My Red Highway King: Mahindra XUV500 W8 Ownership Review

[mayankdixit]

XUV is a monocoque frame vehicle. Approach and departure angles are decent, so it will do good on highways and pot holed broken tarmac but it's not meant for serious off-roading. So metallic stone guard will be an overkill.

Sometimes I think to replace the plastic stone guard with a nice metal plate. Should be easy with Steel or Aluminium checkered plates used in Bus flooring.

Yes it can be done if offroading is intended. But that will make the already heavy plate much more heavier, don't you think?
Moreover there will be more stress on the mounting points, risking plate falling down on hard jerks.

 

[bhvm]

so it will do good on highways and pot holed broken tarmac but it's not meant for serious off-roading. So metallic stone guard will be an overkill.

Agreed. Its an Highway Runner.

will be more stress on the mounting points, risking plate falling down on hard jerks.

I dont think its worrisome. The bolts seem to go on the subframe, which should be quite strong.
If anything it will preserve the engine sump & Gearbox from getting stone hits.

 

[mayankdixit]

XUV DIY Engine oil and filter change.

Was able to complete the oil change yesterday amidst new year celebrations. Good thing about ground clearance is that I need to raise the vehicle on jacks or stands for the oil change. Took me about an hour.Its very cold in Kanpur with min temp touching 5 degrees.
First I warmed up the engine by intentionally going for the lunch at a place which is on the highway, at half an hour drive from home. As soon I returned I opened up the drain bolt. I thought it might be scorching hot oil coming out on the fingers, but it was just very warm ! Damn !
Either its the cold or the XUV heat management is super efficient.




XUV needs 6 liters of engine oil.
Oil can has this seal on the cap to prevent fake oil. Good.

New and old oil filter

Engine cover removed to access oil filter

oil getting drained in the pan.
After many-many accidents of oil spill on the floor I now prepare it around with newspapers.

Drain bolt is size 22 ! I think it is quite bigger. Note that there is magnet at the end of drain bolt.
Old and new copper crush washer.

I have a good supply of new crush washers. Need them all the time.

Oil filter removal tool. But this one is good for only loosening. For tightening there is another cup shaped tool

MHawk Engine after the cover is removed. On top of this engine sits the intercooler.

Crush washers compared. New one is thicker. Old got crushed , obviously.
Ratchet wrench and 22.no. socket used to open the oil drain bolt.

Red colour is the oil filter. Its difficult to reach oil filter as there is no direct approach, as can be seen in these pics.
So many wires and attachments and pipes are coming in between.

 

[mayankdixit]

XUV DIY Engine oil and filter change. (continued)


OIL Filter head and oil cooler at the base

Put fine layer on the gasket before installing the filter

Finally pouring the 6 litres in

there is a sieve inside the funnel to protect from any debris in oil or from something accidentally falling in the engine

This is the dirty drained oil filled in the same new packing just to show how much oil got drained.
White line is the original 6 litres. New line is somewhat less. If I take into consideration that old oil filter has about 200ml-300ml oil remaining in it, then it would mean that 5.6 - 5.7 litres was drained.
That means 300 ml of oil is consumed by this diesel engine in an year. This is normal.

 

[mayankdixit]

This is the dirty drained oil filled in the same new packing just to show how much oil got drained.
White line is the original 6 litres. New line is somewhat less. If I take into consideration that old oil filter has about 200ml-300ml oil remaining in it, then it would mean that 5.6 - 5.7 litres was drained.
That means 300 ml of oil is consumed by this diesel engine in an year. This is normal.

I have done some crude calculations. Just now I filled 400ml old oil of other cars into a measuring jug and then I poured that oil into the drained oil can and found out total 400 ml is the overall deficit.
So where did this 400 ml go ?
200 ml went into oil filter.100 ml got wasted, spilling here and there . So all in all 100ml got burned by the engine. Max 200 ml, not more than that.

 

[bhvm]

Excellent job. Now I have the confidence to try it on my beast, thanks to this guide.

Either its the cold or the XUV heat management is super efficient.

You may want to check the functioning of thermostat valve. All turbo diesels come to 85~90.C (Operating temp) within 10 to 15 mins no matter how cold it is outside. Thermostat ensures that the system works in a closed loop till engine is sufficiently warm.

Also The extremely stupid temp gague of XUV does not help. there are some blue bars and some red bars. But there is no needle to show proper temperature. On the other hand I can judge the health & stress of my Safari engine by looking at temp gague.

 

[mayankdixit]

You may want to check the functioning of thermostat valve. All turbo diesels come to 85~90.C (Operating temp) within 10 to 15 mins no matter how cold it is outside. Thermostat ensures that the system works in a closed loop till engine is sufficiently warm.

I flushed coolant of XUV last year. After filling new coolant I wanted to warm up the engine and get the radiator fan to start and thermostat valve to open, so that the coolant starts flowing in all the circuits. That way I would ensure how much more coolant top-up is required, and to remove any remaining air pockets/ bubbles. I waited and waited with the engine idling. I waited for 30minutes, can you believe it !! And the fan never started. Out of frustration, ultimately I switched off the engine. And it was in June, ie summer, not winter.
I believe heat management is very good in XUV. That's all.
Moreover diesel engine don't get warmed up just by idling. Move them and load them to see the results.

 

[bhvm]

Moreover diesel engine don't get warmed up just by idling. Move them and load them to see the results.

Agreed.
Thats why you went for food, which should have gotten the thermostat open and Oil pretty hot.
Unless the thermostat is stuck open and engine is below operating temp.

 

[mayankdixit]

last week a moped rider side swiped my stationary XUV, while he was trying to get through a narrow gap in traffic. After hitting my XUV he just moved on, without apologising as if nothing has happened.There was a loud cracking sound. His footrest was caught in the XUV bumper. I was lucky the damage was limited only to the rear right mud flap.
I ordered a set of new mudflaps and installed them today. Tyre has to be removed for this DIY. And tyre of XUV is very big and heavy. Things become very difficult if the space to work around is small,which it is, actually.

 

[mayankdixit]

I noticed that Mahindra has changed size as well as design of the new mudflaps. Old ones were longer and narrower, while the new ones are 1-2 inches shorter and few mm wider . This will improve the departure angle with respect to the tyres, and these new ones have less chances of cracking and dislodging when going in deep potholes.
But now the rear water splash will become more on the rear bumper underside because of reduced coverage with new ones.
Because of the changed design I had to (forcefully)change both side mud flaps even though the damage/crack was on right rear only.



size comparison Old vs New

Old vs New

crack site in old mudflap