*It would be best to take this vehicle to Hyundai as the 2011 - 2012 2.4L GDI engine have a specific engine recall noted here :
https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...recalls-sonata-engine-problem/72797502/. After Hyundai gets you squared away you may choose to do oil changes yourself with the better oil for this engine (5W30 Synthetic) and no more that 5,000 mile OCI's using either the OEM oil filter or the solid Fram Ultra you noted - good luck and if you change the oil yourself - save those receipts !
Originally Posted by Ddub
In related news (sorry if this qualifies as a thread hijack), I have a 2012 Sonata Limited with the 2.4 Theta engine that I purchased about 6 months ago from my mom for almost nothing. It has 17K miles on it, is in nearly new condition, and will be the primary car my 16 year year old son drives when he begins driving next month. I expect he'll drive less than 10K per year, and the car will sit for a while during his freshman year of college because he won't have a car then. I truly knew nothing of the issues with this engine until after I bought the car.
All the maintenance on this car has been done at a Hyundai dealer, and I noticed it has the orange dipstick handle which I think means it has been inspected, found to have no obvious issues, and given a new dipstick that takes a little more oil to show as full. I have not received anything from Hyundai about the recent software update mentioned in this thread, but wonder if it applies to this car.
My original plan for this car was to do annual oil changes (because of the slow accrual of mileage) with Castrol EP 5W-30 and a Fram Ultra filter, but that seems like a bad idea now that I want the car to still be eligible for the newly issued warranty extension to 120K miles or 10 years (it will definitely expire by time, not miles in our case).
Do you think it matters if I change the oil myself every 5K with PP or Castrol Edge 5W-30 and a Hyundai filter, or should I take it to the dealer to let them perform the oil changes so that everything is documented properly in case a warranty issue arises? Thank you.