LashNeo

@Jimmy. So glad that you managed to fix the issue. Did he explain what kind of changes he did? I guess he may have replaced some solenoids and gear wheels. Does he have the Mazda M-V gear oil type with him? If so, how much does it cost?

Well.. Had a hectic time during the past few weeks and didn't got a chance to take her to a mechanic. Therefore i've been sparingly using her. However, i had to take her out for few trips during the last few days since there weren't any alternative transport methods. Surprisingly, the issue has improved significantly. there was a slight delay in shifting at startup but after few up-shifts and downshifts things were nearly perfect. The HOLD indicator did not blink either. Therefore most probably i will start with a complete gear oil flush(manual flush) and refill and then decide on what to do from there onward based on how she reacts. :-)

My experience with them has been somewhat contrary. I’ve been with them for the past three years. Few years ago; there was this Al*i*nz agent who used to come to my previous work place and he proposed good deals compared to other competitors. I think he was cutting down on his margin drastically as he was handling large number of customer accounts at the work place and hence he was able to propose a policy at a low premium. Since it was very appealing; I went with it and has been with them since then. I’ve made two claims so far. Although Both were somewhat significant amounts, Al*i*nz did not make a fuss to make the payments. However; on one occasion my payment was delayed. I submitted the claim documents to the branch at Delkanda on that occasion but the fellow who accepted the documents delayed in sending them to the head office for processing and my payment got delayed by several days due to that. I made bit of a scene at the Delkanda branch for this making a complaint to the branch manager etc. And, they were humble enough to accept their mistake and did their best to process the payments soon as possible after that. Another thing I noticed was that majority of their staff is new and not well trained. Seeing them going from table to table asking for advice from their seniors was a common scene at their office premises. (I have been to Delkanda, Maharagama & Nawam mawatha branches) Apart from this; I’m satisfied with their service. Especially because they did not make a fuzz in approving the bills.

Oh wow! So, the one i posted is not the first. Have they formed some sort of cult ?!?

He hee.. i just couldn't understand this fellow’s definition of 'REAL MEN'. As per him; by sacrificing your life un-purposefully, on a cheap Maruti; you become a 'REAL MAN'. So what’s next? Building shrines for Maruti’s? Ha haa.. ! I tried my best to get a glimpse of him. But i missed him partly because i was trying to get a clear capture of his slogan and partly because he was switching lanes like a maniac.

Met this guy in a Maruti 800 while I was going back home last night. I know that some people find stupid ways of justifying the wrong decisions they made but this is probably the epitome of it. The text in the rear window might not be very clear; It says "NO AIR BAGS. I DIE LIKE REAL MEN.." LOL…

This could well be the reason. As I know; so far they have not come up with a solution for this and therefore most probably it’s an inherent issue with this model. Although personally I have not experienced it, I’ve heard from my friend that this vibration is rather annoying. Similar comments made by other users can be seen in the internet as well.

I might be being too judgmental here. Of course the Axia is a reasonably good car. But @Frank; why am I seeing someone who have just joined A/L suddenly started endorsing UNIMO’s products such as the Axia & Attrage? Guerilla Marketing?

Safety-wise it's a far better option than the competing Indian models. But, I don't think it's worth 32 lakhs as you can easily find better second hand Japanese/Korean models for that price range. And there's a rather annoying bug in this model where the engine vibrates when it's in idle. In the long term I’m not sure how this type of an issue will impact the car. A friend of mine who bought one of these was complaining about this and I have seen some guys complaining about this same issue in UNIMO's FB page as well. I think it's better if you can check with the agent whether they have a permanent fix for this bug before making any decisions.

@Jimmy, sure! i'll keep you posted on the progress. By the way, after this problem came up, you have mentioned that you changed ATF. What kind of oil did you use and from where did you did the change?

OK. Did some research and the P0730 – INCORRECT GEAR RATIO error can occur due to one of the following reasons. - Low transmission fluid level - Dirty transmission fluid - Shift solenoids - Transmission mechanical problems - Transmission hydraulic control circuit That list includes my suspicion, as well as the reasons suggested by the experts which I have visited. So, I decided to visit Nilwala again when their main technician is available and see what he has to say. Based on his diagnose I’ll decide what should be done. In the meantime, any type of expert advice from you guys is dearly welcome J

@Jimmy; Hope you won't mind me hijacking your thread to post my issue. I’m also having a similar problem with my Mazda Familia BJ5P. On cold starts; it hesitates/delays to shift to the second gear and often the ‘HOLD’ button indicator keeps on blinking in the dashboard when this happens. If I don’t start the journey immediately after startup early in the morning and keep the engine idling for 2-3 minutes; the shifting happens fairly smoothly. Once the engine is at its optimum temperature, gear shifting appears to be smooth. Although at times I feel a slight delay in shifting to the second. I have not done any major transmission repairs for the 7 years I have owned the car and the last gear oil change was done around 20,000Km ago. However, few months ago about 2000Km’s back there was a slight gear oil leak from the Sump and I repaired it immediately at Ma**a motors who have been taking good care of the car for the last 7 years. But, this problem started to develop after that repair. It’s hard to find any direct connection to that but I’m just wondering whether they mixed up old oil with new oil when re-filling the gear box. The gear oil appeared clean and pinkish before the repair but now it’s black and burnt. When I took it back to them, what they told me was that some controller which aids the oil pressure to build up during cold startups (Oil pressure solenoid or something but I can’t remember the exact name though) is busted and it would cost around 36K for the full repair. When I asked about the burnt oil; they told me that the oil is burnt as I have accelerated the engine at cold startups to shift the gears and it might have burnt the oil but it’s hard to believe as I have been very careful with acceleration on cold startups after this problem appeared. They have also been selling me the idea to go for a new gear box but I’m not convinced with that since I believe this should be a minor issue based on the mileage of the car. So, I did a scanning from another place to find any error codes; and it gave the result ‘INCORRECT GEAR RATIO’. Later on last friday, I took it to Nilwala for further diagnosis, but unfortunately the owner who is also the main technician was not there at that moment. But one honest looking mechanic at the premises took the car for a spin to diagnose the error but he could not replicate it as the engine temp was optimum at that moment and transmissions happened smoothly. He checked the condition of the gear oil and told me that one or two gear wheels might be broken. He advised me to leave the car with them on an evening so that they can replicate the error next morning. When I asked him whether I should go for a gear oil change he told me it want solve the issue and he had no idea of the error code ‘INCORRECT GEAR RATIO’ and told me that they have to re-scan it with their scanner. So, now I’m in a bit of a dilemma on what to do. Does any one of you guys have any idea on this ‘INCORRECT GEAR RATIO’ error? What might be causing this transmission problem? I would like to know details on any kind of experience, knowledge you guys have on this problem before deciding to go ahead with any of the mechanics.

Yep. I think so. As per the article, the alto was hit by the Honda FIT and it must have been tossed.

If you have any doubts why majority of the members in AL don't recommend buying indian deathtraps; this might give you a good idea. http://www.hirunews.lk/sinhala/137728

Yep. Have been using something similar to this for connecting my MP3 modulator and phone charger. No issues so far :-) Fairly handy and cheap solution i reckon.

Cats inside the car !?! Seriousely? Cat’s have a tendency to stretch themselves and scratch on whatever soft firm material they can find. Have you ever seen what cats do to sofa’s? God bless the seats and interior panels of the car in the hands of a locked up cat Baygon or Mortein would be the best solution and you can also try the chalk variant as well. Once I had the same cockroach problem some time ago. After transporting some goods in the boot while shifting houses and leaving them in the boot for few days; my car got infested by roaches who were actually hiding inside the boxes. The buggers have found a nice living space inside the car even after the boxes were removed. I just used one of those chalks and drew several lines on a cardboard and left in the boot for few nights and all the buggers were dead inside the boot itself. Only drawback with this option is that one or two may die in places hard to reach as it’s not quick to take effect than the spray. Luckily for me the infestation was not that severe and therefore all of them died in the boot itself and did not find any during the thorough interior cleaning which followed.

Seems like those prices are legit. Same can be seen in a FB page called 'Renault KWID Sri Lanka' as well.

I've been running a BJ5P with a ZL-VE SVT engine for more than 7 years now. About 4 years ago something similar happend to me and the reason was a busted ignition coil. Replacing it solved the issue at that time but after two weeks same issue occuered again and the diagnosis was that the second ignition coil pack has followed the fate of the other. :-) So, had to replace it as well. Since then had no issues and the car has been running smoothly without any issues (for nearly 4 years now). Therefore i suspect you might have faced the same issue. So, how about checking the ignition coils as mentioned by 'similarnames' as well?

Got myself a pair of Koito white beams from delkanda for the same price. Extremely happy with the results. Not too much or too little but just the right amount of light to see the road without agitating oncoming traffic. I'd say bang for the buck. Thanks for sharing the details Schiffer. :-)

Hi Crosswind, One of my friends is in search for a new car and asked for some help on his selection. According to his budget and other preferences, Ford focus seems to be a good option. So, how do you feel about the car after owning it for nearly four years now? is there anything else we need to keep an eye on apart from the things mentioned in this thread? Have you come across any new issues lately? thought of asking since you haven't updated the thread for sometime now.. :-) Cheers !!

I know I might also get bashed for what I’m posting here. But, seriously guys.. Seems like the OP just wanted to share an unpleasant experience he had and just wanted to make sure that another person doesn’t get in the same mess. It doesn’t necessarily mean that he would go on repeating the same mistake again and again. Probably doing the job of a good citizen by alerting the community. Only wrongdoing he has done here as I see is opening a new thread for this while we had previous threads on the same topic. Just give him a break guys. Peace !!

Cost of maintenance will depend on various factors such as the mileage, engine & gearbox condition, body condition etc. So, it’s really difficult to give an exact figure on how much you have to spend on maintenance since you may have to replace few parts here and there, do some repair work as time goes by. When it comes to maintenance, are you talking about only routine activities such as oil changing & other lubrication services, wheel alignment etc. or is it routine maintenance activities + replacement of parts, repairs etc? Furthermore, may I know whether 15 lakhs is your maximum budget? If that’s the case, I think it would be better to look for something in the range 13-14lakhs and keep the remaining amount in hand in case a repair or two comes by. Majority of local car users sell their cars when a major repair or two is due and they will do the best to hide it before selling. So, you better be aware unless you have an expert at your disposal.

Fabulous job buddy! If you were in SL, would have definitely evaluated the option of doing the same to my rides alloys as well. Since we are at the topic of brake pads, thought of sharing my experience as well and it was similar to what you experienced. My car had original brake pads installed by the previous owner which I replaced with an aftermarket set of nibk pads two months ago. For the period of 5 years where I used the original pads, never noticed dust accumulation but with the new aftermarket set, I see lot of dust accumulation. Will be checking the condition of the pads during the next service and will decide on whether to use or not to use aftermarket stuff in future.

Watched it last week and it was rather disappointing. The storyline is not strong and character build up is very poor. Jason Statham randomly appears on screen, makes some highly improbable moves in a deadly fight and then disappears. His next appearance would be in another fight with DOM. This happens 4-5 times again and again. No scenes to emphasize on his character. There were too many action sequences and while watching the last few scenes I felt terribly bored and started yawning. Finally Dom pulls off a Sharukh khan’s move and raises himself from the dead fascinated by Letty’s love which was probably the lowest point of the movie. As Davey mentioned O’connor, Dom & Co seems to be like superheroes pulling off too many improbable stunts and withstanding deadly blows. Very few scenes which prominently showcases the cars. Only plus point is the last scene involving Paul & Dom. That end song and the scenes are simply breathtaking. The duo going on the last ride head to head as in the first edition of the movie series and O’Conner’s car finally disappearing into the cloudy mountains as if he was going to heaven was really thoughtful. That was probably the only scene in the movie where the directors put some thought.