But to my horror, the water level kept rising! After driving for a couple of mins the water level was nearing the Etios bonnet.
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117,000 km update. A sad story with a happy ending
The good part-
Mechanically the car is running absolutely fine. I took it for a 600+ km day trip to Dalma Hills in Jharkhand. With 4 people and AC on, the car was cruising effortlessly at 120 km/hr. I took the Etios for a long drive after a long time, and it felt as if the good old days were back when this car used to hit the highways frequently!
Few pics from the trip-
The sad part-
It was 11 in the night and we were coming back via Benaras road in Howrah. I was with family. I noticed that the road had been waterlogged after a very heavy rainfall, but not being able to gauge the depth of the water, I stopped the car and waited to see if other cars in front of me were able to ply. A Hyundai Xcent overtook me & entered the water.
With a substantial gap, I started following the Xcent. But to my horror, the water level kept rising! After driving for a couple of mins the water level was nearing the Etios bonnet. To make things worse there were huge craters under the water and the car got hit in the underbelly thrice. At one point I saw the Xcent nearly stop and then regain traction. I stopped before that. Once the Xcent crossed that stretch I entered there and my car was literally floating with no traction on the front wheels! This was scary at 11 in the night with full family on board! Somehow I was able to cross this stretch in 4 mins 30 secs without stalling the car.
This caused some substantial damage to my car, but luckily all were cosmetic damages.
Few screenshots from the dashcam footage-
The dashcam footage-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpgePli0nVY
Coming to the damages-
The front fender lining tore off from both the wheel well. (left and right). This deformed the fender on both sides and caused uneven panel gaps with the door and running panel.
The front plastic engine guard was washed off.
The left-hand side mud flap came off.
The right-hand side mud flap came loose.
Lost the wheel cap of the front right wheel.
The air filter was wet.
Attaching the pics for reference-
Wet Airfilter
Deformed front fenders. Notice the uneven panel gaps with the door and running panel.
The inner fender lining and the engine guard are missing. Just notice how the clips tore off due to the force of the water!
This time I decided to give the car to HB Autoneed at Baruipur for the whole work instead of giving it to Toyota.
I had a long talk with the owner of this FNG (Mr.Hritam) and gave him my car’s VIN number so he could procure all the OEM parts from Toyota. Except for the wheel cap, he managed to get all the OEM parts. I picked a couple of wheel caps from Saini Toyota Howrah. I kept one as a spare.
So apart from the damaged parts, we decided to get these added works done-
Replace the gear oil.
Replace the air filter.
Clean all 4 brakes.
The wheel bearings in Etios come in a hub so they can’t be opened. But as of now, there is no sound from the wheel bearings.
Cleaning up the suspension and engine bay.
Repaint the front left Fender as it needed some tinkering. The right fender was realigned without any paint damage.
Once the FNG opened up the rear brakes, they found both the wheel cylinders to be leaking. Sourced OEM wheel cylinders for both sides and replaced them along with the brake fluid.
The engine oil was thoroughly inspected, and it had no trace of water or contamination hence it was retained.
HB Auto Needs took around 5 days to deliver my car. The work was done to perfection and I am more than satisfied with their work.
Few pics after delivery-
The new fender lining and engine guard.
Etios is back in its former glory!
The total damage to the pocket was Rs 18,000. HB AutoNeedes charged Rs 17,000 and another Rs 1,000 for the OEM wheel caps from Toyota.
Reasons for not giving the car to Toyota-
My car does not have B2B insurance as it’s a 13-year-old car. So I won’t gain much by claiming the insurance for these plastic parts.
The labor charge at Toyota is very high.
HB AutoNeeds agreed to get all the OEM parts from Toyota.
My wife Bhpian DogNDamsel12’s Polo had a suspension issue and VW gave an unreasonable quote to fix that. HB Autoneeds did an excellent job and fixed the suspension issue of the Polo. Hence I got even more reasons to trust them with my Etios and they have not disappointed me. Kolkata always lacked a good FNG, so to date, I have always given my car to the authorized service centers.
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