I just bought a 2017 Hyundai Tucson with all wheel drive. Can someone explain for me how this system works? Thank you
AWD Hyundai
- Thread starter jerseyguy123
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wemay
Site Donor 2023
How does AWD work on the Tucson? Is it always ON?
The Tucson is my first vehicle with AWD. I am familiar with how AWD/4WD works, but I am a bit confused as to whether it is in fact always on. I see the button by the shifter with the LOCK and the 4 tires. When I press on this the same lights up on the dash in an amber color. I don't hear...
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AWD System
I just bought a 2017 Hyundai Tucson with all wheel drive. Can someone please explain how the system works? Thank you
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Change your rear diff oil ASAP. I had very dirty rear diff oil at 2,000 as I sport drive my AWD lowered Kona. I suggest changing at the 5,000 sport driving and 8,000 if you drive like a older mom and dad when buying a new AWD car/suv. Your diff has 1/2 Qt of oil for all those AWD clutch plates, that makes the oil abrasive. I changed it again at I think 7,000 miles and it was dirty again. When I changed it out at 15,000 it was pretty clean. So with some hard sport driving it takes a bit to get the clutches fully broken in and it doesn't take much to have black rear diff oil with 1/2Qt of oil and a bunch of clutch plates. My wife's Rav4 had very black oil at 22,000 miles and I did 2 flushes and it is running cleaner now too, again ...a 1/2 of oil in very critical area that needs some much needed maintenance in the beginning of life.
Very solid system, it is always on. Rear wheels will engage when the front wheels slip. Turning on the "lock" feature will keep the rear wheels engaged up until 25mph if i'm not mistaken.
OT, Ironically I just changed the transmission, rear diff and center diff fluids at 30k on wife's '18 Sportage. I was surprised all 3 drains came out fairly clean, just a bit darker than the new fluid. Magnets had a minimal coating and the drain pan did not show much if any "sparkly bits".
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Way to much stuff to worry about but then again, many in here have to be admitted to the Oil Change Psycho Ward if they go 5 miles over when their oil change indicator lamp glows bright...lol
The oil for the diff and the clutch pack are seperate. The oil you can change is the diff oil
That's what I was thinking.
If this system is anything like the 4x4 on my 2019 Nissan Pathfinder, it's really nothing fancy and its not really AWD. Power to the rear is either full on or full off like flipping a toggle switch.
The on/off is done by the electro magnetic rear coupling on the input of the rear differential. Like said, it's not serviceable per the FSM.
Best you can do is change the transfer case/PTU oil and rear diff oil.
Ok I looked at exploded view and you maybe right. Well, the rear diff gets so dirty very quickly until it is broken in. After 3 drains it is staying cleaner for a longer period. I will have to look at mine this week end. It looks like you can get access to the front clutches cavity by the pump or motor. So far it seems it is a viscous coupler full contained unit.
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Axle & Differential for 2018 Hyundai Kona | Discount Hyundai Parts
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I've seen that SMA video, that's a great one. How lucky was that owner that he was willing to tear into the electro/mag coupling to figure it out and repair it by replacing the bearings. These things fail all the time and OEM replacements are like $1000 just for the part.
My point was, I think a lot of people think their "AWD" systems are more advanced than they actually are. Many of them, like that kia and my 2019 Pathfinder are just a part time 4x4 system.
Yes, they are light duty and are not engaged full time unless you start slipping a wheel or if you put the car/CUV into "sport mode." This is where it does go into a full time 95% fron 5% rear mode. At least Hyundai and my wife Rav4 does this. You feel this when towing, you feel and hear load only on the front diff but when you put it in sport mode you feel load go back to the rear diff and off load the "load" from the front. It says this way 100% of the time in sport mode. In my Hyundai it also stops the DCT from going into 7 gear. A gear you never want to use in towing anything remotely heavy.
In regards to fluid changes:
I changed our 2014 Tuscon (4-Cyl 2.4L GDI AWD) factory rear diff and transfer case fluid at about 45K miles. Need to check my excel sheets but it was in that range +/- few thousand miles ... Transfer case looked a little dirty and the rear diff looked very clean! Maybe it was the other way around. lol I will update when I am on my computer but both looked good.
Color wise they both looked good at about 50K if color matters.
Based on my observation, I could have waited even longer. Not sure what the owners manual recommendation is as far as fluid (rear , xfr case) changes but I think it's 100K miles.
iirc, I changed the trans fluid at about 60K miles and it was dark maybe brown (it was not red) but smelled good. No burnt smell and car was shifting very smoothly when I changed it.
I changed our 2014 Tuscon (4-Cyl 2.4L GDI AWD) factory rear diff and transfer case fluid at about 45K miles. Need to check my excel sheets but it was in that range +/- few thousand miles ... Transfer case looked a little dirty and the rear diff looked very clean! Maybe it was the other way around. lol I will update when I am on my computer but both looked good.
Color wise they both looked good at about 50K if color matters.
Based on my observation, I could have waited even longer. Not sure what the owners manual recommendation is as far as fluid (rear , xfr case) changes but I think it's 100K miles.
iirc, I changed the trans fluid at about 60K miles and it was dark maybe brown (it was not red) but smelled good. No burnt smell and car was shifting very smoothly when I changed it.
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I still don't see how this system can be called AWD. From what I can tell these don't have a center differential, just a transfer case. The transfer case and prop shaft to the rear is live any time the vehicle is moving. The electronic coupling on the rear differential input is what puts prop shaft power on/off to the rear wheels.
Best Hyundai Kona online forum in the world is the one in my signature. Stop on by, if buy a Kona.
In our 2019 Santa Fe the rear diff is engaged every time you accelerate from a stop - - regardless of what mode you are in. Once you are at your cruising speed it disengages.
It's not your typical slip-n-grip system anymore. It is in use all of the time when accelerating. I prefer the feel of it better than slip-n-grip system we had before.
