Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!

2009-2010 Hyundai Sonata

11820222324

Comments

  • tomw6tomw6 Member Posts: 10
    Forgot to say that it's a V6.
  • backybacky Member Posts: 18,949
    At that RPM it could be lugging. But it shouldn't do that just idling at stop.
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    You may be right, it could or could not be a law that requires anyone to do this.
    I don't know about that but the dealership where I bought the Sonata is locally
    owned by a family that also owns several other dealerships. Toyota, Nissan and
    something else I think GMC, and the Hyundai, all separate places but same owners. They have been in business for over 30 years probably much longer than
    carfax. The man that owns these is a hands on type of guy very up and up, I have been buying vehicles from him since he went in business. His policy has always
    stayed the same if any new car comes through his places and has anything done
    as far as repair like broken glass, repaint a scratch or whatever it is documented and
    disclosed to the buyer, all you have to do is ask. Now if you or anyone else has a
    dealership that don't stand behind their cars, then it may be time for a change wouldn't you say.
  • espo35espo35 Member Posts: 144
    and what amount of defects is Hyundai experiencing with their paint and the Alabama plant.

    Slim and none...and Slim just left town.
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    Why would it be so far fetched to think it could not have happened at the assembly
    plant. I have not visited the Sonata car maker in Alabama but have come across
    quite a bit of info during research. It sounds like it is a very modern high tech place.
    If this is such they probably utilize the same kind of equipment as most of the
    others use. There are hundreds of car bodies painted every work day, the trunk lid,
    the hood and the doors are not on the body when painted, this painting is done
    by robotic computer controlled machines. We all know that machines and computers are dfifinetly not foolproof, so things will happen. That is why these companies also have so many quality inspectors to catch paint blemishes on the
    final product. When it is found I dont think that car is thrown away, it is fixed, and
    if it is a door it could very well be fixed in place like a body shop maybe better, but
    maybe not perfect "over spray?" or the like. Since it was only caught by very
    close observation by a critical eye it is not hard for me to believe it couldn't have
    happened at the factory. Would they keep records on exactly what car it was done
    on, your guess is as good as mine. It may not have been any damage on the door
    just repaint, again who knows. This is just a thought, no one has to agree!
  • espo35espo35 Member Posts: 144
    While anything is possible, I just can't see it happening. Hyundai would NEVER ship a car that is sub-standard. Their whole future is based on quality. They take the JD Power Survey in initial quality as gospel. Anyone who made the decision to ship a sub-standard car would be fired immediately.
    No B.S.
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    I agree with your point of view and I would hope no carmaker would intentionally
    ship a vehicle out that don't meet their standards, more importantly our standards.
    In a perfect world that could happen, unfortunatly no one alive is perfect and
    most every man made item is not perfect including robots. As you said anything
    is possible. Lets say the painted door was actually done by the high tech paint
    machine and that is how it came out and the inspector for that area was thinking
    about his girlfriend or something, he or she could have missed it since it was hard to find according to the owner. How would anyone know? If a paint mill gauge don't
    detect it that would be kind of hard to do without sanding the entire door down.
    This is my opinion only.
  • wayne21wayne21 Member Posts: 259
    My wife and I took a trip to Montgomery Al and while there we toured the hyundai plant. Top notch indeed! But I believe the doors and hood and trunk lid ARE on the car when it is dipped and painted.
  • wayne52wayne52 Member Posts: 26
    I recently toured the hyundai plant in montgomery. They showed a video and it had the doors/hood/trunk on the car when they painted it. So I think paint problems occured in transit or at the dealership.
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    Point well taken every car maker has their own system, if you dig a little deeper
    you may find that even Hyundai don't permanitly attach the doors, hood, or trunk
    lid for paint process, they are taken off at the start of the final assembly line and
    brought to an area to put the finishing touches such as on the doors, power window
    parts, remote trunk and gas door, glass etc. and the liner. For the hood and trunk lid the insulation is put in and the little hydraulic cylinders are attached the locking
    assembly is put in. The main reason these things are taken off is to allow the
    robot equipment to install interiors like all the dash, seats, actually everything
    including complete drive train. What I am getting at is with all this taking off and
    putting on, moving and handling can the final paint job on it be scratched or damaged some way, and will the same door or hood go back on the same car it
    came off of, there are many cars painted the same color on the line at 1 time. On
    the tour it didn't show that part step by step I presume, maybe they don't want that
    part to be seen. All this is not exclusive to Hyundai check the GM assembly line
    some of their older plants still paint cars by hand and put doors and things on after
    final assembly. You have probably heard of new cars being bought with factory
    defects are even with parts missing, if you by enough of them you have a very
    good chance of getting one also, feel very lucky if you don't have one already! Do you have a new one?
  • wayne52wayne52 Member Posts: 26
    Your description of how things work at the factory are correct. They do not take you through the paint shop, but do show the video. They have quite a few quality check points that they take very seriously though, and I don't think the factory would let things slide by. I've been to quite a few factories and was more impressed by the hyundai plant than any other - bar none.
    I have never owned a hyundai. I took the tour because I was thinking of buying a hyundai genesis and was interested in learning how they do things in their factories. If I were in the market for a car in the sonata class for myself, I would give it very serious consideration.
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    Thanks for the reply, I think considering a new Hyundai would be a good move,after
    a bunch of research for a few months on most of the competitors in that class the
    one that stood out the most is the one we wound up with. 2009 se v6 and so for
    after 11,000k miles am very happy we did. IMO this thing is awesome all the way around, seems like the factory in Alabama really got their _ _ _ _ togather, and
    proud of it. I think this is good for the whole Auto industry in general Hyundai will
    push them to build better cars with more standard equipment and up the warranty
    and keep the prices a little under control. If people keep buying the over priced cars
    that other car makers put out just for the name, that company may not step up
    what they offer. Just as an example one of the top competitors at the time of our
    purchase had the comparable trim line but had much less standard stuff had to drop
    to a 4 cylinder version to compare. Sonata had $3000. rebate and a $2000. dealer
    incentive the other had no rebate or dealer incentive. With the warranty difference
    it was not even close, the Sonata was rated better by almost all the top rating
    people and $3000.+ less expensive. Will be more than happy to give you the info
    on where I found this info. Happy motoring!
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    Quick note, sorry to change the topic, back to the painted door problem!
  • necostanzonecostanzo Member Posts: 7
    Thanks for all the replies. I really think that there is more damage than meets the eye. It doesn't appear that it was a small scratch & repaint. If you look at the seam along the front edge of the door, it is deformed and not straight. Whatever hit/damaged the door casued enough force to deform the door edge seam. Is it possible that the door was dropped when it was removed from the vehicle during assembly? If so, would they have fixed it or just replaced it with another door? From what everyone is telling me, the chance of it happening during assembly is very small.

    Anyone have direct access to the factory information and can discuss the procedures for what happens when a door is dropped/damage during assembly?

    Much Thanks again for all the help, Nick
  • newowner10newowner10 Member Posts: 227
    Why are you worried about it? It must be hard to see. This is a Hyundai not a Lexus.
  • dave09sedave09se Member Posts: 20
    I wouldnt care if it was a brand new yugo even if they still made that, if I buy a brand new anything I want it to be right not damaged this person is trying to get help on making it right, maybe it wouldnt bother you but apparently its bothering them. Things that people will accept are different for everybody.
  • necostanzonecostanzo Member Posts: 7
    Good point, however it grinds on me since it is a "new" vehicle and I see lots of $10-15K new sentras, cavaliers, etc with no damage on them. Would I expect anything less from a $25k Sonata Limited? I know it's not a Lexus, but you know what, it's my "Lexus" and I expect...no, better yet, I demand that it is not damaged.

    BTW, if you want, I'd sell it to you for a good deal, only $19K, fully loaded Limited V6 with only 1600 miles.

    Cheers, Nick
  • espo35espo35 Member Posts: 144
    "Why are you worried about it? It must be hard to see. This is a Hyundai not a Lexus."

    http://jalopnik.com/5299918/lexus-porsche-top-2009-jd-power-initial-quality-surv- ey
  • stephen987stephen987 Member Posts: 1,994
    Why are you worried about it? It must be hard to see. This is a Hyundai not a Lexus.

    Would you accept spoiled meat just because you bought hamburger instead of filet mignon?

    Those of us who cannot afford a Lexus (and there are many) still have a right to expect that when we purchase a new vehicle with our hard-earned cash, it's an undamaged specimen.
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    Hello Newowner10, I will try to be very polite in responding to your comment about Mr. necostanzo new car problem. Everybody has a right to their own opinion, but
    this forum is for people to express their good and not so good experiences with
    Hyundai Sonatas not Lexus, that would be the Toyota forum. Most of what is said
    on this site is to help each other solve issues with 2009-2010 Sonatas. If you are here to make rather negative personal comments about someone that has a
    legitimate beef I would think I'm not the only person that sees this as inappropriate.
    You should be on DEAR ABBY forum not here. If you don't care what condition
    your vehicles are in, Nick offered you a pretty good deal on his Limited, and I can
    make you a better deal I have a Cash for Clunkers 1996 truck, still runs and the air
    conditioner even works, needs some TLC and you may the right person for it.

    Have a very good evening, Nicks new friend:
  • targettuningtargettuning Member Posts: 1,371
    Given all the possibilities i.e. damaged and repainted during assembly, damaged during shipping, during a test drive, during movement around the dealers lot or it may have been a dealer trade car shuttled from another dealer I opt for one of the 4 latter choices. I have two friends who work for dealerships (two different makes) and they have disclosed some stories to me about the lack of kid glove treatment new cars sometimes get. They definately ARE damaged during shipment and go directly to the body shop for repair. This damage is usually a small scratch...dent..scrape etc. but once while looking for a particular newly released model car (Nissan Altima) in a particular color I was lead to the back of the Nissan dealership and shown a demolished brand new Altima in the color I wanted to see. Nope, it was beyond repair but it shows what can happen during shipment. I think the hydraulic ramp smashed the front roof flat on this one. Anyhow, back to the dealer induced damage. I was also told of cars damaged while being driven into the prep shop for pre-sale cleaning and detail, cars that were simply parked too close together on the storage lot resulting in door dings and scapes as they were retrieved, told of test drives that resulted in minor (and major) damage, and my favorite, dealer trade cars (especially fast cars) that do not get any break-in miles before being "top speed tested" by some young shuttle drivers. In almost all cases, it was told to me, the dealers did not disclose any previous repaired damage to the ultimate buyers. You have to be critical like the original poster and do your own inspection before accepting delivery.
  • billwardbillward Member Posts: 154
    I can vouch for a bit of that....

    Back in 1991, my father was in an accident in his 1990 Chevy Suburban (needed it for towing their camper). The car that was hit (even though it was a T-Bone, my father was not at fault in that accident, though the accident a month later.... but that's another story, as you'll see) was totalled, and the Suburban was in pretty bad shape. The dealership had the Suburban for a listed two weeks to repair the front end, chassis, and repaint. So the bid day arrives, and my father goes to pick up the Suburban; he and I (I drove him) are waiting to drive it home. Get all checked out with paperwork, and they go to fetch the car. We sit and wait for the five minutes. No Suburban. We wait some more. We wait for over an hour. Finally, we get up and go to see the manager and ask if there is a problem. That's when we're told that while fetching the Suburban, the valet driver had had an accident with it... he'd T-Boned another car (PARKED) in their repair lot/holding lot. It would be two more weeks to repair and (again) repaint the Suburban.

    The kicker is they had long-standing reservations to go camping in two weeks... the car would be done THE DAY they would need to hook up the camper and tow it from Virginia Beach Virginia to Asheville NC. You can guess what's coming next, with my father still upset from the original accident a month earlier, and driving "overly cautious" (even though it wasn't my father's fault, the woman on the passenger's side of the car that had been hit in the first accident had ended up in critical condition, and was still in the hospital three weeks after the accident, the driver's elderly mother). Of course, the repair shop had had to adjust brakes because of the frame damage, and the electronic braking for the camper hadn't been dialed in quite right, which meant the camper (a 35 footer) wasn't braking properly.........

    Suffice it to say, even though the Suburban after the THIRD accident in 4 weeks was in VERY bad shape, he had to use it to drive the campber back to his home before the Suburban itself was towed.

    So take away from the story: Dealerships do NOT treat the cars as if they were their own personally owned vehicles. They treat them as disposable things with any problems that are created by the dealerships pushed off to the unsuspecting buyer.
  • billwardbillward Member Posts: 154
    I can vouch for a bit of that....

    Back in 1991, my father was in an accident in his 1990 Chevy Suburban (needed it for towing their camper). The car that was hit (even though it was a T-Bone, my father was not at fault in that accident, though the accident a month later.... but that's another story, as you'll see) was totalled, and the Suburban was in pretty bad shape. The dealership had the Suburban for a listed two weeks to repair the front end, chassis, and repaint. So the bid day arrives, and my father goes to pick up the Suburban; he and I (I drove him) are waiting to drive it home. Get all checked out with paperwork, and they go to fetch the car. We sit and wait for the five minutes. No Suburban. We wait some more. We wait for over an hour. Finally, we get up and go to see the manager and ask if there is a problem. That's when we're told that while fetching the Suburban, the valet driver had had an accident with it... he'd T-Boned another car (PARKED) in their repair lot/holding lot. It would be two more weeks to repair and (again) repaint the Suburban.

    The kicker is they had long-standing reservations to go camping in two weeks... the car would be done THE DAY they would need to hook up the camper and tow it from Virginia Beach Virginia to Asheville NC. You can guess what's coming next, with my father still upset from the original accident a month earlier, and driving "overly cautious" (even though it wasn't my father's fault, the woman on the passenger's side of the car that had been hit in the first accident had ended up in critical condition, and was still in the hospital three weeks after the accident, the driver's elderly mother). Of course, the repair shop had had to adjust brakes because of the frame damage, and the electronic braking for the camper hadn't been dialed in quite right, which meant the camper (a 35 footer) wasn't braking properly.........

    Suffice it to say, even though the Suburban after the THIRD accident in 4 weeks was in VERY bad shape, he had to use it to drive the camper back to his home before the Suburban itself was towed.

    So take away from the story: Dealerships do NOT treat the cars as if they were their own personally owned vehicles. They treat them as disposable things with any problems that are created by the dealerships pushed off to the unsuspecting buyer.
  • newowner10newowner10 Member Posts: 227
    If you purchased a new car and there was a paint chip on the hood would you expect the dealer to:
    1) Replace hood
    2) Replace car
    3) Touch-up chip. (I bet dealer would touch-up chip before they put on lot and you would never know it was damaged.)

    How noticeable is the defect? 1 foot? 10 feet only under 1 certain angle.

    The best I would expect is they will repaint the door for you. There must be a paint warranty from Hyundai that will take care of it for you.

    My point is you are posting before the dealer or factory gives you an answer. Wait and see, they may fix the car to your satisfaction. If they repaint the door it will have a life time warranty. The dealer probably did not know there was anything wrong when they sold it to you. Give them a chance to make it right before you sue.
  • espo35espo35 Member Posts: 144
    If a car arrives damaged at a dealership, the repair is paid to the dealership as a warranty claim by Hyundai. If this was the case, it would show up on the warranty history of your car, which can be printed for you easily by your dealership.

    No history? That means it was CERTAINLY damaged by/at the dealership.
  • necostanzonecostanzo Member Posts: 7
    You are correct...I need to wait and see what the manufacturer and dealer is going to do with respect to my request. I have already conveyed to the dealer and manufacturer that I will accept nothing less than taking the vehicle back. If they don't do that, then I told them that I would never buy another Hyundai (I usually buy a new vehicle every 1-2 years), that would equate to 20-40 lost buying opportunities for the rest of my life.

    I want to make it very clear that I only made my original post to see if there was anybody on this forum that has experience with Hyundai USA and how they would handle my complaint and if they have had any issues with the new manufacturing facility in Alabama.

    I will post the results of my complaint as soon as it is resolved and I' still waiting for someone to chime in that has a similar experience as mine with Hyundai.

    Cheers, Nick
  • billwardbillward Member Posts: 154
    I wouldn't blame the manufacturer; this looks strongly like a DEALER issue.
  • espo35espo35 Member Posts: 144
    "I have already conveyed to the dealer and manufacturer that I will accept nothing less than taking the vehicle back."

    I think that is an unrealistic expectation.

    But good luck!
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    You have brought up a very good observation, being everyone has their own level of
    tolerance for acceptance there could be many more answers to that question. If I
    got my brand new car home and in a day or two noticed a paint chip on the hood,
    how would I know if it was there before I left the lot or it happened to me on the way
    home? If I didn't see at the dealership was it there or did I miss it? Now if I got home and it was a touched up paint chip, that is a whole different ball game. It had
    to have been there at the lot, and I must have missed that one too. If it bothers me
    about the quality of the repair I may return to the dealership about it. They may say
    we are very sorry and we will fix it to your satisfaction, but they could also say
    something like, well it wasn't done here, how do we know that you didn't do it
    yourself. Now you have a ( I said YOU said thing). If no one wants to live up to who
    did it then we wind up where Mr. Nick is with his brand new Limited. This can be a
    very sticky situation. The dealership may take a firm stand and say that you had
    all the time in the world to inspect every inch of that car before you bought it, but
    you did buy it and bring it home a day or so. Unfortuanitly they may not have to
    prove they didn't do it, you may have to prove they did. This is were the how much
    you can tolerate comes in! A tiny paint chip I can handle fixed or not fixed I really
    don't know where the line is drawn, again a personal issue. We are all on your
    side Nick, it would leave a better taste in our mouth if they would satisfy us, as we
    the buyer keep them in business... as I see it!
  • targettuningtargettuning Member Posts: 1,371
    I did just that..brought our brand new 2006 Honda Civic home and noticed not one, but two chips on the leading edge of the hood. Since they were very close together I figured a stone hit then skipped and hit again. I did and still do not know how or where this happened since the car came directly from Ohio where it was built but the dealer did a poor touch-up job on it. I am picky too but chose to ignore it because of "Murphy's law #25" which is...the more one tries to improve on a paint chip repair the larger and more visible it becomes.
  • dovid2dovid2 Member Posts: 90
    Have your service manager contact the factory engineering group.
    In mid-Feb. the factory released a software patch to allow reprogramming the door locks. The dealer set our '09 SE to lock automatically at 10 mph and stay locked when the trans goes to park and the engine is shut off.


    I went to a different dealer yesterday and they were able to do exactly that. They weren't sure if they had downloaded the patch, but they had, and it worked like a charm.Now I feel more like my car is entry-level luxury. Thanks!
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    Thanks for the link, it is very interesting I will put this info on record with the rest of
    my research. Keep the good stuff coming.
  • chrrmurpchrrmurp Member Posts: 24
    lousonata, did you ever get the pulling resolved?
  • chrrmurpchrrmurp Member Posts: 24
    Make sure you have all of the updates. I think they are called TCM updates? There was one released a few months ago (I think August) that was a recall for "Rough Idle." What happened to me a few times is I'd be sitting at a drive-thru or waiting to turn and if I turned the steering wheel while at a stop to the left or to the right a few turns, the car would stall out. After that update, it has been fine though.
  • chrrmurpchrrmurp Member Posts: 24
    Nick, I would be absolutely livid if I were in your situation. This is going to be something that will always bother you about the car and no repair job is going to change that. I would sit down with an attorney and see what your options are. Usually for cases where you have a civil claim, you will not be charged attorney fees unless you win (they just take 33% of the damage award). It's definitely at least worth a call to one.

    There is a famous tort case where BMW was sued BIG TIME for this exact type of situation. A doctor bought a car, nine months later found out it had been repainted and then sued BMW. In court, BMW argued the same thing as your dealership is arguing - if the repair was less than 3% of the vehicle's value then they did not disclose it to buyers. Here is a summary of how the case came out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_of_North_America,_Inc._v._Gore

    It went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mostly what you will read about this case is about the damages and how the Supreme Court ruled they were way too high. The main thing that came from this case is how to calculate punitive damages, but it is used in court to this day.

    Here is a link to the full case: http://docs.justia.com/cases/supreme/517/559.pdf - the Facts similar to yours start on page five.
  • norm1701norm1701 Member Posts: 5
    Help. I have a brand new 09 sonata. the steering has a sever pull to left. The dealer has done two alignments and there is no improvement. The dealer is now basically saying he has no idea what to do. My questions are:
    has anyone else had this problem and if so what was solution?
    can anyone advise what steps I can take? No one at hyundai seems to want to help me....even called the customer service line

    please note I am in canada
  • chrrmurpchrrmurp Member Posts: 24
    There have been several in-depth conversations on the steering pulling to the left issue for the 2009 Sonata. The most recent post on that was not very long ago. I'm having the same issue.
  • bgfrankbgfrank Member Posts: 4
    Norm,
    Is your Sonata a Limited? My 2009 Sonata Limited pulls slightly to the left especially noticible at high speed. They told me to be patient and wait a bit for the suspension to break in. I have put 3300 miles on it now in the past 4 months and nothing has changed. They said they will do an alignment (which is free within the first year anyway) to see if that corrects the problem. But a mechanic friend of mine has suggested having them swapp the front tires and see if my pulling problem is a "radial (tire) pull". I am going to have them do this when I have my first service done some time in early 2010. Hopefully, that will solve my pulling problem. I'll post back when I know something. Your problem seems to be quite a bit more severe. Keep us posted and good luck.
  • norm1701norm1701 Member Posts: 5
    no. it is not a limited. this problem started about 2 months after i bought it. the tires have been rotated, alignments done. just frustrating because the dealer seems at a loss and does not really seem to care or able to offer ideas.
    I guess I am curious if anyone had such a problem and it was fixed....or if anyone can advise on what kind of legal steps i can take (in canada)
  • norm1701norm1701 Member Posts: 5
    any idea how I could find those?
  • 8babies1dog8babies1dog Member Posts: 122
    Just a suggestion, not my Sonata but my Mazda I had developed the same
    problem. The Mazda dealership did the computer thing and adjusted but it
    was still not right, so I told them I was going to another (doctor) and get a
    second opinion. That did the trick so the dealership got w/ them and paid
    for the work and found out what to do. GOOD LUCK!!!!!
  • dovid2dovid2 Member Posts: 90
    There's a search box at the bottom of each page; I put in 'pulling' and found a thread from August. Put 937 in the 'Go to message' box and you'll find it. Good luck.
  • chrrmurpchrrmurp Member Posts: 24
    I agree - typing in Pull or Pulling on the bottom right will find them. But basically, there are a few of us in the forum that have wrote in about the problem. A few of us have gone through several 4-wheel alignments from different places (I've had five to date), have tried rotating tires, balancing tires, etc - nothing fixes it. Mine is only noticeable on the highway. Someone wrote in a few weeks ago that the dealership told him he may have damaged a camber (which isn't adjustable on the Sonata). We haven't heard back on that yet - he was going back last week to get it checked again.
    For me, when they rotated my tires 7000 miles ago it was worse, but then when they were rotated again (3500 miles later) it was a little better. So my thought is something is wrong with a few of my tires even though the dealership says they look fine. Which, by the way, I should mention that I have Hancook tires that came with the car and after 40,000 miles the dealership says they are about to the point where they need to be replaced. So, to me, the tires are garbage and I hope when I replace them that the pulling goes away.
    If it matters, I have a 09 v6 limited Sonata. What has your dealership said about the pulling?
  • davesev6davesev6 Member Posts: 6
    I have an 09 Sonata SE V6 in northern Canada with around 13,000km (~8000miles) on it. No complaints to date other than the shifting not being quite as crisp as I'd like, but it's survivable. Anyways, a few weeks back I had it out on the highway in around -36 C outdoor temp in manual shift mode and reved it to limit through a few gears. After that I started noting a mild burnt oil smell and occasionally an antifreeze smell (oddly, never at the same time) following any treks towards redline. Just wondering if anyone else has run into this issue and whether I might be blowing past my head gasket when the revs get up.
  • billwardbillward Member Posts: 154
    So, you take a car in a high stress situation (-36C is very stressful on the engine, as it causes uneven heating in the engine), push it to the "Good Regions Worst Case that the car doesn't break" conditions, and wonder if you've damaged your car?

    Sorry, Dave, but sounds like you've just blown your warrenty by abusing the automobile.
  • james1982james1982 Member Posts: 73
    Why would you treat your car like that, Dave?

    Bill is right: in that kind of extreme cold, operating your vehicle in that manner is nothing more than abuse.

    If you treat your car right, your car will return the favor. If you treat your car like a street-walking prostitute, don't be suprised if you wake up with crabs.
  • davesev6davesev6 Member Posts: 6
    Ha, I like the analogy. Sorry to sound like an abuser, I love my car and take car of it, but I like street-walking prostitutes and will take care of the crabs if necessary.

    But back to the issue...

    This will be the second winter with this type of cold I've owned my Sonata. True, I tend to run it a bit to hard year round and have so far been quite impressed with the Sonata's ability to handle the stresses I put it through, but my experience with head gaskets with other vehicles has been fluid burning or oil/coolant spray throughout my engine compartment. Total failure of the head/gasket.

    Right now, I seem to have no power loss, fluid loss, smoke, or spray, just the light smell and was wondering if anyone else may have experienced this same issue after "burning out the carbon" as it goes.
  • billwardbillward Member Posts: 154
    It sounds like you've got partial failure of the head gasket; it will get worse over time if not repaired early. You PROBABLY haven't damaged the engine as a whole with that, but you could if you get full failure; in my case, I always look back to the (actually very appropriate in your case, since Cold is a major factor in both here) Space Shuttle Challenger accident of 1986; early partial failure caused more catastrophic failure of the seals, eventually resulting in catastrophic failure of the entire system.

    Set your personal redline at about 1-2K RPMs less than normal in severe winter driving, and you'll put a LOT less stress on the engine and the gaskets. IIRC, the redline on a V6 is 5.5K (or was that the yellow line?); keep it to 4K and under and your car will have a longer life, your wallet will be slightly happier from gas costs, and your wallet will be MUCH happier from not having expensive repair bills.
  • davesev6davesev6 Member Posts: 6
    Sounds possible, I think I am getting a bit paranoid and wondering if my engine is sounding the same. It's due up for a service in Feb so I'll probably take it a bit easier on it till then and get the dealership to check it out. Any idea if head work is covered under warranty? I'll have to check my coverage. Thanks.

    On a slightly different topic, the heater fan tends to drop off at stops and sometimes at idle. Is this a common issue and is there a computer update might take care of this that I can get on my next service?
  • stephen987stephen987 Member Posts: 1,994
    On a slightly different topic, the heater fan tends to drop off at stops and sometimes at idle. Is this a common issue and is there a computer update might take care of this that I can get on my next service?

    That sounds like a marginal charging system or a weak battery to me.
Sign In or Register to comment.