Hyundai Elantra Cooling System Problem
When My car warms uo to normal running temperature, steam comes out from the top of the radiator housing across from the cap. The steam appears to be comming from around the front of the grill, and out of a space about 3 inches long. The car does not appear to be overheating, and the Guage is reading normal! Any Ideas?
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p.s. mom47 call a few dealers and ask.....one of them may say its covered and if so...use them, but get it in writing first.
Belts, hoses and clamps do break, as you painfully found out and can happen with any make of car.
We did not notice whether or not the car was overheating, it was driving fine and after being parked for a few minutes, it wouldn't turn over.
The fact that you did not notice that the engine was running higher than normal and becoming dangerously hot, unfortunately, was your fault not the car's. The fact that there was no smoke only means there was no fire. It was super heated metal (cylinders and block) that caused the engine to seize.
Again, sorry for your misfortune, but there is no easy way to say the problem was of your doing and not a defect of the car.
Umm.... YOU did, when your mechanic TOLD YOU about it. I mean.... DUH! If a thermostat fails, you don't wait MONTHS to fix it!
And replacing a thermostat at 40k is not unheard of. It doesn't happen a lot, but once it a while it does. If I were the dealer I wouldn't fix your engine under warranty either.
I know of several people that have had major work done under Hyundai's warranty. The difference between them and you is they took proper care of their cars.
Since your mechanic advised you that there was nothing wrong with the thermostat after your Hyundai dealer advised you to replace it (I thought that is what you said?), have you asked the mechanic if he/she would be willing to cover the cost of the repair?
To my knowledge, a thermostat replacement is not an expensive repair. Sometimes it is the best policy to pay a little now vs. (potentially) a lot later. Another example is timing belts. The replacement can be fairly expensive, a few hundred dollars if done at a dealer. But if it breaks, the engine can be ruined. So holding off on replacing it can save money now, and maybe it won't break. But if it does... bad news.
This may not be the kind of answer you are looking for, but it's the best answer I have based on my 35 years of owning cars.
Frankly, I'd raise holy heck and try to get them to put a crate engine in my car, at least about leaking hoses or faulty clamps. It isn't fair for Hyundai (or any other automaker) to dwell long and loud about their fantastic warranty and then be so brutal in their expectations of average car owners. Their warranty is worthless to me if I have to crawl all around my car and constantly inspect it every time I think about driving it to make sure a hose hasn't failed, all so that my warranty will be honored.
FWIW, if it overheats severely within the B2B warranty, through no fault of my own, I'm likely to *ensure* that the engine seizes. Just because it will still turn over and run doesn't mean that Hyundai's faulty hose/clamp hasn't galled or scored a main bearing that will now fail prematurely. I paid for this warranty. I'm willing to do my part to realize the full potential for reliability from my Elantra. In return, I want a mechanically flawless car from Hyundai.
Same for me. The Elantra has a temperature gauge. When the engine started to overheat, the needle on the gauge should have moved up close to and then into the red zone before the hose blew. If not, then perhaps the gauge is faulty (was it checked out after the hose blew?) and that could be a good reason to demand that Hyundai cover the engine repair.
Also, this must be a problem with all elantra's but my car just broke down as well without any warning, no engine light or any indication from the temperature guage. Turns out my radiator was cracked and leaking coolant all over the place. This was without warning starting a 90 min car ride. Luckily it was only my radiator and no gaskets were blown.
My 2003 Elantra has about 90k miles on it and it sounds like this problem is common. No mechanic mentioned my thermometer as the problem. Is this an expensive fix?
I had a simmiliar experience. I had talked to a former Hyundai mechanic who worked at a dealership till his conscience got the better of him. He told me that my overheating was related to a manufactring defect. Radiators just don't break. And there are alot of things they (dealership) won't tell you.
I will never buy another hyundai either. There is more that I wont say on here but there really should be an investigation as to why so many elantra have overheating issues. Something is definitely being covered up. And many other people have posted on many other forums about how hyundai denies many repairs even when they are within the 5 yr./60k miles warranty. I am looking into Subaru and toyota as they are more honorable warranty providers.
In short, my engine seized due to overheating. The dealership in NJ told me it was my fault because they told me of a leak and I refused to have it fixed. Fact is they did not tell me that my cooling system was leaking or was in such bad shape that a leak was very possible. Based on the paperwork from the service visit(s), the only thing this dealership does is to add "recommended" services to the service sheet every time you service your car. In the past, they would make it very apparent when I should fix something because of possible failure. I would always agree or do the minor fixes myself.
The District Service Parts Mgr (DSPM from Hyundai) denied my claim without having all the details. They refuse to talk with me even though they based the decision on incomplete facts. i've faxed over requested information but Hyundai does not return calls. This has gone on for weeks now. I also found others that have stated similar problems on Edmunds.com.
How it happened:
I was driving my car back home on Thursday, October 18th from a business trip in Atlantic City on the Garden State Parkway (G.S.P.) North Bound. I was just at or before mile marker 52 just before a bridge (being expanded) when I saw smoke/steam starting to come from under the hood.
I immediately put my hazards on and looked for a safe place to pull off, since the traffic speed was in excess of 65 mph. At that point of the G.S.P., I was at the base of a bridge, (under construction), where cement barriers were in place on both the left and right sides, so I had no shoulder or other safe place to stop. I feared that if I just stopped in the lane, I would put myself and any other driver’s lives in danger because of the speed of traffic and my location. I knew I had to make it over that bridge or the first turnoff if available on the bridge. I pulled my car off at the bottom of the bridge at the first location I could stop safely. The engine was turned off and I lifted the hood. Then I called for help.
I had the towing company tow me and my car back to my home town mechanic thinking it was just an overheating issue or belt issue. On Thursday, October 18th that mechanic looked at my car and diagnosed overheating and saw antifreeze in all four cylinders which all resulted in a seized engine.
I then had my car towed to my Hyundai Dealership to fix it under warranty since I am under 100,000/10 years. Once the dealership mechanic looked at the car, I was called and told that this was all caused by a leak in the radiator hose and I was told of this by the dealer back in August (2012) that a leak was found and I should have them fix it.
In fact, I was never told of a leak or any impending issue(s) with any hose or clamps. I have the paperwork printed from that August maintenance visit. No mention of a leak or any language stating a potential leak or hazard.
The only thing stated is the Dealer’s normal/standard “Recommendations” list of items. I would have had them fix any leak or impending issue if they would have told me of such.
I first noticed it in December 2012. The heat was on its warmest setting and the car was toasting nicely then the hot air turned cold. It felt like the AC was on. Eventually, I learned to turn the temp down to the midpoint for a moment and then turn it back up to get warm. I figured this wasn't an urgent problem but noted it to mention it at the next oil change. About 3 weeks later, I noticed that the engine temp had redlined but was then going back into normal territory. As I drove the car to a parking lot, the temp stayed fine. I figured I'd imagined it so continued driving and the temp remained fine for 30 minutes with me keeping a close eye on it. Next morning, I started the car, fought with the heater, and kept an eye on the temp gauge. The temp would be fine, then redline for 10 seconds, then go back to normal. I called the dealer and was told to drive it in.
There was no coolant in the system so they refilled it. They also replaced the thermostat. They checked the system and proclaimed it fixed. I figured it was a strange event. If there was no coolant, the car should have redlined and stayed redlined so I didn't understand what was going on and the dealer decided I was a stupid woman who didn't deserve an explanation.
Fast forward 3 months, and the heater started acting up. I immediately started keeping a close eye on the temp gauge but noticed nothing for about a week. Then it once again started to redline for 10 seconds then be fine for 30+ minutes. The car had an oil change two weeks prior and everything was topped up but when I brought the car in, there was again no coolant.
They pressure checked the system, checked hoses, and couldn't figure out what was going on. So they filled the coolant and I drove the car for a week. No temp issues (or heater issues) but when I brought it back a week (and 500 miles) later, there was no coolant in the system.
I'm taking the car back in tomorrow for them to do another round of testing/repairs but frankly, I don't trust the dealer to have a clue. Anybody have any ideas what kinds of things this could be? I buy new cars so I don't have to worry about these sorts of issues. If the car were older, not maintained, or had 60K+ miles, I could see this sort of major repair but in a 15 month old car with 15K miles? I don't know if I have a lemon or whether I just stumbled into a Hyundai known issue.
Turns out that my friend's father in law previously owned the car, and he and his wife has had it since last December, so they got 6 months out of it before the radiator was toast. So I put a new one from Auto Zone in ($116). Of course with this mileage I'm thinking that maybe the water pump or at least the thermostat should be changed as well, but we decided to take one thing at a time. But when I filled the rad with coolant and fired it up, it wasn't too long before the gauge went to the top, and you guessed it, the thermostat was stuck closed.
I did this work in a church parking lot that had just had new seal coating put down the week before. My friend didn't want to make another mess, so he actually drove the car to his place later that evening and then over to my place this past Saturday with a new thermostat and gasket. This installation was a breeze and the problem with overheating are now a thing of the past. One thing I had asked him when he first called me was did you notice the car getting hotter with the A/C on? It's been hot and humid here in Pa. and I was wondering if he was using the AC, but he said no, it didn't work. Now of course we know the rad was shot, but while I was under the car at the church, I found out why the AC wasn't working, at least mechanically. The drive belt was gone! Only a few strands of what used to be a belt was left. No wonder it didn't work. This leads me to a mild chastisement to the powers that be at Hyundai. What genius or geniuses there decided that it would be BETTER to have 3 drive belts rather that one serpentine like most cars have had for a long time now? This is the first car I've worked on in a long time that DIDN'T have a serpentine belt. Just sayin'!
I know I'm long-winded, but please bear with me. My friend also brought new oil and a filter over for me as I offered to do an oil change for him, the oil was rather dark. While I was looking for the owners manual in the glove box, lo and behold I come across a brand new drive belt that was marked AC! He figured his father in law got it and threw it in the glove box and never put or had it put on. I told him that I would do it but could not guarantee that the system was still charged and would work. He said lets try it. Now to put that belt on, you of course must remove the Alternator belt, the one in front. THIS belt was totally shot! I wouldn't doubt if it was an original belt. I called my friend yesterday(Sunday) and told him he needed to make one more trip to AutoZone for that belt. It was so worn out that you could see through it from the top!
I'm coming to the great finish now, folks. On went the new AC belt, the new Alternator belt and I started the car and after checking how the belts were tracking, I had my wife hit the AC button. It worked! It got like a freezer in a matter of minutes. When I called my friend and told him, he was elated! Now there's a few other issues with this car, it's got a cracked windshield that he's gonna have to deal with before his next inspection, he may need front rotors and brakes, and a few minor things like that. But I think for being 10 years old with 155K on it, it's not a bad running car. I see some of the stories some of you have posted above, especially you, Ted2006. That's just a terrible thing to have happen and Hyundai wouldn't make good for it. But I have to say I like this Elantra GLS model and now that I have had some mechanical experience on it, I might be inclined to buy one some day. Thanks for reading this, folks, and have a great day!