Do you have a GPS in your car? Five years ago, most of Indonesian car haven't GPS in their car. There was some in build up car, however the complete map was not available yet. But time is rolling and people getting more familiar to GPS (thanks to navigasi.net). Before you want to install a GPS in your car, here some notes to consider:
1. Map.
No Indonesia complete free map available. Maps for certain area (Java, Sumatra, Bali) are available in Navigasi.net. However its only cover a big city and major province road. Actually this map is useful if you travelling in Java island. The is other map source from otomasi.com, this one is not free, but the price is not expensive. Other source are maps from solo system (expensive) and Nusa Map. In this current situation, map from navigasi.net is still the best for beginner.
2. GPS unit, what brand?
If you want to use navigasi.net or otomasi.com map as your main map, you should buy a Garmin GPS because both maps were designed for Garmin GPS unit. You can also chose other brand likes Magellan or Tom Tom, but the map not available, so you only can received your position in longitude and latitude format.
3. GPS unit, what type?
The Garmin GPs have a lot of types and series, which one is suite for you? For using GPS while driving, I suggest to used a GPS unit with wide screen. Garmin GPSmap 276c, Nuvi and Quest are the examples of garmin gps with wide screen.
4. Tracking facilities.
Is it important for you? If yes, forget about the Nuvi, this type of GPS have no tracking facilities, is designed for area which have a good map. So go for GPSMap 276c, Quest or Street Pilot.
5. Any other options?
Yes, you can use your pda pairing with garmin 10x bluetooth gps, or other bt gps (altina etc), for software you can chose GarminQue or Garmin
6. How accurate?
Standard GPS will give 5 to 15 m accuracy depend on the clarity from obstacles between the gps unit and the satellites
7. How much it cost?
For stand alone GPS likes Quest or 276c will cost around Rp. 4M to Rp. 6.5M (US$ 375 to US$ 600). If you already have a pda and want to pairing it with bluetooth gps it will cost around Rp 900k (Altina) to Rp. 1.8M (Garmin 10x)
Friday, 2 November 2007
GPS for your Car
Thursday, 1 November 2007
What you did for your zj jeep?
Wednesday, 31 October 2007
Parts Order, why took so long?
In the current condition, actually its not really difficult to find the parts for our car, browse the internet, go to reputable company site, prepare your paypal or credit card, and the parts will be on your door within a week. I used to buy parts from US or Europe, send it with reputable courier. The problem is; who will install the parts into my car or bike, especially for the specific parts which need a special tool to install. Only the authorized workshop can do it, however most of them refused to do that for the reason as I mention above, this is a part of their selling strategy, and I'm not so lucky involved in their strategy.
Wednesday, 24 October 2007
Buying Used : Mercedes A140
This topic will cover mercedes a140 for year 1998 - 2002, manual transmission. For the the Indonesian this A140 type called "pre-face lift"
Body and exterior.
- Check the body, paint and outside rubber quality, as 5 more years old car its normal to a little scratch and dent.
- Check the headlight, tail light, do not accept the car with broken light, its costly to get a new one.
- Check the fog light place cover, a140 didn't come with additional fog light, however the place for the additional fog light are available in oval shape and covered by black plastic. Also check the hole cover for placing a rear hook, its only coin size plastic cover but difficult to find the replacement.
- Go under the body, on both side check the black rubber for placing a jack. And also check the scratch on the lower part of the front and rear bumpers. A140 ground clearance is limited, so the lower part of the bumper is easy to scratch and torn.
Engine.
Mercedes A140 have a tiny four cylinders 1400 cc engine, actually is enough to bring its tiny body with 2 or 3 passengers inside. From the outside, the engine sound little bit rough compare to its competitors, however the cabin soundproofing quality is good.
- Check for oil leaks in engine compartment, A140 engine with good maintenance always dry from oil.
- Check the ticking noise from the top of the engine, its coming from the tapped. Normally used A140 have no ticking noise.
- Check the oil gauge, inspect the quality of oil, make sure there is no white or milkshake colour fluid in the oil stick.
- Inspect the coolant quality in reservoir, make sure there is no oil mix with the coolant. Never buy a car if you find a mixture of coolant and oil in the reservoir
- Run the engine, and check the exhaust, a healthy engine will produce very little smoke, and the smoke are colorless. In the morning a healthy engine will also produce a little bit water.
- And where is the battery?
Interior.
A140 interior is neat, build with medium quality material, however some plastic handle is easy to torn.
- Check the plastic handle on the outer side of the front seats, this handle were easy to broke
- Inspect the dashboard, might be loosen and squeaking in some part due to loosen plastic clip/screw
- Check the spare tire, jack up and emergency tool, all these stuff are located in the back compartment
- Check the battery which is located in the driver seat floor.
Electrical, suspension and test drive.
- Turn the key to position 1, all light on dashboard panel should be on and within 2-3 seconds will off except some likes: parking brake, engine check and abs. Turn the key and start the engine, all light should be off except parking brake light.
- Turn on and check all lights, i.e: head light, turn light, fog light etc.
- The ABS light on the dashboard panel can be triggered by low battery supply.
- Check the AC and the climate control panel, check the sound system.
- Asked the seller for permission for test drive, drive slowly with maximum turn to the both side, if you feel something strange in the steering wheel, probably needs tie rod inspection. A140 tie rod is not to strong, its easily damage on poor road condition. In normal road use, this tie rod still good after 40.000km.
- Feel the steering wheel respond, if there is any "miss" or excessive vibration on the steering wheel at low speed, steering column inspection is needed especially for the RHD type.
In my experienced having this A140, this tiny car is though as long as maintain regularly. The engine is really low maintenance type, however the suspension was not to strong as the engine.
Thursday, 11 October 2007
Car Review : Volvo S40 2.0T 2001
Car Review: Volvo S40 2.0T 2001 (on going project)
Just bought this car three weeks ago with 53.000km. After took the car from the showroom, I immediately went to Volvo authorized workshop which is located next to my office. Ooops .... surprised... they have service record of this car, and the last record was 80.000km routine service on April 2006, then no record after that. 80.000 km ?? that mean the car seller tricked me, they reduced the odometer reading ... ooh my god. Its often happen in Indonesia, but this my first experience, how they did that?, even the volvo workshop can't do that trick (and never do that). Ok, I got 5 years of service record anyway. At least this volvo have well maintenance for the first 5 years. I only missing around 15 months track record. The brief specification of my Volvo S40 as below:
mid size four doors sedan
engine: 2000cc turbo (low compression)
power 167 hp
front wheel drive
The reason for bought this car:
Need one more car for my wife activity
Bigger than the previous Merc A140
The car should be comfortable enough for long distance driving
European car
Mid size engine
So what the right odometer reading actually?, just guess 80.000km plus 15 months (approx 20.000km), let say 100.000km now. I don't want to take a risk, changed the timing belt immediately. Then the engine oil check light on with noisy engine sound, I stop driving and check the problem, its seem the oil can't reach the top engine. Went to workshop and flush the engine, put new Mobil1 5-50 synthetic oil and replaced the oil filter. I found a thick oil sludge in filter cup. However I'm still afraid that is some more sludge in oil pan. I'd checked and cleaned the oil filter for every 3 days (approx every 200km), after the fourth times, the filter cup looks clean, no more sludge.
Checking under the body, found the one of drive shaft boots was torn, no more grease on it. The volvo workshop didn't have the part, I should be waiting for 2-3 weeks. I went to other parts shop and found the original boot for Rp 450k (US$ 45), its much cheaper compare to authorized volvo workshop that offer me Rp 1.2M (US$ 130) for the same parts.
After a week later I'd found parts of my coolant fluid colored light brown looks like a milkshake. It must be come from oil mix with the coolant. Ooooh, ....... big, big problem.... (going on)
(continue)
Brought the car to volvo workshop, they diagnosed the problem and found the oil cooler was leaking, and the oil and the coolant mix at that point. No problem with engine head gasket, they put pressure through plugs hole, no leak. Its a better news for me, I don't like to change my top head gasket at this time, its very costly. The oil cooler itself will cost me approx. Rp 3.5M, (US$375), however the part was not available yet, I should waiting for 2-3 weeks. Ok, I'll be patience.
At the same time the engine check light on, according to volvo workshop its trigger by camsaft sensor reading. However, if I replace the "milkshake" coolant partially, the light goes off, and the light will gone if I not used the car for 2 days. Its happen several times, I suspect something related with the coolant fluid. I should wait until the new oil cooler fit on my S40.
See my volvo updated status at other post
Useful link:
IPDUSA (volvo parts and accessories)
Volvo parts online
Volvo Forums
Volvo Forum UK
Monday, 8 October 2007
Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 2002
Car Review : Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ 2002
- I'm looking for mid size SUV
- Should have 4WD option for light off road and dirty road
- Though and simple engine (the jeep 4.0 i engine has proved it)
- Comfortable and big enough for loading a camping gear
- Automatic Transmission
- ABS and airbag
This Grand Cherokee equipped with very comfortable leather seat, OEM tape and radio (Mopar product), generally is ready for long distance rolling with my small family. Immediately after bought this Jeep, I'd recognized some problems like: noisy sound from front final gear and damage front drive shaft boot. I'd replaced the front ring and pinion and also installed a new drive shaft boot. The ring and pinion its quite expensive, its cost me around Rp 7M (approx US$ 800) for parts and labour. I'd also changed the stabilizer link and break pads.
Three weeks later I brought this ZJ to light off road track, I also bring my family with me. The location is around Tangkuban Prahu in West Java. In totally dark condition (we drove in midnight), the stock tire (29" size) lost its grip, the Jeep running zig-zag in muddy road, and oftenly stuck in deeper mud or stuck by big rock. Fortunately there is another full modified 4WD vehicles (suzuki jimny SJ40) accompanied and helped us. In very narrow road, my jeep rolling to the driver side, and the suzuki helped us again. Lot of scratches in the body paint, however after several washes, the scratch were disappeared.
First upgrade was the sound system, I'd changed the head unit with Alpine product, replaced the OEM infinity power amp with higher power (rockford), added a CD changer and sub woofer, also change all OEM speakers (infinity) with better quality speakers (Quad product).
Then the suspension, the original shock feel to soft, the body roll while cornering was obvious. Changed the shock complete with the coil spring with Old Man Emu (OME) product, this new shock and coil spring have longer lenght than the original, the jeep will taller 1-1/4", I also add 3/4" coil spacer, so the jeep high increase 2" totally. This high body is meaningless if not followed by changed the stock tire for better ground clearance. I choose 31"x10.5 R15 Dunlop Grantrek All Terrain, this is the biggest tire can fit with current suspension condition, can't fit bigger, otherwise the tire will scratch the fender. With those modification, the ZJ jeep looks better and nicer. The changed of original suspension with added longer coil & shock plus budget boost spacer caused a significantly changed in wheel alignment. My Jeep has several times "death wobble" experienced, its scary, after hit a small bump or hole the whole steering wheel and body shaking violently in normal driving speed (70-120 km/h). Wheel alignment is needed to cure the death wobble, we should explain clearly to the alignment operator what actually happen with the Jeep. I installed one additional steering shock for better handling.
A pair of Warn driving light installed in front and one additional light in the back. New towing bar made in thailand was installed. I changed the damage muffler with local product (made in Brewok), the muffler manufacture claimed that his muffler is better than the famous Borla product.
The additional ground clearance has proved its effectiveness during big flood in Jakarta. The ZJ Jeep can crossed 1 m high flooding water easily with out any problem. High ground clearance also help in dirty and off road track, my rig can passed the road obstacles. The OME shock and spring reduced car body roll significantly.
The are some notes for my ZJ Grand:
- Bullet proof engine, bit old but easy to maintain.
- Strong solid axle, good suspension.
- Poor AC condition, small evaporator (made by Sanden) and difficult location, not easy to maintain. I've change my evaporator due to leaking in some places. Small compressor (Denso), broken after 4 year, installed a new one. Noisy blower in cabin, don't know how to reduce it.
- The electric fan was easy to broken.
- Useful Plastic body panel during off road, reduce paint scratch in body, easy to clean up.
- Good dashboard information gauge, including the important battery charge meter and oil pressure gauge.
- Spare tire located inside the cabin, reduce the luggage area volume.
Currently I use this ZJ Jeep as daily car, no complain and no problem for the engine. The OME shock start to weaken after one year. I've plan to continue upgrading the jeep in near future, as follow:
- Install nerf bar and side step, local made.
- Change the rear plastic bumper with custom made bumper with tire hanger.
Useful link:
- Jeep Forum for technical and up-grade info
Friday, 5 October 2007
Car Review : Mercedes A140 2001
I bought this second hand car in 2003 with only 6000km in odo.
engine 1400 cc
power 87 hp
fuel injection
manual transmission.
dual air bag
The reason for buying this car are:
- I know the seller, and the car condition was very good
- Low mileage
- Perfect for as my wife's car, most of the time for drop and pick-up my daughter at school
- Compact size, still have enough room for baggage
- We likes the model and style.
- Prestige, even small the A140 still bring Mercedes image
- Quality and safety.
I pick-up the car at Jakarta and immediately brought the car to Bandung (approximately 165 km from Jakarta) through hilly road. The journey is perfect, no problem at all with the new car. Within four years using this car, not to much modification I made. I changed the original 15" wheel with 16" size, and the car gain 2 cm additional high. This higher wheel not reduced the car handling, is good to pass stop bump without scratch the bottom. I also added a new power amplifier to get better sound system quality.
During four years, I have no problem with its engine, even though the engine was small and produce rough sound, its powerful enough to get 140-150 km/h with three peoples and baggage on it. The engine was durable and bullet proof. I did regular maintenance every 10.000km (usually only once a year). Some peoples complain have with A140 performance, they said that they have lot of problems with the engine. Fortunately, my A140 was always in good condition (especially the engine). I like to do "italian tune-up", bring the car to the toll road and drove it with high speed and quite high rev (around 3000rpm) for 100km, at least once every two months. The only major problem was the key tumbler, its broken-prone after several clicks. The tumbler construction is poor, made by plastic. To get a new one, you should wait for a month and paid more than Rp 1M (more than US$ 120).
Comment for my Mercedes A140
- Key tumbler problem, broken every year. I installed a cheap automatic central lock system with a remote to prevented the tumbler key problem
- Tie rod and stabilizer link should be change after 20k km, however if you drive always in smooth asphalt road, this two gear will working much longer.
- ABS light on and off, check the brake pad first, if the brake pad still thick and in good condition, check the battery. Low battery supply also can ignite the ABS light on.
- Squeaking noise from the dashboard started occurred after 5 years, this cause by the plastic screw become weak, replace with metal screw.
- The interior quality (especially the leather seat) were good
- The air condition was good, I'd never have a problem with the A140 AC.
- The highlight is bright enough especially if I turn on the fog light.
- Steering column problem, This happen because of the conversion system from LHD to RHD, there are 3 knuckle joins in RHD version. And the weakness point is the first join which is located very close to the steering wheel. The solution is tightened the metal spee in that knuckle join, no part needed, only cost of labour for dismantling and re-install the dashboard.
- Steering respond is not so good, no feeling. But its ok, what do you expect for small and cheap (not really cheap actually) merc like this.
- Good fuel consumption, 1 liter for 10km in the city and 1:14 for extra urban road.
We quite happy with this A140 performance, though engine, cold AC, however when my daughter growing up, this car become to small for my wife. So we decided to sell our Merc A140 at September 2007 with very good condition and 36.000 km on odometer.
Useful Link: A Class Owners Club
