The car wouldn’t crank at all. Just the lights in the fuel and temperature gauge dimming out and coming back with no sound or movement.
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Hey everyone, I need some advice.
My uncle has a June 2018 manufactured Tata Tiago XTA. He’s an old man and drives with a rather heavy foot. Since October 2022 it has faced an odd issue intermittently.
His standard trip is about 7 KM to the nearest town from our place and back (we live in the same compound).
In October 2022 he faced an issue where once he parked his car for some time, it wouldn’t start up again. The car wouldn’t crank at all. Just the lights in the fuel and temperature gauge dimming out and coming back with no sound or movement.
Twice I went over and was able to start the car immediately.
The 3rd time it took nearly 2 hours during which we almost called Tata RSA which was a big episode in itself, but just as the tow truck guy was about to start from the nearest authorized service centre, the car started up and I drove it down to the service centre myself.
Point to be noted: I have driven the car in between on similar and longer trips and never faced this issue and neither has a driver frequently called to take the car on long trips.
The service centre took a couple of days but didn’t find anything wrong of note, they just replaced the relay for the starter as a precaution and noted that they didn’t face the issue while the car was with them (27 to 29 October 2022)
The car then ran well till 26 December 2022 with no issues, when it resurfaced. I took it for its regular service on 28 December 2022 and informed them that the issue had occurred again.
This time, I requested them to check the brake switch linked to the starting procedure, which was replaced as a precaution.
The car then ran fine till 10 February when the issue happened again. This time a local mechanic was called in before I could reach the car. The mechanic reached there by about 12 PM and I reached by about 2:30 PM, the car didn’t start with all our efforts till about 4:30 PM.
The one common thing I observed between the two incidents when it didn’t start for a long time was that the ambient temperature at the place where the car was parked was 35 degrees and in both cases, the car started after the temperature dropped to about 33 degrees.
I mentioned this to the 2 mechanics following which they suggested that some IC or sensor may be overheating leading to the car not starting.
So far no error codes were observed in any of the visits to either the Service Centre or workshop.
Both the parking spots require quite a bit of back-and-forth manoeuvring to park the car unless you are a parking specialist.
I suspected an overheating gearbox might be causing issues with some sensor or the gearbox itself.
Now after 2 days of investigation, the local workshop contacted me and explained that a sensor of the AMT system is causing the issue and that it will cost about 8000 rupees and has a lead time of about 1 to 2 weeks to receive the part.
I’m looking for advice on the following points:
- Should I take it to the Tata authorised service centre and ask for a second opinion?
- Should I take the car to the service centre or the local workshop for the replacement of the sensor if it is necessary?
- Does anyone have any better suggestions?
Note: I’ll update the actual part name once I collect the car from the workshop.
Keyword: Recurring starting issues on my Tiago: AMT sensor the cause says dealer