A Tata Nexon warranty horror story

Join Date: Jan 2008

Location: Trivandrum

Posts: 2,182

Thanked: 521 Times

A close friend of mine from Kochi, Kerala, has a 2021 Nexon Petrol. It has run 42K.

He started hearing some noises under the hood and took the car in to the dealership (Luxon Tata, Cheranallur). The car is under extended warranty, so it was a no brainer. Or, so he thought.

This was diagnosed to a belt tensioner and was going to be changed under warranty. However, the dealership called back and told him that his coolant is now milkshake - which happens when oil and coolant mix. This is bad juju, as you can imagine. He was sent an estimate of 55k. Shockingly, the work wouldn't be covered entirely by warranty.

The failure was traced to the oil cooler (which is covered under warranty), but to properly fix this failure, you need to flush everywhere the coolant and oil would go, and replace a ton of parts. The radiator and heater core (the heat exchanger inside the dash) would also need to be replaced. No matter how much flushing you do, the milkshake from hell can't be removed fully from the narrow passages from the radiator or heat exchanger.

I've attached the estimate here. Only the items marked in red are covered in warranty. The excuse is that only these parts are covered under extended warranty. My friend was given no information about what is covered and what isn't when he paid for the extended warranty (Gokulam Tata in Aluva - absolute disgrace of a dealership). He was told it would no different from the factory warranty.

Even so, this would be understandable if the failure point is not covered under warranty. Here, a part that is covered under warranty made this work required. But only the parts covered under extended warranty would be covered? Its not like my friend crashed his car or did something to make the heater core fail. A warrantied Tata OEM part failed and caused this failure. Makes no sense!

To make things even worse, the SA told us that these oil cooler failures are becoming more and more common and Tata has demanded them flush and reuse the radiator for a previous warranty job. It obviously did not work as expected, so the dealership has asked Tata to cover the radiator replacement on warranty for my friend's case.

Now, I don't expect this post to do anything for this case. Even very senior journos have escalated things to Tata for their own family cars and the Tata after sales team does not care.

My friend is not very automotively inclined. He went and bought Tata for his first car due to his love for the Tata brand and mystique. To say he is disappointed would be an understatement. After he completely understood what this failure is and the fix, he now plans to dispose of the car as soon as financially possible.

If you buy Tata, caveat emptor!

Last edited by bblost : 27th May 2024 at 19:17. Reason: Foul Language even if used indirectly like %^&% is not allowed. Thanks.

Join Date: Jan 2014

Location: New Delhi

Posts: 187

Thanked: 451 Times

That is a sad experience. I can only hope that the Tata Motors folks can address the issue and restore the confidence of the customer.

One dissatisfied customer will eventually take away 10 sales.

I hope TML can work more closely with the customer to address the issue to an amicable solution.

Join Date: Feb 2010

Location: Wellington

Posts: 3,142

Thanked: 5,485 Times

I don't believe that is true, that a flush can't get all the gunk out. You need to do multiple coolant flushes. Thats probably a job the authorized service center does not want to do as it can take up a lot of time.

I'm also not sure if there is a connection between the oil cooler and coolant. These are usually independent circuits.

I feel like there are too many parts suggested for replacement before a proper diagnosis is done.

Might be better to cough up some losses and find a competent independent garage to sort out the issue.

Join Date: Jan 2008

Location: Trivandrum

Posts: 2,182

Thanked: 521 Times

The oil cooler on this engine is a oil-coolant sandwich plate, not a front mounted heat exchanger. The diagnosis is accurate.

The parts list is needs to contain everywhere the oil goes and everywhere the coolant goes. I'm not familiar with the engine to know whether this is exhaustive enough.

Join Date: Apr 2009

Location: New Delhi

Posts: 143

Thanked: 557 Times

This is a real bad judgement by TATA to treat the customer like this !
An OEM parts failure shall be covered under warranty !

Also, warranty matters come later - this is the brand building at the poorest level - how can TATA expects the readers to go ahead with any TATA vehicle purchase if TATA cannot stand up & accepts the OEM part failure .

Also it looks like a design flaw - interconnection of oil & coolant circuit !!

Join Date: Mar 2010

Location: New Delhi

Posts: 789

Thanked: 3,384 Times

While I love to see people shidd on Tata for their crappy products, I would refrain from making remarks like this if you haven't taken a close look under the hood of any car in the past 10-15 years.

Even your S Cross has an oil cooler body, which could fail. That doesn't make an established practice a design flaw. Think of it as a water cooled solution for carrying away heat, in this case, from the engine oil.

Join Date: May 2010

Location: Bengaluru

Posts: 4,230

Thanked: 5,951 Times

Almost all modern cars have it. It is called as oil cooler where the engine oil gets cooled by the coolant. The 1.3MJD was notorious for the oil cooler failure which caused the oil and coolant to mix and become milkshake.

Key to avoid this is to keep the coolant in good condition by changing it in adherence to manufacturer recommended change interval

Join Date: Mar 2008

Location: Dubai

Posts: 4,048

Thanked: 6,664 Times

Hi Nexon Owner KL-75-B-1570,

So TATA is replacing the following under warranty.

---PARTS---
Radiator
Oil Cooler (main culprit, per se)
Thermostat assy
Water Pump

***LABOR***
Radiator replacement
Coolant tank replacement (wonder why part is not free, but the labor is!)
Water Pump replacement
Thermostat replacement

And you are paying for these

---PAID---
Oil, filter, coolant, Hoses, consumables - (never covered anywhere in the world in warranty or insurance)
Coolant tank (this can be argued, it can be cleaned with hot water and soda and reused, or convince them for warranty)

---Questionable Area---
Heater coil assy + Labor - this can be flushed with radiator flush if done multiple times. See if you can live with that idea of a cleaned out heater coil.

Now let me open a can of worms.

The noise you probably heard was from the valves slapping or ticking or a piston slap due to bad lube. How many kms was the car driven like this? Find the root cause first. Just dont clean and refit what the eye sees. Did someone open and check where the oil cooler gave way for the water and oil to mix? Was the head gasket ok? Was a compression test done to rule out engine issue?

If water travelled through the engine, the timing chain, gears are all probably damaged too!! Top end damage means the camshaft and the valves, etc etc are having increased tolerances now. And wait, the bottom end, crankshaft, main bearings are also to be assumed ran on water/oil mix now and hence damaged.

Basically, you either fight for a full engine/HVAC replacement or a heavily discounted repair job (or last option no one wants - court/case/delays).

First get the engine checked before you start fighting over pennies (this part and that labor talk...). I think someone is running away from a bigger culpability.

PS - Hope your case is water tight, No LPG/CNG kit I suppose? And no history of major front Accidents? Hope no services done in road side garages too?

Last edited by svsantosh : 27th May 2024 at 19:09.