Preamble
So far, I’ve written about car electrics/batteries on four earlier occasions in these columns but going by the number of queries that I continue to receive on them, I find that they form a good percentage of car owners operating problems across the country.

So here are some recent QnA’s that stand out in my mind and archives – hoping that they’ll be of interest and use to most car owners. Incidentally, the first question was from a gentleman who’d been trying to get an answer to it for quite some time from leading auto magazines and other websites but none responded…

Question
When a car battery has run down, why is it difficult or even impossible to push-start an automatic transmission car as against manual transmission car, which easily starts on pushing? In absence of a jump-switch, how does one start an A/T car anyway?

Answer
An A/T has to have a ‘fluid coupling’ to enable it work the way it does, instead of the conventional clutch in an M/T. As a result, there’s no ‘coupling’ at all between the engine and the GB when the engine is not spinning above its minimum/idling rpm. Consequently, when attempted to push start, the ‘reverse torque’ from the road wheels doesn’t get transmitted to the engine coz of the fluid coupling in between and therefore, the engine doesn’t ‘crank’ the way a starter motor does it.

In other words, a battery-stalled A/T can only be ‘jump-started’ from another car/healthy battery and these days, all OEM ‘on-road-service’ vehicles are equipped to do so. Btw, an M/T Mpfi/Crdi vehicle with a flat battery may not push-start either, depending upon the state of charge on the seemingly dead battery. Therefore, such vehicles are also advised only to be jump-started, like A/T’s, so as not to damage their ‘ECUs’ in the process.

This QnA reminded me of a saying that ‘never buy a car that you can’t push’!

Question
I am a Bullet enthusiast. I want to know what is the use of the ‘Amp’ in my Bullet and why should it be brought to ‘0’ before starting? Why is it not present in other bikes?

Answer
The ‘Amp’ or the ‘Ammeter’ is an old British automotive tradition, like the engine oil pressure gauge, where cars as well as bikes that have a battery/charging system were provided with it on the dash, so as to give an easy indication of the state of the battery and its charging system at a glance. Over a period of time, as the vehicles’ cruising speeds went up, the philosophy of ‘minimum instrumentation on the dash’ took over, so as not to distract a driver’s attention to the extent possible - besides cost cutting of course. So instead, only warning lights are provided nowadays for such purposes.

As far as a Bullet is concerned, it has a battery driven ignition coil, quite like cars, unlike a ‘magneto-driven’ one on most other 2-wheelers AND a powerful headlamp on top of that, though its battery is relatively smaller in capacity due to space constraints. Therefore, to ensure that full battery power is available for the ignition to kick-start, recommending one to bring the ‘Amp’ to ‘0’/zero is a way to tell the rider to ensure that all the lights etc are switched off before attempting to kick-start.

On the other hand in present day cars, the battery is relatively of larger capacity and in any case, their starter motors draw such a heavy current, of the order of a few hundred amps, that even if the head lamps that draw 10-15 amps only are on at the time of cranking the starter motor, it’d make no difference – provided the battery is not already dying of age or whatever other reason.

Preamble
Almost all of us who own a car and care about it have or continue to face this irritant at the hands of insensitive/non-family passengers. Needless to say that the latter already stand rebuked into place.

Some morons do it with such a vigour that it can send a shiver down the spine of even a built-like a-tank Amby - leave alone a feather-weight M800 that could easily turn over in disgust.

So it was, perhaps, inevitable that some time back one of my close friends and a car lover asked me for a possible remedy to save his beloved possession from such recurring assaults. Unfortunately, it’s somewhat like trying to finding a cure for common cold but this is how the dialogue went…

Ailment:
Dear SKG: Have you ever come across any article on how to close car doors effectively and ‘properly’. I wish to forward it to my friends, aiming especially those who slam the doors with all their might. This is one issue which has irritated me since childhood. SB.

Prognosis:
None that I know of SB but I have some thoughts about it, with myself having been a victim all along. There’s no empirical formula that one can make others follow when it comes to closing car doors ‘properly’, coz the ‘basic’ variables are beyond any one’s control, if not comprehension - viz -

a) I guess it’s been the experience of all of us sensitive types that people who bang them the hardest are the ones who either don’t own cars themselves or care about them even if they did, coz they’re insensitive to the hurt it causes to others who own and care about them.

b) No two car/models’ doors’ will ever require the same ‘effort’ to close them ‘properly’ i.e. without a jarring bang. In fact on my new Baleno, from day one, the driver-side door closes harder compared to the rest due to some misalignment that I’ve not bothered to get fixed coz - i) it’s reasonably rattle-free, and ii) I’m at its wheel most times and by now I know how hard to bang it!

c) In my younger days, when pitted against such a lot, I used to leap out of the car before they could and do it myself for them so that they couldn’t over-bang them, making it look like a courtesy gesture at the same time. Telling them to do it softly before letting them do it would have been rather impolite and above all, a waste of breath most times!

d) The cabins of present day cars are quite ‘airtight’ due to AC and other/dust-free requirements. This requires the ‘last’ door a significantly harder bang to close it ‘properly’ when ‘all’ other windows are rolled up including its own - especially with the AC control in ‘re-circ’ mode.

e) Incidentally, the Santro I have has a small/conical rubber piece mounted on the door/body frame, tho’ vulnerable to getting yanked-off when mulled by crude car-cleaners. Hyundai call it ‘bumper-door-anti-slam’! I really don’t know how effective it’s but it’s heartening to note that at least some OEM has given the matter some thought!

f) Btw, some of the higher end Merc’s have had a push button/electric door closing mechanism now for quite some years, designed not so much I reckon as to take the sting out of a possible bang but as an up market luxury feature.

g) However, during my recent visit to France, I saw that a 1.3 lr Peugeot delivery van, somewhat bigger than our Omni, had a push button on the Dash to enable the driver close the rear sliding door electrically after his cargo was picked up, so that i) he didn’t have to get out on a busy street to manually do it himself and hold up the traffic behind him in the process and, ii) there being no ‘chhotu’ to do the needful in their scarce man-power scenario.

To sum-up, till such time the ‘auto door close’ features trickle down to our affordable levels, I guess we’ll have to just grin and bear it. And where does it all leave us the oppressed minority - back to square one - unless one is prepared to get out and do it oneself as a ‘courtesy gesture’ and hold-up the following traffic in the process?!

Preamble
Although the country’s largest car maker has well laid down servicing norms, by way of approved service stations’ layouts, stocking of genuine spares and hourly labour rates, that vary from Metro’s to sub-metro’s to other smaller towns for justifiable reasons, yet some car owners feel that they’re getting fleeced. The following real life QnA attempts to clarify the picture…

Question
My Wagon-R is due for its 4th Service. Although it’s only 15-months old, I have crossed the 20-kkm mark. Regrettably, I have not been able to get a justifiable estimate on the costs of 4th Service and have been further confused by quotes from some of the Maruti authorised service stations in Delhi. ‘Marketing Times’ estimates labour to be Rs: 675/-, whereas ‘Maruti Service Masters’ puts it at a fixed Rs: 1400/-, which is funny because when I’d called them earlier on, I was told that it’d be @ Rs: 190/- an hour.

I’ll appreciate your inputs on this, as don’t mind spending the money but I don’t want to get fleeced at the same time. Further, I was wondering whether a Service is required at all as it’s been only 15 months - as opposed to 24-months at which Maruti recommends the 4th Service be done at.

Lastly, I have been trying to figure out how I can clean the air filter…since that is something I can do. I am yet to go through the service manual but I was not able to find anything on the ‘net either.

My response
I’m not clear as to what your problem really is. The servicing schedules are clearly laid down by Maruti in one’s ‘Owners Handbook’, on time as well as distance basis, whichever is ‘earlier’. Next come the labour charges. All Maruti Dealers, Service Masters & Authorised Service Stations are supposed to strictly follow norm’s in this respect laid down by Maruti and the variation is usually not more than 15~20%, depending on their geo-location and ‘star ranking’, as assessed by Maruti from time to time.

Further, for ‘paid’ Services for a vehicle like the W-R, there’s a fixed labour cost like Rs: 650/- covering most items mentioned in the ‘periodic maintenance schedule’, such as routine washing/valeting, oils/filters’ changes, engine tune etc. But on top of this if the ‘nth’ service schedule from Maruti also prescribes some additional works like brake fluid change, coolant change, all 4-brakes’ service, wheel alignment/balancing, besides material, these are charged extra for labour, based on hourly rates fixed by Maruti in a detailed labour schedule manual available for scrutiny in the front office of all Maruti authorised workshops. For example, one MASS may charge say 1-hr for the brakes service and the other 2-hrs for the same job, depending on how difficult it was to open the assemblies of a particular vehicle.

Over and above all these, the consumable materials costs like oils, filters, and other spares reqd such as spark plugs are billed for extra - as per Maruti’s official spares price list. Most authorised workshops use Maruti approved engine oils at Maruti fixed prices, but next higher grade oils are also available at some workshops, naturally at a higher cost, should a customer so desire.

If you’re still in doubt, I’d suggest you speak with one Mr. Jayesh Desai on his phone +91 9810708000. He runs a chain of 4-premium and oldest MSM Workshops in the NCR/Noida. You can give him my reference and if convenient, even get your vehicle serviced there and see the total transparency in their operations your self. As a special case, they may even offer a free pick up and drop off, depending on how many hours away you’re from their facility nearest to you.

As regards cleaning the Air Filter your self, it’s easy and yet not so, for a good job one requires ample compressed air. I’d suggest you first ask to be allowed to watch the process during your next service and thereafter, say every 2.5 kkm, attempt to do it your self if you have a suitable vacuum cleaner at home, ensuring that you operate it on the dirty/ingress side only and not the other/clean engine side.

Preamble
The Electrical Systems of present day cars are a far cry from the Amby’s and Fiat’s of yore, where WW-II vintage ‘Dynamo’s had a max carrying capacity of 20 Amps/12 Volts and that too at a road speed eqvt of 50+ kph and regrettably, none at idling.

The advent of ‘Alternators’ by the mid ‘80s in India with the Maruti800 changed all these limitations for the better and presently, the average continuous rating of a mid-size sedan is around 60 Amps, and suitably higher for more luxurious ones.

Nowadays, the whole electrical system of a car is so designed that the Alternator has battery charging capacity to spare under ‘all’ operating conditions, right from idling to b2b traffic with ‘all’ the designed continuously usable electrical loads on, such as the music system, air-conditioning, wipers, fog lamps/headlamps etc. And yet people have problems, invariably of their own making…

Problem:
I have a 1997 model Esteem and have problems with Car Battery. I travel to my office from Malad to Bandra and back in peak hours. While going home, around half way, half of my car’s lights, tape, AC stops working. I travel about 40KM everyday in b2b traffic One way it takes me around 1.30 hours to 2 hours. When I put off AC, music system, all the lights work fine. The moment I start either AC or the MS, lights get low. I have to keep AC and MS off for some time and when I re-start them, everything works fine together. I got my battery checked from a Maruti Authorised Service Station and also from local battery dealer. Both said battery is fine and need not be replaced. The MASS checked the Alternator also and confirmed it is working fine. This is one and half year old battery with one-year warranty, which is over. I don’t understand what to do now. Should I replace the battery or is there some other problem.

Diagnosis:
Prima-facie, it appears to me that either - a) your OE wiring harness has been tampered with by the crude auto-accessories people for installing some non-OE approved electrical accessories or, b) you have installed a high-powered music system having sub-woofers/amplifiers etc. or, c) you have higher than OE wattage headlamps, such as 100/100W instead of 65/65W ones or lastly, d) have some electrical leakage in your AC/Music System that plays up when they’re in use.

But for these, there’s no reason why your battery should keep running down in b2b traffic, when a MASS has declared your Alternator as ok. I’ve come across such a problem in an Esteem earlier on also and most of (a) to (d) above existed over there. They had to be removed to OE specs and the tampered front-end wiring harness of the car had to be replaced with an ‘MGP’ set to cure the problem, once and for all.

Music/Central Locking Systems for MPFi Cars
Given the human spinal cord like sensitivity of the MPFi Cars’ Main Wiring Harness, it’s advisable NOT to cut/splice/tape/twist-joint it anywhere, for installing any electrical accessory. In fact this is stated so in the Car’s Warranty Policy, given in the Owner’s Hand Book.

Consequently, practically all such Cars have an OE/Dealer Option of Music Systems specially produced in India for them by renowned players including 12-months warranty and assured after sales service. These are ‘model specific’ by way of ‘mating’ wiring harness couplers, which slip in straight away w/o having to tamper with the OE/WH.

Likewise, for the present day fad of Central Locking, vis-a-vis MPFi Cars. Take the Dealers’ advice on this/get him to install it too. However, it’s been established internationally that a ‘visible’ deterrent such as a Steering/pedal Lock is far more effective and reliable - more so when a good one costs under Rs:1k. One can also go in for the more fancy ‘imported’ one - ‘Mul-T-Lock’ - which is purely a mechanical device that gets installed near the Gear Lever and locks it in IV gear, costing about Rs: 3k.

Higher Wattage Headlamps
The main Wiring Harness of an MPFi Car is sacrosanct and as such, it should never be mutilated to install various Relays etc. necessitated for using higher than OE Wattage Headlamps or additional ones. If you do, you’ll end-up having insurmountable problems later on, such as flat batteries for no apparent reason, as in the case above. Besides, this will closely be followed by burnt out headlamp couplers built-into the main wiring harness and distortion of their all-plastic reflectors.

Preamble
About 4-months ago, we’d had a look at the do’s and don’ts of converting present generation MPFi cars to LPG or CNG. With increasing availability of the two at various places coupled with the costs of petrol forever heading north, most people are seriously considering going in for such conversions. So here’s a QnA that I hope most of you will find informative and useful…

Question
Several Radio Taxi service providers in Delhi/ NCR have been providing ‘B’ segment cars such as Esteem etc that run on CNG. The fleet size of such dual fuel vehicles is more than 300. Over the last 6 months or so, I have traveled in these cars and found the ride experience quite comfortable. Although there is some impact on the initial acceleration, the cost of running which is almost entirely in the city, is down to about Re. 1/- per km. I understand that Maruti Udyog does not provide any company CNG kit fitted vehicles, however, there are several private agencies in Delhi that install such RTO approved CNG kits with endorsement on the Registration Certificate for a total cost of around Rs. 40,000/-.

I own an Esteem-VXi, September 2004 model, Cost Rs. 5 lacs, which came with a 4year/ 80,000 Kms warranty. The car has done almost 30,000 kms in the last 2-1/2. The monthly running is expected to go up to around 2,500 kms per month over the next 2-1/2 to 3 years, thus making the financial viability/ payback of installing a CNG kit even more attractive although the 4-year warranty shall lapse.

Assuming that one can live with the slight impact on the initial acceleration and that’s inevitable with CNG, my main question to you is what will be the impact of using CNG on the total ownership costs e.g. Repair & Maintenance costs, Life and Resale value of such dual fuel Esteem, if any?

Answer
Difficult to say, though engine life expectancy can certainly go up coz CNG is a lot cleaner fuel compared to petrol AND oil/spark-plug change intervals go up by atleast 50% on km basis with CNG running. The resale value will definitely take a beating for understandable reasons. Recently, I too had a ride in a similar one from IGAP/Delhi to Noida, got talking to the driver and gathered that:

i) The Esteem in question was almost 4-yrs old/BS-II/Mpfi and had done 2.5 lac kms during this time - with the engine still going strong. According to him, it was mainly due to the owner’s policy to change engine oil every 5,000 kms/once a month. If I may add to that, running on CNG with the engine properly re-tuned for it is another contributory factor.

ii) According to that cabbie, the power loss in CNG mode was about 25% (15/20), good enough for running around NCR, whereas what’s text-booked is about 10-15%. This made sense coz he was comparing the power loss from the Mpfi Esteem level/85 bhp in petrol, as against a carb type/65 bhp less 10-15% that it becomes in CNG mode.

iii) His Esteem with his gentle driving returned almost 20 km/kg-cng and at times, he had to take two-tankfuls during a day.

iii) What turned out to be an interesting info was that his owners had placed a bulk order for 30-Esteems about 4-yrs back and Maruti Udyog had them all CNG-Kitted at their works prior to delivery.

The point I’m trying to make here is given the capability (FYI, Suzuki is doing a CNG-Baleno in next door Pakistan and that too with a 1.3 lr engine for taxi trade), if MUL can do it for bulk orders and still uphold their warranty, why can’t they offer CNG Esteem’s for taxi/personal use in India also - even as a retro-fit by its dealers as GM and Ford are doing for their Optra and Ikon. In the process, this will also throw out of business, fly by night retro-fitters who get away by supplying cheap but so called RTO Approved but technically incompatible kits for Mpfi’s, leaving the poor ignorant buyers high and dry.

So, it may be worthwhile for you to contact your MUL Dealer to find out if he’s prepared to do it for you w/o affecting your warranty, as I understand some of the Dealers in Mumbai are already doing so, perhaps after getting into an understanding with MUL.

Preamble
Ever since the World saw the first single-cylinder petrol engine driven Car, a ‘Carburetor’ became synonymous with it. Later on with the advent of multi-cylinder Engines, so did the ‘Distributor’ or ‘Delco’s.

During the last Century, both evolved considerably – till the ‘Euro-II’ like Pollution Norms got the better of them. For, the Carbs worked on a principle of ‘reaction’, which could easily get ‘stifled’ for so many reasons.

Thus, a System of ‘controlled-feeding’ of Fuel + Air + Ignition Spark to an automotive engine evolved in the early ‘80s. A ‘system’ like that had to be based on its ‘needs of the moment’, such as the load on it, engine rpm/road speed etc. Let’s see basically how such a system works…

It all started with ‘Single-point’ Fuel Injection Systems – virtually an electronic replica of the Carbs of yore but soon led to ‘multi-point’ Fuel Injection Systems – some what akin to the’ Multi-Carb’ high performance Cars of the past.
‘Mpfi’ stands for ‘multi point fuel injection’. This system injects fuel into individual cylinders, based on commands from the ‘on board engine management computer’ – popularly known as the Engine Control Unit/ECU.

The ‘Fuel Injectors’ are precision built fast-acting ‘Solenoid Valves’, like Washing Machine Water inlet Valves. These have either single or multiple ‘Orifices’ which ‘spray’ fuel into the inlet manifold of a Cylinder upon actuation, from a common Rail/Header pressurised to around 3 bar, fed by a high pressure electrically drive fuel pump inside the Petrol tank of the Car.

The ‘on-board’ ECU primarily controls the Ignition Timing, idling speed and quantity of fuel to be injected. The latter is achieved by means of controlling the ‘duration’ for which the Injector solenoid valve coil is kept energized – popularly known as the ‘pulse-width’.

The ECU in turn is controlled by the ‘data input’ from a set of ‘SENSORS’ located all over the Engine and its Auxiliaries. These detect the various ‘operating states’ of the Engine and the performance desired out of it. Such Sensors constantly monitor: 1. Ambient Temperature, 2. Engine Coolant Temp., 3. Exhaust/manifold temp., 4. Exhaust ‘O2’ content, 5. Inlet manifold vacuum, 6. Throttle position, 7. Engine rpm, 8. Vehicle road speed, 9. Crankshaft position, 10. Camshaft position, etc.

Based on a ‘programmed’ interpretation of all this input data, the ECU gives the various ‘commands’ to the Engine’s fuel intake, idling speed and spark ignition timing systems, to deliver an overall satisfactory performance of the Engine from start to shut down, including ‘emission control’.

To get the best out of an MPFi System, one should use – a) The OE recommended Petrol Additive or the new generation ‘Premium’ Petrol’s REGULARLY and b) NEVER Tamper with the OE Wiring Harness of the Car – EVEN to install the ubiquitous Music System OR any other Electrical Accessory - other than those ‘approved’ OE/Dealer and designed to suit the Car’s Wiring Harness ‘Couplers’. ‘BUTCHERING’ OF THE ORIGINAL CENTRAL WIRING HARNESS OF A VEHICLE IS AN ABSOLUTE TABOO FOR MPFi CARS.

Despite such a foolproof system and programming of the ECU, situations do arise in cold climates that lead to either starting problems first thing in the morning or the engine stalling under some or the other driving conditions.

Following are the possibilities that can lead to such situations - assuming that the Car has been serviced in line with the OEM recommendations:

i) That one is not allowing enough time for the fuel-pump to ‘prime’ the System, as evidenced by an audible ‘click’ sound in the Cabin of the FP going off after a few secs of turning on the ignition.

ii) That one is giving too short a Crank. The first one in the mornings has to be relatively a little longer than the ones during rest of the day.

iii) That one is unknowingly stepping on the Accelerator Pedal - even partially - which one is not supposed to for Mpfi’s.

iv) Faulty Coolant Temp and Air Intake Sensors/their Couplers - usually the latter for Cars less than 2-yrs old.

v) Worn-out or larger than recommended Spark-plug Gaps.

vi) Clogged Fuel-Injectors – one should be using a good Petrol Additive regularly like a daily Vitamin Pill with our regular/unleaded Petrol – or instead, the now more freely available detergent pre-mixed fuels.

vii) The main reasons for a petrol engine to stall are - a) either under or over supply of fuel, b) loss of ignition c) mechanical locking while shifting gears or braking etc., or d) un-sustainable/low idling rpm. If these happen rather regularly, other than ‘c’, then the engine needs to be ‘scanned’ at an authorised service centre to determine the cause and remedied accordingly.

Preamble
With the winter setting-in across most parts of the Country and Pre/EU-II kind of M800s and other Carbureted/Mechanical Distributor Type Cars like the Zen’s and Esteem’s still being there in appreciable numbers, I feel it’s time to draw Car Owners’ attention to the topic under discussion.

Most non-MPFi Car Owners experience that when they start the car in the morning or after it has been shut down for 5-6 hours, it feels very sluggish. Engaging the car in 1st gear and upon even stepping on the gas pedal, the car does not ‘speed up’.

This goes on for a while and only after the Temp. Gauge needle crosses the ‘C’ and goes beyond, the car feels ‘normal’. All this despite the Engine Tune being in good order.

The answer to this is that a ‘cold’ Engine is inherently sluggish, to prevent it from spewing out excessive pollutants during its warm-up period. To overcome this difficulty, a device called ‘Radiator Thermo-Valve’ is incorporated in the Cooling System, along with a ‘by-Pass’ circuit, with the sole purpose of enabling the Engine to reach it’s designed operating temp. (90* +/- 5*C) within a very short time.

Unfortunately, in a vast majority of cases, Owners/Mechanics/Authorised Service Centres included, continue to think out of the Amby/Fiat Era that this ‘Th-V’ is like a human appendix and has no useful purpose - other than ‘heating up’ the engine! Nothing could be farther than truth. To check whether this ‘Th-V’ is in place and in working order, here’s what you can do:

“First thing in the morning, BEFORE starting the engine after the overnight shut down, take off the Radiator Cap, keep the Bonnet open and then start the engine. Take a notch or so of the ‘Choke’ to keep it from stalling.

“As soon as the Engine fires, go across to have a look into the now open radiator neck. If you see turbulence/coolant circulation already, then your ‘Th-V’ is either not there (removed like an Appendix) or faulty (stuck in open position). If so, get it replaced at your Co. Authorised Garage.

While its being installed, as an abundant precaution, ask them to check the ‘By-Pass’ ckt. as well, to ensure it’s not blocked with sediments etc. If it is but not cleared at this stage, then with the new Th-V in place, the engine will throw-up Coolant right upto the windscreen when it warms up!

On the other hand, if the Th-V is in place and not faulty, you will see no circulation in the open radiator neck for quite some time. Then as the engine warms up, you would be able to see it setting-in ‘fits and starts’, including tendency to overflow from the neck. Just before that happens, shut-off the engine and replace the Radiator Cap properly”.

If the ‘Th-V’ is in place and working, the problem is somewhere else!

The most common possibilities are - a) The ‘Accelerator-Pump-Jet’ System of your Carb is either not working or mal-adjusted, b) The Vacuum Advance System of your Distributor is faulty, c) A ‘Retarded’ Ign. Timing and d) Your A/F mixture is set too lean (should be CO @ 0.5-1.0% for EU-I and 1.0-2.5% for pre EU-I Cars). Again it’s a common misconception that setting it ‘leanest’ possible gives you max mileage. On the otherhand, it results more in stalling when the Engine is cold.

If inspite of every thing being in place, a cold engine still has a tendency to stall - depending on Ambient Temps - then as the Owner’s Manual suggests - take a ‘notch’ or two of the choke for the first few minutes. This will not only prevent its ‘stalling’ but also help it to warm up faster. However, please ensure that you don’t forget to ‘reset’ it. If you do, you will not only be wasting fuel but also seriously cutting into the lubrication ‘film’ on the cylinder walls/engine life as well.

Next time, tho’ a lot more user friendly, we’ll talk about causes and cures of MPFi’s (BS-II/III) exhibiting such cold stalling symptoms.

Preamble
In the last couple of ‘episodes’, I’ve talked about the pros and cons of ‘premium’ petrol’s and diesel’s. So it may be worthwhile to continue the dialogue and now talk about the most vital fluid in a car i.e. the engine oil – which is rightly equated to blood in the human body.

Today’s engines are efficient and sophisticated machines, often using multiple camshafts, turbo-chargers and other features. They also run faster and hotter, placing tremendous demands on engine oil performance. That’s why it is essential to follow a strict oil-and-filter change schedule for your car.

Changing the oil and filter remove harmful contaminants that build up in your oil with usage – time wise as well as distance wise. A fresh supply of engine oil with its specially selected AND blended additives will restore the protection your engine needs against corrosion, gum deposits, excessive wear, and other problems.

The oil and filter should be changed at the interval recommended in your owner’s manual. Every 5000 km or 3 months is a common recommendation in North America. Every 15,000 to 20,000 km/year is more common in Europe. Whereas in India now, with the advent of BS-III vehicles, 10,000 km or 6-12 months interval – whichever is earlier - is the norm.

Most car owners at some time or the other face a strong sales pitch to ‘fortify’ their engine oils with well-branded ‘Additives’. While most oils look, feel, and smell the same, their designed ‘performance’ can be vastly different - thanks in part to the special additives that their formulators blend them in with. Such additives suspend dirt, inhibit foam formation, improve cold-weather flow, prevent corrosion, reduce friction, and add other desirable qualities such as long life.

While many specialty additives or oil treatments are sold separately as brand names and promise longer life or extra performance for your engine, it’s worthwhile to remember that modern oils are complete ‘recipes’ by themselves having measured portions of all their ingredients. Upsetting such a ‘recipe balance’ can and more often than not, does lead to problems.

An oil formula may include a little anti-wear additive the same way a cake includes a pinch of salt to bring out its flavour. If a little salt works, should you add more? Probably not, and the same goes for oil additives. Choosing the best quality oil you can afford and changing it according to your Owners’ Manual is wiser in the long run.

Synthetic Oils are the ‘Ultimate’ Lubricants available in the World today and to the best of my knowledge, ‘Mobil-1′ is one of the ‘official one’ in India. Regrettably, most retailers don’t stock it as it costs ~ Rs: 750/- a Lr and the takers are very few. Besides, at this cost, the chances of it being spurious are more than bright.

On the flip side, given our Operating Environment, S/O’s can easily go > 3x the otherwise recommended drain interval for the conventional Oils - time as well as distance.

The next best option I’ve come across is the ‘Castrol-Magnatec’ at < half the cost. With this, one can safely do 1-1/2 times the distance/time on the recommended drain intervals.

However, for general info, it may be noted that Synthetic Oils are not recommended for a vast majority of mass produced stock engines, new or under ‘running-in’, to enable them fully ‘bed-in’. Further, as practically all new Cars today come with Warrantees upto 2- yrs/40 kkm, during this period the OEMs don’t permit using any Oils supplied by Customers - for understandable reasons - unless your Dealer is prepared to put-in these at your cost - which he won’t!

Preamble
Last time we discussed the pro’s and con’s of switching over to the new generation/detergent pre-mixed petrols in the Mpfi vehicles, or for that matter, the equivalent/’turbo-diesel’ for diesel vehicles. Let’s have a look now as to what really is meant by ‘Fuel-efficiency’ and ‘Fuel-consumption’ of a Vehicle – suffice to say that they are NOT the same…

The real life ‘Fuel Consumption’ of any vehicle is one of the most controversial issues and at the outset, I’d like to drive home a point that no where in the world can these figs be guaranteed. At best these can be taken as ‘indicative’ only.

For starters, ‘traffic-movement-wise’, can any one define what’s a ‘City’? If you have been to some of the Metros like Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkatta, you’ll know. Over and above these, traffic jams can hit you anywhere out of the blue. Therefore, same Car with the same driver on ‘up’ route will show one level of FC and another on the way down ‘down’!!

Btw, all Cars today are more or less equally ‘Fuel-Efficient’. Their actual ‘Fuel-Consumption’ depends on the ‘Bhp’ you demand out of them - by way of acceleration, cruising speed, AC etc - which in turn depends on their ‘Kerb-Weight’ and the ‘CC’ of the Engines they have.

Waiting at Traffic Lights:

It may come as a surprise to know that it’s wasteful not only of fuel but also from wear and tear considerations on one’s Battery AND Starter Motor - to switch off the engine if the wait is going to be less than 2-mins - which generally it is.

Pick-up or ‘Mileage’!

According to reliable road test data, these for the two popular ones are as below:

Santro: 0-60/100 kph = 5.55/14.66 secs @ Highway kpl of 16.2. (3-Valves/Cyl; 1086cc)
W-R: 0-60/100 kph = 6.31/16.60 secs @ Highway kpl of 16.2. (4-Valves/Cyl; 1061cc)

From these fig’s, it can be seen that the first engine having lower # of valves AND higher ‘cc’ accelerates faster than the other one having higher # of valves/lower ‘cc’, to deliver the same/highway fuel ‘consumption’. The point I’m making here is that in these days of ‘MPFi’ tech., it’s a child’s play to get acceleration and FC figs as one likes - within overall limits of course.

Speed vs ‘mileage’:

Let’s take the example of an MPFi Zen/since phased out. It could easily do 21 kpl @ 60-70 kph and 18+kpl at speeds of 100+ kph on a highway.

This is quite normal, for it’s a well known fact that wind resistance goes up with speed in a complex manner - starting with square of it and going upto the power of 4 - depending on its magnitude.

In other words, say at a cruising speed of 50 kph, 40% of the engine power goes towards over coming the vehicle’s ‘rolling resistance’ and the remaining 60% to overcome its ‘wind resistance’. Assume these as 5 and 7.5 = 12.5 Bhp.

Further, assuming that the rolling resistance remains more or less constant beyond 50 kph, at 100 kph the engine will have to produce 5 + (7.5 x 4) = 35 Bhp. So as far as the engine is concerned, for 2x the speed, it has to produce 3x the power.

Therefore, in terms of ‘Specific Fuel Consumption’ which is defined as ‘grams per Bhp per hour’ - that’s how the engine sees it - its FC stands to go up by 3x but then, at 2x the speed, it also has to run for half the time to cover the same distance - or effectively the FC stands to go up by 1.5x to cover the same distance. In other words, if it was doing say 25 kpl @ 50 kph, at 100 kph it stands to do ~ 17 kpl.

And mind you, the ‘SFC’ that we just talked about above also varies with the absolute Bhp demanded from it coz an Internal Combustion Engine’s ‘fuel efficiency’ drops above and below its ‘peak torque’ rpm.

Further, since an ICE’s max rpm AND Bhp is limited, 59 Bhp in this case, it follows that at 100 kph, it’s got only 59 - 35 = 24 Bhp left to propel it any faster and going by the above relationship, this will get used up by another 40 kph or so - leading to its top speed ‘capability’ of ~ 140 kph.

To sum-up, to get the best ‘FE’ (as opposed to absolute Fuel Consumption/kpl) out of your Car, cruise as close to its peak torque rpm as practicable.

Preamble
With the introduction of BS-II/Mpfi vehicles in the country by the year 2000, the then existing 87 Octane ‘Regular’ Unleaded Petrol was found wanting in more ways than one – especially it’s rather high gum and glue residues upon evaporation, leading to premature ‘arterial blockage’ kind of occurrences in these new generation ‘fuel-injection’ vehicles.

So enter the ‘Detergent-premixed’ Petrol’s with higher Octane ratings, with brand names such as ‘Speed’, ‘Power’ and ‘Premium’ and now – ‘Xtra-Premium’…

The trouble with our regular/unleaded Petrol, besides being highly prone to glue/gum residues, is that it’s hardly ever 87 O/R for whatever reason and the new breed claiming to be 90+ O/R promises to be no better, though it may be at least 87 O/R. Detergent ‘premixed’ Petrol is nothing new and has been around in the West for as long as I can remember. But over there, no body cheats the way they do it here and next to such Dispensers, there’s a ‘Warning’ that this Gasoline contains ‘Detergents’!

Regrettably, our PSU Oil Co’s did not advertise any such ‘Warnings’ at the time of their launch, as some unsuspecting motorists discovered it the hard way upon switching over to them after having used Regular/Unleaded for a few years.

Besides, the 3-Oil Co’s have also not bothered to give them a different PDS Kerosene like colour. So there’s no guarantee that the unscrupulous Retailers won’t make an extra fast buck by dishing out the usual trash in its guise. And by the time one realises this, the damage to one’s engine would have been done.

I have used these ones on my 7-yr/78 kkm old Santro/Mpfi in Delhi and have had no problems. In fact, my other 12+yr/75 kkm old ‘Carb’ type M800 definitely feels perkier with them and I’d attribute their higher Octane part to it. But then, from day one both had been run on Petrol Additives like System-G.

However, it’s true that with these new premium fuels, you don’t have to use PA’s also. However, a word of caution here…

If you have not been using any PA’s with Regular Unleaded Petrol so far but intend switching over to the ‘detergent-premixed’ types now, start with a full tank afresh. If you start it off say only with 5-10 lrs, there’s a strong possibility that all the previously accumulated muck in the System that’ll be dislodged by the detergents in the new petrol’s will find it’s way back into the Tank, choke the in-tank Fuel Pump’s intake filter and thus kill the Fuel Pump - costing > Rs: 5 k or so for most popular vehicles. Infact one Honda-City owner from Bangalore reported that he was charged 18k by the Honda Dealership for a replacement FP!

If the new generation/premium/90-91 Octane petrol’s with additives pre-mixed are available where you’re located, I’d suggest you switch over to them and see the difference. However, when you do that for the first time, please ensure the following:

1) You consume the existing fill upto ‘E’ level.

2) Fill to ‘F’ with the premium 90/91 Octane petrol.

3) Top-up again by the time you’re down to 3/4.

4) Repeat (3) above atleast twice - before reverting to your normal filling-up pattern.

This will ensure that the concentration of gums and glues, which the premium petrol will dislodge from the system, doesn’t go beyond the in-tank electric fuel pump’s capabilities. During some of the next issues, we’ll discuss some more interesting if not confusing issues like the ‘Fuel Efficiency’ vs ‘Fuel Consumption’ of a Car under its different operating conditions.