SanjeevMahen

My mechanic is Ruwan who owns and runs 'Hapuarachchi Motor Garage (Ruwan Garage)' on Old Nawala road. Its tagged as mentioned on Google maps, so finding it won't be tough. I'd whole heartedly recommend him as a genuine, no nonsense and down to earth guy whose charges are very minimal and fair. Only downside is that he works alone and doesn't have full time golayas and has excess demand which is above his capacity. The demand is due to his genuine qualities and exceptional mechanical skills. You could take your vehicle to him once this curfews end and things calm down, for a free and honest diagnosis. He can give you a rough idea on the cost involved as well. Parts' prices may differ depending on a variety of factors but I can assure that he wont rip you off. Just be a bit patient incase he is overloaded and cannot accommodate your vehicle right away. He'd usually tell you when you can bring it in for repairs, if he cannot take it in that day itself. One major down side of him working alone is that he is not able to attend to all the calls to his mobile

Thought to add my experience here. I got fascinated with the Y60 few years back after a friend did a total rebuild on one that he bought for a comparatively lower price. I had a spin in it and loved everything about it. This was when I'd been having the 2007 Hilux (HL3) for seven years. I'm an occasional off-roader due to not being able to spare much time for it. Btw, I'm not a real CAR guy and hence my bias towards taller, higher ground clearance, 4WD vehicles. So looked around and checked out several Y60s and finally found a second owner specimen which was the best out of the lot. Manual gearbox. Original TD42 had been replaced with a new TD42t in it but had been done proper. CR had been updated as well. So though the asking price was high, considering the fact that it had a few mechanical and cosmetic issues to be fixed, still went ahead and bought it. This was because it was a minimalistic vehicle and there isn't anything that cannot be fixed. After purchase, changed all the oils, break pads/liners, rebuilt the diesel pump, replaced the clutch booster, pressurized the injectors, new clutch/pressure plates, bushes and few other bits and pieces and she was running much smoother. Been two years now and I'm so used and very comfortable with it. Daily runner and 90% within the city. Recently changed the Maxxis MT Bighorns on it (were extremely noisy as they wore on and gave a rough ride) to Cooper LT AT3 XLT and now its much quieter and smooth. Also changed from factory coils/shocks to Tough Dog (3" lift) and she sits as I prefer now. Of course doesn't pull like the Hilux. Not at all nimble either. Poor turning radius too, takes three full lanes to turn. No ABS, so better watch out and brake early. The rear disk brakes help a lot though. Lets not compare the TD42t and 2KD for fuel efficiency But when it comes to torque....the TD42t is in a league of its own. It taught me that its not always HP that matters. Gentle off-roading is easy peasy for the Patrol. Yet to do anything serious off-road in it. Parking is a challenge, unless you are somewhat of a master of judging dimensions and visualizing whether the patrol will fit within a certain slot or not. You got to be able to get in and out afterwards too. I do all my errands in it and been managing somehow without any major issues. Before I park in any place, I try to ensure that I would be able to maneuver and get out of there and won't be blocked by our fellow city dwellers who park as they fancy. Also after parking, I don't mind walking 150 meters to my desired location. So that helps. Mine is a high roof wagon. So, entering basements or any indoor car parks, got to be watchful but even with the 3" lift, I'm yet to come across an indoor car park (been to almost all the malls, hotels and hospitals) where the roof was too low for my Patrol. I've been to several parts of the country. Even remote ones and I've made sure that the Patrol is mechanically sound at all times to ensure I don't get stranded anywhere with any issues. Compared to the Hilux, travel lag is very much less in the Patrol. Possibly due to the coil suspension at the back and more head room due to the high roof as well as dual ac. If you are a genuine enthusiast for the vehicle of this nature, who would not see the above as negatives but have pleasure in working around them (which I do), go ahead and buy it. But please rebuild the original TD42 and keep it. There is a guy in Alawwa who stocks all Patrol stuff. You can source almost anything Patrol related from him. Good luck with whatever decision you make.

Sorry bro not aware of much detail on the importation and its nitty-gritties. You could check with someone who is in to the auto import trade. I doubt if its possible cos otherwise all the Indian manufactured Toyotas and Mitsubishis as well as several brands of motorbikes (low cc ones), intended for their local market would have made their way here. Also never heard of anyone having imported any bikes from India on their own. But not saying its not possible. You can make inquiries and see. However, you'd have to pay considerable amount of tax for sure. If really interested, you could check with DPMC on whether they are willing to import a Dominar for you on special order. Should not be impossible since they already brought down a batch and also service the same. Pricing might be an issue. Another thing you could do is to hunt down one of those already sold and try to buy from the present owner. I'm not selling for now I remember seeing one for sale on the quick site abt three months ago, but that was in Jaffna and was asking 900k.

Yeah I agree that the new ones looks awesome in green with USD forks. Don't like the split exhaust canister though. With the present situ, do not see it being brought down by DPMC. I guess the younger generation prefer the radical looks of the KTM. Also the price of the Dominar is quite beyond most, similar to the KTM 390 (the engine that is shared with the Dominar with some differences). Hence from a sales perspective DPMC did the correct thing by bringing in KTM and its lower capacity varieties. Havent ridden a FZ, so don't know much about it. Indian bikes still have some distance to go to but as I said considering the ease of maintenance, I'd prefer them over any grey import jap for the time being.

The number of Dominars here being just a handful and at the price they cost, I doubt they are being daily ridden or being ridden to go to grab something from the shop at the junction. Rather I presume they'd be ridden mostly for pleasure. Other than mine, the only other one I've seen (twice) is in the Wellawatte area. Coming to spares, touch wood, I haven't had the necessity as yet. The oil filter is the same as in the NS and I use Liqui moly 15w50. Clean and lube the chain with LM products and all has been well so far.

Since the topic shifted to Indian bikes, I thought to add my two cents here. The only Jap bike I've ever had was a Kawasaki Eliminator 250. Awesome bike but parts were rare and was a pain when it had issues. Moving on to the Indian bikes that I've had, I've had a 2006 Pulsar 180, 2008 Discover 135, 2011 TVS Apache and a 2016 TVS Wego (scooter). All single cylinder engines have heavy vibration. Pretty much unavoidable as a whole but can be reduced by tightening all panels / fixtures. On the newer bikes you could go through some effort and add some dampening material to the inside of the plastic panels and get it all to smoothen down to a certain extent. I presently have a 2017 Bajaj Dominar which is a 379cc Single cylinder, water cooled, twin-channel ABS bike. Best Indian bike I've ever ridden. Needless to say awesome power and the ABS has saved me several times on our chaotic roads. Effortless overtaking. In fact the cruising speed is too high to maintain on our inconsistent roads. Wont brag anymore abt it since you can read online reviews about it. AFAIK, DPMC brought down only one batch of 10 bikes and didn't bring down again even though the bike was a huge hit in India. Coming to the rest of the Indian bikes, I don't like the KTMs, may be cos I'm bit too old for that sort of bikes The Yamaha's FZ250 looks nice and I too heard about the torque but the rear seat seems unrealistically small. You may want to look at the TVS Apache RR 310. I don't have much of an idea on it. Looks more of a track bike. Considering the cost of spares, official agent support, etc. I would recommend going with an Indian bike since they've come a long way in the last two decades. Also in the worst case, you can always get the necessary parts down from India through some contact or an importer. Way easier than the hassle of having to search for used parts for a Jap bike.

Check the TVS Lanka website. They have comprehensive lists with addresses and contact numbers of all their dealers (sales, service and spares). From that list you can identify one closest to you.

Take the car to 'C*r Ch*cks' in Kohuwela. They are quite good in what they do. You can check them out on FB before going. The price you pay for the inspection is worth it because they will give you a comprehensive report which would come in handy, incase you do end up buying the car. Cos you'd know what needs to be looked in to after buying. Good luck.

Yes. Emission test report is required from the second year onwards. I got the test report and renewed my revenue license online.

Well, I'm a bit late but hope this is useful to someone in the future....

Thanks. That's a good price cos I think TL price is well over 100k. I might be wrong though... I guess yours is the normal turbo as well and not the VGT one that's found in most Thai trucks.

Nice to hear that you got it solved. I have a 2007 Hilux HL3, 2.5 liter intercooler turbo. Nearing 200k KMs now and the turbo does not perform like earlier. I believe the fault should be similar to yours. Mind sharing details on how much the turbo cost you and where you sourced it from?

Last year, I did some research and ended up buying the TVS Wego for my short runs/errands, just like the OP. Pros- 1.External fuel inlet. So no petrol fume smell on the items kept in the under-seat storage. I got the front inside plastic panel changed to the one with cubby, which is very useful to (somewhat) securely store a few items. It was offered with the plain recessed panel, which gave more leg room but no storage. Even with the cubby, I have no issues in leg space, me being 5' 10". 2.Combi brake on the newest model. I.e both front and rear brakes are actuated simultaneously with left brake lever. So no need to balance your braking between the front and rear tires with two separate levers. 3.Tubeless tires. Also the 12' alloy wheels were larger in diameter in comparison to other scooters, which meant better ride on poor roads. Most other scooters at the time came with steel wheels. 4.Headlight was mounted on the handle bar, so you could turn the handle in the direction you are travelling in to see in the dark. On the Dio and some other models the headlight was fixed on the body and hence illumination in the dark was quite fixed to the area only in front of the scooter. 5.Digital meter console with service reminder/battery/clock/fuel level as well as Odo/speedo, which gives a feel of modern scooter than being limited to the usual speedo and fuel meter of most scooters. 6.Unlike the most other models, Wego came with a silencer which was of a narrow, rectangular design, resulting in a silencer that was not protruding outside much and looking awkward. It also contributed to the practicality of reducing the width of the scooter, enabling to be parked in narrow slots, etc. 7. I had a friend at TVS Lanka, who offered to strip the scooter and undercoat the chassis and body panels before delivery. This was very worthwhile, since the iron used on Indian vehicles tends to rust very easily. I would recommend to do this if you are buying a new scooter. 8. External body panels were metal and hence would only cause dents(slight or severe depending on impact). Whereas on most scooters, it's plastic which would crack and splitter on impact, might need replacing immediately. 9.Phone charging USB port, located inside the under seat storage. Useful but bad placement, since the phone also has to sit inside the under-seat storage when charging and zero chance of its' ringing being heard by the rider. Cons- 1. Recently getting some noise from front shocks/steering handle column when going through deep potholes. As if some bearing has gone bad. A real pain with the scooter being only 1200KMs old. Yet to take it to the agent to check. 2.Key has to be inserted to a barrel at the rear left of the seat, to open the seat or fuel lid. On the Hero Dash noticed that the same key barrel operated all utilities, which is very convenient. 3.Large seat is quite comfy and non slippery but trade off is get easily heated after being parked in the sun and unbearable to sit on. 4.TVS agents all over are not good at all and do shoddy service jobs, even with me monitoring them. I guess it's to do with the level of society that rides motorbikes/scooters where the level of care for the ride is very minimal and it has shaped the service providers in the same manner. Demanding perfectionism or even some commitment from them is dreaming too much. Not trying to demean anyone here but gone are the days where most people valued their rides and took care of them. 5.Drum brakes. Not the greatest but given the low HP, sufficient to ride safely. Honda Dio is the largest selling scooter in SL but it was somewhat basic and had a few rough edges. I heard that it's engine is the best in the market with almost no reports of issues. The Hero Dash's rear design and colour themes were a real turn off for me. But very utilitarian design with nice touches. The Yamaha Ray might look masculine and sporty but it has too much going on in the design with very little purpose. Comes with steel wheels and a silly looking rear grab rail and for the price, it wasn't worth it. I hope above is useful to the OP or anyone looking to buy a scooter. There are always new models comingin with newer better features. So better do your own market research considering your requirements and taste before deciding.

I see that the Clex dashcam project has completed. Have you received your unit yet? If yes, how is it overall? Worth the USD99? Or having issues? Whats the resolution of the front/rear cam? How is the footage in bright sunlight or headlights from vehicles in the rear?

That seems to be one heck of a clean up / service and repair job Sampath. Do you mind sharing the AC guys charges for the job? I'm contemplating giving up my present AC guy for this one. Can you share his exact location and any other details about him / his operations? From what little I know of auto AC, this seems to be an excellent job. And after completion that temperature at the vents, is pretty unbelievable. I might sound stupid but can anyone tell me, if it's actually possible to get such a low temp reading in a car's airconditioning?

Agreed. Both the headlights on my wife's hatchback had faded over three years in the sun. Then, one was damaged in a small accident and got replaced with a relatively newer 'used' one from a parts shop in Wijerama. The difference between the two were so obvious that I got one of the service station workers to clean the old one with compound durng regular service. Though it looked fine initially, within 2/3 months it was back to its badly faded condtition again, whereas the replaced and untouched one is still hanging in there and looking relatively ok. Decided that I'd get the protective sticker done the next time but never got around to doing it yet Also KP do not have the agency for 3M anymore and I'm yet to come across any recommendations on their currect brand, which they promote as being better than 3M......... You could get the 3M stickers done from the new place down the 120 bus route, just before the Pepiliyana junction, opposite the Dilmah(not sure) 'Tea Castle' buidling...

I did the same for my wife's YOM2007 Toyota Passo about 1 1/2 years ago and yes I also had to replace dashborad central console cover unit as in your picture. I cannot recollect the price of it but it sure wasn't cheap. Yours being a 2004, I strongly assume that you also would need to change from your present one to this after market one. Appearantly the older versions of the Passo (2004-2007) came with a dashboard center console which couldn't accomodate single / double din conversions, though they seem like they can. Go ahead with this if you are going to stick with the car for sometime cos such cost is not recoverable when selling. The Passo was sold as Daihatsu Boon / Sirion in different regions around the world.

Well...let me put it like this. Fuel efficiency is not at the top of my requirements list as of now. For the near future, I would not want to try my hand at hybrids or electric vehicles. Would prefer to stick with ICE vehicles. Much less sophistication and headache too. Murphy's law works full time in my life. So I try to keep things a little less sophisticated I didn't see the sticker myself. So I guess that it would have been the JAAI inspection sticker as u said. I do not see y the owner would lie wrt such because he only stands to loose by such a statement. Anyone knows how these Kei vans suspensions perform and hold up in our potholes ridden roads? The Passo gave me never ending headaches in this regard but then again Passo is known for that issue....

Well, not sure abt the Mitsubishis. There weren't many around but did notice that there were quite a few Mazda Scrums, which were exactly the same as the Suzuki Everys except for the badges. Somewhat like the Toyota Passo / Daihatsu Boon scenario. They were abt 100k less in price and were not the Turbo version. Given that Suzuki Every is the more popular and common Kei van in SL, I was looking for that(U knw the SL mentality ). It's appearance too has somewhat grown on me Yes, saw the Wagon Rs / Stingrays but not interested on em cos this would not be the only vehicle at home and I want it to serve the city running purpose better. Agree that the mileage on these cannot be trusted. The initial 2004 Every that I mentioned on my earlier post, was bought unregistered in 2006 and had 24k on the ODO whereas after buying the owner found one of those Rev Licence like round sticker in the vehicle, which had the correct chasis numbr and it mentioned 178k KMs!!! But mind you the engine didn't sound like it had done so much. That I guess depends on the running conditions in Jap.

Update: And so I started from Pepiliyana and went all the way to Pamankada, stopping at every car sale where I spotted Suzuki Everys. Thanks to the info I got here, I was able to identify the models better. Sadly there wasn't a single Every Wagon. Most places did not have the Join Turbos but only the basic models or at times Semi-Joins. Came across a few 4WD models (manual) but wasn't interested. At certain Car sales, the guys there were trying to convince me that the Turbos of the Every were faulty due to a 'sensor issue' and to go for the non turbo basic auto versions they had It was the first time I heard of such. I even found couple of basic models which had the full set of bucket seats. Not sure if they were an option or were 'converted / upgraded' locally. Most units' physical condition was not great. Lots of scratches and dents internally. Looks like these were used in Japan for semi industrial use. Found only one Join Turbo (2013Dec Manufactured) in pretty good condition with 4k KMs on it. Full bucket seats (front and back), power mirrors with power folding, rear wiper and all. Didnt have any scratches / impact marks on its under carriage. Asking price 23.5 Though I started the engine and revved to abt 5k RPM, I actually couldn't make out the turbo whistling, which was strange. My 2KDs turbo is very noticeable at such revs and hence I expected this also to be so. Mebe petrol turbos, especially Everys' are quieter??? Is*ra traders had a whole bunch of 2008-2010 Everys, all in pretty bad condition but with high asking prices. Hopeless buggers..... Wanted to look around more to see if I could find a wagon. Internet search indicates that most Wagons are in Car Sales up in Kandy. Even those advertised in CMB are not there anymore when I called. I wonder why...

Thanks man. Bought a couple of Warm white 48 LED SMDs. Now the wait begins......

Thanks for the quick reply. I see from your flickr a/c that you have a Every in addition to the Hiace Nice rides and good pics too. You seem to be a fan of vans. I think the rear lights on the side of the rear door is more purposeful than having them on the buffer at the bottom, for the mere reason that we Sri Lankans do not leave enuf space after the vehicle in front and hence the lights on the buffer cannot be seen I shall go around the car sales this weekend have a look see. Any suggestion of any car sale places around Colombo where I might find the higher grade Everys and also good specimens? Also would you know how much the higher grades wud approximately cost?

The timing of this thread is rather apt. I feel that it's now time to get rid of my wife's Passo which used to be our daily driver for the last four years. Given the worsening traffic (especially parking issues) in Colombo, I was quite interested in the Suzuki Every due to it's easy driving ergonomics, ample internal space and set up. I've once driven the previous model (2004) some years ago. But even though it was a manual, being 650cc it really sucked in pulling power and very often the a/c had to be swithced off to improve acceleration. So just as I was just starting to research online about the new Every, this thread came up. Thanks Magnum, for the details of the grades which I didnt know about. I'd prefer only the Join Turbo, a good unit of which I believe should be bit easy to find with the local importers. I'd love the PZ Turbo but doubt if there are many brought down. Could you or anyone else in the know help with the below also? - How's the pick up and power delivery on the Join Turbo? - How does the new Join Turbo's A/C fare in our sweltering heat? Does it cool quick and sufficiently after few hours in the hot sun? - How is the overall build quality? - Any known mechanical / electrical issues or niggles to watch out for? - Since the PZ Turbo is not to be seen much on our roads how are the availability of body panels / parts for it? Or is the Join turbo better in this aspect?

Magnum Mind sharing the ebay link for the three items you bought?