoption of risky behaviors and becoming unrealistically optimistic. In fact, I had wrested control to this guy for some period of time. How imbecilic!

A feeling of derealisation syndrome started descending in me. Though I did not break any cup to check this feeling, the events seems to be unreal, such as in a Telugu movie where hero Mahesh Babu’s psycho thriller movie ‘Nenokkadine’ keeps checking if the chain of events happening around are true. So, continuing with the saga, I paid an ‘x’ amount, as an advance, to him and left the car, returned home and saw the aforesaid movie, late in to the night. The movie ended on a positive note but my story is anything but positive. Four uneventful days passed and it became a week. Car is still with him, unattended and with no progress, and neither calls nor any updates on the works, when asked all he was telling was “just leave it to me”. On Monday, a sense of realization dawned, the buying of Hexa started on a wrong note, it was a dismal realization that post this too many works would go wrong. I informed him that I’d be taking back the car at noon, for which, quite incredibly, he said the car was almost ready and told me to come around 2pm. Post lunch, I met him, took the car, which was already parked by the side of a main road and not inside the TASS premises, and drove back home, since he said he had to rush back for some other urgent work, but not before I noticed that something was amiss. During the drive, I did feel that there has been an improvement in the transmission unit and the initial struggle to move when D-mode is engaged, disappeared. When asked, the TASS guy triumphantly announced that he got a few crucial works done that solved the issue forever and demanded that the balance money be paid at the earliest. No details were given to me on the works done. From TASS, took on to the Nice road, which is a toll road, and Hexa showed its Cadillac like behavior, delivered a smooth acceleration, close to precise steering response and a compliant suspension setup, though a tad stiff. Inspite of being a 2.20+ ton car, it isn’t as planted as German cars. Finally, for the first time. I felt this good while driving it on a highway but however, I was in a state of quandary, was the work done perfectly and can I safely assume that the car is highway-ready? The guy was non-committal initially for a few days and later when I wanted to take back the car, all of sudden, he said that the job has been done. I actually wanted the things to be undone and wanted restitution from him, as no more I can rely on this guy. When he started following up on the balance, I insisted that he share the details of works done, and pat came a reply that shook the earth out of me and I was caught in a fog of bewilderment. He claimed that the entire transmission unit has been swapped from a defunct vehicle. Amidst a mire of thoughts, and adrift in a sea of perplexity, I was worried why I’ve allowed to be made a party to this unethical practice - I was never told that there would not be any job-card and that the car would not be inwarded officially. Till date, the repairs undertaken have remained unknown to me. I started using Hexa in Bangalore’s dense traffic and for almost a week the transmission worked flawlessly and then started a three-second-lag. Initially it was happening only when D-mode was engaged but later even in R-mode, the lag started. I updated this to TASS guy who said that the lag will go off soon, and his theory was that I should go on a highway and touching a speed of 100 KM/h, should allow the car to slow down to 20km, while the TU will go on changing from higher gears to lower gears based on the speed. His ridiculous theory is that the transmission unit needs to be run on a high speed and consequently, revving to low speeds, adjust and rectify by itself. He was sounding confident that lag will soon be a thing of the past. He was sounding as dumb as a doorknob, so illogical and mindless, decelerating from a savior to a frenemy. I read somewhere in the Team-BHP site that the engine and transmission should work like two peas in a pod”, whereas here it’s two complete strangers. From here on I knew that my compass will be pointing true north (read FNGs). I have to fling myself into understanding the complex systems of transmission units so that I can explain better, to a good mechanic, whenever I happen to discover him, the underlying problem and for getting a right fix from him to forget this issue forever.

I started reading again to know what causes delayed engagement in transmission. This is what I read on some website. “When you start your car, shift into gear such as drive or reverse, you should expect your vehicle to engage and begin moving. If this doesn’t happen and instead you are met with a pause before the transmission engages, it’s known as delayed engagement and it is one of the most common issues with automatic transmissions. A delayed engagement is actually a type of slip that occurs when the clutches that allow the vehicle to move, become sluggish and do not operate on cue. Here’s what you need to know about delayed engagement and what to do if it happens to your car. “ It also said that a delayed engagement is a minor inconvenience but if not addressed, it can lead to bigger, costlier problems.

These lines reminded me what 'speed79' commented to my 1st write-up – “Automatic Gear box in Hexa is a ticking time bomb, just we do not know what is the timeframe when it will go off. Other than the tension of impending Auto gearbox failure, it is an excellent car to drive”.

How Can I Fix Delayed Engagement?

In my further readings I set out to understand what factors may actually cause a delayed engagement:

• Fluid – If the fluid is low or the coloring is dark red, brown, or black or has a foul smell, it’s best to change the transmission oil.
• Transmission Filter – A clogged transmission filter can affect the transmission pressure which can cause a delay in engaging the gears.
• Worn Seals or Bands – A surefire sign of wear on any of these internal components is delayed engagement often caused by low internal pressure.
• Shift Solenoids – Transmission solenoids are valves that control the flow of fluid throughout the transmission. A faulty shift solenoid can cause a delay of engagement into any gear. Over time the shift solenoid’s tiny plungers may fail or the electromagnetic coils fail due to constant heat and vibration. If the coils fail, the solenoid is unable to open or close to assist in engaging the subsequent gear.
• ATF Change - Have the transmission fluid changed every 50,000 kms.

Preventive Checks - Have an experienced and knowledgeable transmission technician inspect your transmission filter, ATF cooler and ATF pump and replace/clean it when clogged to prevent irreversible damage to the transmission.

It’s not that estranged couples don’t cohabit. I intend to take at least 2 years of usage from the Hexa. So I continued using the car while the problem persists, and also continued my readings about ATs. The more I read, I felt like ATs are like plane’s black-box that was difficult to understand. Compounding this issue was the inability of local mechanics to solve minor problems. Pasting below two urls, which I found to be informative on ATs.

https://www.allthingsmotoringinterna...clutch-gearbox

https://www.asrgearboxrepairs.co.uk/...rbox-problems/

While this was on, another skeleton tumbled out. In Dec’23, while returning from Krishnagiri, which is about 100 Kms from Bangalore, the car’s battery warning light turned on indicating alternator malfunctioning. Comedy is so often based on the minutiae of everyday life. Maybe this happened to divert my brain’s attention off the AT unit. I continued driving hoping to reach Bangalore and suddenly it started raining, adding to my woes. I switched off the AC & wipers too as the car was running on the battery, windows rolled down, I continued driving, half wet in the rain, and unsuccessfully trying to wipe the windshield with my palms like those cab drivers used to wipe their ambassador’s windshields in the olden days. As luck favours the brave, just near Shoolagiri police station, I found “SF Auto Electricals” and Pasha was more than accommodative for agreeing to work in the rain. He dexterously removed the alternator and informed that bearing got stuck. He said it will take about 2 hours and that I can take a rick to the nearby Shri Krishna Inn, and can have coffee. However sad a person feels, however stunned to have gotten in to problems, fortified with coffee, he can carry on and on! While waiting, I made a few calls, including to mom, who said that time of the purchase of this car must have happened in the most inauspicious time maybe rahu kalam or varjyam time. Anyways, no use moping – things could have been worse. The engine is good, so is the suspension, interiors are as clean as a crystal and overall the car looks new and so I should forget the past and begin anew. Though I try to be as positive as a life-coach, the guilt of the past and worry of the future keeps me restless. Coffee is a zen meditation device, no sooner I completed 4th round of coffee, Pasha called and said, the alternator has been repaired and that the current output is as per the specified range. Happy with the outcome, I paid the charges, offered him a million thanks and tipped generously and drove away, not before noticing, in the Hexa’s huge ORVM, a very perplexed Pasha. How will he ever know that a troubled guy like me will be super excited when a problem is solved forever, instantaneously! Point to be noted here by Team-BHPians is that the alternator has been repaired and not replaced with a new one. I will later explain why harped on this point aka a lawyer does in the court hall, requesting the judge to note the point.

The 3-sec lag in the transmission unit continued and I’ve gotten used to this lag. My other car, which is an aging i10-Auto, whenever I drive, it keeps surprising me as it moves instantaneously as soon as the drive mode is engaged. A few months had elapsed and I was contemplating whether to sell or retain the car and then yet another fault came up. In fact, this issue was waiting to happen, purely due to the negligence by TASS. In Feb’24, while returning from yet again same place, Hosur, I noticed the car’s temperature gauge was rising and the blue rainbow’s edge was turning to red and was looking like a red-edged dracaena plant leaf. Hosur is just about 45kms away from Bangalore, cannot be considered as a long drive that engine can get over-heated. Having given up on the TASS guys, I called Wilson and he told me to manage to reach his garage and to maintain low speeds and halt at Karnataka state border for some time, top up the coolant or with water and then reach his place. I followed his instructions to the T and reached his place without any further complications. Looks like my engine heat management ability was good enough to reach the garage. Quite paradoxically, I started feeling good about the car and felt this car too can be reliable, if maintained well! The problem, I thought would have occurred due to leakage in top or bottom hose pipes or somewhere in the cooling systems. But on inspection, Govind, who is Wilson’s partner and an able mechanic, told me that the thermostat failed to open the valves, preventing the engine radiator from circulating the coolant to the top and bottom part of the engine. He added that this is the fallout and spin-off from the transmission failure and that transmission fluid got mixed up with the radiator coolant which is a common phenomenon whenever an AT unit fails and further more the thermostat also malfunctions and will fail to open the valves when this mixture, which is more viscous in nature than the coolant, enters it. The TASS guys should have changed the thermostat, but their sheer negligence caused me this additional headache. Compounding to the misery, Govind informed me that the thermostat is in short supply and that sourcing a genuine spare may take a week or even more. Shah Rukh Khan said in Dear Zindagi movie – ‘Losing friends as you grow older is a sign of growing up’. Maybe I did not grow enough, I reached out to a few of my friends and one of them, using his contacts at one of the TASS centers (as he audited their GST records), arranged for one. However, this process took about 10 days time, during which time the car was parked in Wilson’s garage. Due to this, my people were commenting that the Hexa was more at the garage than at home! It’s a sad truth. The previous owner, Mr Sanjay Wadhwa, actually has maintained the car very well, always got the periodical service done on time, SR proves this and also the car interiors were maintained so well that not even a scratch was evident. Whereas, here at Bangalore, I’ve been taking the car to TASS as well as to a FNG. Finally, the radiator issue was fixed, hoses were changed, coolant changed and the thermostat was replaced. The car seemed fine. This was in the 1st week of May’24.

Next comes the incident, which happened in the 3rd week of May’24, wherein, for the first time in my 39 years of driving, I had to face a complete breakdown, which was for the first time in my 39 years of driving. None would have faced this snag. It was raining, and expectedly I was skeptical driving the Hexa in the rain. I and my son were going to a nearby area and had stopped at a sweet shop, for buying the famous ‘Mysorepak’, as he wanted to give it to his friends at Delhi. All of a sudden, we heard a blast in the bonnet and the car’s entire electrical system went black. Within seconds, we saw smoke emanating from the bonnet side gap, which horrified us completely. My son was telling immediately “let’s sell the car soon, daddy.” Yes, we should get rid of this, was my immediate thought, instead of trying to know why this happened. Why the hell some part under the hood of a car should burst like a Diwali bomb when it rains and whether Hexa isn’t a water-proof car, but how the hell am I supposed to drive it only indoors! Then, as usual, remembering my friend Wilson, I called him and very soon his deputy, who’s about 25 years of age, came to my help. In the meantime, I opened the bonnet and couldn’t figure out much as there was not much of street lighting in the area, and occasional lightning in the sky did throw some light, bringing the problem to the light and lightened our heavy hearts. The blast was from the battery, which has gone dead and hence the car’s entire electricals have gone dead. The fumes smell acidic. The boy, whose name is Elumalai, explained the problem. One or two cells in the in the battery had gone weak and as a result there was an excess load on the adjacent cells, which exploded due to intense heat caused by the overload. I immediately googled to find out how many cells will be in an automobile battery – “In most modern car batteries contain six cells, each housing a lead-dioxide plate and a lead plate. The plates are immersed in sulfuric acid, and together they create a chemical reaction…”. Elumalai seems right and looking at our distraught faces, he told us it’s a simple but a rare occurrence and that he will replace the battery with a new one at the garage. In my nearly 4 decades of driving several cars, never faced such an issue, nor read about this nor even saw this happening to others. The acid smell was so strong that we both were reeking of acid smell. It was still raining and Elumalai, inspite of telling not to go, rode back his Activa to his workshop to get a spare battery. In about an hour, he got the battery and connected it and bingo, the Hexa sprang back to life, like a recharged cellphone! I never had any starter problem till this incident and engine was cranking up without any signs of a weak battery. This blast reminded me of muhavare - Upar wala jab bhi deta hai, chapar phaad ke deta hai.

Battery acid blast

My Hexa’s niggles, snags and breakdowns have stimulated all my five senses perfectly! What a pity.

• Eyes – Alternator and thermostat failure
• Ears – Battery cell blast
• Nose – Acid smell
• Skin – D and R Mode: 3-Sec lag (whenever I feel the torque hitting the drive train)
• Tongue – Countless-coffee-cups-consumption, during the breakdowns and repair works.

My Hexa is my transformer, it made me become an optimist, made me to be more patient, built my endurance and perseverance levels, plus vastly improved my 5 A's” in managing stress, viz., avoiding, altering, adapting, accepting, and being more active. Do not wish to write more on this 5A’s as this article has become too lengthy already, and still lot to write, but will add here that I completely avoided long drives in Hexa due to the inherent transmission issue, whereas in my previous car (Safari Dicor, the real beast) I had done multiple long drives to Vizag, Kanyakumari, Hyderabad, to name a few. That's a story for another day!

Now the critical part of the story comes! I would like to highlight some of the prevailing lowlights in the automobile service industry in Bangalore, especially at TASS and also at a specialty center dealing in repairing and servicing of defective ATUs. First let me write about my experience at an AT specialty center who claim themselves as a top player in the category of automatic transmission repairs and services and that they believe that customer satisfaction is as important as their services. Yet I felt a big letdown. Just recently I visited this center and I must tell that they have a huge space and also have a virtually empty road, right opposite to the center for testing the cars. This place is a bit away from the city, nevertheless easy to reach. I saw in their workshop a few Hexas, Audis, BMWs, Hyundais, Range Rovers and also quite surprisingly one Innova. I explained to the service supervisor about the 3-sec lag in my Hexa’s transmission unit and he immediately connected his tab to the OBD and said there is an issue with the transmission. He did not want to share the error code and discussed something with his assistant and thereafter took a test drive on the deserted road. During the test drive he said that this is a common problem in Hexas but what is it he never elaborated. All he said was leave the car and they’ll take about a month’s time and that I have to pay 1.90L, which comes with a warranty of 6 months but doesn’t cover any oil leakages and also ATF cooler failures. He also added that beyond the period of 6 months none can predict if again the same issue or some other issue would crop up. Further, he was reluctant to pin pointedly explain what is the actual cause for the lag in drive and reverse modes. On much insistence, he said that gear-1 is kaput and will burn very soon. When I asked how long I can run the car in the present condition, he added that I can at the best run the car for not more than 40 kilometers a day and if I go beyond this number, the unit will burn and transmission will cease to function causing the car to stall abruptly. He was kind enough to advise me to save his number and that they have a tow-truck and he will extend this facility to me 24/7 and that I can call him to get the car towed to his place. What an audacity? I guess this comes with a belief that they are the only service providers in this segment of service. Their blatant display monopolistic and autocratic ways despised me. I just left the place with a sense of disbelief and wished I never would need to go back to them. After a week’s time, just to test the claims made by him, I drove the car till Ambur (Chennai highway), which is about 170 kilometers from Bangalore and is a hub of leather tanning industry and is a leading exporter of leather goods aka Kanpur, accompanied by my son. We had a great long drive for the first time in the Hexa and many a time we managed the speedo needle to hover between 100 and 140 KM/h. While returning we took a break at the famous Murugan Idli shop near Krishnagiri. The idlis were as smooth and soft as our drive in the Hexa! We reached Bangalore with everything working flawlessly, the alternator, the new battery, the thermostat, save for one issue, the 3-sec lag. More than 300 kilometers were covered without any issue. I was more than happy not because we had a good drive but because I proved these guys wrong. A few pics that we’ve taken in this trip are attached. I am forced to recollect Shah Rukh’s three very popular film dialogues:

• Don’t underestimate the power of a common man.
• Suno Sabki, Karo apne dil ki.
• Jo nahi ho sakta, wahi toh karna hai.

The apathy from these guys and the lackadaisical attitude of TASS and other ASCs don't cut the mustard with me. No one is willing to listen to us. These days even the most accomplished surgeons are willing to listen to us, but these guys just don’t learn and not ready to show any interest in genuinely solving the problem. If jet plane engines can be repaired, why not a humble transmission unit. Do we lack talent in understanding the complexities of DCT gearboxes or not willing to repair them? The so-called qualified mechanics have not been taught the same repair skills as those from decades ago. They just lack the skills and know-how to repair the car's defective components, so they replace them instead. Also, many components of a modern car are either not repairable or service centres and manufacturers prefer to sell the parts to increase their revenues. I may have to continue writing one more essay describing my experience with Bangalore’s TASS centre. What an eventful journey and memories with my Hexa, starting from Sudhir Dayal’s place at Dwarka, where I purchased the car, to my cousin’s place at Gurgaon and then to the truck yard at the old DeIhi Gurgaon road and to Nelamangala, Bangalore and from there all my drives to the service centers and FNGs, it’s been a tumultuous period. I once again thank each one of you for your kind comments. Cheers

End of Part4

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