Hyundai Problems

It really doesn’t matter how fast you’re driving when a timing chain or timing belt breaks. If the engine is an interference design, then this failure has possibly turned the rest of the engine to junk. That’s because the valves and pistons have tried to occupy the same space at the same time, and widespread internal damage is the usually outcome.

From what I can gather, the V6 engine in your car is indeed an interference design, so the damage is possibly terminal. You could remove the cylinder head(s) to check, but if the engine has locked up, there’s a fair chance you’ll need to either rebuild the engine or replace it with a different one. You may also find that the cost of these repairs will be greater than the market value of the vehicle itself. At that point, you need to decide whether to repair it or start again with a new vehicle.

Most Hyundai engines with a rubber timing belt require belt changes every 100,000km. Stretching this interval is pushing your luck as a failed belt will destroy the rest of the engine. With that in mind, you’re already over that limit by about 10,000km, so a change sooner rather than later is in order.

The car will, indeed, drive perfectly even with an old timing belt. Until it doesn’t. At which point you have an engine bay full of junk and a big engine replacement bill coming your way.

The first thing to check here is what’s called the clock spring. This is an electrical connector inside the steering wheel that allows the wheel to be turned to full lock and back while still allowing for electrical contact between the airbag and the rest of the car.

If this spring fails, the connection between the airbag and the systems that would trigger it in a crash are lost. Which means that in a big enough collision, the airbag would not fire and protect the driver.

Clock spring replacement is relatively simple but it’s still a job best left to the pros, as any time you’re messing with an airbag, you’re playing with a fairly violent explosive component. Get it wrong and accidentally fire the airbag, and you could be seriously injured.

A poor earth is often the cause of this sort of misbehaviour and it’s a good place to start looking. Check the earthing points in the engine bay and around the area where the tail-lights are earthed in the cargo area.

You might need to lift some carpet or trim pieces, but when you find the earth points, make sure they’re tight and clean and not covered in corrosion. Don’t forget to check the tightness and cleanliness of the battery terminals, too.

Beyond that, these symptoms point to a problem with the car’s body computer which controls all these functions and many more.

When this computer starts to die, all sorts of weird and random flaws can occur. But try this first: Disconnect the battery of the car and let it sit overnight. Reconnect it next morning and keep a close eye on what happens. Sometimes this simple trick will reboot the body computer and normal service will be resumed. Best of all it’s free.

This is not an unknown problem with this make and model. Sometimes the stereo system will start by losing sound on the FM radio, then progress through to the CD player and even the Bluetooth system. Eventually, you won’t be able to get any noise out of the unit at all. Apparently, it’s a glitch in the unit’s electronics and cant’ be fixed via a reset.

The advice is not to buy a second-hand unit from a wrecked car, as the same problem is likely to occur down the track. The good news is that there are companies in Australia that have developed a fix for this and can return your stereo to full working order. You can find them online.

The other solution would be to ditch the original stereo and fit something new with better quality sound and maybe even features like an integrated reversing camera.

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.

What you haven’t told me is whether your car has an automatic or manual transmission. And that means different things if the transmission has somehow been over-filled.

In the case of a manual gearbox, you’ll find that the extra oil will probably soon be evenly distributed across the bottom of your car as the excess exits the scene through either a breather tube or a seal or gasket.

But if it’s an automatic, the extra fluid could cause the entire transmission to behave strangely, as this type of gearbox relies on the correct internal fluid pressure to select gears, change gears and, in fact, make the car move at all. Again, though, the extra will probably force its way out through a seal or gasket and then you have a much more complicated repair to make.

The best advice is to check the level of the fluid as set out in the owner’s handbook and make sure the level is correct before driving anywhere else.

This is not an unknown problem with some Hyundai engines, although, to be fair, most of the oil burning problems were in earlier models than yours. That doesn’t mean you don’t have the same problem, though, and it’s definitely worth checking out and finding a solution.

The first thing to do is to contact Hyundai Australia’s customer service department, and let them know you have a problem. My experience has been that Hyundai takes customer satisfaction very seriously.

The next step is to determine exactly how much oil is being consumed. The dealership will be able to help here and will probably fill the engine with oil, seal the dipstick and send you away to cover 1000km or maybe more. Then, the oil level is checked again and you’ll know precisely how much has been consumed over a known distance. Based on that information, you may be able to negotiate a deal with Hyundai that sorts the problem without you paying for the entire bill (if, for instance, it’s determined that a new engine is required).

Obviously, there are lots of factors at play here, including how many kilometres the car has covered and its service history. But it’s definitely worth getting to the bottom of the problem sooner rather than later.

There are many reasons this could happen, and they could be mechanical or electrical. An engine that revs freely with no load on it, but goes weak at the knees when a load is placed on it, could be suffering from poor fuel supply, a faulty ignition system, internal wear, a blocked exhaust or even a worn driveline that is creating excess friction. You could even have a seized brake or something equally fundamental going on.

But it’s also true that the car’s computer can send the engine into what’s called limp-home mode if it detects a serious problem. Limp-home mode limits the amount of power the engine can make or how fast it can rev, as a means of protecting it against further, more serious damage. Perhaps that’s what’s going on here. Certainly the symptoms match that diagnosis. The best advice is to have the car electronically scanned to see what fault codes are thrown up by the computer. Only then do you have a decent starting point on where to look for the root problem.