Hyundai Santa Fe Maintenance and Repair (2007+)

r_magoon

With the cost replacing the timing belt at $500., this means that every 60000 miles I must spend $500.. I bought the car used, but the warranty doess not cover this cost. Also, the replace requires special tools that only the dealer has. Should not the dealer warn the buyer about this cost? I'm tempted to go the distance of 120000. Any comment?

lucky15

If I were you I would get it done at 60,000 miles, it is almost as if the manufacturer plans for them to go at 60,000, if the timing belt goes, so goes the engine, If I were you I would check around your area for a good mechanic at a local garage rather than a dealer, I had my wifes car done a few years back and he charged $300.00. I don`t know about the special tools that only dealers have, my mechanic had no problem changing the belt. On my wife`s car the timing belt went at just over 60,000 miles, luckily I caught it in the early stages. it had just started to make noises.

espo35

As the title of this thread is for 2007+ Santa fe's, I assume that's what you're driving.

It doesn't have a timing belt...it has a chain....which you never need to replace.

denvertrakker

Not exactly true. See here:

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f1bc404

In addition, it is certainly necessary under certain conditions to replace the timing chain - I speak from personal experience on my Nissan Stanza - but not usually, and not at the intervals recommended for a belt.

espo35

I suppose a steel chain COULD wear out....when dinosaurs again roam the Earth.

Then again, I suppose aliens COULD erupt, fully clothed, from my freckled [non-permissible content removed].

denvertrakker

Never say never. And keep some witch hazel on hand.

lucky15

The GLS has a timing belt, the SE and Limited have a timing chain, I hope this clears up any confusion, as posters stated earlier their are different engines for these models, the one for the GLS is a smaller V-6. I own a 2007 GLS and it has a timing belt.

zoom49

others, like costco, I have to hold the nozzle at a certain angle to fill up.

Same issue with us. Some nozzles we have to tilt the handle up in order to get the
gas to not keep shutting off before the tank is filled.

gunga64

18 inch tires for the limited cost around $220.00 tire alone at costco and sams.
Tirerack has some at around $110.00

I have 30k on my 07 limited and the stock tires are still in fine shape. But if you get a nail in one expect to pay big bucks for a patch. They wanted like 50 bucks to patch it. They blamed the size of the tire and that TMPS thing that checks air pressure or whatever its for, it is the valve steam. I read they cost 5 bucks but the tire places like to jack up the cost for replacement. If it were me I would just leave the old one in place, but these bozos always want to cut them off. Tiresplus changed the flat for 24 bucks, which was a deal.

gunga64

Where did you get your Kumhos I am looking at those for future replacements? Are they still doing good?

rich123

So I am due for the 7500 mile service. I assume most folks get an oil change also at the 7500 mile service. How much did you pay and has anyone had their service intervals done by a third party?

roxye

I have a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe. The gas pump at any gas station shuts off repeatedly while fueling. This is a recent problem, but it is getting worse. I have to hold the gas pump handle throughout the entire fueling process, and even doing that, it takes forever to fill up. The gas pump acts as though the tank is full. Is there a solution to this problem?

rick2456

I got mine from discount tire, but tirerack.com also sells them for a little bit cheaper. They are pretty and better than the OEM duelers.

denvertrakker

My six month service was a grand total of thirty-eight bucks and change, at the selling dealer. I didn't go for all the expensive "treatments" the dealer wanted to include. Same for the twelve month and eighteen month.

ronkennedy61

Purchased used 2009 SE with 6K at dealer. Service mrg. says they changed oil (5w-30) and filter. I change my own oil every 3K and I'd like to go with mfgrs. recm. of 5w-20 and Hyundai filter. Recm. on brand of non-synthetic oil, or where to find ratings, and where to buy? 5w-20 seems to be hard-to-find.

hmavison

Hyundai recommends Quaker State 5w 20w oil (according to my 2007 3.3L manual)
I also change my own oil and I buy it at Walmart, I also buy their Fram oil
filter which looks identical to the Hyundai filter & even has the Hyundai
name stamped on it.

Works for me!!

geeceman

I use Valolene 5w-20, No trouble finding it at Wal-Mart, Advance. It is a conventional oil. Get my filter at local Auto Parts Store.

ronkennedy61

Thanks to 892 and 893. Will use 5w20 for sure. Already ordered Hyundai filters from Frank Motors via Ebay so may have paid too much versus Fram, but until warranty runs out I'll play it safe,

ronkennedy61

Used 09 Santa Fe SE AWD. Cruise will not hold speed in Drive on slight freeway uphill grade. Loses 4-5 MPH or possibly more as I turned it off at 5 MPH loss. Also, will not hold speed at all on downhill, no apparent engine breaking or downshifting. Will ask dealer to fix this week. Hope this is not classified as "normal". Getting exactly 20 MPG on mostly freeway driving at 60 MPH, 30 psi at 6200 miles, and am a little disappointed. Speed in reverse seems way too fast, and requires riding brakes. Plan to ask dealer to change door locks to lock automatically, if possible.

Mr_Shiftright

The cruise issue might be electrical in nature, a sensor or the amplifier.

Your MPG is close to correct for the model. They list 19 mpg average city/hwy.

westvirginia

My 2007 Santa Fe Limited has been great until this last Friday. First about about 4 days before this the battery bites the dust with no warning. I have that replaced and the charging system checked. It was fine until Friday, on the way home work, my wife says it wouldn't go over 40. The ABS felt like it was cutting in and the engine was cutting out. She barely made it home. I get home and go out to start it and get nothing, not even a click. I flicked the headlight switch, nothing. I then try to start one more time and it starts like there is no problem. Go figure!

I called the dealer to schedule an appointment and he says they are booked until the 16th. What! He says with all the recalls they are swamped. I say for a fairly new car is that the best you can do. He says sorry....This is no way to treat a customer.

I let it sit until this morning and decide to test it out. It starts okay, but as soon as I try to accelerate, the engine cuts out, the ABS feels like its kicking in and just about every warning light comes on. Then, it smooths out. I decide to take onto the highway and it runs fine for a few miles until I stop and start out again. Then it becomes a bucking bronco again with the engine cutting out and abs kicking in. I couldn't get above 35 mph. I barely made it home. The ABS, TPMS, ESC, BRAKE warning lights were some of the ones I could remember that came on. Obviously, the car is not safe to drive to the dealership. I'm going to demand they tow it. The issue is what to do if they can't look at for a week? I wonder if the warrantly will still cover this electrical issue?

Oh yeah, and my original tires are worn out which I think is premature. The insides are down to smooth rubber. This last bit of wear happened fast. I watch my tires closely. It must have started right after they replaced the front stabilizer that was rattling. I think they messed up the alignment when they did this.

rick2456

I had similar symptoms with all the warning light flashing, etc. Turns out it was the alternator and I had just enough juice left in the battery to make it to the dealer. Fortunately, I had the extended warranty and was given a rental as it took a few days for the dealer to get a new one. No problems since.

westvirginia

Turns out it was a loose positive battery cable. I found it myself when I shut the door and noticed the dash lights flickered. I checked under the hood and the darn connector was just resting on top of the battery post. It would tighten so I got a shim cap for the battery post. Apparently it has been loose for a while and maybe that's what made the other battery fail.

I'm getting the allignment and going with the Kumho Road Venture APT tires. There's not much of a choice in this size of tire.

rick2456

You will like the Kumho's. Just be aware the rubber is a harder compound than some softer tires, thus the comfort may suffer a bit. But they should last a lot longer.

omar6575

Has any one experience during cold starts (car park for over 5 hours) during fast idle the rpm stumbles for a couple of seconds follow by a strange smell (black smoke smell ) then goes back to normal fast idle. once the engine reaches proper operating temp. it seems to idle about 600 rpm and just runs normal and just once in a while it drops rpm to 500, but the most strange thing is that the check engine light does not light up for either event. I only have about 13,000 miles on the clock. i want to take it back but with out the check engine light on, i dont know if they would be able to figure it out. This is so ironic; usually people complaint when that light comes on for any reason. Here i am looking for it so i can be fix.
any sugestions are welcome.

dabbdc

I just bought a black '07 Sante Fe Ltd w 48k miles. It has the Hyundai Certified CPO warranty

Anyone have experience with the factory wheel & tire warranty? Vehicle care (routine maintenance)? Vehicle protection(extended bumper-to-bumper)?

Experiences and prices paid appreciated

thegraduate

My girlfriend has a Santa Fe GLS (2.7L Auto FWD) which has cruise control "slack" too. For example:

Set cruise on 70 on flat ground. Climb hill, speed drops to 65 (not a hill that would normally require a downshift or anything). Crest hill, speed passes 70, and hits something like 75-77 before settling back down in 15-20 seconds. I'm so used to my Accord which will absolutely HOLD 70, whether it takes 2 downshifts or some engine braking; this system wears me out on trips, where I feel like I'm a nuisance to other drivers for changing speed so much. I've read other complaints about Hyundai cruise having a mind of its own with Sonata, XG350, etc, so its not specific to the Santa Fe.

thegraduate

The loose batt cable will drive ya nuts! I had that issue on my car (9 years old at the time) and it left me dead 45 min from home. I wasn't happy until I started fiddling under the hood and suddenly my lights came on - I was a happy guy at that point!

Weak batteries will cause your car to do some crazy stuff.

espo35

Just curious.... had you done your 30,000 mile service? If so, shouldn't the dealer have caught the loose cable while they serviced the battery?

th99

I just bought my used SF 2.7 2007 and seems a bit confused about the oil check level. every time I check it it is over the F level and I only put 4.5 liters as mentioned in the manual.

any advise on exact checking !! :confuse:

thanks

redfivekbs

TH99,

Do you get the overfill level when you're doing the oil change BEFORE starting the car? Remember, the filter will hold some oil and is empty before you start the car which may show the oil level too high. Once you start the car the oil will be pumped through the filter and lower the oil level as read from the dipstick.

just a thought.

edmac1

Did you loosen the filter first and let it drain, before draining the crankcase?

quent222

On the way to work the engine seized up on my wife and it lost all the oil from the engine a 2.7 FWD GLS.
The dealership said that it was due to a loose oil filter, that had been on for almost 3500 miles (and two months) with out any oil loss, and or leaks. I have never heard of this happening before, or is this a Sante Fe problem? Anyway it is going to cost $6800.00 to replace the engine is this a fair price?

Mr_Shiftright

who changed the oil?

thegraduate

Exactly - they should be the ones negotiating the price of a new engine.

espo35

$6800.00 sounds about right. I'm having a tough time believing there was no leak before the engine seized. Exploding oil filter?? Never saw one. You can try going after whoever last changed the oil or the oil filter manufacturer. But I bet you'll strike out.

Good luck....

dz302

Loose oil filter? Sounds like BS to me. More like bad engine dealer doesn't want to pay for. If you had a "loose oil filter" would you not see OIL on the ground and all over the underside of your vehicle??? Sounds fishy to me. I think I might be inclined to contact a lawyer on this one. This is obviously not the fault of the owner.

mhtn

when the engine is started cold and put in gear, I can hear the ticking sound from the engine. But when I accelerate the ticking disappear and when I come to a stop, I can hear it again. However, after the engine warms up to normal temperature (after driving 4-5 miles) the ticking sound disappears altogether.

I found this on Youtubelink title and the Santa Fe ticking characteristic is very similar except that it's much fainter and only when I put the car in gear. The BMW in the video seems to be idle without in gear.

The Santa Fe has only 4500 miles on it and I've notice this ticking sound since it was at 1000 miles or so. I changed the oil myself and used Mobil 1 synthetic 5W20 and Hyundai OEM oil filter. I recently changed the oil again at 4000 miles but with dino 5W30 oil and the ticking noise is still there.

I've read several posts regarding this issue and some said it could be the lifter noise and others piston slap.

Has anyone noticed this in their 07/08/09 Santa Fe ? I'm wondering if this will get worse or effect the engine's life.

Thanks for any input!

espo35

10 Bucks says it wasn't a Hyundai dealer who did the last oil change.

espo35

Lifter. Steer clear of synthetic oil (see your owner's manual) for the first 10,000 miles.

The noise will go away.

No harm, no foul.

Mr_Shiftright

Actually an oil filter CAN blow right off the engine. This happens when the pressure relief valve fails.

espo35

I haven't seen that in 33 years of wrenching every day.

More likely, the guy changed his own oil, double-gasketed the filter and is about to write a fat check.

Bummer.

Mr_Shiftright

It's not something you see every day but if you google "oil filter blown off" you can read some hair-raising stories. But yeah, I think your scenario is more likely.

espo35

I did find this, not sure if it's against protocol to list the link.....but WOW!

http://www.jiffylubeproblems.com/StateIndex.htm

Mr_Shiftright

Well somebody should be responsible for this. Without more details, I can't say....

espo35

Exactly.

th99

well actualy I only changed oil not coming near the Oil filter, left it for the next oil change.

and even after I started the engine and turned it off and checked the level after a while it was over the F level!!! its weard isnt it??

:mad:

espo35

If you're not changing the filter, it is already filled with oil, so you need not add the full 4.5 quarts.

Also, make sure you're parked of FLAT ground when checking your fluid levels.

th99

that must be it!! thanks

js06gv

Turn a claim into your insurance carrier under your comprehensive coverage. They will investigate the acual cause of the engine failure. If they find that the failure was caused by the oil change mechanic (or yourself if you changed it) not properly securing the oil filter then the resulting damage will be covered and, if applicable, the insurance company will subrogate against the mechanic.

I manage a claims operation for a major insurance company, and have seen several situations like this over the years. This is different than normal wear and tear, which is specifically excluded by insurance policies. I'd definitely give this a shot, and if you are still in posession of the car be sure you preserve any evidence you can as the insurance company will likely involve an engineer to assist in the investigation.

Good luck.