Been running 5W30QSUD in my daughters 13 Sonata 2.4 year round
Have gotten good labs back on 4 K oci as she does a lot of short trips
Have gotten good labs back on 4 K oci as she does a lot of short trips
BEST CHOICES FOR HYUNDAI SANTA FE THETA II 2.4 GDI
- Thread starter nealberke
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QSUD 5W30 is one of my favorite oils and often a go-to oil for me.
Great stuff^^^ as well. As is SuperTech syn
a 10-30 for sure in calif. girlfriends preowned 18 Optima gets quaker state ultimate durability, 6 mo usually under 5 thou changes + NEVER added any oil between + OE filter EVERY time! a good running + nice driving car with lots of room for a great price!! the used car dealer had semi-syn 5-20 in it witch i DUMPED ASAP!!
I think QS has more moly which I like.
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Deleted member 89374
I have your engine in my 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, and had two Sonatas, a 2011 (manual) and 2014 (auto) with the same engine. For the 2018 I have a lifetime warranty on the motor because Hyundai had so many 2.4 Theta II engines grenade themselves that they want to treasure the public that they are a good company, whatever that means.
Look at my signature and run that oil/filter combo and you will be fine. The international manual allows for up to 5W-40 for this engine and doesn't even mention 5W-20 for the Theta II anywhere else except North America (EPA, ya know). Fuel dilution is a big problem with Theta II engines, and people running whatever 5W-20 for 7000~8000 miles or longer with whatever cheap oil filter is the kiss of death for these motors.
I change my oil between 5000 to 7500 miles in Santa Fe. I also throw in a bottle of Lubegard Bio-Tech for good measure on top of 5.5 quarts of oil.
If you want to stick to 5W-30, get Castrol EDGE EP 5W-30, it has a high flash point, low NOACK, and stands up really well to fuel dilution. The Purolator BOSS filter in my signature is about twice as big as the OEM, not to mention that it's built like a tank.
Good luck with the Santa Fe Sport. At 30K miles, it's the ideal time to change the transmission fluid in it. I use Amsoil ATL fluid in mine, did a triple fluid change to wash out all the oil fluid. Since these transmissions don't have any kind of decent filtration, don't wait until 60K or longer to change the fluid.
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Deleted member 89374
The engine fires were caused by the cam-driven high-pressure fuel pump leaking on top of a hot engine. Not all Theta II motors grenaded themselves by failing rod bearings, some of them were poor maintenance mixed in with bad fuel dilution. However, in the end (I know this from our Hyundai dealership), they got all lumped together. The kiss of death for these motors is thin oil that is diluted with oil along with the bottom of the barrel oi filters. Don't neglect it and you'll be fine.
Propflux01
$100 Site Donor 2025
What do you suppose was the reason they stopped the recall/extended warranty with the 20-21 2.4Ls? I can see no changes, not even an added port injector, nor do I see any oil change recommendation differences in either mileage or viscosity. Yet these two years seem exempt to the problems of all other 2.4L.
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Deleted member 89374
Well, first of all, I was
The thing about 5W-20 is that Hyundai has to comply with the EPA engine test cycle, so if fuel economy numbers are generated with 5W-20 in the motor, then that has to be printed on the oil cap. Considering the Mitsubishi 90s era lineage of the Theta II motor, that engine fares much better on 10W-30 than anything else, buuuuut, considering how thick 10W-30 is when cold, you might as well run 0W-40 and enjoy a long service life out of it.
To answer your question, on the surface nothing might have changed, however, 2.4L Theta II is EOL and internal service bulletins were sent multiple times to dealerships to run at least 5W-30 in those engines. Just my two cents, the 2.4L Theta II is built like an old NA diesel engine. So nothing really changed, other than maybe they didn't ship the last few batches with manufacturing debris in them. Hyundai is not the only manufacturer that did crap like this. When you see (and it's rare now) a 5.7 HEMI with 2-3K miles on it (basically brand new) and a lifter or two banging and the noise going up and down with the engine RPM, well, all that means is that that motor was not assembled in the cleanest possible conditions, and some debris or dirt got in there somehow and screwed up some of the lifters, or at least one.
My brother has a basic 2020 Sonata with a 2.5 GDI motor. It was the cheapest new sedan he could find. I don't trust that Hyundai fixed their fuel dilution issues, so we changed the oil to Castrol EDGE EP 5W-30 in it. It is quieter than before with the factory 0W-20. I wouldn't have a problem running 0W-20 in a 3.6L Pentastar in a Jeep, or a Toyota or even Chevy pickup truck, but Hyundai has a long way to go. At least their pricing is still within reach.
Just run thicker oil with a good additive package and a good filter and change it often and ... that's all you can do for these Hyundai engines to keep them running.
Propflux01
$100 Site Donor 2025
Well, My daughter has a '17 Sonata who's 2.4L took a dump at 80K. New motor, and so far, running good. The '21 Tucson is my first 2.4L, and so far, no issues. In fact, I've never had issue with any of the Hyundai's I have owned. Daughters was the first on in the family that had an issue. I've always ran 5w-30 in them ( don't know what was in the daughters' before 39K). they all just seem to "like" it better. While I do not buy the debris issue, at least not more than a few months worth of early (2011-2013) engines. Failures in later models don't add up to just 'debris'. I was a little disappointed that they didn't go ahead and add a port injector to it. I just figured something was changed quietly as to not involve the last two years of it. I will say the dealer has apparently been complying with the 5w-30, as that is what they (at least what they wrote on the slip) used when I got first service from them ( I have the 'free' service, but I do vacuum oil changes and let them do the filter and rotations at the 7500 intervals) I usually run Stupertech or QSUD between 'dealer' changes. When the freebies stop, I will return to my 5K change and rotations.
How is that 2.5 working out? Power? smoother? or like the 2.4?
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Deleted member 89374
It's hard to do a straight comparison between the 2.4 and Smartstream 2.5 because Hyundais pairs them now with an 8 speed automatic, and it's always quick on the upshifts. It's a tad quieter and has good low-end torque, and at 3500 RPM to 4000 from it pulls with all it's might, lol. It's a slightly updated engine, and from the looks of it, it's built even cheaper than the 2.4 Theta II.
If 5W-30 runs well in your Theta II engines then keep running that. If you want a hair more peace of mind, step up to Castrol EDGE 0W-40. The last batch I got was $19.99 per 5qt. jug on sale on Amazon.com. I also add Lubegard Bio-Tech to it. My 2.4 in the Santa Fe has really good low-end torque with this oil. They don't like to be revved anyway. In the 2020 Santa Fe SUVs Hyundai filled the engines with 0W-20 from the factory, and when you rev them up then sound like the combination of a coffee grinder crossed with a vacuum cleaner. I believe that many of these engines grenaded themselves due to a miserable combination of thin oil, fuel dilution along poor maintenance.
The fact that my brother's 2.5 GDI cam-driven fuel pump ticked louder than the rest of the engine with the factory 0W-20, and after adding 15oz. of Lubegard to that thin oil is barely audible is very telling of the fact that their engines are still not ready for 0W-20 oil and that they need to run 5W-30 for added peace of mind. The sad part is that for 2021 they are "forcing" buyers to only run 0W-20, and for that, they increased, on paper. the oil capacity to 5 quarts and change for the 1.6T Smartstream engine, from 4.5 quarts. They did not make any physical changes to the motor. That right there tells me that fuel dilution is still a major concern in these new engines. And no, they did not add port injection to these engines, they're just GDI. My brother gets 28 MPG combined with 50/50 highway/city driving, and he always warms up the car before leaving on the road. It's not a world of difference from the old Sonatas, but it's better. At least that much
The lawsuit was introduced in 2018 or 2019. The MY2020-2021 were not produced yet so they couldn’t be included in any lawsuit.
The 1.6T Smartstream is a different engine than the 1.6T Gamma. The 1.6T Smartstream has the worlds first CVVD camshafts. They also went to a cartridge element oil filter and made changes to the coolant passages for optimized engine heating/cooling.
Propflux01
$100 Site Donor 2025
I've never tried the Xw-40 in any of my Hyundai's. Did it drop the mileage in yours ?Thanx for the 2.4/2.5L comparison. I should have made myself clearer, I meant that some manufacturers put one injector upstream that fires off only during idling and such. This helped wash the carbon from the valves. I had thought I read somewhere that Hyundai did this to the 2.5L.It's hard to do a straight comparison between the 2.4 and Smartstream 2.5 because Hyundais pairs them now with an 8 speed automatic, and it's always quick on the upshifts. It's a tad quieter and has good low-end torque, and at 3500 RPM to 4000 from it pulls with all it's might, lol. It's a slightly updated engine, and from the looks of it, it's built even cheaper than the 2.4 Theta II.
If 5W-30 runs well in your Theta II engines then keep running that. If you want a hair more peace of mind, step up to Castrol EDGE 0W-40. The last batch I got was $19.99 per 5qt. jug on sale on Amazon.com. I also add Lubegard Bio-Tech to it. My 2.4 in the Santa Fe has really good low-end torque with this oil. They don't like to be revved anyway. In the 2020 Santa Fe SUVs Hyundai filled the engines with 0W-20 from the factory, and when you rev them up then sound like the combination of a coffee grinder crossed with a vacuum cleaner. I believe that many of these engines grenaded themselves due to a miserable combination of thin oil, fuel dilution along poor maintenance.
The fact that my brother's 2.5 GDI cam-driven fuel pump ticked louder than the rest of the engine with the factory 0W-20, and after adding 15oz. of Lubegard to that thin oil is barely audible is very telling of the fact that their engines are still not ready for 0W-20 oil and that they need to run 5W-30 for added peace of mind. The sad part is that for 2021 they are "forcing" buyers to only run 0W-20, and for that, they increased, on paper. the oil capacity to 5 quarts and change for the 1.6T Smartstream engine, from 4.5 quarts. They did not make any physical changes to the motor. That right there tells me that fuel dilution is still a major concern in these new engines. And no, they did not add port injection to these engines, they're just GDI. My brother gets 28 MPG combined with 50/50 highway/city driving, and he always warms up the car before leaving on the road. It's not a world of difference from the old Sonatas, but it's better. At least that much
true but iirc, they also resolved the rod bearing issues with the newer engines.
Yeah from all the Facebook groups and Hyundai/Kia forums that I follow, it really appears Hyundai got a handle on the issue starting with 2017 models. I’ve only read of a few blown 2017 models, and I have yet to hear of a 2018 or newer have a blown engine. With 2017 and 2018’s being 4 and 3 years old now respectively, people would surely be complaining online by now if their engines have blown.
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Deleted member 89374
I guess time will tell. What I know for sure is that the Sonata with the 1.6 TGDI motor has less power than the one with the 2.5 GDI, drinks more gas, and is more expensive. Hyundai is trying to pass that one as a "premium" (as in almost luxury) vehicle. It's not. The 2.5 GDI is cheaper and much better. The new Sonata overall is a yawn. Our family has one, we got it because at $19,500 + tax+tags+fees it came to $21,300 out the door.
The reason one Hyundai went to a cartridge filter on these engines is to force everyone to use a decent filter. Your average DYI Hyundai customer would otherwise buy the cheapest Supertech or Fram filter (or Purolator bottom of the barrel, or whatever costs $3 and change) and twist it on there. But there is nothing good about those filters. And it's a PITA to change them on a car with low ground clearance, even when lifted. Trust me.
Hyundai has MPI and GDI in the Smartstream FR G2.5T (G4KR) motor. That's the only one they got it in, and it goes only in the Genesis. That's because when you ask $60K to $70K for a vehicle with four cylinders and open differentials, at the very least you have to offer some half-way decent NVH, and you don't want your customer to freak out when they start it up in the morning and it sounds like a VW turbo diesel with 200K+ miles on it.
The 0W-40 did not drop the fuel mileage in my 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. I still get 20 to 21 MPG combined and about 26 to 28 (depending on how heavy my foot is) highway only. Then the engine sounds a bit better though, and now I can actually lug the engine at 1200 to 1500 rpm driving slowly through the city on hills and whatnot without getting any weird vibrations, It's actually smooth as silk now. Trust me, this motor loves oil on the thicker side, and certainly, it was never meant for 5W-20, or 0W-20, which is what Hyundai shipped the 2020 Santa Fes with.
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