Hyundai Elantra warranty question?

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Jun 24, 2004
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St. Louis
My 2017 Elantra SE with 100k warranty is just approaching 30k miles. I have been doing the 3,750 mile/6-month oil changes which meant two a year. My work schedule changed and am driving more. Would like to do 5k or 6 month oil changes. Oil I will be using is mostly 5w-20 Pennzoil Ultra Plantinum or 5w-30 Pennzoil Platinum in summer. I noticed the 2021 Elantra recommendation is 0w-20 at 5k intervals for severe service. I am using the most recent version of OEM filter. If I extend my oil change by miles a little what rights do I have if something goes wrong with my car? I hear a lot of scary stories of Hyundai denying warranty. At this point saving warranty is more import than saving oil changes. On the other hand I know the oils I will use will have no problem with a 5k interval. I noticed dealership is posting on their website oil change should be done about every 7,500 to 10,000k. That is a lot different than the 3,750 they recommended when I bought my car.
 
Always best to follow the service intervals recommended by the manufacturer while under warranty.
I hear you. That is what I tend to do. I noticed dealership is still selling their $38 oil change that was bulk Valvoline when they changed my factory fill. When asked which oil they would put in my car I was told the right oil. When I am done changing my the oil myself I will probably be back to the dealer. Keeping things consistent as outlined in warranty is probably best. MyHyundai is still recommending the 3,7500 interval when I update my mileage.
 
Why are you using the Severe Service intervals and not regular intervals?
Drive 4 miles to work twice daily. Lot of stop and go. Afternoon shift still has a lot of stop and go. Mostly drive between 25 and 45 mph. Only driving 4 miles on Interstate out of 30 for the day.
 
My 2017 Elantra SE with 100k warranty is just approaching 30k miles. I have been doing the 3,750 mile/6-month oil changes which meant two a year. My work schedule changed and am driving more. Would like to do 5k or 6 month oil changes. Oil I will be using is mostly 5w-20 Pennzoil Ultra Plantinum or 5w-30 Pennzoil Platinum in summer. I noticed the 2021 Elantra recommendation is 0w-20 at 5k intervals for severe service. I am using the most recent version of OEM filter. If I extend my oil change by miles a little what rights do I have if something goes wrong with my car? I hear a lot of scary stories of Hyundai denying warranty. At this point saving warranty is more import than saving oil changes. On the other hand I know the oils I will use will have no problem with a 5k interval. I noticed dealership is posting on their website oil change should be done about every 7,500 to 10,000k. That is a lot different than the 3,750 they recommended when I bought my car.
No-you dont hear alot of scary stories. This is the Internet. You only get half the stories many times. My Son never went on the Internet and posted about how Hyundai replaced his motor in his Sonata-which was well out of warranty (before the court settlement), and put him in a rental for over a week AT ZERO COST TO HIM.

NOPE-you don't hear those stories.
 
Drive 4 miles to work twice daily. Lot of stop and go. Afternoon shift still has a lot of stop and go. Mostly drive between 25 and 45 mph. Only driving 4 miles on Interstate out of 30 for the day.
Traffic is normal. And I thought you’re driving more now?

I’d do the 7,500. A dealer isn’t going to ask if you made short trips or if you drive in traffic a lot. All that matters is what the odometer says.
 
No-you dont hear alot of scary stories. This is the Internet. You only get half the stories many times. My Son never went on the Internet and posted about how Hyundai replaced his motor in his Sonata-which was well out of warranty (before the court settlement), and put him in a rental for over a week AT ZERO COST TO HIM.

NOPE-you don't hear those stories.
You are right. When I first bought my Elantra I spent a lot of time on Hyundai-Forums. I read many of the bad stories. I stopped reading them and just stay in the Elantra sub forum now. Your right, more people post their bad experiences. The ones like your son had are not as common.
 
Traffic is normal. And I thought you’re driving more now?

I’d do the 7,500. A dealer isn’t going to ask if you made short trips or if you drive in traffic a lot. All that matters is what the odometer says.
I am considered severe service according to the Owner's Manual and MyHyundai website. Warranty is paid for by Hyundai, not the dealership. I have posted on MyHyundai my oil changes and it always recommends severe service. Trust me, I am driving more.
 
Traffic is normal. And I thought you’re driving more now?

I’d do the 7,500. A dealer isn’t going to ask if you made short trips or if you drive in traffic a lot. All that matters is what the odometer says.
While I agree that Hyundai won't deny warranty as long as you stay below the max of 7,500 miles, short trips fall right in the severe service category.
 
While I agree that Hyundai won't deny warranty as long as you stay below the max of 7,500 miles, short trips fall right in the severe service category.
That is the info I am looking for. The 3,750 recommendation was based on SM or SN mineral oil as acceptable. I am using premium synthetic oil. That should count as something.
 
No-you dont hear alot of scary stories. This is the Internet. You only get half the stories many times. My Son never went on the Internet and posted about how Hyundai replaced his motor in his Sonata-which was well out of warranty (before the court settlement), and put him in a rental for over a week AT ZERO COST TO HIM.

NOPE-you don't hear those stories.
*sigh* You mean the engine that Hyundai was originally forcing owners to pay out of pocket? Blaming it on owner negligence. The engine that was subject to federal investigation and ultimately led to the Lifetime Warranty Engine Settlement, and upwards of a $210 million fine from the federal government due to their negligence in handling the engine failures/fires.

Get it through your head bud, Hyundai isn’t replacing engines out of the goodness of their heart. They are doing it because they’ve screwed up and got caught.
 
That is the info I am looking for. The 3,750 recommendation was based on SM or SN mineral oil as acceptable. I am using premium synthetic oil. That should count as something.

Well, they don't have an addendum stating that if you use synthetic you may extend the interval. It is strictly based off of driving style. Normal operation (highway driving, not driving in a dusty climate, full operating temp majority of the time) = 7,500 miles. Anything else = severe = 3,750.
 
*sigh* You mean the engine that Hyundai was originally forcing owners to pay out of pocket? Blaming it on owner negligence. The engine that was subject to federal investigation and ultimately led to the Lifetime Warranty Engine Settlement, and upwards of a $210 million fine from the federal government due to their negligence in handling the engine failures/fires.

Get it through your head bud, Hyundai isn’t replacing engines out of the goodness of their heart. They are doing it because they’ve screwed up and got caught.
That is specifically where a lot of my fear comes in. They also had some years of Elantra engines that were defective. Now the new CVT is only going 2k before needing to be replaced for some unlucky owner's.
 
Hyundai just had an Engine Settlement for the Elantra piston slap. I think the extended warranty coverage is for 10yr/120k miles for the piston slap problem. I’m not 100% sure about the terms of that settlement, however.
 
I am sticking to a 5K OCI interval for my Kona and not worrying about it. Hyundai does not know if I am severe service or not and that 3750 mile interval is too odd of a number to keep mental track of. Way easier to just do 5K for oil and tire rotations.
 
Hootbro,
You nailed it. Just split the difference and do 5K oil and filter changes and you engine will be WELL protected. Just common sense. This is exactly has I have been doing with my 2017 Elantra Value Edition, now with 46,2000 miles and the engine runs perfectly! I use 5W-20 full synthetic all the time.
 
As a former Hyundai Sonata owner, I can confirm that the only things they would willingly cover under warranty were recalls (5+ of those) and if the check engine light came on (twice). Otherwise, they would claim other issues were simply "normal" and not covered under warranty.

At 30,000 miles, I asked them to investigate why the drive belt would squeal while driving in heavy rain and the battery warning light would come on at the same time. They said "we will look into it, but understand if we find anything it is not covered under warranty since it involves the drive belt which is a wear item." I said to them "the car only has 30,000 miles on it and all service has been done here by you." They responded "Sorry, simply not covered by warranty if there is a problem." They did their check, claimed the belt was fine as well as the belt tensioner and pullies. They finally said it was "normal" and not to worry about it. Thanks, that's great. After that I never bothered to ask them to investigate why the instrument cluster would randomly go dark and the car would lose all power for a few seconds. I am guessing that would have been "normal" as well since it would never throw a code when that happened.

All oil changes were done by the dealer. They suggested a 6,000 mile interval. I would go in every 5,000-6,000 miles. By the time I traded the car with 72,000 miles on it, it was using 1qt of oil every 800 miles. I was adding 6-7qts of oil between oil changes (not sure why I even bothered getting the oil changed at that point since it was constantly getting topped off.) No leaks. It was simply eating oil. A few months after trading it, the engine recall was announced.

Monkeyman is fine using the 5W-20 synthetic in 5,000 mile intervals. Definitely stay with the OEM filter. Hyundais can be kind of finicky with aftermarket filters. They will work, for sure, but OEM is best for Hyundai. Keep all of your oil change receipts and make sure everything is documented. Don't get overly concerned with the normal vs. severe service. Hyundai makes it sound like everyone is severe service. As long as you use the OEM filter and synthetic oil, splitting the difference at 5,000 miles will be fine.
 
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