After stretching it to exceed 2,000KM since last month, I was finally able to bring my Isis for its regular service at Vision Auto. They have my service history recorded in their database, and therefore the personnel that attended to me said "wow, stretched to the limit?" My reply was "Well, I don't have the fund to do the service last month" Then he replied (literally translated from Cantonese) "Please don't say that"
This time as I expected I needed to do an intermediate service, which include changing of spark plug, changing of automatic transmission fluid, brake fluid, coolant fluid, cleaning the throttle body, and some other regular servicing. As usual I did the wheel alignment, wheel balancing and also wheel rotation. Surprisingly for this time, I don't need to do up the camber, which is a good news to me.
Total up everything, it costs me RM7++.++ this time to get the service done. After the service, I felt the difference as it responded much better now.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Monday, October 11, 2010
ABS light indicator was lighting...
Yes, the ABS light indicator on the dashboard was lighting this morning when I was going to my usual place to have my breakfast. So after having my breakfast, I drove it to Vision Auto to check up what is the problem. The mechanic used the computer diagnosis machine to check the problem and found out that the brake switch is malfunctioned, so I need to replace it.
The total cost for this is around RM 17*.**. This is the second time that the brake switch is malfunctioned; the first time was 3 years ago. So right now I suspect that the electronic switch could last for at least 3 years, which mean I'll have to prepare to change this thing again in 2013.
The total cost for this is around RM 17*.**. This is the second time that the brake switch is malfunctioned; the first time was 3 years ago. So right now I suspect that the electronic switch could last for at least 3 years, which mean I'll have to prepare to change this thing again in 2013.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wheel balancing, alignment, camber adjustment, and tires rotation
After coming back from Genting, the next day I heard some funny sound coming out from the front of the car. It becomes so irritating and worrying that I brought it to Vision Auto to have them check it out, and also getting the wheels to be rotated & realigned.
They can't diagnose what is the problem because they couldn't hear a single noise. But, the mechanic told me that the camber of the car has to be readjusted because it is seriously misaligned.
The whole thing cost me RM 135.45. The noise disappeared after this service but it came back again after a few days. The irritating thing is that it does not come out all the time; sometime I would hear it and sometime I would not hear it. The mechanic told me not to worry about the sound because as long as it does not affect the driving significantly, then it should be fine.
Right now my choice is to bear with that irritation for a while until it became prominent; otherwise it's really hard to see what's going on with it. Probably I was just doing wheel related services, so I will have to wait until next time to have a full service check-up, which they would perform computer diagnosis, and hopefully they could rectify the problem by then.
They can't diagnose what is the problem because they couldn't hear a single noise. But, the mechanic told me that the camber of the car has to be readjusted because it is seriously misaligned.
The whole thing cost me RM 135.45. The noise disappeared after this service but it came back again after a few days. The irritating thing is that it does not come out all the time; sometime I would hear it and sometime I would not hear it. The mechanic told me not to worry about the sound because as long as it does not affect the driving significantly, then it should be fine.
Right now my choice is to bear with that irritation for a while until it became prominent; otherwise it's really hard to see what's going on with it. Probably I was just doing wheel related services, so I will have to wait until next time to have a full service check-up, which they would perform computer diagnosis, and hopefully they could rectify the problem by then.
Journey to Genting Highland
For the first time I drove my family (mother, 2 sisters, and 2 nieces) to Genting Highland for a holiday on Friday, 3rd September 2010. The road leading up to Genting Highland is a winding road with a few bumps, but Isis still managed to pull it off quite reasonably. On the way up there, I spotted another Isis driving up to Genting as well, but the driver is able to drive it up the hill faster than mine.
We reached our apartment around 6:30pm, and the mist started to become thicker, making the visibility very low. While driving out to find a place to eat dinner, mist is so thick that I can't even see the surrounding, but to rely on the road line, the lights, and have to drive very carefully at lower gear. The fog lamps of my Isis are burnt, and I haven't change them yet, so I have to rely on the main headlamps.
Coming back down from Genting is a nightmare to me because of the number of bumps that they put on the road. In my opinion, based on my experience driving on hilly roads back in Tawau, those bumps can be hazardous to the car and could prove dangerous because the constant braking could really wear out the brake even faster. Plus, it could damage the car suspension as well. I have no idea why they want to set it up in such a manner. Yes, driving down hill can be dangerous and measurement has to be done to prevent/reduce it, but putting up the road bumps on a down hill road, and the kind of bump that could damage the car suspension? I don't really think that's a good thorough planning.
The key to driving down hill is to engage into lower gear, which would allow the car to go down the hill slower, and could reduce the amount of force for the braking. The problem I suspect is probably people just doesn't know how to engage into lower gear while going down hill, esp. in an automatic transmission car. I normally would brake the car fully during down hill drive until it is slow enough to engage into lower gear, and then release it. It is the same for both manual and automatic transmission.
Lastly, despite all the setback that I faced during the Genting trip, Isis has performed well. I must admit that for the kind of road in Genting, it is a very disadvantage for my Isis because although it has no problem to go through bump, but when there are more people in the car, it added up to the weight and as a result of that it is more likely to hit the bottom of the car, which has been made so low due to the body kit and its longer body. As a result of that, in the future should this kind of situation arise again, I hope I could have a better car that could do it for me, i.e. the Land Cruiser. For normal city road driving, Isis will still do the job.
We reached our apartment around 6:30pm, and the mist started to become thicker, making the visibility very low. While driving out to find a place to eat dinner, mist is so thick that I can't even see the surrounding, but to rely on the road line, the lights, and have to drive very carefully at lower gear. The fog lamps of my Isis are burnt, and I haven't change them yet, so I have to rely on the main headlamps.
Coming back down from Genting is a nightmare to me because of the number of bumps that they put on the road. In my opinion, based on my experience driving on hilly roads back in Tawau, those bumps can be hazardous to the car and could prove dangerous because the constant braking could really wear out the brake even faster. Plus, it could damage the car suspension as well. I have no idea why they want to set it up in such a manner. Yes, driving down hill can be dangerous and measurement has to be done to prevent/reduce it, but putting up the road bumps on a down hill road, and the kind of bump that could damage the car suspension? I don't really think that's a good thorough planning.
The key to driving down hill is to engage into lower gear, which would allow the car to go down the hill slower, and could reduce the amount of force for the braking. The problem I suspect is probably people just doesn't know how to engage into lower gear while going down hill, esp. in an automatic transmission car. I normally would brake the car fully during down hill drive until it is slow enough to engage into lower gear, and then release it. It is the same for both manual and automatic transmission.
Lastly, despite all the setback that I faced during the Genting trip, Isis has performed well. I must admit that for the kind of road in Genting, it is a very disadvantage for my Isis because although it has no problem to go through bump, but when there are more people in the car, it added up to the weight and as a result of that it is more likely to hit the bottom of the car, which has been made so low due to the body kit and its longer body. As a result of that, in the future should this kind of situation arise again, I hope I could have a better car that could do it for me, i.e. the Land Cruiser. For normal city road driving, Isis will still do the job.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Maintenance - 7th June 2010
Yup, it is the time of the year again to bring my Isis for maintenance in Vision auto again. This time the cost is RM 800++. They did the usual oil change, brake check, etc. Since I did a full service last round, the servicing will only cost me nearly RM 300. The reason for it to go up to RM 800++ is because the rear tires are showing signs of cracking, so need to replace them with a new pair of tires. The cost for each tire is RM 270, so I have to pay RM 540 for the tires.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Tire Change
I noticed yesterday that the rear tires are wearing off pretty badly. The outer treads are totally worn and I could spot a few cracking little holes. This worries me because the worst thing that could happen is to have the car tire punctured in the middle of a journey.
So, I rang up Vision Auto yesterday to ask for the pricing to change the tire. They quoted me with 1 pair of Michelin tires with each costs RM260, which is within my expectation (I was expecting something like RM 350 for each one). Then I drove it to change the tires this morning. The total costs is RM 556.75, inclusive of wheel balancing (FOC) and wheel alignment.
Couple of facts about Isis here that I found out from the user manual after I was advice by my sister to check and do some finding about the tires rotation for this car. It might sounds silly, but I never did any tire rotation at all, not even once, thus my tires are wasted in a sense that they don't wear off equally. Now, from the user manual, it is stated that the tire rotation has to be done in every 5,000KM, and the rotation has to be done in the format of front right -> back right, front left -> back left, back left -> front right, back right -> front left. So, knowing this, I'll have to visit either Vision or any other car workshop that could help me to do the rotation.
So, I rang up Vision Auto yesterday to ask for the pricing to change the tire. They quoted me with 1 pair of Michelin tires with each costs RM260, which is within my expectation (I was expecting something like RM 350 for each one). Then I drove it to change the tires this morning. The total costs is RM 556.75, inclusive of wheel balancing (FOC) and wheel alignment.
Couple of facts about Isis here that I found out from the user manual after I was advice by my sister to check and do some finding about the tires rotation for this car. It might sounds silly, but I never did any tire rotation at all, not even once, thus my tires are wasted in a sense that they don't wear off equally. Now, from the user manual, it is stated that the tire rotation has to be done in every 5,000KM, and the rotation has to be done in the format of front right -> back right, front left -> back left, back left -> front right, back right -> front left. So, knowing this, I'll have to visit either Vision or any other car workshop that could help me to do the rotation.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Major Service at Vision Auto - Update
After my previous good experience with Vision Auto, I decided to bring it back there to have a major service this time, plus wheel alignment as well since I haven't done any wheel alignment for about a year.
The total cost this time is RM 1279.65, which covers engine oil change, automatic transmission oil change, automatic transmission gasket, automatic transmission filter, spark plug, wheel alignment, camber correction, camber bolt, wheel balancing, brake servicing, and snow wash plus vacuum. At first the guy told me that the spark plug will be about RM 200++, but since my Isis is a 1.8L engine, it costs RM 30++. The driving feels much better now after the service.
It's a good thing that I asked them to check the wheel alignment for me because I did notice that my front tyres are starting to wear out, which is quite alarming. I guess it has to do with the camber since they told me that it has to be corrected. They shifted the front tyres to back, and would advice me to change it on my next service, which I've already planning to do so.
Then, after I went back to work, I got a phone call from them saying that his mechanic forgot to inform him that my car battery has to be replaced for it's not in good condition anymore. So, I went this morning to get it replaced, and it costs me RM 260. The battery comes with 1 year warranty, so if there's any problem, I could still get it warranted.
The total cost this time is RM 1279.65, which covers engine oil change, automatic transmission oil change, automatic transmission gasket, automatic transmission filter, spark plug, wheel alignment, camber correction, camber bolt, wheel balancing, brake servicing, and snow wash plus vacuum. At first the guy told me that the spark plug will be about RM 200++, but since my Isis is a 1.8L engine, it costs RM 30++. The driving feels much better now after the service.
It's a good thing that I asked them to check the wheel alignment for me because I did notice that my front tyres are starting to wear out, which is quite alarming. I guess it has to do with the camber since they told me that it has to be corrected. They shifted the front tyres to back, and would advice me to change it on my next service, which I've already planning to do so.
Then, after I went back to work, I got a phone call from them saying that his mechanic forgot to inform him that my car battery has to be replaced for it's not in good condition anymore. So, I went this morning to get it replaced, and it costs me RM 260. The battery comes with 1 year warranty, so if there's any problem, I could still get it warranted.
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