Hyundai Problems

It’s a bit of a surprise to learn that a brand-new muffler lasted just two years before needing replacement, and that’s certainly not what most mechanics would consider normal. But it isn’t unheard of, either.

One of the by-products of burning petrol is water. That explains the cloud-like water-vapour you see when a car is first started on a cold morning. Once the car is up to running temperature, however, that water is turned completely to steam and exits the tailpipe. But, if the vehicle is only ever used for short trips where the exhaust system never gets hot enough to evaporate all that water, then the water can sit inside the system (typically inside the muffler, and in a sometimes acidic environment) where it can cause rust to develop.

This is a lot less common in modern cars with catalytic converters which cause the exhaust to run at a higher temperature and get there faster, but it can still happen – as you now know. The best fix is to fit a stainless-steel exhaust system which simply refuses to rust, but they’re expensive and I wouldn’t expect Hyundai to go to that expense for a warranty claim.

So will it happen again in another two years? If the cause of the rusty muffler is as I’ve explained here, then there’s a very good chance it will happen again thanks to your car’s pattern of use. But if the problem was simply a bad batch of mufflers that weren’t rust-proofed correctly at the factory (and it happens) then a new muffler shouldn’t rot out so quickly. But it makes us wonder if Victoria’s extended COVID lockdown and the notorious five-kilometre-radius-from-home rule may have forced drivers into lots of short trips for months on end. Perhaps you’re seeing the start of a trend here.

It sounds to me as though you’ve only talked – at this stage – to your Hyundai dealership. I’d be taking the time to contact Hyundai Australia’s customer service division and asking for a firm timetable of when the work will be carried out and when you can expect to be driving your own car again. There’s always the ACCC to talk to if you don’t get a satisfactory answer, but give Hyundai Australia the chance to make things right. Hyundai is a brand that is very serious about its reputation and sometimes enquiries at dealership level don’t always get straight through to head office.

The hard starting and loss of power sound to me like a problem with the fuel pick-up or the fuel pump. In your Hyundai, the fuel filter is part of the pump assembly and lives in the actual fuel tank. Replacing the filter involves removing the pump from the tank, changing the filter and then replacing the whole assembly into the tank. If a hose has been crimped or an air leak introduced into this system, the pump may not be able to supply the engine with all the fuel it needs. A cold start-up is when an engine will suffer from this leak, while tight turns on a roundabout could be enough to starve the engine of fuel if the pick-up (the hose that dips into the petrol in the tank) isn’t in the right position inside the tank. The fact that these problems started when the car received a new fuel filter is a pretty good clue that something was not quite right when the car was put back together. I’d be going back to the workshop that fitted the filter, explaining the problem and giving the shop the opportunity to put things right.

The noise in your steering system is almost certainly due to a well known problem with these cars. The electrically-assisted steering system in your car uses a rubber coupling which can deteriorate over time. When this happens, a click or clunk can be heard. The solution is to have the rubber coupling replaced. Because the problem didn’t cause steering failure, Hyundai didn’t issue a recall for this, but a batch of earlier i30s (some cars built in 2007 and 2008) did have a steering coupling that could fail completely, leading to a loss of steering., These were recalled by Hyundai as part of a safety recall back in 2014.

Mazda’s SUV range (CX-5 and CX-8) are popular with their owners and have a good reputation in the trade. Crucially, they’re also available with a turbo-diesel engine, so they fit your criteria on that basis. We’d also suggest you take a good look at the South Korean brands’ offerings (Hyundai and Kia) as these are also highly rated by the trade and those companies have been involved with small-capacity diesel engines for decades, so the technology is pretty well sorted.

It’s interesting that you’ve had a good run from your Holden Captiva as that is far from the experience of many owners and former owners of this particular vehicle. As the Captiva ages it is very likely to start giving trouble, so the best advice is to trade up to a newer vehicle sooner rather than later.

Any smoke from the exhaust of a car suggests there’s something wrong with the fuel system or that there’s wear inside the engine. I’m leaning towards the fuel system in this case, though, as a cold-start is when the fuelling system is under the greatest stress.

To make a cold engine run properly, the engine’s fuel-air ratio has to be altered (more fuel and less air than when the engine is up to temperature). To know how much extra fuel, the engine has a range of sensors that measure the temperature of the air going into the engine, the temperature of the engine itself, the flow of air, as well as sensors that sniff what’s coming out of the tailpipe to make sure the mixture is just right. If any of these sensors begin to send false information to the engine’s computer, the mixture can be incorrect and the rough running, poor idling and visible smoke can be the results.

Even something as simple as the stepper-motor, which controls the idle speed of the car, can be the cause of rough idling, but that’s less likely to contribute to gales of smoke from the exhaust. The best advice is to have the car scanned and see if the computer has logged any faults. Smoke from the engine might also warrant a compression test of the engine’s cylinders, too. From there, you can make a more informed diagnosis and replace only the faulty parts.

There’s no point giving an engine a double-dose of whatever the manufacturer recommends as the correct amount. And that applies to everything from injector cleaner to windscreen washer fluid. It’s also true that these injector cleaners will sometimes work if the problem is a simple case of a build-up of dirt and gunk that shouldn’t be on the injector, but if the problem is an actual worn injector or some other problem, then all the cleaner in the world won’t help. You’ve asked if the condition might improve with time, and in the case of a dirty injector that is gradually cleaned by these products, then the answer is maybe.

The fact that your engine runs perfectly once warmed up is the interesting part. That suggests that there’s something going on when the engine is first started. Does it start easily? If not, the glow-plugs (which pre-heat the combustion chamber on a diesel) could be malfunctioning. I’d also be checking the fuel delivery pressure as these modern, common-rail diesel engines use very high fuel pressure to work properly. If the injectors aren’t getting the correct pressure from the moment you hit the key, they can run very poorly. That would then lead me to check for a dirty fuel filter and perhaps even the condition of the pump and its regulator. You might even find the problem is related to the turbocharger or even the throttle-by-wire system that is having a temperature-related hissy-fit.

The first thing to do now would be to have the vehicle scanned and, in particular, look out for fault code P0401. This will be logged as a problem with the EGR system, but is often caused by carbon build-up in the engine rather than a problem with the actual EGR valve. This fault code can also be associated with loose turbocharger plumbing which can lead to boost leaks and the sort of sluggish behaviour you’ve noted. Either way, it’s a good clue about where to look. It’s also worth noting that Hyundai was aware of a problem with the engine fuel-filter fitted to engines built around the time of your car. A change of the filter cartridge was a simple fix, so make sure that’s been done on your car. A Hyundai dealership will be able to check if your car was affected and whether it’s been fitted with the new filter.

The Santa Cruz not only has an integrated tub, it’s also a monocoque design rather than a separate body on a ladder-style chassis as many commercial vehicles are. But it would, in Australia, still be classified as a light commercial vehicle. According to the Federal Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, light commercial vehicles are: '…motor vehicles constructed to carry goods or specialised equipment that are less than or equal to 3.5 tonnes gross vehicle mass. They include utility vehicles, panel vans, cab chassis vehicles and goods vans.' And that pretty neatly describes the Santa Cruz utility.

There has been a lot of talk about the Hyundai tray-back making it to Australia, but a couple of things are standing in the way. The volume models, for a start, are front-wheel-drive and the construction rules out the huge towing limit of something like a Toyota HiLux or Ford Ranger (3.5 tonnes). But there’s plenty to suggest that the Santa Cruz would be a nicer thing to drive than a conventional dual-cab ute and, for those who don’t need to tow super-heavy loads, the Hyundai might make a bit of sense. But don’t hold your breath on it coming here. For now, Hyundai is saying no to an Australian launch, purely because the Santa Cruz is not being built in right-hand-drive form.

Performing a DIY Hyundai Getz engine oil change at home is a great way to save money and protect your engine. The process is not too involved, but you need to get it right. Perhaps you can enlist the help of a mechanic or somebody who knows how to change oil on your Hyundai Getz the first time to avoid any oversights.

If a car overheats (for whatever reason, but a blown head gasket is a prime cause of this) the damage to the engine internally can be catastrophic. Pretty much any component can be compromised after an overheating event, so knowing where to start looking is the big question here.

Changing the head gasket requires removal of the cylinder head, and reassembly involves making sure that the camshaft timing is reinstated correctly. If there’s been a mistake made in this regard, the engine will almost certainly not run. 

Certainly, injector failure is not unknown in modern turbo-diesels, but the fuelling system on a modern, common-rail turbo-diesel is a complex, fine-tolerance arrangement, so you also need to check the filters, fuel pump(s) and operating pressures. Even then, you might find that a simple, cheap-to-replace sensor is the single component preventing the vehicle from running.

I’d start with an electronic interrogation of the car’s computer. The problem there is that if the car hasn’t actually run with the issue that’s preventing it from starting, the computer may not have had the opportunity to log the problem in the first place. That said, a simple fault code might be all you need to know to move forward, so a scan is in order. Beyond that, it’s back to first principles, checking the timing and clearances of all the mechanical bits and pieces, including having the injectors bench-tested.

This is a really interesting question, because most car-makers tend to quote their products’ luggage capacity in litres, rather than a set of dimensions in each direction. Even then, it’s not that simple as there are different methods fort calculating the cubic capacity of a load space, and the two methods are not readily comparable. It’s also a bit of a con-job, because a figure in litres mean very little to most people, while actual measurements in centimetres would be much more relatable.

In any case, since you obviously have two kids with cellos and school-bags, it’s clear that you’ll also need the rear seat for at least one passenger, so you need to find a vehicle that either has enough space in the rear with the first two rows of seats in place, or a car that has a split-fold rear seat to allow longer loads (like a cello or two) to pass from the luggage area into the rear seat space. The good news there is that many (if not all) SUVs do, in fact, have this split-fold seat, and that will surely accommodate even a full-sized cello which, after a bit of scratching around, I discovered is about 121cm long.

If, however, you need to occupy the whole rear seat with passengers, then you need to find an SUV that is wide enough to accept the cellos loaded across (or diagonally across) the car. That won’t be easy, because most vehicles just aren’t that wide inside. Even a conventional full-sized car-based Holden or Ford utility (which aren’t being made any longer) is only about 1400mm wide. And if you check out something like a Hyundai Santa Fe, it’s load area with the third row is feats down is just 1080mm at its narrowest point. Even the huge Hyundai Palisade is just 1111mm across the narrowest point of its load area. There will be areas where the space is wider, but that narrowest point is usually between the rear wheel-arches.

I’ll also take a punt and suggest that the cellos in question are either in carry-bags or even hard-cases which would add even more to their length. So you might find it very difficult to find anything that will accommodate a 1.2 or 1.3 metre cello lengthways in the luggage area without resorting to folding down half the second-row seat. Even a big car like a Volvo XC90 has just 1220mm of load length with the rear seat in place, and mid-sized station-wagons typically have less than a metre between the tailgate and the rear seat. The best idea might be to make a short-list of cars you’d be happy with and then visit the relevant showrooms with a tape measure (or even a cello) in your hand.