Hyundai Problems

The good thing about modern stereo systems is that they’re (mostly) a universal size so that you can literally take your pick of the unit you decide to fit. So it will come down to your budget and your requirements.

A good upgrade is a unit with Bluetooth connectivity so you can wirelessly connect your phone to access navigation, music and other apps. But don’t forget that the head unit is just part of the stereo system, and you may need to upgrade the car’s speakers to take full advantage of the new stereo.

There are three ways of charging the Hyundai Ioniq 6 – two at home methods, and one in public. It is recommended that owners of the Hyundai Ioniq 6 purchase a three-phase 11kW at-home wall charger box. These retail for anywhere from $800 to $2000, depending on the manufacturer and the power supply, with additional charges of 21 to 36 centw per kW, depending on your energy provider. Additional costs can be zero if you’re hooked up to a renewable source such as solar. All up, it will deliver a charge time of five hours for the Standard Range variant and seven hours for the Long Range. The other at-home method is through a conventional 240V powerpoint, which takes about 25 hours on the Standard Range variant and 37 hours on the Long Range variant. A public charging station of 50kW will deliver a zero to 80 per cent charge in one hour for the Standard range, rising to 1.6 hours on the Long Range, while a 350kW charger will see the time it takes drop to 18 minutes on both variants. Cost is dependent on location, whether it is a peak period or not, and what the charger’s capacity is, though as a general rule you should never pay more than $40 for a full charge.

Various systems randomly turning themselves on or staying powered up when the car is otherwise turned off often point to a fault with the body computer which controls literally hundreds of functions. Obviously, the power steering should shut down with the rest of the car so, as the master control unit, the body computer is where many mechanics would start looking.

Whether the same fault is also causing the ESP light to come on is another matter, but it’s possible both problems are connected. Again, the body computer is a likely culprit. Have the car scanned to see what and how many individual fault codes are thrown up. That’s the best way to proceed in this case.

Taking your car to a Hyundai dealer is a fabulous idea because you might just find that this will turn into a warranty claim where Hyundai foots the bill and not you. Theoretically, your car could still be covered by its original five-year warranty (depending on what date it was sold new) but some Hyundai cars were also covered by extra warranty and extended drivetrain warranties. This is what you need to establish, but a Hyundai dealer will be able to give you the answer.

You’re in luck here, Tony, because both the petrol and diesel engines fitted to this generation of the i30 used timing chains rather than rubber toothed timing belts. As such, the chain should be good for the life of the engine, rather than requiring scheduled replacement like a timing belt.

For the record, most manufacturers say a rubber timing-belt should be changed (roughly) at 100,000km or 10-year intervals. That said, some carmakers recommend much shorter intervals, so it’s worth knowing this stuff. A failed timing belt will often destroy the rest of the engine, but so can a timing chain if it fails. It’s just that a chain is much less likely to fail in service.

If you’ve just bought a new car, it’s very important to discover what recalls have been issued for it over the years and whether those fixes have been attended to.

My list of recalls for this model Hyundai iX35 includes one for a seat-belt tensioner cable that was not attached properly, one for an air-bag retention nut that was incorrectly torqued and could cause the air-bag to deploy incorrectly, one for a transmission cooler hose problem on automatic versions, one for a potential fuel hose leak and a fifth recall for a potential engine oil leak on the 2.4-litre petrol variant.

Hyundai actually issued a recall for some Konas with the dual-clutch transmission on precisely this basis. At the time, the reason given was that electrical gremlins within the computer-control of the driveline could cause the transmission to lose drive. Obviously, if you’re merging into fast moving traffic or crossing an uncontrolled intersection at the time, a sudden loss of drive could be very dangerous.

To find out if a particular car was affected and whether or not it’s been fixed, you can quote the VIN to a Hyundai dealer who should be able to give you the good or bad news.

The fuel tank on your car has a capacity of 75 litres. With an official combined fuel economy number of 10.3 litres per 100km, that should give you a range of around 700km before you need to start looking for a service station.

The Santa Fe may well have a fuel filter below the rear seat, but it’s almost certainly located on the outside of the car (as in, under the floor) rather than inside under the seat cushion. I’d be very surprised if any of the car’s fuel system or lines ran inside the passenger compartment.

Which means it’s still possible that some fuel was spilled under the car during the filter change or that there’s even a fuel leak as a result of the change. Either could lead to a smell inside the car, but it shouldn’t persist. If it does, there’s a problem. Take it back to the dealership and ask for the problem to be fixed. If the dealership somehow spilled petrol on the seat trim or allowed fuel to enter the cabin in some other way, they are responsible for fixing it. Driving around in a car with petrol fumes inside is an obvious health and safety issue.