Today we will talk about the Tata Revotron 3 Cylinder Engine Reliability. Tata’s 1.2L Revotron 3 cylinder engine is being used in its so many cars currently in the market. Its been used in Tata’s Hatchback, micro SUVs and its Sub Compact SUVs as well. But a 3 cylinder engine comes with its limitations as well. Today We will understand technical specification of the engine and also see whether this engine is that much reliable or not.
What is the Revotron engine in Tata?
Tata in around year 2014-2015 wanted to get an engine that will be more usable across the line up of its cars. They wanted an updated engine to comply with the requirements of modern Indian car market. An engine which should be refined, powerful and efficient one. So Tata company started experimenting and after that its 1.2L 3 Cylinder Revotron engine was born. This engine was designed with the help of formula 1 engineers.
The name REVOTRON came from two words ‘Revolution’ and ‘Technology’. Which means tata motors wanted to make a combination of power performance and efficiency and this Revotron engine provided all that efficiently. Tata wanted to go beyond its old series engine if it wanted to be in the Indian market to match the global capabilities. So the Revotron engine was developed and with this goal tata took help from multiple global MNCs which are on the top in their own expertise.
Tata Revotron 3 Cylinder Engine Specifications
The Tata revotron engine is a 1199CC 3 cylinder engine. The reason behind this 3 cylinder technology was to increase fuel efficiency, keep weight low and to designe a less costly engine.
This engine is inline 3 cylinder Single VVT and DOHC engine in which two cam shafts are present for intake valve and exhaust valve separately. VVT in general able to adjust the timing of opening and closing of the valves. Because there is only single VVT then it work on the intake valve only. This follows the Otto cycle engine design. An engine has 4 strokes namely Intake, compression, power and Exhaust. The otto cycle engine uses a technology in which all the 4 strokes are similar or same. Neither of its Stroke can be altered separately. If we want to change any stroke then we have to change other strokes as well. This engine is different from Atkinson cycle engine which are available in TOYOTA cars.
This engine is an undersquare engine gives better low end torque but known for a better fuel efficiency. Cylinder construction is made of Aluminum die cast both the Head and the Block. Power they produce is 88PS and if turbo is used then they produce 120PS power. The main advantages of this engine is that it can be used for multiple options like Naturally Aspirated, Turbo and also can be used with CNG fuel. The torque this engine produce is 170NM. They have tuned this engine very well that there is no power leg in its CNG version also. The top speed of this engine is 150kmpl.
Tata took support from AVL company in its VVT design, calibration and combustion also. This engine is an inhouse developed engine. Injector and ECU calibration is done from BOSCH. The multidrive mode tuning is done by the BOSCH company as well. Other components like cam shafts, piston, piston rings, cylinders are developed by the help of German company. So Tata took help from all these companies in building a solid but efficient engine. The main focus was to reduce the friction inside the pistons of the engine. Less friction means less stress and higher efficiency. The turbo are from a Garret motion company which is an USA based entity. The FGT turbos are used in these engines. IN a small size engine FGT turbo work very efficiently.
Also Read: Types of turbo FGT vs VGT
Is the Tata Revotron engine reliable?
Tata Revotron engine is a reliable engine. Tata motors has done 3 lakh km running test before launching this engine. They tested it on different terrains like high altitudes mountains, deserts, in extreme conditions. They also added a variable oil pump in this engine so that the engine oil can reduce heat more efficiently. Earlier they used a pump which was belt driven. They have also used low friction coating on the cylinder’s interior walls to increase its life. The exhaust valve they use are of different type specially in CNG cars. They uses harder material exhaust valve to make them more Thermal Efficient so that they can withstand high temperature of CNG fuel. CNG is high octane fuel which burn at high temperature and thus it increases the temperature of cylinder block also.
Tata uses single advanced ECU which works for both CNG and for Petrol also unlike Maruti Suzuki which uses Dual ECU. Tata motor together with BOSCH company has calibrated this ECU which make the petrol and CNG switching very smooth and seamless. The valve are also have hydraulic adjuster which does not need adjustment. Now Tata has also used an electronic throttle body removing wired throttle body used earlier. This makes a more precise air fuel mixture enter in the combustion chamber as per the need of the engine and the RPMs. And thus help in becoming fuel efficient.
Tata Revotron 3 Cylinder Engine Problems
Many people makes complains about this engine. Like noisy engine, higher NVH level, vibration on the gear lever, rusting issue in tata cars, higher cabin noise. Its engine noise does not give a sporty car feel and engine bay design is little complex when compared to Maruti. The AMT used in this engine feels jerky, AGS in this cars feels more refined though. Low city mileage is a problem with this engine. In city driving actually all the cars give less mileage but still when compared to others like in CNG, it will be little less fuel efficient. But on the highways this Revotron engine give a very good fuel efficiency. Only synthetic oil should be used specially in CNG cars. Timely service should be done for longer engine life in every 9000 to 10000 kms run.
If you want a safe car that have good features and you can ignore the car noise, vibration and service cost then you can go with this engine. Due to dual CNG cylinder technology Tata becomes choice for many.
Why is Tata giving 3 cylinder engines?
3 cylinder engine is lighter in weight because it reduces the weight of one extra cylinder. Also a 3 cylinder engine is more fuel efficient because the fuel will burn only in its 3 cylinders rather than in 4. Another advantages of it is that it is cheaper than 4 cylinder engine because of less components used. So using a three cylinder is a win win situation for any car maker. And that is why Tata giving 3 cylinder engines. Also these engines require less space and are compact in size so these are suitable for hatchback and micro SUVs. Another benefit of 3 cylinder engine is that it produces less carbon or in general term they create less pollution.
Tata Revotron 3 Cylinder Engine good or bad
The 3 cylinder engine is good option but to some extent only. A 3 cylinder engine has its limitations also. The working of this engine is less Synchronized like that in a 4 cylinder engine. Actually we are fetching same power from an engine which is smaller in size. So the use of this engine becomes limited. This engine is good for city purpose because it is a fuel efficient engine. In long term use this engine can start producing noise and prone to vibration. When we drive this on the mountains and on high altitudes it feels under powered. So for normal purpose use this is a very good engine but with some limitations also.
1 thought on “Tata Revotron 3 Cylinder Engine Reliability? | Tata Revotron 3 Cylinder Engine Review”