Wife's 2013 Hyundai seized up today 94k miles

[Triple_Se7en]

Someone on Reddit had their warranty denied since they didn't save their oil receipts when doing DIY oil changes and told they were SOL.

OPs dealer seems to have a fair policy to check for sludge. Is that written anywhere?

You call the manufacturer and complain that the dealership never showed you a poorly maintained engine. They never showed you sludge or gunk buildup under the valve cover gasket. You continue to tell the manufacturer that your engine is clean and it's quite obvious that no neglect occurred.

Anytime the dealership states that you owe them receipts, ask them for either pics of engine abuse or ask them to visit the engine and have them point out where the lack of maintenance is. Ask them where the official Hyundai Inc letterhead is from the manufacturer that instructs them to award a new engine, whenever engine cleanliness occurs and whenever so signs exist that the engine was run while low on oil.

Both of my Hyunkia engines are very clean...... almost spotless. It's why I do 3k OCIs with high quality oils and why I will never need to show them any receipts for oil changes. There's been numerous incidents on the Kia and Hyundai messageboards where the vehicle owner was awarded a new engine block without oil receipts.

What the dealer service manager tells the vehicle owners is not always truthful. Either that or the number of service managers that have either quit or been fired, has created a situation where they don;t even know a letterhead from the Manufacturer exists. The Hyundai dealer by me has gone thru three service managers in five years. The new ones don;t even know what the correct protocol is.

I really don't care if the OP here believes everything the service dept tells him. But it sure wouldn't be in his best interest if he did. All I know is - if I have a engine-grenading problem, I know how to dial the phone for calls to either Alabama or overseas. If you-guys are refused and don;t want to do the leg work that's necessary, then that's no skin off my back. I just feel better getting the word out that if your engine is clean and never been low on oil and within the warranty time-frame, they cannot deny you a new engine block.

I've said my fill inside this thread..... good luck fellas. I'm out!

 

[odie]

The rental car. It is a Hyundai.

View attachment 209288

VENUE . How do you like it ? Let us know gas mileage . 1.6 Ltr. ( Smart Stream ) with Multi Port Injection ( M.P.I. ) and has a cartridge for oil filter .

 

[350Rocket]

VENUE . How do you like it ? Let us know gas mileage . 1.6 Ltr. ( Smart Stream ) with Multi Port Injection ( M.P.I. ) and has a cartridge for oil filter .

My wife worked from home today and she just brought it home last night. She was not feeling well and the rental car was not really discussed, other than she appreciated the heated steering wheel as we got a bit of a blizzard last night.

I will find out eventually how she likes it and what the fuel mileage is like (not sure how much better it will be than the Sonata, as that got over 40mpg on the highway).

 

[350Rocket]

Could I ask a favour - a review on the Venue after the two weeks or so?

This is the best I can do for a review.....just cleaned a dump of snow off and the wife remote started it, so I opened it up to turn on defrost and heated seats etc.
Much nicer on the inside. Quality is much better than the Sonata. Nice feeling plastics, almost comparable to her sisters new Sorento which I was very impressed by.
She says it drives fine and sits higher than the Sonata. She likes the features. She wouldn't be happy with the size compared to what we're used to and she doesn't like it's appearance either. But once inside it feels like a good car.
That's the best I can do for a review.

 

[Brons2]

I would like to take a moment to thanks whistle blowers for what they do.

My wifes 11 year old Sonata 2.4 with 94k miles seized up today on the highway. Got towed into the shop I used to work at. I was still there when we pulled the belts off and tried to turn the engine by hand. It was seized solid. Oil completely full and it's never actually burned a drop.

My wife visited Hyundai and they confirmed that it is covered, unlimited engine warranty. Have to provide oil change records and if they aren't happy with them then they will charge $195 to pull the valve cover and check for sludge (there won't be any).
They will also cover a loaner vehicle.

I believe the only reason for this incredible coverage is the whistle blower who lost their job over this and the investigation etc that came out of it.

I sold my 2012 Sonata about that same mileage, ran great but I didn't want it leaving me on the side of the highway, or worse, broke down in traffic. Didn't hurt that my B-I-L used car lot gave me the KBB private party transaction price for it without any haggling whatsoever.

I always ran 10w30 full syn in it and changed the oil every 5K. Was a good car but my wife hated the fact it was a manual, in addition to the other issues. Needed new brakes too, and I hit a deer with it, so it had front end cosmetic issues. All in all taking the "good condition" private party price from the BIL was the right move for us.

 

[02SE]

Yep. Two dealer maintained 2017 Tucsons at work, both on their third engine in the 60k ish range.

Man, they must be taking a page out of the Ford transmission playbook.

 

[350Rocket]

I sold my 2012 Sonata about that same mileage, ran great but I didn't want it leaving me on the side of the highway, or worse, broke down in traffic. Didn't hurt that my B-I-L used car lot gave me the KBB private party transaction price for it without any haggling whatsoever.

I always ran 10w30 full syn in it and changed the oil every 5K. Was a good car but my wife hated the fact it was a manual, in addition to the other issues. Needed new brakes too, and I hit a deer with it, so it had front end cosmetic issues. All in all taking the "good condition" private party price from the BIL was the right move for us.

You probably made the right move though I will say I'd be much more willing to drive her Sonata if it was a manual. I just find it not enjoyable to drive, because of the notchy steering, electric power assist, bad seats, touchy electronic throttle, etc. But at least it had a lifetime warranty on the engine. Lol. I just drew the line at long trips as much as possible. We drove the 84 Cutlass on 2 vacations to Niagara falls and one to Quebec city where I had to leave it with valet at the hotel. They were able to retrieve it for us several times though I think he drove it without headlights in the dark once. Lol.

 

[Brons2]

You probably made the right move though I will say I'd be much more willing to drive her Sonata if it was a manual. I just find it not enjoyable to drive, because of the notchy steering, electric power assist, bad seats, touchy electronic throttle, etc. But at least it had a lifetime warranty on the engine. Lol.

If you floored it and power shifted at redline it would catch a 2nd gear scratch! Never seemed to mind the abuse. I carried that procedure out 3-4x a week.

I don't miss the Sonata but I miss having at least one manual in the house. If I got a weekend car it would definitely be a manual.

 

[350Rocket]

If you floored it and power shifted at redline it would catch a 2nd gear scratch! Never seemed to mind the abuse. I carried that procedure out 3-4x a week.

I don't miss the Sonata but I miss having at least one manual in the house. If I got a weekend car it would definitely be a manual.

Ours didn't get much full throttle, though I will admit it had plenty of power even with the automatic 6 speed and a manual would make it a lot better. It feels like a much bigger engine than a naturally aspirated 2.4. And fuel mileage is insane. The downside is reliability.

 

[4LeggedFrog]

I know many Hyundai and Kia owners who have experienced engine trouble and failure. The powertrain on these cars are not as reliable as Domestic, Japanese or German.

 

[350Rocket]

I know many Hyundai and Kia owners who have experienced engine trouble and failure. The powertrain on these cars are not as reliable as Domestic, Japanese or German.

I certainly saw plenty of examples through friends and family and the garage I used to work at before ours failed. So I was pretty well expecting this to happen eventually.
One thing I've learned out of this is if you do your own oil changes, you will have to have them do an inspection for sludge anyway, receipts for oil and filter with no reference to the vehicle aren't enough to get automatic warranty, so I might as well use whatever oil I think will protect it the best in the future. A couple hundred $ for a new engine is fine in my book.
I might just start using my m1 0w40 in it as well since I use it in everything else. As long as the new engine doesn't use any oil at least.
I've ran this oil exclusively in the Silverado even before I replaced the valve cover and it had a plugged PCV causing oil to get sucked into the throttle body causing a brief cloud of blue smoke on startup.... occasionally for a period of several years before I fixed that. And the original catalysts are still functioning at 255k miles, knock on wood.

 

[Gus_Mahn]

I was just talking with a mechanic who just started at the local Kia dealer. He told me he did two engine swaps his first week and the dealer is doing 40 engines per month.

 

[BMW Dom]

 

[andrew_j]

My coworker just found out the broken engine in his '16 Kia Sportage is going to be replaced after 136k miles. He's beyond relieved.

That’s great. I know three folks who did not take great care of vehicles or were not too smart not topping oil before towing in All got denied coverage however a clear defect pushed their Hyundai/kia over the cliff.

I still view them as the 88 Excel or 98 Kia Sephia, pure garbage that looks nice now.

 

[KCJeep]

To be fair, the ones we had drove pretty well and we had virtually no problems with them EXCEPT the self grenading engines every 20k or so. Obviously a deal breaker but I found it ironic.

 

[joekingcorvette]

I like your Oldsmobile and the wheels you put on it. Good you are getting a new engine for the Hyundai.

 

[350Rocket]

I like your Oldsmobile and the wheels you put on it. Good you are getting a new engine for the Hyundai.

Thanks. I got the wheels for free through a deal with Goodyear when I worked there. If we sold enough assurance comfortread touring tires we got a set...we sold enough for every employee to get a set but they didn't have them in 14's so I got store credit.

I'm relieved her car is getting fixed cause I've always been expecting this. With good maintenance and potentially they did something to improve the newer builds I hope it will make it longer than the first engine, so potentially 200k miles total.

 

[michaelluscher]

There was a tech on TikTok I followed (he since left H/K)
He had a counter


I really hope the Smartstream engines (Theta III) age better

 

[dumkid]

One of my customers has a n/a 2.4 kia Sorento with 200,000 miles on it (2nd engine and transmission) the steering felt funny at center, if you turned the wheel a little bit it wouldn't do much, if you turned it a little more the car would turn significantly. The engine had plenty of power but sounds almost like a diesel, and wasn't very smooth. I didn't like the throttle pedal mapping (push the pedal halfway, get 3/4 throttle) because it made the car feel peppy at part throttle but it wasn't any faster floored than at 3/4 throttle.

The interior i don't remember what it was like, which means it wasn't uncomfortable but it was unremarkable.

You have to jack the engine up to get the belt tensioner past the frame rail. There's like a 1/2 inch gap between the belt pullies and the frame with the engine on its mounts.

Good car for someone who doesn't like driving to lease, not maintain, and then give back to the dealership when It dies

 

[350Rocket]

One of my customers has a n/a 2.4 kia Sorento with 200,000 miles on it (2nd engine and transmission) the steering felt funny at center, if you turned the wheel a little bit it wouldn't do much, if you turned it a little more the car would turn significantly. The engine had plenty of power but sounds almost like a diesel, and wasn't very smooth. I didn't like the throttle pedal mapping (push the pedal halfway, get 3/4 throttle) because it made the car feel peppy at part throttle but it wasn't any faster floored than at 3/4 throttle.

The interior i don't remember what it was like, which means it wasn't uncomfortable but it was unremarkable.

You have to jack the engine up to get the belt tensioner past the frame rail. There's like a 1/2 inch gap between the belt pullies and the frame with the engine on its mounts.

Good car for someone who doesn't like driving to lease, not maintain, and then give back to the dealership when It dies

I agree on the throttle mapping. I mostly hate how it gives you like 30% throttle when you press the throttle like 10%, so it's hard not to do a burnout if you're trying to pull away quickly.
It sounds like a diesel mostly because of the direct injection fuel pump. Ours didn't really have any unusual knock before it seized up.
The guys were struggling to get the belt off to check if it was seized, it was a tight fit though maybe it's worse on the Sorento. I was standing there while they checked it out, only because I helped push it in and I used to work there. I didn't get charged for the diag which reminds me I need to bring coffee over to them.