Hyundai 2023 SmartStream 1.6T-GDI Excessively Frequent Recommended OCI?

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So I recent purchased a 2023 Hyundai Kona N-Line which is AWD and comes with a 1.6 L turbo direct-injected motor. When I took a look at what the service intervals are like, I was surprised to find a recommended 8,000 km oil change interval with synthetic oil (0W-20). As I plan on using Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, the recommended oil change interval seems excessively frequent. Yes, I know this is what the manual and Hyundai recommends and warranty, and this and that.

My old car was a 2013 Ford Focus ST which ran on the 2.0 L Ecoboost turbo direct-injected engine. Ford recommends 12000-16000 km change intervals (5W-30). I settled with 13,000 km for its entire life and the engine ran smooth as butter all the way to the day I sold it at 180,000 km just recently; there was not one spot of varnish/buildup that could see upon inspection of the engine through the oil cap opening. I did one UOA early on after 13,093 km odometer (10,500km interval) an fuel dilution was less than the detection limit, and a TBN remaining of 2.4. Blackstone recommended 14,000 km.

Anyways, if there is anyone familiar with the Hyundai 1.6T Smartstream, what might justify relatively frequent change intervals with a synthetic? Is it anything to do with fuel dilution? What would cause this?
 
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8000km (~5000 Miles) is spot on for what I prefer for my EcoBoost. GDI is just too hard on oil for my tastes so I'm not surprised at their recommendation. I don't have any fuel dilution problems, but I prefer the 5k change to get whatever soot might be in the oil out (Timing chain wear), I'm not so much worried about varnish/buildup.

Sounds like Hyundai is being reasonable with their recommendation with 0W20+GDI+Turbo IMO
 
So I recent purchased a 2023 Hyundai Kona N-Line which is AWD and comes with a 1.6 L turbo direct-injected motor. When I took a look at what the service intervals are like, I was surprised to find a recommended 8,000 km oil change interval with synthetic oil (0W-20). As I plan on using Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, the recommended oil change interval seems excessively frequent. Yes, I know this is what the manual and Hyundai recommends and warranty, and this and that.

My old car was a 2013 Ford Focus ST which ran on the 2.0 L Ecoboost turbo direct-injected engine. Ford recommends 12000-16000 km change intervals (5W-30). I settled with 13,000 km for its entire life and the engine ran smooth as butter all the way to the day I sold it at 180,000 km just recently; there was not one spot of varnish/buildup that could see upon inspection of the engine through the oil cap opening. I did one UOA early on after 13,093 km odometer (10,500km interval) an fuel dilution was less than the detection limit, and a TBN remaining of 2.4. Blackstone recommended 14,000 km.

Anyways, if there is anyone familiar with the Hyundai 1.6T Smartstream, what might justify relatively frequent change intervals with a synthetic? Is it anything to do with fuel dilution? What would cause this?

In my experience as a Hyundai tech, 8000 km on a low/mid-saps oil is about as far as you want to go unless the conditions are perfect (dry but cool weather, no idling, no start/stop, no hard accelerations, no towing, no high speed driving). Castrol or Total, no discernable difference.

Fuel dilution makes thiungs worse, but even port injected engines tend to break down the oil pretty quickly after 10.000 km. Before we switched to mid-saps oils this didn't seem to be an issue, 20.000 km was just fine. Of course those were different engines and different pollution levels, they might have been easier on oil.
 
Anyways, if there is anyone familiar with the Hyundai 1.6T Smartstream, what might justify relatively frequent change intervals with a synthetic? Is it anything to do with fuel dilution? What would cause this?

A reputation for excess fuel dilution and the engine generally being extremely hard on motor oil, that is what justifies the higher frequency of oil changes and I 100% support it as a fellow Hyundai driver that does all the maintenance on their vehicle.
 
My car is at 130 km odometer. My plan is to do a first change at 1,000 km as a rinse, fill with PUP 0W-20, drain at 9,000 km and do a UOA. I was originally hoping during the purchase process to stretch the interval to at least 10,000 km. But I'm revisiting that based on the comments so far.

What specifically about the SmartStream 1.6T lends itself to being prone to fuel dilution, compared to, say the older 2.0T Ecoboost on my older Focus ST (where fuel dilution was not a problem, and 16,000 km OCI's recommended by Ford)? Is it the thinner grade oil (0W-20) being used on the SmartStream 1.6T?
 
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What specifically about the SmartStream 1.6T lends itself to being prone to fuel dilution, compared to, say the older 2.0T Ecoboost on my older Focus ST (where fuel dilution was not a problem, and 16,000 km OCI's recommended by Ford)? Is it the thinner grade oil (0W-20) being used on the SmartStream 1.6T?


Oil has nothing to do with fuel dilution. That is an engine design or a tune issue. It also depends on your driving style and climate.
 
Does the fact that the SS 1.6T uses 350 bar (5,076 psi) injectors compared to my previous Focus ST's 150 bar have anything to do with it?
 
Does the fact that the SS 1.6T uses 350 bar (5,076 psi) injectors compared to my previous Focus ST's 150 bar have anything to do with it?


First off I’m not an expert so I hope others will chime in if I’m wrong.

I think that pressure is for the injector and possibly related to the compression ratio. Your engine has a high compression ratio according to Wiki. (10.0:1 - 16.0:1). 16.0 seems quite high. I haven’t heard of a consumer engine with that high a compression ratio.

So, maybe the higher fuel injector pressure is needed to overcome the higher compression? That’s my guess.
 
First off I’m not an expert so I hope others will chime in if I’m wrong.

I think that pressure is for the injector and possibly related to the compression ratio. Your engine has a high compression ratio according to Wiki. (10.0:1 - 16.0:1). 16.0 seems quite high. I haven’t heard of a consumer engine with that high a compression ratio.

So, maybe the higher fuel injector pressure is needed to overcome the higher compression? That’s my guess.
I think you're right. One of the supposed benefits of DI is that the fuel/air mixture directly injected does cool the cylinder (when the fuel vaporizes) thus allowing for increased compression ratios. 10.5:1 is used in the Hyundai SS 1.6T.

Engineering Explained does a great job explaining why more frequent OCIs may be needed for certain engines.



I'd definitely like to get a UOA when the time comes to verify these kinds of issues.
 
IIRC, Ford recommended ~6 qts of 5W-30 in the ST. Hyundai's 1.6T Smartstream in the Kona is recommended to use 5 qts of 0W-20.

The lower hths of the 0W-20 will be diluted sooner than that of the 5W-30. Especially when the oil capacity is also less in the Hyundai.

I wouldn't go over 5k in either scenario where Turbo Direct Injection is concerned.
 
IIRC, Ford recommended ~6 qts of 5W-30 in the ST. Hyundai's 1.6T Smartstream in the Kona is recommended to use 5 qts of 0W-20.

The lower hths of the 0W-20 will be diluted sooner than that of the 5W-30. Especially when the oil capacity is also less in the Hyundai.

I wouldn't go over 5k in either scenario where Turbo Direct Injection is concerned.
Makes sense 5W-30 is a more viscous oil. 0W-20 is pretty thin already.
 
Your determination to exceed Hundie's recommended 8000km OCI is contrary to many's belief that some recommended OCIs are a bit too long. And with your Ford you went with the low end of the Ford recommended OCI so why not with the Hundie? Different make, different engine. In 100k of driving the difference between 8k and 9k OCIs is 1.5 oil changes.
 
I don't know...I have a 2022 2.0 PFI Kia and I'm doing 5k mile OCIs on a 0W-40 and my guess is the 2.0 PFI engine is a whole lot easier on oil than the 1.6T. Too many engine issues to not throw as much thick clean oil at the engine as possible. It may not make much difference but I sleep better knowing I'm at least trying.
 
Your determination to exceed Hundie's recommended 8000km OCI is contrary to many's belief that some recommended OCIs are a bit too long. And with your Ford you went with the low end of the Ford recommended OCI so why not with the Hundie? Different make, different engine. In 100k of driving the difference between 8k and 9k OCIs is 1.5 oil changes.
Yeah well, 10,000 km was my original plan. But I'm rethinking that now based on the comments so far.
 
I think you're right. One of the supposed benefits of DI is that the fuel/air mixture directly injected does cool the cylinder (when the fuel vaporizes) thus allowing for increased compression ratios. 10.5:1 is used in the Hyundai SS 1.6T.

Engineering Explained does a great job explaining why more frequent OCIs may be needed for certain engines.



I'd definitely like to get a UOA when the time comes to verify these kinds of issues.



My Mazda has a 13:1 ratio. I run 0W-20 for 5000 mile intervals. I haven’t done any analysis on the oil so I don’t know what the FD would be.
 
Well, I plan to revisit this thread around the spring timeframe with a UOA report covering a 7000-8000 km OCI. Stay tuned.
 
I'd actually go with 0w-30 MB229.51/52 compliant oil and run it 6K km for first oil change, then check if it has life left in it, then you can decide if you wanna go farther with OCIs.
 
Well, I plan to revisit this thread around the spring timeframe with a UOA report covering a 7000-8000 km OCI. Stay tuned.
Timing chain? And GDI only? And keeping the car long term?

If no to the 3rd, carry on, it won't matter.

If yes to all 3, then if it were me, I would rethink the position. UOA's don't show intake valve deposits being created by oil being broken down. They also don't generally show soot loading in the oil, which chews on the timing chains. If you're not keeping the car past 100k miles (160km) then it won't matter. If you're keeping it long term, you might be setting yourself up for expensive parts swapping and cleaning down the road.

Although, long term, I don't think there's anything you can do about intake valve deposits in a pure GDI engine. I think all of us with one of those are going to have to pony up for a walnut blasting at some point.
 
Timing chain? And GDI only? And keeping the car long term?

If no to the 3rd, carry on, it won't matter.

If yes to all 3, then if it were me, I would rethink the position. UOA's don't show intake valve deposits being created by oil being broken down. They also don't generally show soot loading in the oil, which chews on the timing chains. If you're not keeping the car past 100k miles (160km) then it won't matter. If you're keeping it long term, you might be setting yourself up for expensive parts swapping and cleaning down the road.

Although, long term, I don't think there's anything you can do about intake valve deposits in a pure GDI engine. I think all of us with one of those are going to have to pony up for a walnut blasting at some point.
Yes, those are all legit issues causing me to rethink my original position.

On my ST, by the time I found out about intake valve deposits, I was already 80,000 km in. So I had to pony up for a walnut blast at 120,000 km after which the car idled much smoother. I did a CRC GDTDI spray just prior to oil changes ever since. I'll be doing the same for the Hyundai.
 
So I recent purchased a 2023 Hyundai Kona N-Line which is AWD and comes with a 1.6 L turbo direct-injected motor. When I took a look at what the service intervals are like, I was surprised to find a recommended 8,000 km oil change interval with synthetic oil (0W-20). As I plan on using Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, the recommended oil change interval seems excessively frequent. Yes, I know this is what the manual and Hyundai recommends and warranty, and this and that.

My old car was a 2013 Ford Focus ST which ran on the 2.0 L Ecoboost turbo direct-injected engine. Ford recommends 12000-16000 km change intervals (5W-30). I settled with 13,000 km for its entire life and the engine ran smooth as butter all the way to the day I sold it at 180,000 km just recently; there was not one spot of varnish/buildup that could see upon inspection of the engine through the oil cap opening. I did one UOA early on after 13,093 km odometer (10,500km interval) an fuel dilution was less than the detection limit, and a TBN remaining of 2.4. Blackstone recommended 14,000 km.

Anyways, if there is anyone familiar with the Hyundai 1.6T Smartstream, what might justify relatively frequent change intervals with a synthetic? Is it anything to do with fuel dilution? What would cause this?
Our 2019 santa fe 2.0t, the manual states 5,000kms........kms..... for severe service.
Different beast though.
 
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