Ultimate Guide For Maintaining Chevrolet Beat Diesel

[Auto_Psycho]

This is a thread especially for those who were using Chevrolet Beat Diesel. This thread includes how to properly maintain your Beat and common problems faced by beat owners and its solutions and of course DIY's . Hope this thread is useful for all beat diesel owners among us...

A small Introduction...

Chevrolet Beat Diesel has a small version of Fiat’s Famous Multijet Engine. Multijet engine designs in a way which is affordable to make, reliable engine and decreases the cubic liters as low as possible and stress the engine with a matched turbocharger. By decreasing the cubic size the mileage will increase and by using a well matched turbo more power can be achieved without compromising fuel economy. But the engine is under a lot of stress while operating.
In case of the XSDE 1.0 Liter Smartech Engine (Which is the smaller version of MJD), Chevrolet cuts one cylinder out and decreases the cubic capacity to 936cc, which makes the engine smaller. But that makes the engine more prone to reliability issues.

Engine(cc) - 936

Engine Description - 1.0-litre 56.3bhp 12V XSDE Engine

Max Torque - 142.5Nm@1750rpm

ARAI Mileage - 25.44 kmpl

Valve Configuration - DOHC

Front Suspension - MacPherson Strut

Rear Suspension - Compound Link Crank

Tyre Size - 165/65 R14

Tyre Pressure - 34PSI ( All Four )

Diesel Capacity - 35L

Engine Oil - 5W-30 ACEA A3/B4 ( 3.5L )

Transmission oil - XGP SAE 75W85 ( 2.0L )

Engine Coolant - Ethylene Glycol(Organic acid type long life coolant) ( 4.74L )

Brake fluid - DOT4 ( 0.5L )


Things i love in this car

• Easy to drive in City
• Feather lite Electronic Power Steering
• Intelligent Launch Support System makes city driving piece of cake
• High Fuel Economy
• Easier to travel long distances without being tired
• Looks
• Awesome Mid range torque

Things i hate in this car

• Noisy 3 cylinder engine
• Rear legroom's and headroom's are limited
• Boot Space is horrible
• Rear small window makes Claustrophobic feel

Problems with SMARTECH Engine

• Engine Burning Oil

We know that MJD engines work under a lot of stress, when it comes to SMARTECH engine the condition is even worse.. The main problem with SMARTECH engine is when Chevrolet decreases the size of the engine, the heat inside the engine will increase a lot and causes the engine oil to evaporate over time. In that scenario, the engine components won’t get proper lubrication and the engine wear out quickly. After finding this issue, Chevrolet decreases the oil change interval from 10000 to 7500kms. Even Chevrolet decreases the oil change interval, it is also not good for your engine.

I strongly recommend you to change your engine oil at every 5000Km, and use only 5W-30 ACEA A3/B4 Fully Synthetic Engine Oil


• Turbocharger Failure

This is a common problem that occurred when we don’t follow the 1 Minute Idle Rule. Almost all cars in India have an oil cooled turbocharger. For Oil cooled turbo’s the bearings are lubricated by feeding engine oil to its bearing. But when we start the car in the morning, the engine oil is at the bottom of the oil drain pan and it needs some time to reach the top parts of the engine. When we don’t follow the 1 minute rule, the turbocharger spins without lubrication and it wears out fast.
It is also a must thing to follow the 1 minute idle rule after every drive. Because while driving the turbocharger spins up to 250,000 RPM and the temperature may increase up to 1000 degree Celsius. If we don’t follow the rule, the turbocharger will overheat and damages its bearings and other components

• Fuel Pump Failure

Fuel Delivery Pump (Inside the fuel tank) in beat is very sensitive, it wears out quickly if we don’t care it with that much care. To prevent the fuel pump failure the fuel pump must be submersed in fuel. That is, you must have at least ¼ amount of diesel in the fuel tank every time (First 4 Bars in the fuel gauge).

Do not drive your car below that level. If you drive your car below that level the fuel pump won’t get enough diesel to pump and when that scenario occurs, the pump will try harder to maintain the fuel pressure. It will heat up the pump quickly and lack of diesel causes the pump to run without lubrication and wears out quickly.

Another main cause of fuel pump failure is not changing the fuel filter on time. If we do not change fuel filter on time, the filter will clog and restrict fuel flow. So the pump needs to work harder to maintain fuel pressure and over time it will wear out very early.

Change your fuel filter every 5000 Kms along with the oil change

N.B: If you think it is costlier or it is too early to change fuel filter in 5000kms, use ZIP filters it costs you around 450 bucks. But the quality is low than Genuine UFI SOFIMA Filter. If you use ZIP filters you must change it at every 5000 Kms. I strongly recommend changing diesel filer in 5000 Kms.

(This is why i recommend to change fuel filter at 5K Kms,Check out the condition of the old one after 5K Kms and new one...)


• High Pressure Fuel Pump Failure

This is a common problem for BOSCH CP1 High Pressure fuel pump. When it happens, it costs you a bomb!! A new high pressure pump for beat costs approx. 25000/-.

( Bosch CP1 High Pressure Pump)

The CP1 fuel pump operates at extremely high pressure. Due to this, the O Rings and Gaskets in the fuel pump assembly may damage over time and if any seals or gaskets damaged the fuel pressure in the fuel rail will decrease and the vehicle may take some more cranks to start than usual and in a worst case scenario the vehicle won’t start.
When it happens the MIL (Malfunction Indicator Lamp) comes on and error code P0087 will saved in the ECM.

WARNING: Error Code P0087 can also be triggered by-

- Clogged Fuel Filter
- Faulty Fuel Pump (Pump Inside Fuel Tank)
- Restricted Fuel Line
- Faulty Fuel Pressure Sensor

Check all the above things before touching the high pressure pump.

• Suspension Rattling Noise

This may occur in many beats when it reaches 30k kilometers. The suspension components including stabilizer links,ball joints and others will only lasts up to 30K kilometers. Is it because of the poor Indian road conditions or poor quality components from GM? Don’t know why…
I have also faced this rattling issue and when I visited the dealership the mechanic told me that changing these components cost me approx. 13000/-
So I drop that plan of buying genuine GM parts and visited my friendly local garage and he replaced all those parts with non-genuine but Good Quality parts at a cost of 6500/- and he told me that it lasts around next 30-35K Kms..
So in my experience do not but genuine suspension components for beat unless you are a person who likes to spend money on Sh***y things.

N.B: Rattling Noise can also be occurred due to bad suspension mount. Check and confirm the faulty part before replacing.


• Gear Knob Cracking

Beat's gear knob is built with very cheap type plastic and it will crack easily if we park our car in direct sunlight. The problem here is that the gear knob is note loosely available in dealerships, we need to purchase the whole gear lever assembly for this small problem; and it costs around 1600 bucks!!
So after searching for a long time i found a simple and cheap solution for this problem.
I found an aftermarket gear knob for beat on a website called Partsbigboss and it costs only 230/- Rs !!
So i ordered it online and they delivered the products on time.

( Gear knob purchased from Partsbigboss)

It fits perfectly and the quality is better than Original Chevrolet gear knob..

Link
Gear Lever Knob Beat for Chevrolet Beat | Parts Big Boss


To be continued...

 

[Auto_Psycho]

DIY: How to Change Oil Cooler in Beat Diesel?

Recently,when i reached home after a small drive i noticed coolant leaking from the front of the car,at first i thought it was water droplets from the AC. But then i noticed it was not from the passenger side and it was from the driver side near bumber. So i inspect it and found the origin of the leak and it was from the Oil Cooler. As the car was in a non-drivable condition, i decided to replace the oil cooler myself. But when i visit the Chevrolet Service Center, they told me that the Oil Cooler was not in stock,i needed to order it and wait for 2 days. i don' have any other choice, so i decided to go on..
[ Sorry in advance that i can't able to take all the pictures of the process because my hands get dirty while doing the job]

What is an Oil Cooler?
Oil cooler is a part that cools the hot engine oil by exchanging the heat from the engine oil to the coolant. The coolant and engine oil is passing through the heat exchanger and the heat of the engine oil is absorbed by coolant and thereby reducing the temperature of the engine oil and make the oil works properly.

Why Oil Cooler Fails?
Oil Coolers fails overtime because after a lot of heat cycles and years the rubber gaskets in these oil coolers become damaged and it begins to leak oil/coolant or both.
Another problem is when the tiny paths inside the oil cooler may crack overtime and this may cause the oil to mix with coolant. When that happends it forms into a thick creamy substance and clog the oil galleries,coolant pathways and damage many other parts include turbocharger. So it is better to change the Oil Cooler assembly to prevent huge repair bills in future.

An example when oil mixed with coolant due to oil cooler failure

How to change Oil Cooler ?

STEP1: REMOVE THE BUMBER

Remove these Philips head screws under the bumber

Remove the three 10mm bolts and remove the plastic guard

Remove the plastic clips of both sides with a panel clip pliers / flat head screw driver

Bend the mud flap aside a little and remove the T-20 torx screw behind the mudflap on both side

Remove all 4 panel clips

Remove the bumber and keep it aside

STEP 2: REMOVE PLASTIC PANELS & INTER COOLER

Remove all the plastic clips and remove all the plastic guards

Disconnect the temperature sensor

Remove the 8mm bolts and loosen the flat head screw of the inter cooler hose clamp of both sides and remove the inter cooler

STEP 3: REMOVE THE FRAME

Remove all the bolts that is marked and remove the wiring harness by simply pry the clip using screwdriver

Remove the pipe from turbocharger to the intercooler

Frame Removed

STEP 4: REMOVE CATALYTIC CONVERTER ( OPTIONAL )
Removing the catalytic conveter is optional, but it gives you a lot of room to work while removing the Oil Cooler. To remove cat. converter,you need to remove the heat shield of turbocharger.

Remove 3 bolts of heat shield

Heat shield removed, Now unscrew the the big exhaust clamp and put in the order like the image below

Put a washer in the middle as shown as in the picture and then tighten the bolt. This will opens up the clamp. ( Be careful, the clamp is under a lot of tension if it slips it may cause injury)

Then, remove the exhaust conection under the bumber and keeps the metal gasket carefully somewhere

Remove the last two bolts holds the catalytic converter and remove the cat. converter

STEP 5: REMOVING THE OIL COOLER
Before removing the oil cooler, you need to drain the coolant and oil completly and always use fresh new coolant and engine oil when replacing oil cooler.
[ Sorry that i can't able to click all the parts of the process because my hand is covered with grease ]

Drain oil, drain coolant and then remove all the oil pipes and wiring harness connected to the oil filter housing and remove the filter housing by removing the four allen key bolts

Old Oil Cooler Assembly

Oil Cooler mating surface! Look how much oil and coolant spilled around...

Use aluminum foil to clog the holes and then use an abrasive sponge ( Scrotch Brite type) to clean the mating surface.
DO NOT USE A METAL SCRAPER OR BLADE TO REMOVE OLD GASKET MATERIALS AS IT WILL SCRATCH THE MATING SURFACE AND IT WILL LEADS TO LEAKING COOLANT/OIL.

Smooth as new!

Clean the turbo oil feed pipe by closing one side by hand and fill petrol from other hole, and then shake vigorously. Repeat this 2/3 times to completely clean the inside of the pipe.

Clean the banjo bolt and crush washers. (If the crush washer has any damage, you must replace it, otherwise its good to go)

Clean the Allen Key bolts also

New Oil filter assembly costs 5039/-

New Oil Cooler Assembly

Look how thick the new gasket is

STEP 6: OUT WITH THE OLD,IN WITH THE NEW!

Insert New Oil cooler assembly and tighten the bolts. Use a Cross-cross pattern to tighten the bolt so the gasket sit evenly. Then connect the Oil temperature sensor connector, the turbo feed pipe and the coolant pipe.

Clean the turbo feed hole carefully and insert washer and bolt in this order
Crush washer -->Feed Pipe-->Crush washer--> Banjo Bolt
Do the same for the below on the oil cooler housing

STEP 7: INSTALL CATALYTIC CONVERTER

STEP 8: INSTALL FRAME

Add a little bit of thread locker to the frame bolts before installing

Insert the horns, bonnet lock, radiator clamps and wiring harness into their appropriate places

STEP 9: Fill NEW ENGINE OIL

This time, i used Bosch Fusion. Costs around 1000 /-

She needs 3.5Litre of oil

STEP 10: FILL THE COOLANT & BLEED AIR

This time I used genuine elf long life coolant. It is a premixed type and color is light green

She needs 4.74 L of coolant to fill the system. Costs around 1250/-
After filling the coolant reservoir start the engine and fill the coolant when coolant level keeps dropping.( When the engine starts, water pumps sucks the coolant in the reservoir, so be prepared to fill the reservoir) You can also squeeze the upper radiator hose to push air out of the system fastly.
DO NOT OVERFILL THE RESERVOIR

STEP 11: CHECK FOR LEAKS
Run the engine for some time and check for any leaks from the oil cooler assembly. If there is no leaks you are good to go!

STEP 12: INSTALL THE BUMBER

Task Completed! She is good to cover more miles..

 

[stealthjoe]

It fits perfectly and the quality is better than Original Chevrolet gear knob..

Link
Gear Lever Knob Beat for Chevrolet Beat | Parts Big Boss


To be continued...

Hi,
I got the similar knob for my chevrolet beat diesel from Amazon. Could you please list out the steps to replace the gear knob. I removed the gear cover and noticed that there is a plastic clamp under the actual knob. Could this be removed and refitted into the new replacement? Appreciate if you could provide the detailed steps. Thanks.

 

[Auto_Psycho]

Hi,
I got the similar knob for my chevrolet beat diesel from Amazon. Could you please list out the steps to replace the gear knob. I removed the gear cover and noticed that there is a plastic clamp under the actual knob. Could this be removed and refitted into the new replacement? Appreciate if you could provide the detailed steps. Thanks.

THINGS NEEDED:

• Zip Tag
• Pipe Wrench (or Something like that)

PROCEDURE:
STEP:1 Remove the gear lever boot

STEP 2: Remove the zip tag and remove the leather boot from gear knob

STEP 3: Remove the gear knob

When doing this step,make sure you tighten the pipe wrench as tight as possible. Then rotate it anti-clockwise to remove the gearknob.

STEP 4 : Installing the Gear Knob

Do not use pipe wrench to tighten the gear knob,as it will damage the new gear knob. Use your hand to tighten it by pressing and rotating it clockwise

STEP 5: Installing Boot

Use a new zip tag and tie the boot end to the gear knob,and install the boot.

 

[stealthjoe]

Awesome Auto_Psycho. Thanks for the very well explained steps. Will try it this weekend. Also any suggestions for the zip tag as to which brand you used? There are many options on Amazon, but most of them seem quite thin. Thanks once again

 

[Auto_Psycho]

Awesome Auto_Psycho. Thanks for the very well explained steps. Will try it this weekend. Also any suggestions for the zip tag as to which brand you used? There are many options on Amazon, but most of them seem quite thin. Thanks once again

@stealthjoe No need to purchase a pack of zip tags for this job. You only need 1 zip tag and it will be easily available on any local auto spare parts store.Don't worry about the size of the zip tag,any size zip tag will work as its job is to only tie the boot to the gear knob. Make sure you do that correctly. Greetings for your DIY

 

[shahu]

Hi @Auto_Psycho just wanted to know that, as my beat diesel's coolant converted to water. I have to replace the whole coolant now. The service centre is far from my home. So the local garage guy suggests me to put Green Coolant.
Is it okay to put Green Coolant as it previously having Red/Orange coolant? or should I go with Red/Orange only?

 

[VISHNUCARCRAZY]

Drain the existing coolant , check for the grade of coolant needed for your ride , and refill it only with that .

 

[shahu]

@VISHNUCARCRAZY maybe you didn't understand my question. I am asking about the grade.

 

[Auto_Psycho]

@shahu DO NOT use any other coolant than Ethylene Glycol based Long Life Coolant. The ordinary green coolant (Castrol,Wurth etc) available in our local markets are just conventional coolants and they are not long life coolants. Always stick to OEM specified brand (Elf Genuine LLC Coolant), because it is very hard to find another good LLC for beat and using an improper coolant may damage the seals inside the oil cooler.The OEM Specified coolant's color is light green ( Not the regular green like Castrol). But i don't know why in my car, it turns into red after sometime.So in my opinion,go for the OEM specified coolant..

 

[deville_56]

THINGS NEEDED:

• Zip Tag
• Pipe Wrench (or Something like that)

PROCEDURE:
STEP:1 Remove the gear lever boot
View attachment 259413
View attachment 259414
STEP 2: Remove the zip tag and remove the leather boot from gear knob
View attachment 259415
STEP 3: Remove the gear knob
View attachment 259416
When doing this step,make sure you tighten the pipe wrench as tight as possible. Then rotate it anti-clockwise to remove the gearknob.

STEP 4 : Installing the Gear Knob

Do not use pipe wrench to tighten the gear knob,as it will damage the new gear knob. Use your hand to tighten it by pressing and rotating it clockwise

STEP 5: Installing Boot

Use a new zip tag and tie the boot end to the gear knob,and install the boot.

Any luck in sourcing the boot?

 

[Auto_Psycho]

Any luck in sourcing the boot?

The Boot is not available seperately. But don't worry, you can make a custom made one!
Any good car accessories shop that do interior leather works will stich the boot for your car. You can also customise the leather and thread's color.
In my personal opinion, the custom made boots are awesome when comparing to genuine boots..

Here is an example of custom made boot:

 

[Auto_Psycho]

DIY: How to Change the Engine Oil and Air Filter?

THINGS NEEDED:
Engine Oil - 5W30 ACEA A3/B4 3.5L (Costs around 1100-2500)
Oil Filter - (Costs around 200-300)
Air Filter- (Costs around 300-400)
15 mm Socket and its Extensions / Ratchet
32 mm Socket
Philips Head Screw Driver
Funnel
Drain Pan
Jack and Jack Stands / Ramps

PROCEDURE
Step 1: Jack up the front passenger side and support it with the help of a jack stand. You can also use ramps if you have one. (Do not go under the car by using jack only).

Step 2: Keep an oil drain pan under the car to catch the old oil

Step 3: Use 17 mm socket and unscrew the drain bolt by turning it anticlockwise and drain all the old oil. (Use an extension for more leverage if needed)

Step 4: Remove the windscreen wiper fluid reservoir's filler funnel by turn it towards the front driver side and wiggle it. (By removing this, we get more room to use the tools)

Step 5: Use 32 mm socket and extensions to remove the oil filter.

Inside view of the oil filter housing

Step 6: Clean the Oil filter housing, so the new o ring can seat properly.

Old oil filter and oil filter cap

New vs Old

Step 7: Remove the old O ring from the housing and install the new one

New O ring

Step 8: Install the new oil filter into the filter cap assembly

Step 9: Apply a thin layer of fresh engine oil into the O rings in the oil filter and filter cap assembly. Then install it back into the assembly.

Do not over tighten the cap, it will break easily if you try to do so. Just make sure the cap is snug ( If you have a torque wrench tighten it to 25 Nm).

Step 10: Install the drain bolt back

Look at the design of the drain bolt,unlike other cars their is no crush washer in it. So no need to worry about that!

Again, do not over tighten the drain bolt.Just make it snug.

Step 11: Open the oil filler cap and fill with fresh new engine oil. (Use Funnel to prevent spilling of oil)

Step 12: Remove the MAF sensor wiring harness and loosen up the 4 screws of the filer box using Philips head screw driver

Old Filter

New One!

Step 13: Clean the filer box and replace the old filter with new one and close the filter box. (Don't forget to reconnect the MAF sensor's wiring harness)

Found a small piece of plastic cover or something inside the filter box!

Voila! Job Completed!

She is recharged to crush more miles!

 

[mayankdixit]

@shahu .The OEM Specified coolant's color is light green ( Not the regular green like Castrol). But i don't know why in my car, it turns into red after sometime..

Because the coolant is still mixing with oil somewhere ,maybe at the leaking head gasket !

Nice DIY on your Beat. And very apt explanation with lots of pics. Very good thread !
Are you doing it all yourself,or is that you're taking pics at the FNG while the mechanics are working over on the Beat?

 

[deville_56]

Mine is orangish-gold from the beginning, so is my cousin's.