Indigo eCS Clutch Plate Worn Out in First 3 Kms!

[harishningegowda]

Hi help me find the problem!!

I bought a new Tata indigo ecs. I took a delivery at 7pm on 18/07/14. The clutch plate worn out in a mere 30mn from the delivery hard about 3Km. The mileage at the time of delivery was 47Km. My dealer is complaining of
1. Driving with Handbreaks on.
2. Driving with half clutch
My driver has 8+years experience. He is well aware of all these things.
I browsed all the possible causes of this over net.
1. Hand Breaks: I am pretty sure that hand breaks were released completely. B’coz I have myself checked it once.

a. The only option is that the hand break is faulty.
b. Even with the hand breaks on it could take at least several days for clutch plate to burn out.​

2. Half clutch : This could really wear out the clutch plate rapidly.

a. But is 3Km/30mn with top speed of 3 km in silk board traffic sufficient time to wear out?​

b. In 3Km tour, He might have changed the gear at least 200 times. How probable is that he has used the half clutch in all 200 gear shifts?​

Here is a bit of justification that my driver is not the culprit.
As per the advices by various experts on Car :
1. When a clutch is worn out the gear shifts are not smoother.

a. From the moment he took off from the showroom he had problem shifting​

gears. I have at least asked 10times in the very first 100mtrs.
2. The pickup drops significantly.

a. Yes the pickup was very damp from the moment he took off.​

Please help me find the real cause.

 

[Akash]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

I cant buy the theory proposed by your dealer.

1. Probable Handbrake issue: Back in 2005, a new driver of mine drove our Tata Indigo (Petrol) which had clocked 28k kms with handbrakes for about a km. Although we got the car inspected, there was no clutch wear at all.

2. Half Clutch: This is a serious problem with new driver (and in some cases, even good driver when driving a new vehicle) which can cause a clutch failure. However, it is impossible to wear out the clutch in just 3kms of drive with half clutch!

So I can pretty well conclude that you should not buy what your dealer says and head to Manager;s office and ask for a replacement right away at their cost. Hope it works, else escalate the matter to higher authorities.

Just to add a few symptoms of a car which has a faulty clutch plate. (Well, I am not a techie guy so expect no technical terms). The first one being the engine revving higher (an disproportional with speed). If the car is equipped with a tachometer, it is easily recognizable.
Moreover, you might have felt jerks during gearshifts as a result of bad clutch.

 

[saroya]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

First of all welcome to TAI. And congrats for your new car.
It is very very sad to know that you are facing problems with your few hours old car. Clutch worn out in just 3 kms . It seems clutch was already faulty when you took delivery. I don't think even a learning driver can spoil the clutch of a brand new car in just 3 kms, but experts of our TAI can explain well.
Sir there are some minor mistakes. Delivery date and time is not correct i think. Second thing is 200 times gear shift in just 3 kms

 

[harishningegowda]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

Akash and Saroya Thank you for your Answers.

I am sorry with the date since it was posted after midnight. It should have been 18th 7PM.

With respect to gear shifts. We drove the car around the silk board junction in bangalore. This junction is the most busiest road in bangalore with a slow moving traffic. I am sorry if I exaggerated a bit with respect to the gearshifts. It took almost 40mn to travel 3Km.

The gear shifts were not smooth and the traffic was heavy so he had to change the gears a lot.

 

[smooth rider]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

harishninegowda sorry to hear your misery after buying a new car.no way is the clutchplate of a new car going kaput after 3 kms of running. it must have been faulty at the time of delivery. take up the matter with TATA higher ups. also post in the facebook which will speed up the response from TATA. can somebody enlighten me how the clutch plate is affected when one drives with the handbrakes engaged.

 

[pravin1987]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

even if you had driven with handbrake and with half clutch pressed, this will not happen in any car provided the clutch is in it's last stage of life.

i remember once my grandpa drove his tata indica with hand brake on for 12 kms. Sit on the dealers head and get it rectified. shoot a complaint to tata motors head office.

 

[Arijitb]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

Is it 3km or 3k Kms ?

Also what is to do with Hand brakes on theory ? Isn't the clutch plate resides in the Engine ?

If anyone drive Hand brakes then Hand brake get burned /destroy which is situated rear tyre -- Right?

 

[Kichu]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

@Smoothrider and Arijith.

I think its because the engine tend to rev more since we push the gas pedal a little bit more than actually required for the car to move without those handbrakes on.
So when the rev increases the clutch will lose its friction and tend to slip (because, here the wheels hesitate to move freely)and this can be the reason for clutch wear while driving with the handbrakes on.

 

[anshuman8]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

Hi , welcome to TAI.

Understanding that you took delivery of car from Concorde Silk Board, how did you infer the clutch plate has worn out? Did you take back the vehicle to them today? Ask them to replace under warranty.
Did you do PDI for your new car ?

 

[harishningegowda]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

Thank you everybody for valuable iputs.
anshuman8 I immediately called my executive and informed that there is enormous amount of smoke when trying to ride up the steep. The whole team waited an hour long even though the working hours was closed. I left the car at the showroom.

The problem was fixed next day at 11. Its perfect now. Almost completed 350kms now, running smooth.

The problem was with the clutch adjustment. Probably they had not performed pre-delivery checkup and someone blindly ticked all check boxes.

The response was really cool from the team.

About the Car its really admirable so far apart from this clutch glitch which is now rectified.

Thank you Akash, saroya, smooth rider, pravin1987, Arijitb, Kichu, anshuman8

 

[harishningegowda]

Re: Clutch plate worn out in first 3Km - Indigo ecs

And to add the clutch was not burnt.

When I saw smoke coming out of bonnet, I took back the car to the showroom at 8.30pm the same day.

The technician wrongly diagonized that the clutch was completely burnt.

Later in the morning after complete checkup I was told that the clutch was alright. They just adjusted the clutch a bit.

 

[anshuman8]

^^ Actually they must have adjusted the clutch cable, it happens in new car or clutch assembly replacement for old cars.

Please post some pictures of your car.