Better oil for wife's 2003 Elantra?

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This is about my wife's Elantra named "Ellie":)(isn't that ingenious

the car is still young, with only 8,000 miles.
At first start up, it feels like the engine/car shakes for a fe seconds, and settles down after a while, smooth and quiet(sometimes does this in idle, too).
Also, to me it sounds like it's pretty loud, but it can be that Elantras are noisy, up to the 3-4 shifts.(I have no proof that all this is oil related, but PERHAPS it can be made better?)

I'm not complaining about the oil dealer uses(Pennzoil 10/30 dino, every 4,000 miles), BUT in the manual, oils up to even 20/50 are recommended, so I was wondering IF a different oil could be better for this high-revving DOHC 4-cyl.engine(redline 6500 rpm), especially in summer(the car has a 100K miles warranty, though...I wonder if I'm allowed to use something else)

IF I can ask the dealer for a different oil, what would be the best dino oil/weight for this car?
Perhaps some Elantra owners can help?

Thanks.
 
I think in Tenn a 10W-30 is probably fine all year round. Nothing wrong with Pennzoil. You could certainly do an oil analysis to see how things are doing. You could go to Mobil 1 10W-30. Not sure you really need a 40 wt in Tenn
 
I'm not sure a thicker oil may be needed this early in Ellie's life. I'm thinking Chevron/Havoline 5w-30. Their product line surely reduced the NVH level in my car, perhaps in yours too...?
 
It's rare, but I have went to work @ -13F here in Tennessee. Teen's are pretty common, so you might want to consider a 5W-XX in Dec. thru Feb.

Pennzoil would be fine unless you want to spend for a synthetic. In dino, I would stay with a 10W-30 most of the year. A 10W-40 or 20-50 dino would not be an improvement, imho.

I like synthetics, but your choice.
 
I think there was a guy who ran a Hyundai on Supertech 10w30 synthetic blend who got a good uoa. He ran it ~6500 miles too.
 
Hyundai's Beta engine was switched over to variable intake valve timing for better emissions control sometime in 2003. (it also added a few horsepower) Your wife's car may have that improvement, 97tbird. If it's vacuum modulated, I'm wondering if that might be the cause of initial roughness on cold start. Your dealer's service department should be able to shed some light one way or the other.

Unrelated, I noticed in perusing last year's Hyundai TSBs online that Hyundai has gone to a blanket recommendation of ONLY 10W-30 and 5W-30 viscosity range oils now, so tread carefully on the notion of running 20W-50.

[ February 05, 2004, 04:02 PM: Message edited by: Ray H ]
 
I think that's me, although it was straight dino ST on a 4K cycle. ('01 Elantra) I've changed to ST 5w30 in the winter and notice about a mpg increase so might stay with that for 9 months a year or so. The 5w30 seems to burn down a quart in 4K, the 10w30 didn't budge. I did dump in a quart of ST syn. when I added last month.

I think that Pennzoil is about the best dino going so your routine seems good.

My car is extremely quiet at idle, although I'm coming from a Cavalier so what do I know. Noise might be higher than a Corolla at higher RPM's but hardly objectionable.
 
quote:

Originally posted by 97tbird:
This is about my wife's Elantra named "Ellie":)(isn't that ingenious

the car is still young, with only 8,000 miles.
At first start up, it feels like the engine/car shakes for a fe seconds, and settles down after a while, smooth and quiet(sometimes does this in idle, too).
Also, to me it sounds like it's pretty loud, but it can be that Elantras are noisy, up to the 3-4 shifts.(I have no proof that all this is oil related, but PERHAPS it can be made better?)

I'm not complaining about the oil dealer uses(Pennzoil 10/30 dino, every 4,000 miles), BUT in the manual, oils up to even 20/50 are recommended, so I was wondering IF a different oil could be better for this high-revving DOHC 4-cyl.engine(redline 6500 rpm), especially in summer(the car has a 100K miles warranty, though...I wonder if I'm allowed to use something else)

IF I can ask the dealer for a different oil, what would be the best dino oil/weight for this car?
Perhaps some Elantra owners can help?

Thanks.


How you doing.

I am a mod over at Hyundaiperformance.com / hyundaiaftermarket.com

We find the BETA engines enjoy 5w30 for the first 20k miles. But then if you have started consuming then it would start. Then the switch over to 10w30.

10w40 in the older pre 2001 models, since they had HLAs.

The new motors use solid shim and dont need the extra oil pressure to pump up the stupid hla.


I have a 2000 Tiburon, Beta version 1 motor. running Rotella T synthetic 5w40.
 
Sign up for the Pennzoil 250,000 mile, 10 year warranty and let them worry about oil related failures while you drive many happy miles.
 
My Hundai Sonada 4cyl 03 seems to run rough when cold and sometimes when you stop at a light it would idle rough. But when I went to the GC 0/30 it does it rarely it seems but still a little when cold. After all its not a Honda so allow a little.
grin.gif


[ September 21, 2004, 08:17 PM: Message edited by: dropitby ]
 
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