Hi all, new to the BITOG forums as a member, and I need some help on something. I drive a 2008 Hyundai Accent GS with close to 65,000 miles, and I've had an oil consumption problem for some time now (neglect by my father to change the oil at regular intervals sludged up the internals). Whenever I'd drive a long distance or just drive a lot during the day, the car would smoke on startup for 10-15 seconds and then it'd be fine until I drove it the same way again. I did a lot of research trying to figure out what it was, and determined it was bad valve stem seals and guides.
About 2,200mi ago, my Hyundai dealer did a rebuild under warranty (shouldn't have with all the sludge, but I used to work there, so the Service Manager let the warranty kick in for me). The head was sent out for cleaning, new valve guides, and new stem seals, and the block was pulled to be cleaned and have new piston rings and a gasket rebuild kit installed.
The rebuild seemed to work for two days before it started smoking really bad again, just as bad as before. It still smokes like the guides/stem seals are shot. I'm ~500 miles into a new 1500-mile oil consumption test at the dealer to get it put in for warranty service again (even though I wish they'd just accept that the rebuild didn't do the trick for some reason and the car needs to be fixed now).
I'm wondering if the rebuild was even enough. Either the head work was botched and the new seals were damaged during the install, or there's something else at play here. What say you guys? Do I need another rebuild done right, or am I potentially looking at needing a new engine?
2008 Accent Still Burning Oil After Rebuild
- Thread starter LittleRedAccent
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Nick1994
$100 site donor 2023
Keep going back until consumption slows down and it quits smoking. A 2008 anything should NOT be smoking, especially with that low of miles. I'd take it to the Hyundai dealer for it's oil changes until the warranty is up for proof proper oil was used at the specified intervals.
Keep your foot down about it being fixed until it is fixed properly.
RO didn't say anything about the bores being honed out, so that's a possibility. Wouldn't that cause blue smoke while driving, too? It might be doing so and it just dissipates too fast for me to catch it. I notice the worst of the smoke on startup, usually a plume. Takes a lot of driving to make it do that, though. I commute a little over 100 miles round-trip from Stockton to Dublin five days a week, and that's plenty enough to make it shoot out a sizable plume either in the parking lot at work, at home the day after, or both.
Did they change the PCV valve or whatever Hyundai uses for PCV on that thing?
Originally Posted By: dishdude
How bad was this thing neglected to be sludged up at 65k?
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Did they change the PCV valve or whatever Hyundai uses for PCV on that thing?
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A direction to look at if you have smoke at startup only/mostly is the valve guides/seals. It takes some time for the oil to leak down the valve stems and when you start it the oil goes in all at once leaving a big cloud of smoke. Smoking under decel (ie throttle closed) engine braking should also occur due to the vacuum sucking oil past the valve guides/seals but the cat may be hot enough to burn it off.
I would guess that the head rebuild may have been a little off.
Could it be that the engine was not build well to begin with? If the piston / cylinder wasn't sealing it may not be just the rings, it could be not matched up right at the factory to begin with.
Did they do any measurement before putting things together during the rebuild?
Sounds like they just popped new rings in there without checking for cylinder out of round or ring gap.
If the ring gap is too wide, the ring tension won't be high enough.
I wonder did they really rebuild it or just do the top end? If they only did the top end, bad rings will smoke worse than before.
The head was done on sublet. RO says new stem seals and guides were installed at Victory Cylinder Heads in Modesto, and the block work was done at the Hyundai dealer. Would the repair order say if they checked for out-of-round or honed the cylinders? Like I mentioned earlier, no mention of either in the RO I got for my records. I'll ask next time I go in.
Originally Posted By: LittleRedAccent
Tand the block work was done at the Hyundai dealer.
I work at a Lexus & Toyota dealer & have dealt with several oil consumption issues after the infamous 4GR-FE misfire rebuild & 1MZ-FE sludge repairs. I know you have a Hyundai, but the basics get overlooked sometimes. Do you know if the cylinder sleeves were honed? Were the piston oil ring drain holes cleaned out, or new pistons installed? Were the rings broken in with a varying throttle for 15 minutes, or just allowed to idle after the initial start? Are the baffles in the valve cover restricted with sludge?
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My wife had a 97 Accent.
1.3 auto
Was a solid little car but did use oil and you could smell it was burning a little oil when first started.
She ran it low on oil all the time.
She would out a pen on the dash to obscure the oil light!
Gave it away in the end and it is still in daily use nearly 6yrs later.
There are very good reasons why Africa is full of Hyundais.
We have two in Ghana being used as Taxis both bought used from South Korea.
Hope you get your issue sorted OP.
Sadly nowadays Hyundais have gone all mainstream.
I liked them when they were cheap utilitarian transport.
I don't think 8000 miles is overly long unless really poor quality oil was used.
From memory the wifes Accent used semi synth 10w40.
I think i mainly used Castrol Magnatec which was a handy size as the sump was 3.3 litres so 0.7L for top ups.
I changed it once or twice a year usually.
It had 30k on it when bought and had just over 80k when given away.
Had it for nearly 4years.
We called it "Mums Donkey"
Originally Posted By: mehullica
I work at a Lexus & Toyota dealer & have dealt with several oil consumption issues after the infamous 4GR-FE misfire rebuild & 1MZ-FE sludge repairs. I know you have a Hyundai, but the basics get overlooked sometimes. Do you know if the cylinder sleeves were honed? Were the piston oil ring drain holes cleaned out, or new pistons installed? Were the rings broken in with a varying throttle for 15 minutes, or just allowed to idle after the initial start? Are the baffles in the valve cover restricted with sludge?
Did you check to see that the PCV valve is getting vacuum?
I've see the vacuum port and hose clog up on a neglected engine.
IMHO refurbishing the bottom end (re. cylinders) is much more involved than head work; and easily botched.
Well, things just went from bad to worse. On Friday, I drove the Hyundai to Elk Grove, back down the Stockton, then out to Dublin for work, then back home, where it sat all day while I used my mom's car to get to work on Saturday. When I got home this early morning, about a half hour ago, I turned it on to clear whatever smoke would surely shoot out the tailpipe...
...and it didn't stop smoking. It revved abnormally high when I turned it over, shot the usual big plume, and then kept smoking the whole time it was on. I turned it off, then back on, and it was still smoking. I'm worried. Very worried. I want to take it to the dealer today, but I fear I'll be pulled over and ticketed for the excessive smoke. What should I do?
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