BHPian arb recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Mahindra service is fine as long as you don’t see the raw side of it. With every visit, I have kept pouring money, hoping this would be the last of it. Going forward, it will be all right given the routine and more maintenance being done by the service center; however, it seems that is never the case. My long weekend trip started with sunny Bangalore weather to extremely rainy Coorg and beyond to culminate somewhere on the coast and back to Bangalore, or at least that was the plan. Midway down the Coorg hills, I stopped for a quick tea, amidst the heavy downpour. Glad I stopped, because it was then I realized the car is making noises, pulled up the bonnet to see white smoke all around. The rains were such I heard no noise while inside, nor felt any smoke rising up, nor did any indicators glow in the console. Quick look and I can see little to no coolant, in a car serviced just weeks back. Rubbed my eyes, pinched myself, restarted the car, and my fears came true. The coolant seems to be dancing within the container, with smoke billowing from beneath the alternator area. Checked my console, no flashing lights, no temp rising indicator, nothing to indicate an issue if you are in the car with the rains pouring. Nevertheless, with my limited wits, I did not run the ignition again, and I asked a mechanic from a nearby garage to check. Here he comes, looking at me, probably saying another city moron driving without coolant and unable to gauge high temp indicators, nonetheless, brings a jar of water, adds to coolant after some cooling time, to exclaim sir no coolant. I nod and say yes. He adds further that the water pump is not working, and parts are not available. Need to go towards Mangalore or Mysore to fix. By now I was sure the car needed to be towed. With no intent to run the next four days during the long weekend for the possibility of some service center being kind enough to work, I chose to get it towed to Bangalore while I continue my planned getaway. Five adults, two kids with baggage in a carrier, implies I need an Innova with a carrier, or I am stuck. Bless my stars, this happened when I stopped for tea, in a small suburb and not in absolute wilderness. We could hire a cab and continue toward the coast, and a flatbed for XUV headed back to Bangalore. Back to Bangalore, yet to visit the service center. Glad to have friends, who took the effort to receive XUV later that night and get it lodged in MASS. The same service folks who attended the car couple of weeks with sir absolute no issues, the car is good to go for another lakh kilometer are entrusted again to make the fixes, not because I trust them, just because I am tired of running around MASS, and also, I expect no better from any other MASS having dealt with many so far. Questions which has no answer – Where did the coolant go? No external damage, no pothole, no stone hits. Was the water pump not ensured working in routine service? Why did the instrument console show no error or engine heating reading? Few more issues were noted, ac compressor conked off inbetween the tow and service center. We had no AC issues while the car was sent, I did raise issue with noise in AC during last service, where it was duly rejected as no problem, we cleaned it, its fine.. to now sir this should have been replaced. I understand Mahindra sold the car, now its for the owner and service stations to ensure proper running. And I as owner do what I can, read; pay and ensure routine plus preventive maintenance is taken care off. What is that the service stations are doing? Not that I am not paying, instead I keep paying for all the crap that they charge as additional hoping the car is well attended to, alas its failing time and again. I like to travel, and a lot of it with pretty much always a full house, so a car like XUV works well for our family. Do recall, I wanted to replace this, instead got a city car waiting for a better /more value for money 7-seater. That said, my trust in XUV is at all time low, for certain I wont make another long run in this, which is exactly why I keep a 7-seater in my garage. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Best, ~ArB Check outBHPian commentsfor more insights and information.
