150,000km Preventive Maintenance Service @ GS Tay Honda Muar

It's been awhile since my last such posting. Just because I don't write about it doesn't mean I don't do my preventive maintenance service at regular intervals (in the case of my Honda Civic FD2A, it's every 5000km).

Covid-19 was relegated to the history books and "has been" memory (though there are micro-cluster outbreaks from time to time, so too early to completely let down your guard). Thus, since the beginning of the year, I've been busy on business travel quite frequently, now that international borders are all opened up. Thus, haven't had much time to drive around, so interval between preventive maintenance services have become even longer.

I usually called up and made an appointment in advance, as opposed to just turning up and trying my luck. Given that it took me around 1 hour to drive from my home to the service center, confirming the slot is very important to avoid 2 hours of lost time (remember, the journey back also takes 1 hour).

Recently, GS Tay Honda Muar started using WhatsApp to send reminders, as well as take service appointments. Thus, for this service, let's give this new system a try. As I arrived in the morning at 9.00am (give or take a few minutes), it was a lucky thing that I did make an appointment. It was quite packed today, as there was already a queue of cars lined up to the reception area at the entrance / exit of the maintenance building. In previous times, I parked along the road nearby and walked over to register, but then they always asked me to drive in, so this time I just went directly there. After a quick check on the checklist to confirm my car was registered for an appointment, the staff on duty checked out my car and I proceeded to the waiting area after signing off the "Walkaround and Diagnosis Sheet".

Besides the regular preventive maintenance, need to take care of a rather peculiar issue with my exhaust. When coming to a complete stop in D, the exhaust may start to give off a continuous rasping note, like a loose floorboard. Also happens when completely stopped in R, as when parking. It's not just noise - sometimes, the engine seems to vibrate as well, as though the exhaust is blocked. As soon as I shift into N, the vibration stops, and idling is smooth once more. Driving long-distance or hard (as in Italian tune-up) does not remedy this. My guess is could be related to the ignition system (plugs, coil) or sensor, hopefully nothing major.

The waiting area was, unsurprisingly, full, as out of the 11 seats, there were only 4 empty spaces. Truth be told, there were more unoccupied seats, but with bags and belongings of the adjacent person. And there were usually more at the showroom area, though those are normally used for discussions between the staff and prospective buyers. I found myself a seat and waited patiently, started to key in some note for this blog post to pass the time.

A quick glance at my surroundings. Majority of the folks were reading (good habit) on their personal electronic devices (handphone). One gentleman to my left was "old school" and was reading the newspaper (printed on paper). Just some annoying guys who were watching some video with audio on the speakerphone. But only for a short while, then back to the usual ambient background noise. I was the only one typing away on a laptop, so I'm also somewhat of "old school" myself. There was one other lady, which I guess was a teacher, who was busy marking a stack of papers. While waiting, I did witness 2 new owners collecting their new car, taking photos with the Honda Sales advisor and their new ride. One was a CRV, the other one not so sure (too many SUV's these days, all start to look the same to me).

After around 45mins, the staff called me up and ran through the cost estimate - always a good practice to avoid any nasty surprises. Besides the usual oil / filter change, today they would be doing some engine flush / aircon condenser cleaning / tire check. I normally don't skimp on preventive maintenance, which I consider as vital to avoid unexpected and even more expensive repairs in future, so I agreed with their proposal. Only concern for me is how long it would take....

Halfway through, the Honda staff called me up and advised to change the front brake pads (which were quite worn out), battery (which I can confirm is getting old as having some problem to start in the mornings) as well as aircon filter (close to the point of disintegration). I knew of all the above so they were not just pulling my leg. From experience, I know that the price of parts here were comparable to outside, just the labour cost will be higher than the generic workshop outside.

At the end of the day, they did put the balance of 0W-30 Honda Fully Synthetic oil and the old aircon filter in the front passenger seat. I did ask them if they managed to resolve my exhaust issue - the good news is that they figured out it was related to the positioning of the pipe / resonators (if I understand the explanation correctly), but due to lack of time, they could not take care of it today. So, I guess I will have to get it done during my next preventive maintenance service at 155,000km. Which, from experience, could be 1 year later.... 😅

On the way back, to my pleasant surprise, seems to be some form of reverse-Schrodinger's Cat phenomenon - after checking the exhaust, seems there is much less sound / vibration when stopped in D / R. Didn't completely go away, but very much tuned down the noise level. Well, hope it stays this way until the permanent remedy! 🤞

All in all, another good experience sending my car here for service. Not sure if the staff are the same, but here the courtesy and pleasant nature of the staff has been consistent through the many years. This is what basically keeps me coming back here, even though it's roughly 1 hour (one way) from where I live. Well, until the next service then...!

HOPe & Fun 2.0 Charity Carnival day at Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang - 19 Aug 2023 [DONE]

Seems that these are difficult times indeed - there seem to be quite a few charity events lately. Just a month after the Fund-raising Carnival at my old high school (St David High School), today there was the HOPe & Fun 2.0 Charity Carnival organized by the Agapecare Society of Melaka, held at the Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang.

H.O.P.e. by the way it is written, stands for "Help Other People event", and is the 2nd such event organized by the Agapecare Society, hence the 2.0. The first fund-raiser was held way, way, way back in 2006! Almost 20 years ago! 😲

My family and I have a habit of going early, so we arrived roughly half an hour after the official start of the event at 10am. Public Service Announcement - even though it was a Saturday, currently free "weekend" parking was only given on Monday's and Tuesday's. That's right - for Saturday and Sunday, you still need to pay for parking either using the scratch coupons or SVP Smart Parking app (which seems to work reasonably well). There were parking bays in the hall area, however, they were reserved for the volunteers, so we parked outside along the row of shops nearby. Wanted to stay for up to 2 hours though (foreshadowing what was coming), things didn't quite go exactly as planned.

There were a couple of food trucks open for business just outside the Dewan MPHTJ Bukit Beruang - the one that caught our attention was the one from Cowrasa - selling milk, yogurt and ice cream! 😋

Going into the hall, noted a counter from Oriental hospital offering free basic health check and an assortment of pre-loved (fancy way of saying used / 2nd hand) clothes, books and other stuff for sale. Just like the recent carnival at St David, all transactions were via coupon / voucher, which we had also bought earlier to avoid wasting time in the queue. Even the stuff for sale AND food trucks were accepting only coupons as payment. Notably there was no queue today, so looks like many other people also followed suit. There were some tables and benches set up in the hall where we could sit down to eat. A few row of chairs were also arranged in front of the raised stage, where there were some dance and song performances by students and also senior citizens. The old folk were quite good, playing renditions of classic "oldies" like "young ones" by Cliff Richards as well as lagu keronchong melayu & baba nyonya on their guitars, ukulele, tambourine and beatbox.

The stalls outside boasted a small but highly varied selection of food and drinks, cookies, even one selling fresh satay. There were also some games booths and one selling potted plants as well. There was more space to stand under the tents, so was not so congested, though the crowd was not as large as the one at the St David event. Again, I was in "full emersion mode" so did not take any photos - need to kick back into blogger mode if I'm going to be writing posts such as this in the future.... 😅

First round of food (I purposely did not eat breakfast at home so that I could maximize food intake here) for me was some Nasi Lemak from Jasin, Siew Pau, fruit tarts. As we had time, walked around some more, and bumped into my ex-high school mate and ex-colleague. One hour into our arrival, the sky darkened, and it started drizzling. As time went on, it got heavier until it became a downpour. Fortunately, there was ample space in the hall for everyone to seek refuge from the unforgiving weather. We just found ourselves a bench near the stage and continued to watch some of the performances.

One thing to note - this hall was set up for badminton, so the lighting was arranged to evenly light up the center of the hall where the courts were. The stage was, however, practically unlit, so this did serious injustice to the performers, who were literally singing and dancing in the dark. Not sure if it was because the organizers did not turn on the stage lights, or just that there were none to begin with....

A quick time check - our 2 hours were up but there was no sign of the rain abating. It did ease off, though was still not possible for us to make it back to our car (lesson learned for future outings - do bring umbrella). So, with the last of our coupons, we bought a sizeable haul of milk and ice cream from the Cowrasa food court. Ice cream had to be consumed on the spot, and so happened by the time we finished, the rain had become a drizzle and we had our chance to leave after passing our unspent coupons off to someone.

Well, all in all, for a good cause, and although organized by Agapecare Society, there were no religious elements in this event so all were welcome to join and participate. If there were one thing I feel they could have improved - it was on the publicity. If it weren't for the fact that I knew someone from the organizing team, I would never have known about this event. A pity as all in all was a good effort and successful charity / fund-raiser in my humble opinion. Also a chance for us to give back to society and enjoy some quality family time together! 😀

 

1995 Toyota Prado Land Cruiser J70 / L79 (modified for off-road use) for SALE -> SOLD

[Update - sorry, but she's been sold. Congratulations to the new owner!]

By now, regular visitors to this site will know that I'm a long-term (perhaps for life) member of the Puma 4x4 Club Malaysia. A legal (as in registered with the Registrar of Societies Malaysia, registration number 1057-05-8) club of 4x4 enthusiasts and avid-nature / camping lovers. Many members sign up their spouse, family and friends, so not everyone owns or drives a 4x4 (which is meant to go off-road and into the wilderness, not like those Honda CRV, Proton X70 SUV's). Of course, not every adventure is a hardcore crawl through mud and rocks - most of the time, trips are relatively family friendly, though camping in the woods does mean basic facilities like toilets and such are done "one with nature" style.... 😀

There are 2 ways to get into this - one is to get yourself a nice (preferably used) 4x4 and upgrade / modify it as needed, or get a seasoned one that has already gone through some experience. For the latter, today might just be your lucky day. Long story short, the club just happen to have a modified 1995 Toyota Prado Land Cruiser L79 Model for sale. This is one generation earlier than my J90 Prado, which frankly, I have never actually brought into the woods myself.

Back to the L79 - it's a 2.8 inline 4 diesel. It's modified for functionality, having a winch up front which is useful for pulling others (and occasionally yourself) out of tight spots. The car is currently parked somewhere in Melaka for viewing of prospective buyers. I'm not familiar with this car, so don't ask me any questions about what's it like to drive, everything working or not - just posting here to help the club advertise. In case anyone is interested to view / enquire about the price, please call up KC Ang at  01 Seven 989161 Nine. As of today, the listed price on Facebook is RM35,000 though it may change without notice in the future. It's more than the stock model, so the price is for the upgrades / modifications. Don't take my word for it - do check it out yourself if you are interested or you know anyone who might be.

Well, if you are interested to get into this 4x4, do consider signing up as a member and perhaps we can meet up face-2-face someday in the middle of the jungle...! 😂

Patching a leaking tire at Ee Henn Trading, Taman Melaka Baru

The Toyota brand runs strong in my family (even before counting those rebadged Toyotas by our "2nd Local Automobile Manufacturer"). Due to some complicated storyline best delivered over a round of beer, latest one coming under my wing is a 1st Gen Toyota Fortuner. As I'm not particularly obsessed about SUV's, can only say a Google search identifies this one as an AN50 AN60 model. Though I could not really find what is the difference between the AN50 and AN60 - if anyone have any clue, do drop a comment below....

Exaggerated stock photo for illustration purposes only - not my actual car.... 

Anyway, recently I came to notice that the front right tire was slowly but surely deflating over a short period of time. Specifically, in just less than 1 week, the tire pressure can drop from 220kPa to 160kPa. Public service announcement here - there is no real way to tell visually if your tires are under-inflated, even those "normal" tires (not run-flat). Unnoticeable if any differences in handling, at least at low, city-driving speeds. Wouldn't want to risk evaluating on the highway.

Anyway, I always had in my mind (far, far in the back of my mind) to get it fixed. However, the combination of genuinely busy work schedule plus worry about the time it might take to get it fixed meant that I had put off the repair for several weeks now. So, the routine was to head to the nearest petrol station every week to "top-up" air. Occasionally, I have used a portable cigarette-lighter-powered air pump to fill up - however, that takes a very, very long time and is quite noisy.

Finally, today, after running some errands in town, decided to bite the bullet and get it done once and for all. At the advice of my wife, who had a recent positive experience, we stopped by Ee Henn Trading (the actual name of the tire shop) at Taman Melaka Baru, Batu Berendam.

Ee Henn Trading, right at the traffic lights next to the Hong Leong Bank

Upon arrival, found there was just 1 car in-progress, and the boss was casually seated at the shop entrance. After alighting and giving a brief problem description, he got straight to work on my car. He jacked up the car on the right side, in order to remove the tire - since it was a "real" 4x4 (not like those pseudo city SUV's that were never meant to go off-road), the suspension had quite a lot of travel so it had to be jacked up quite high until the tire was completely off the ground. Once that was done, the tire was removed and inflated before submerging into the water tank, in order to trace the puncture. Sure enough eventually he managed to find the culprit - a really small nail roughly 2cm long and perhaps no more than 2mm in diameter. That would explain why the air loss was so slow....

Having removed the nail, he then proceeded to patch up the spot with the tire patch kit, and in no time, the tire was fixed. All in all, it took roughly 15mins (to be fair, practically no queue) and cost RM10 - a fair price to pay in my humble opinion. Definitely a good experience here, and will come again in future.

And - now I don't have to worry any more about my weekly tire inflation routine! 😀

In this case, I gauged the risk to be low since I did not travel long distance or at high speed, and fortunately, nothing happened to my Fortuner. Of course, my advice is to always get your car fixed up as soon as you can, even though it may appear a small or benign matter, as until then, the risk and dealing with the consequences rest entirely on your own shoulders.

Upcoming Blood Donation Campaign @ Mahkota Parade, Melaka - 26 Aug 2023 [DONE]

Attention everyone! There's an upcoming blood donation drive @ Mahkota Parade, Melaka, on the 26 of August 2023 (Saturday). Jointly organized by the Lions International District 308B1 Malaysia (not to be confused with the Lion Group, which is a totally different entity altogether) and Puma 4x4 Malaysia Club.

Whether you are able and a regular blood, or interested to start, do drop by from 10am to 5pm. And help to spread the word to your family, friends and colleagues!

Dinner at Handmade Signature, Melaka

It's been some time since I've gone out around Melaka looking for something special for dinner. So happens that a friendly colleague from Ipoh was in town, so decided to re-visit Handmade Signature.

It was a Wednesday, so usually there were less people going out to town to dinner. Then again, because of that, there were some restaurants and cafes that chose not to open, thus having dinner outside took a combination of planning, searching and a little bit of bloomin' luck to pull through.

From the outside, it was easy to miss at first. In fact, that's exactly what happened to me, so I had to circle around for another pass and drive SLOWLY the second time just to be sure I didn't miss it again.

For whatever reason, did not make any booking for this occasion, so just drove there straight after work. Fortunately, we arrived early, so we could secure a nice table (later as the evening progressed, the place did start to get a little packed, so it was good that we were ahead of the crowd).

Having a look at the menu, decided to go for something I believe I had never tried before. Short description on the menu was "Salmon" and the full text read "Pan seared salmon served with sautéed baby romaine and honey baked ham; king oyster mushroom, cauliflower purée and balsamic reduction".

When the dish finally arrived, was somewhat not surprised to find it was smaller than I had hoped for. Fortunately, we also ordered a pizza to share between us. Otherwise, would still be hungry.

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The plate above was a regular sized plate, so you can imagine why I feel the food-to-plate size ratio is approaching fine-dining proportions. Not sure if this has always been the same, but next time I'm here, will try something else other than the "main course" part of the menu....

Handmade signature was still a good choice for those special group events such as birthday parties and other celebrations. Just be aware of what you're ordering and be prepared to pay more for sufficient food unless you have a group of light eaters.... 😅