Anyone here service their car at Edaran Tan Chong Jalan Kemajuan? I noticed it is their practice to dump in those useless RESTORER engine additives (e.g. friction modifier, valveclean & hospower) into the engine with only 3 bottles of 0W20 semi synthetic oil.

The RESTORER crap thingy are locally made & I am more comfortable to use 4 bottles of engine oil instead of those crap.

Can we opt to take out those crap things and insist only on changing the engine oil?

It was my dad who send in the car for service.

I believe the oil quality is much better without having those additives put into it. Some more those are locally made products (I doubt their R&D can be better than Idemitsu).

This post has been edited by Thrust: Nov 29 2014, 08:45 AM

It's a family sedan, what do you expect? You can improve the handling a bit by adding ultra racing antiroll bar.

Overall Almera is a good car for its price. Sound insulation is better than City & Vios. Fuel consumption wise may not be as good though. Comfort level wisr, best among City and Vios.

The suspension.

Of course the original suspension. Don't buy Almera to mod... It's a waste of money modifying a family sedan into a racing machine.

Many ah beng thinks their Almera is a racing machine.

Engine emitting misty white smoke is normal. The white smoke are basically water vapor and it shows your engine is healthy and doing its combustion job well.

If there are still white smoke even after the engine is up to temperature, then most probably it is burning engine oil already. Btw, whats your car mileage now?

It is normal after your engine oil travels a fair bit to have some slight petrol smell.

About your coolant, when the engine is hot, it will suck in more coolant from the reservoir, when its cold, it will flow coolant back to the reservoir. Perfectly normal. Probably you can consider topping off a bit of coolant or distilled water will do.

14,000 KM is fairly new so there's no worry about it.

I have 1 concern about the Almera (1st batch) where the serpertine/drive belt pulleys are always making noise. Any owners face there same problem?

Hi brothers, I'd like to know if outside workshops are able to change the ATF for Almera?
The ATF change for Almera is not as straight forward as other cars.
I intend to have it changed outside.

Sometimes it is the driver's problem. Gentle driver vs rough driver.. of course the rough driver will take more toll on the car.

I see a lot of Almera drive belt always have this 'cit cit cit' sound during cold start and when you press the throttle heavily.

Is this belting problem or pulley problem? I believe this is an Almera common issue.

Actually, the recommended engine oil according to the owner's manual is 10W30.

Last oil change, I've swapped to the 5W30 fully synthetic Nissan oil.

Labour will be more expensive on Almera as it is a nightmare to replace spark plugs on this car.

The mechanic needs to remove the intake manifold before he can access the plugs.

I normally send back to Tan Chong.

If you want a more professional workshop, probably DTOX @ Section 8 can do the job but their labour is quite expensive.

If you want cheaper, can go to Old Klang Road Sunshine Motor. Labour at that shop is reasonable for today's standard.

Just replaced the engine mounting. Tips for owners who wants to save money. The engine mounting consist of 3 parts (Rear, left and right). Usually it is the left mounting (transmission) that cracked. So if owner wants to save money, can replace this only. The other 2 pieces did not show any sign of crack so I would say it can be reuse.

Replace engine mounting at Nissan Tan Chong (3 piece set) may cost you RM1300.

I replaced with Denco (Made locally by Tan Chong) for RM460 + RM120 workmanship. The Denco engine mounting seems to be very similar with the original. I've pressed and put pressure on it. The tolerance is the same as original.

If only replace the transmission mount, I think it will be less than RM200 including workmanship.

This post has been edited by Thrust: Dec 28 2019, 01:14 PM

Remember to only use rubber grease. If you use petroleum based grease, it will corrode the rubber boot that protects the caliper pin.

1 is hidden under the battery tray.

Another one is hidden below the engine.

Quite difficult to find Monroe shocks among our local spare parts dealer.