Azri Abdul Majid

I thought it was my fuel indicator was blinking. But its full. Then I realized it was my temperature indicator. It happened to my oren last 3 weeks. It shows that my temperature goes up until 4/6 bar.

There are several things was playing in my mind. The radiator is not working. Or the thermostat has kong'ed. Or the radiator fan is not working. So after the engine has been turned off, I open up the engine hood and find out what was wrong.

First, thermostat is working. Because the upper radiator hose and lower radiator hose is hot. Means the hot radiator coolant is circulating. No problem with thermostat.

Then after the engine is not so hot, I open up the radiator cap and I can see no rusty particles in my radiator. Means no blocked radiator pipe.

Finally the radiator fan. I start up the engine. Wait until its hot enough to trigger the fan. But the fan is not working. All wiring is in good condition. Then confirmed it was the radiator fan.

Luckily my engine is not overheat. To prevent that, I have to tow my car to the nearest service centre. For me, I still go to either proton service or eon service. Doesn't matter what people is talking about. Especially the price issue.

After I confirmed it with my mechanic, the radiator fan need to be replaced. It was APM radiator fan motor and it costs me RM500. Quite expensive right?

Now, my oren was back to normal. Leaving it with my sister to take care of it.

[Waja]
Its been two years since I changed my tyres. Last week, my tyres was put to sleep. After it kaw-kaw botak until its belted wire came out. Alhamdulillah, my family and I is safe. This time, I am using Yokohama C.Drive 2. It costs me RM240/tyre. It was a good tyre. But the rubber is quite soft.

Front shock absorber and absorber link has been changed. It was fully malfunction. All front and rear brake pads worn out. Well, my waja mileage is already 168,000KM. I still stick to the fully syntetic engine oil. Head gasket got leaking problem.

Another issues is the fuel tank host. Sometimes I can smell the gasoline. And I can see a minor leaking at the host.

Master power window switch has broken. Already went to Taman Equine Proton Service. They don't have the replacement part. Asked them to order. Don't know when can I get it.

My next service will be the timing belt and also the engine belt. Not forget the head gasket as well. However,   the engine performance still ok.

[Oren]
Can feel the brake pads has worn out. Engine performance is not so good. But still acceptable. Ducaro GA tyres still in good condition after 3 years of usage. Oil pan is still leaking. But not so critical.

Last time I changed my 'oren' engine oil was Jan 2011. Because of I am using petronas semi-synthetic 800 (15w-50), I am trying to stretch my mileage to 10,000KM. But until August 2011, my mileage hasn't reach 10 K yet. So I planned to downgrade my engine oil back to mineral.

I realize that my 'oren' got some unpleasant issue. Engine vibrates due to low RPM about 600/700 RPM when air-cond kicks in. So far I am still investigate this issue closely.

I got meeting at Oldtown Kinrara yesterday. While I was starting my 'oren', it won't start. Then I knew it was the battery. Since I bought my 'oren' on January 2009, this is the first battery change. Its been 2 years plus now for that dry cell. And I already knew that its time for me to replace it. Last two weeks, I bought a new battery (dry cell) and just stand by it in my car.

My saga has reach 45,000KM. At this mileage, its time to do some maintenance :

Yesterday, my waja battery flat-out while I was at IOI Mall, Puchong. It was no warning sign or any symptom at all that telling me that my battery was running out. Thanks to ALLIANZ towing service. My car was towed from IOI Mall Puchong to my home (less than 20KM). Its for free actually for their insurance policy holder.

My waja just exceed 120,000KM. Suppose to change ATF too. But only engine oil was changed. I have to save some money for more important things. So far no other critical issues. Maybe the suspension starting become more softer. Well, what can I expect for the 4 years old car. Cannot avoid the wear-and-tear.

It was 4 years old and already reach 100,000KM of mileage. I am writing about our Waja. At this age, it can be considered as a critical age. Wear and tear issue is the major issue. Since 9th January 2009, I am using Continental conti-comfort 1 for a year. And my tyre "botak" already. So, last week, I replaced all four wheel with new tires. Now I am using 195/55/R15 of Goodyear Eagle NCT 5. It costs me RM 800. Hopefully it can lasts for a long time. To achieve that, i have to change my driving style too.

My oren was now maintained by my sister. However I still monitor it remotely. The waja mileage already clocked 92,000KM. Suppose it was serviced at 90,000KM. But because of I was too busy, I have to post pone until this weekend.

There is one problem now. Something was not right either from 1) CV joint, 2) Drive shaft or 3) front suspension. I said that because I can hear clunking sound coming from the front-left of the car. However, the car handling was not affected.

Since I have to maintain two car at a time, I think I also should write about my waja. Actually its my wife's waja. Not mine. Its a Waja Campro 1.6 AT (without cam lifting tech). Its age is 3-years old and the mileage is 80,000 KM. I used this car only for long distance travel and high duty operation.

I am using Petronas Syntium 1000 15W-50(Fully Synthetic) as the engine oil. Original Proton ATF fluid for the automatic transmission. The service routine is at 10,000 KM interval. I DIY the engine oil, oil filter and others small routine maintenance. Except the ATF. I sent it to proton service. Because until now I have no idea how to do it properly. And I have the mind set of difficulties of finding the original proton ATF fluid.

No major problem since we bought this waja. So far the performance is very good. Except at some point the torque seems absent. Its normal.

There's a debate on how far you should go with your engine oil. It depends on your engine oil you are using. Fully-synthetic can go up to 10,000KM. Whilst semy-synthetic also can withstand 10,000KM. And mineral can only streched up to 5000KM.

More specifically, I am using Petronas Syntium-800 (15W-50) and its a semi-synthetic oil. Before this I always change my engine oil every 5000KM. Until now, my mileage already clocked 30,000KM. The engine was good. The performance is 'OK'. However, I have read lots of article from the internet saying that semi-synthetic oil can go up to 10,000KM. Same with the fully-synthetic oil.

I am not saying they are right or wrong. Its up to them how far they wanted to keep the oil in their engine. For me as a moderate revving driver. I always rev my engine not more than 4000 RPM. The average is 3000RPM.

So I have decided that I will change my engine oil for my saga/iswara at every 7000KM. No more every 5000KM. For me, that's the safest way for my engine. 10,000KM is too long and 5000KM is too early. So, 7000KM is the best.

My next oil change will be at 32,000KM. Insya Allah.. :)

September 1st, 2009. Finally there is Ron95 at the petrol station. My oren saga still half tank with Ron97. However, I pumped in another half of Ron95 from petronas. So far, the engine running well with no problem at all. Eventhough my oren saga is carburettor type engine, it still doing well as a 1300cc engine.

By the way, I am having problem with my gear shift. Its quite uncomfortable with a rough feeling when shifting from

1. neutral to first
2. first to second (most difficult)
3. second to first

I still investigate the problem. Some said it because of the gear oil. Others said, the front axle or the clutch is not good. And several said it because of the gearbox itself. The mileage now is almost 30,000KM. Last time I change the gear oil was at 20,000KM service.

My oren saga has already reach 25,000KM. Means it has to undergo a routine service. So, today I went to a spare parts shop to buy :

1. Syntium 800 15W-50 (RM83)
2. Oil Filter (RM8)
3. Air Filter (RM7)

All of the items costs me RM98.

Last time engine oil drain plug got leaking. It was because of the old crush washer that I neglected. So I just change to a new one. No more leaking.

A year old with a 25,000KM is quite mild in usage. However I believe that engine operation is more than that. Since my revving is at 3000 RPM average, mileage is not an indicator of the engine condition.

However, I started feeling that my saga was underpowered. Have to rev high (3000 RPM) to achieve its ideal torque. I am still finding out why this happened. By the way, I am not anticipate that my saga as powerful as waja. But, at least it not so sluggish enough to overtake.

So far the fuel consumption is still acceptable at 14KM/Litre. The power window switch is always malfunction due to the electric spark residue. Need to clean it regularly.

If you are a fan of Top Gear or a Fifth Gear, you'll notice that they always talking about the fuel consumption of the car in miles per gallon (mpg). In our country, we are not familiar with this kind of term. However, with a little math... this is how it goes.

First of all, in my standard saga, the average fuel consumption is 14 km per liter. Usually, I will fill up 35 Litre for each session of re-fueling. Which I can go up to (35 Litre) x (14 km) = 490 KM.

Now, 1 gallon is equivalent to 3.78 litre. And 1 miles is equivalent to 1.6 KM. With my average fuel consumption, we can get these information.

a. 490 KM equivalent to 306.25 miles.
b. 35 Litre equivalent to 9.26 gallons.

Finally I will get by (306.25 / 9.26) which is 33 mpg. So, this is the fuel consumption they will talked about if they review the proton saga/iswara in the Top Gear or Fifth Gear... Hahahahha.....

On 1st May 2009, I have decided to service my lmst for the 20,000KM mileage. As usual, engine oil and oil filter is a must. And this time I changed my gear oil as well. Everything I did it by myself (DIY).



For the gear oil, I used two bottle of the above gear oil. Because LMST manual transmission need 1.8 litre of the gear oil. Actually I only found castrol manual transmission oil. But so far I think this oil is quite ok lah.

Because of my digital camera out of battery, I didn't snap the photo while I am changing the gear oil. So, I found that the gear oil coming out from the gearbox is quite dark brownish in color. Which is quite not good for my gearbox. But I haven't confirm it yet. Anybody who ever changed their LMST gear oil, I need your feedback regarding your old gear oil color.

Fuel consumption log book is a way of keeping your fuel compsumption record for your car. It's very important to monitor how your car burn the fuel. From this, you can know whether your car is normal or not. Is it something wrong with the engine or not. And it also can be your health record for your car.

For this purpse, I am using OpenOffice spreadsheet to record the data for my fuel consumption. I start record my fuel consumption since I bought my car in Feb 2008. The most important thing here is the mileage streched (in kilometer) for a liter of petrol. Since our fuel price is subjected to change. So kilometer per litre is the most effective measurement for us can monitor.

The attributes I recommend to monitor are as follows :

1) Date of start filling the fuel until date of re-fuel.
2) Brand of petrol station.
3) Litre of the fuel.
4) Price of the fuel (RM).
5) Distance in kilometre.
6) Sum of kilometre per litre.
7) The current price
8) Notes.

The method I used to calculate my fuel consumption is when my fuel indicator bar show only one bar left, I will reset the trip meter and start to re-fuel. Then I will record the start date and litre of the re-fueling. For the end date, I will state XX first. And I will write down the date when I re-fuel my car. Then I drove the car until the indicator car is one bar left again. So soon before I start to re-fuel, I will record the mileage of the trip meter.

The kilometre per litre then was calculated as follows :

fuel consumption = (kilometre of the trip meter) / litre of the fuel

Then I will get how far my car can go per litre of petrol.



For the first example, you can see that there is a red indicator means that my fuel consumption is quite poor. My car only can manage to go for a 13 kilometre with a litre of petrol. Then you can see that after the red indicator, we can see in the NOTES section written that after the car has undergo a service for a 5000KM, the fuel consumption is good again.



In the second example, we can see that in the long distance journey using highway, the fuel consumption can stretched up to 19 kilometre per litre. And as it approaching the service period, the fuel consumption is decreasing again. Means that the viscosity of the engine oil is affecting the car mileage.

As I am using Semi-Syn Petronas Syntium 800 15W-50. So I have to flush the engine oil every 5000KM interval. As you can see in the notes section, for the service at 15,800 KM, I also record the items that has been replaced. The engine oil, oil filter and etc.




Before this I always shift my gear at 2500RPM or below. So I start experimenting what happen to the fuel consumption when I practicing shifting gears above or at 3000 RPM? As you can see, the fuel consumption is quite bad isn't it?

So this is the example how a fuel consumption log book can help you monitoring your car condition.

Transmission fluid or gear oil is very important for our cars. Without it, its almost impossible for car to move. Maintenance for the manual transmission is much easier when compared to automatic tranmission.

The purpose of the transmission fluid (gear oil) is to make sure the gears are not overheated, less friction and running smoothly.

As stated in the Owner's Manual for saga (lmst), printed on 2006 by Proton; this model required 1.8 litre of manual transmission fluid (oil). The recommended grade of manual transmission oil are as follows:

• Petronas GL-4 SAE 80W or
  
• Hypoid gear oil or
  
• API GL-4 SAE 75W-85W / 75W-90W

Some saga/iswara lmst owner claimed the that transmission fluid should be flushed out every 20,000KM. Some of them, 40,000KM and few people flushed their transmission fluid until they are having trouble while shifting their gears.

One of the main indicator shows that you should change your transmission fluid is when your gears are difficult to shift even your clutch has been fully depressed. However, its better for us not to wait until this thing happened. Regular maintenance/service can prolong the transmission lifespan.

Once again my lmst power window switch is not functional properly. But this time the driver side is affected. So this is my step-by-step of how I did it.



1. The right switch still attached to the main panel. Unscrew both of the screw.



2. Carefully open the switch cover. This is how the switch looks like from inside when we dismantle it. As you can see, the red color shows that the contact point has an unwanted residue caused by the electric spark when you press the switch to make the window up/down. When these residue is too thick, it will blocked the contact point. No electric current to operate the power window motor. Make your window stucked. Remove the residue. I am using small head screw driver to scrape the residue.



3. Before and after the scrape was done.




4. Assemble the switch, put the cover back to its position and your power window switch is ready to go.


Caution !! Be carefull while removing the main cover. The plastic can easily broke.

The sounds "tok..tok..." appear as I turned my steering wheel (left/right). I realized that this problem occured since I installed my strut bar onto my iswara. I have been doing a research from the internet regarding these matter.

Several iswara user having the same problem as mine. Here are the candidates of solution.

1. tie-rod which connect to the drive shaft is rusty
2. steering rack teeth is broken
   
3. strut bar bearing not properly installed
   
4. b-pillar (at door) is loose
   
5. steering got something connection loose
6. cv joint problem (read the details..)
   

And some of the jargon is quite alien to me. However I will try each of the candidates to
determine what is wrong with my iswara. I hope I can provide some picture for our reference in the future.