I bought a Hyundai i30 in 2019, brand new. Every service has been done at the dealership. I haven't skipped any (one was two months late). About three weeks ago, I noticed that when the car is idling, the engine shakes quite a bit.
I booked it in with the dealer. They performed a borescope and compression test and filled the engine with two litres of oil. They also told me that the engine is internally worn. They want me to take the car back every 1000 kms for the next 5000 kms for an oil consumption test which I am happy to do.
I know I have a seven-year warranty on this car as I have located the emails from the dealership.
Is there anything else I should be doing or asking of the dealership? Do you have any recommendations on how to deal with this moving forward ? Is an internally worn engine something that can be fixed or is my car doomed? Should I be asking for a replacement? My car has done 71,000km and I don't mistreat it or thrash it.
This is not an uncommon thing with some Hyundai models of this vintage. Because of either poor design or materials, some Hyundai engines wear faster than they should. The first signs are rough running, noisy operation and oil consumption. On that basis, I reckon you may have one of those affected engines. That’s supported by the borescope examination that showed wear and the fact that the engine needed two litres of oil to bring it back to a normal level.
It's a fair bet the 1000km monitoring will show the engine has a thirst for oil, at which point it probably needs to be either replaced or rebuilt. My experience suggests that Hyundai is taking this seriously and is replacing engines under warranty with an improved unit that should last much better.
Give the dealership every chance to figure out what’s actually happening under the bonnet and then the time to make it right. You now have what’s called a pre-existing issue, so even if the warranty runs out, Hyundai knows the problem occurred while still within the warranty period. If your case is denied, then it’s time to contact Hyundai Australia’s customer service department and then, if you still don’t have any luck the ACCC which administers Australian Consumer Law and will be well versed with this issue.