As I stopped at the first home, I notice steam coming out of the bonnet.
BHPian Samurai recently shared this with other enthusiasts.
Couple of eventful days with the Grand Vitara…
Sunday I discovered that my SIM had gone bad. I could receive sms/calls, but I couldn’t make calls or send sms. No internet either. On Monday morning, I took off to the nearest Airtel office in Udupi. Suddenly, I notice that the engine light is staying on.
Oops! I can’t even call anyone, or even message anyone. Do I drive towards Maruti workshop or continue towards Airtel office?
The engine sounds fine, I don’t feel any difference in drive feel. Airtel office is a slight diversion from the workshop, so I decide to continue towards Airtel office. I park and enter the almost deserted Airtel office. After checking my number, the lady says Udupi Airtel office doesn’t handle post-paid numbers. For that I have to go the Manipal Airtel office.
This is one more dilemma. Should I drive to Manipal (about 6 kms) with an engine light on? Finally I chickened out and took the autorickshaw to Manipal and got my SIM replaced. After I came back to Udupi same way, and then drove the Grand Vitara to Maruti workshop. They connected the laptop and discovered it was the oxygen sensor rising a flag. They cleared the flag and all looked good. However, the car was scheduled for service later this week, so we decided to check the oxygen sensor during that.
Tuesday I had religious duties assigned by the family, to help out with the Ganesh Chaturthi puja at our family’s boota sthana. Those who have seen the movie Kantara would know about this. These are private shrines owned and managed by families over generations.
This is the view from the shrine…
Here is the shrine that was totally rebuilt few years ago. I had covered the opening event in another thread.
After the event, I had the chore of dropping off relatives and prasada to 6 homes including mine. The engine light had come back again, but this time I wasn’t worried. However, as I stopped at the first home, I notice steam coming out of the bonnet. I ran out and open the bonnet. And this is what I see…
The green coolant was splattered all over, like the blood of Predator (the movie). The radiator cap and coolant tank cap looked intact. So, how did all the coolant get out? I quickly called my friend at the Maruti workshop and he asked me to locate the leak. I couldn’t find it. Then he asked me to add water and see if it holds. So I opened the radiator cap (it was lukewarm) and filled it until the brim. But I saw it slowly drop and then hold. Then he asked me to drive it slowly while watching the temp gauge and drive it back home. This is something I have done a lot in my Jeeping days, where losing coolant hose was a regular event.
So, that is what I did. I visited 4 more homes dropping off prasada and finally reached home without any incident. I filled water two more times just to be safe, each time 1/2 water was needed. But the temp gauge was always at normal.
This needs to be sorted out when I drop it off for scheduled service.
Keyword: My 2007 Grand Vitara at 1.72 lakh km: O2 sensor failure & other updates