2009 Hyundai Elantra GLS - General questions.

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Feb 19, 2009
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Location
The Woods of NY
Hi everyone!, I picked up another one, this time a one owner 2009 Elantra GLS with 114K miles. It was sitting in a field under tress for about a year. This was in ruff cosmetic condition with the paint covered in dirt, mold and sap, but it started right up with a jump, and i drove it home!. After about a week of cleaning, power washing, lubricating, tightening, waxing ect it looks to be bouncing back! Good mechanical condition, with only needing front sway bar links and maybe shocks and brakes to get it 100%.. T-belt/spark plugs/water pump/coolant/belts has been done at 85K, New tires, feels tight, and pulls nicely on 91 non-ethonal fuel with 10OZ of MMO in tank.. No check engine light - passed NY state inspection on year old gas and gets 30 MPG not even trying. Zero body rust, even the under body is spotless. and has working A/C. How i dont know as this car is a salt belt car.
Now the questions.. What are some of the normal issues with the 2009 Elantra has so i can fix, before they turn into issues haha , I would like to upgrade the current 4 wheel disk brakes, and shocks to get a firmer ride. and while i'm in there maybe throw on the Touring rear sway bar. I also want to ditch the hubcaps, and get Hyundai OEM rims, Do you know what other Hyundai rims will fit? I know i could get the SE rims, but maybe there are other options.
Thank you
🙂
 

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I have the EPS steering problem on our 2008 Elantra (EPS light comes on occasionally and power steering is lost)...While I know the car is out of warranty Hyundai refuses to fix it even though it's dangerous. The dealer wants thousands to fix it so we live with it. Many Elantra's suffer from steering noises due to the $2 rubber coupling deteriorating which costs hundreds in labor to replace.....aside from that they're good cars, IMO...
 
Hey thanks!, I went on rockauto and see they have KYB shock spring kit for front and regular shock for rear - great. Also will order the sway bar links, and premium powerstop K4442 drilled and slotted. I used the powerstop on the Sonata with fantastic results.
Also the MMO in the gas i believe does help with older higher mileage engines to keep them running clean, and smoother, plus the MMO lubricates the fuel pump and cleans out lines. I know its not a fix in a bottle, but it does help to clean and maintain a already "decent" fuel system/engine. Also no noise from steering, and EPS feels good, and tight if a bit artificial.. But i will keep my eye out of that!.
Next up on the list, a transmission drain and fill X2 or X3, (should i used Hyundai OEM transmission fluid or a synthetic aftermarket?) Mobil 1 5W20 Synthetic oil, a brake fluid flush, and Hyundai OEM 5x114.3 16" rims,(Maybe the XG350L rims, or Elantra SE rims) so you can see them drilled and slotted haha

Thank you all!.
 
As far as 'sway links'...DON'T use 'Mevotech Supreme's'....I found them to be JUNK on the Elantra. I've used both
Valvoline Import ATF and Castrol IMV ATF with no discernible difference in performance (both worked great and there is no need for OE fluid IMO). It is necessary to do a few D&R's since only about 2 quarts drain from the drain plug.

As far as oil....I've used 5w20, 5w30 and even 10w30 in summer....The Beta 2.0 is not particular and in my case it burns no oil in the typical 5K OCI. Once or twice it went approx. 7K (on syn. oil) when my daughter had it 5 hours away at college. It doesn't seem to mind dino, semi-syn, or full syn. and I've used oil from my stash that was as old as SJ rated (which the OM permits). It's still purring along as it approaches 150K....which is the highest mileage car I've ever owned (bought it used in 2012 with 28K from a teacher who used it to drive to the train station (short tripper).

The HD generation of Elantra (2007-2010) are a nice, simple, reliable design....we really like it.
 
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Oh lord, why would someone put this crap in the gas tank

It doesn't hurt anything, although 10oz is double what should be in there. The ratio is supposed to be 4oz for every 10gal of gas. The Elantra has a 14gal tank, so 5.6oz would be the most you would want in there.
 

I have the EPS steering problem on our 2008 Elantra (EPS light comes on occasionally and power steering is lost)...While I know the car is out of warranty Hyundai refuses to fix it even though it's dangerous. The dealer wants thousands to fix it so we live with it. Many Elantra's suffer from steering noises due to the $2 rubber coupling deteriorating which costs hundreds in labor to replace.....aside from that they're good cars, IMO...
Hyundai doesn't include it in recall? My Sonata has the same problem but a recall covered that.
 
Hyundai doesn't include it in recall? My Sonata has the same problem but a recall covered that.
I called the Hyundai dealer that I have used for 2 recalls (I bought the Elantra used so I can't go to the selling dealer).....they told me to call Hyundai...Hyundai told me to take it to the dealer....the dealer wanted a costly diagnostic fee to start and couldn't tell me if it would be covered under warranty etc...etc....etc...I saw on carcomplaints that many people had to pay thousands for this repair. It seems that the 'campaign' had ended. The car was 13 years old with over 140K at the time. I saw where it was going and decided to live with it. Because of this and the ongoing engine issues with Hyundai we've decided to scratch a new Kona off our list when the 'car shortage because of chips' ends....probably buy a new Mazda instead...
 
Hey thanks!, I went on rockauto and see they have KYB shock spring kit for front and regular shock for rear - great. Also will order the sway bar links, and premium powerstop K4442 drilled and slotted. I used the powerstop on the Sonata with fantastic results.
Also the MMO in the gas i believe does help with older higher mileage engines to keep them running clean, and smoother, plus the MMO lubricates the fuel pump and cleans out lines. I know its not a fix in a bottle, but it does help to clean and maintain a already "decent" fuel system/engine. Also no noise from steering, and EPS feels good, and tight if a bit artificial.. But i will keep my eye out of that!.
Next up on the list, a transmission drain and fill X2 or X3, (should i used Hyundai OEM transmission fluid or a synthetic aftermarket?) Mobil 1 5W20 Synthetic oil, a brake fluid flush, and Hyundai OEM 5x114.3 16" rims,(Maybe the XG350L rims, or Elantra SE rims) so you can see them drilled and slotted haha

Thank you all!.
If you do choose to use aftermarket fluid, I'm assuming it's SP-III, Valvoline import multi vehicle is a good choice because it's viscosity more closely matches SP-III vs the regular MV Maxlife.
 
Found four OEM 17" kia rims local for a decent price. Fit nicely and look so much better then the hubcaps. I am going to order new tires also in the "correct" size of 215/45/R17. 225/50R17 are on there now, but there are zero issues and no rubbing..

Also im going to stick to OEM transmission fluid, and just change it more often, play it safe...
Thanks!.
 

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