Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see May lease deals!
Options
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Has anyone else notice this?
For the guy with 4,800 miles... the engine will continue loosening through 10,000 miles. You should start to kind of notice it around 8,000 miles.
The car is hands down the best deal in the market today.
~archangel5
p.s. Hyundai is much more popular in the west than it is in the east. That's why you're seeing several in California and none in Florida. I was in NYC this past week, and I saw one.... after a week of looking. By the way, that should be a reason to buy the car, not a reason not to. If you drive the car in Florida, you'll notice people eyeing your car trying to figure out what kind of new Saab you are driving.
Thanks!
I took it to the dealer (how I dread dealer service centers) who said that I should try to use a heavier grade of oil than the 5W-30 I had been using. He also mentioned something about how several Japanese autos will tend to make this type of noise after a few thousand miles and is normal for many such cars (sounded bogus to me). The oil viscosity explanation sounded odd to me as well, but I did it, switching to a mix of 2 qts 15W-50 Mobil 1 and 1.5 qts 10W-30 Catrol GTX, which I felt should be more than "heavy" enough. 1500 miles later (46,500 total miles) after the oil change, the noise has not decreased at all.
I dread a return visit to he dealer (especially after my "paint issue" experience), but suppose I will have to go back.
Any suggestions or comments?
p.s. Hydraulic lifter noise is actually quite common in Japanese cars. Mazda has had extremely bad luck with them and so did early 90s Nissans (Nissan has since switched back to a solid lifter design due to all the problems). In Mazda's case, they made the oil passages too narrow, thus starving the lifters of oil and causing obnoxiously loud lifters on the Miata, 626, 929, and first generation MPV. There is no fix for it and honestly, the noise doesn't cause any harm so it's not a big deal. Thicker oil is the only thing that will quiet down the lifters on my 92 Miata.
I am also concerned with corrosion starting underneath the spoiler as there is no drainage for the moisture underneath. Anyone have any problems with theirs?
You are always a great source of knowledge. I really thought it would be OK to mix the oils. I won't make that mistake again (I'd better stop listening to my brother!).
If we find out that the Elantra has solid lifters, how would your advice change?
codata99,
The Hyundai dealer is in Franklin, TN (a new dealership - open less than 1 year), called Franklin Hyundai. I've never had good experiences with any car dealer service department in my lifetime and this one was no exception. One guy questioned the quality of my Bosch Premium oil filter saying it probably didn't meet Hyundai's standards (I know better than that), plus I got a bit of double-talk between the regional rep and one of the service dept managers on my paint issue (more to it than I originally typed in a previous message here). I won't go into details.
Most damage to engines is caused by overheating or by not having oil in the first place. There was a news story reported on bobistheoilguy that reported that a remarkably high percentage (20% comes to mind) of oil sold was actually SA to SC oil. If there's that many people running around with clearly inferior oil unsuitable to any car built in the last thirty years, the debates over one brand or another of SL oils is small indeed.
Mixing weights of oils does not give you a pure mathematical average-- i.e. 5W30 and 10W30 doesn't necessarily equal 7.5W30, but the differences would be of little importance.
I think what you mentioned about shrinkage of seals can occur, based on my experience. Here's what happened: My dad has always been a Valvoline man and when I bought my 84 VW GTI, I continued this tradition. However, one time the store was out of Valvoline so I bought Castrol GTX, since I heard it was a good oil. The day after I changed the oil, on my way home from school, I looked behind me and noticed a huge plume of blue smoke coming from my exhaust. My car had never burned any oil and never smoked so I pulled over immediately. Smoke was just pouring out of the exhaust. I turned the car off and checked the oil level. It was fine. I took the oil cap off and smoke was pluming out if it too and it smelled horribly of burnt oil. I was like, what the hell? I let it cool for 15 minutes and than restarted it. Only a little smoke was coming out so I drove it home. Thinking something was wrong with the oil, I changed it that night and put Valvoline back in it. Lo and behold, the smoking ceased and 7 years later it has never resurfaced. I'm pretty convinced the change in additives and detergents in the Castrol oil caused the smoking problem. It's the only thing that makes sense since my car is a very simple design with nothing else that could have caused the smoking. This experience is one reason I warned compensate about mixing oil brands and weights.
You need to find out which lifter design you have and let us all know when you find out. One easy way would be to check your maintenance schedule and see if it requires a valve check/adjustment at 60k, like all Hondas and Nissans.
Thanks, mpgman, for your comments, too. Makes me feel better about my valve noise!
Overall, after about 47,000 miles, I do love the car. Even the CD skipping/erroring I was getting fairly regularly has now stopped completely over the past 6 months, which was amazing, yet bizzare. Once I pass 60,000 miles, however, I'm going to install my 15-year old Alpine CD/tuner head unit, separate 4-channel Alpine amp, and self-amplified Bazooka bass tube and then REALLY enjoy the music!
As far as the miles-to-fillup estimator, I always let mine start flashing, too, before filling up. I usually can drive 30-40 miles once it begins flashing. Once, I actually filled it with 15 gallons (cut that a bit close, huh?).
My only sadness is with the paint adherence on my front bumper. I have noticed a few new small bubbles appearing now. Wish the Hyundai regional rep would have approved the warranty extension. . .
The recent heatwave here and high humidity has taken a toll on my mpg. With the a/c on all the time and our wonderful traffic in LA (aka parking lot) my mpg has sunken to an all-time low of 19!!!
Well, the worst I've had in a small car still goes to my old Ford ZX-2 (17!!!) but my ECHO never got below 29. Still love my GT! Before anyone questions the mpg, my driving consists of a 12 mile drive that can take betweem 20 to 45 minutes daily each way depending on traffic.
So far, my black tape looks quite nice, on both pillars. I wish I could say the same for the paint job on my front bumper, which continues to deteriorate.