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Comments
IF the cap was loose and you DID tighten it the light will go out once it realizes all is cool now. IF you want to force it off, I understand you can disconnect a battery lead and wait a few minutes and reconnect it and it should be cleared.
A 'check engine light' can be lit for many reasons, it just seems to usually be by a loose gas cap.
I hope it is nothing more than that in your case. Both of my cars, 01 Elantra and 00 Sonata have the gas cap tether removed. Actually I didnt even know they were supposed to come with one. The dealer said they remove them to avoid check engine light troubles. I bought the two cars from different dealers and both had same answer. I would rather have had the tether on though.
Good luck,
Tony
If it is real bad , perhaps you can get a synthetic transmission fluid or have it checked out by the dealer. Better yet, go test drive one first thing in the morning. Pick a car that could not have possibly been drivin in days and compare the two.
Tony
Dealership did attempt to do it, but did a lousy job. Next time, I will pick up the car at 10 am whne I buy one, find the nearest Sears center, and charge a $50 alignment on my sears card.
This way, I won;t have any probloems for about 12,000-15,000 miles with alignment.
Hyundai is the Only car maker that I had this problem with, Why?
I have had it done to my 01 elantra and it cleaned up about 95% of the shift flare.
Here is a link to T-H-C
www.t-h-c.org
If this is the case the dealers should just do this as part of pre-delivery - they certainly try to charge enough for this. Then again dealers can't seem to even get tyre pressures anywhere near correct.
If you want to get a good overview of these crash tests, I recommend the April 2002 Auto Issue of Consumer Reports. They have the best discussion I've seen of the different tests and how they are conducted.
Meanwhile, if your primary concern is safety as measured by crash tests, you should look at the Civic, which scored well in both the IIHS and NHTSA crash tests. Late-model Toyotas have typically done well also, but the '03 Corolla hasn't been tested yet.
"Nissan North America Inc. is asking owners of 127,000 Altimas from the 2002 model year to return their vehicles to dealers for replacement of a crash sensor for front airbag deployment.
The action is not a safety recall under federal law. Instead, the company said on May 1, the sensor's performance did not meet Nissan's expectations in offset crash testing."
It goes on to explain that Nissan was dissatisfied with the Altima's crash performance on IIHS off-set test. Even though it passed.
To me this says that airbag sensor problems can be remedied after a vehicle has left the factory. If the Elantra does have this problem (IIHS says it does, Hyundai says it doesn't) then it is fixable.
I tried to post the link but the board would not let me (too many characters). Go to autoweek.com and in car news the right side column.
Kudos to Nissan for fixing their problem quickly.
Tony, thank you for sharing your information.
The shop is taking me for $300 on fixing it.
I coul dhave had it done at an independentshop, but I figured it may be an engine problem and "Free" work.
I already paid almost 70 dollars for the "check out" of the car.(got taken by $30 on that, vs indy shop). Guess I shoul dget it done , the car does hesitate some now.
Oh, about Elantra: Hey, it Beats the 2003 Corolla, IMHO. I tested two at 2 different shops and I was Not impressed.
Take off, the car is as loud as the ECHO(but cost thousands more), the steeriung column is titl, yet it doesn't tilt dwon far enough for me, still aimed at my face.
Look, for $15,399(minus aftermarket leather) Elantra GLS Loaded,VS COrolla loaded with smae features, the difference is about $3,200 dollars(and if you finance that extra 3200, ad another 1000+ dollars). $4,200 and add $180 taxes=$4,380.
Corolla lists about $1,600 over invoice, and "ednumnds TMV" says Toyota usually ONLY takes off $300 MSRP. Hyundai, only sells about OVER $300 mSRP, they knock(to the wise) $1000 off msrp. see the difference?
Corolla is reliable, but as far as "being the most quiet, or the best Overall car" No. Not these days.
Thanks for your response.
4-3 downshift... you are driving a 4 cylinder that makes its power up high... not as high as a honda though.... so if you are climbing any sort of incline your engine speed will drop and keep dropping for the duration of the incline (and your car slows as you go up)...Naturally you keep your foot steady on th gas or even give it some more, but even if you dontthe tranny will downshift to try and keep the engine in its sweet spot (revs up high) so you can actually accelerate/maintain speed up the incline... now if you were driving a six or supercharged six or larger engine you would not have such problem as the engine could power you over any hill without touching the gas... (in a figurative sorta way)....
My Elantra has exhibited a high idle problem whenever I put on the brakes since about 9000 miles (as I slow down to a stop the idle will settle down toward 1000 rpm and then jump up to 1500 rpm and then settle back down). If I'm not hard on the brakes every time I'm afraid I'm going to plow into the back of someone one of these times.
I have had it in to the dealer 3 times for this. First time they said they cleaned out the throttle body and that fixed it (it didn't). The second time they said the service manager said this was normal for it to do this. This last time I told them that there was a TSB for this and that I wanted it fixed!! When I went in to pick the car up, they said they couldn't pull any "codes" from the car and couldn't reproduce it during driving and therefore weren't going to do anything about it. I tried to show them what it was doing but of course it wouldn't do it in the traffic around the dealership (I normally drive long distances between stops).
Now, anyone have any ideas what to do? I could go to another dealership but the closest one is 60 miles away. I thought about bringing a video camera when I'm driving to work and show the idle spiking up but I'm not sure if they'll by that or not. My car is also showing the transmission "flare" from 2nd to 3rd and they won't fix that either.
Don't these dealers get paid to do this warranty work? I certainly wouldn't waste my time bringing my car in if it wasn't doing this...
Thanks!!
Frank
A couple of months ago I posted the question as to whether anyone with Kumho/Hankook tires liked them. The cheap Won should work to make tires that are great for the $$$, as well as cars that are great for the $$$.
Mine has Kuhmo tyres on it in 195/60 x 15 on Alloys.
Tyres seem to hold the road well enough and work ok in wet weather, had no major problems with the tyres themselves, they seem quite well made, I only have 8000KM on the car so far so can't comment on how long they will last, they look to be doing ok so far.
Ideally I'd like to drive an Elantra with other tyres, say Bridgestone as my last two cars had these on them so I'm familar with them, as a back to back comparison.
Also, does anyone know if the 2002 is getting any changes for 2003. I searched and searched, but I couldn't find anything. Thanks
Depending on where you live, you may find the prices won't vary much when the new ones come out. In Southern California, I could have purchased a GLS automatic for $10,988 any time during the past year. They are, unfortunately, higher priced as you move eastward.
If you are not in California, you may be able to get a better deal when the 2003's come out. Be sure to run the car through carsdirect.com to see what you can buy it for in your area from them! Their price on a base automatic is $11,585 in my area.
Hope this helps!
http://www.autonews.com/article.cms?articleId=39213&a=a&bt=hyundai+CEO&arc=n
You may have to cut and paste it, sometimes Edmunds splits things up.
DW
Check out some zip codes on the New Jersey coast with carsdirect.
Hyundais also have and entry port there.
I have previously read that the Hyundais can be had for prices similar to Calif in the NJ port area. I don't remeber what the exact zip code was but maybe somebody on line here does.
It may be worth your while to fly or take a bus there to pick one up.
Thanks much,
Jeannine Fallon
PR Director
Edmunds.com
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The dealer I bought from locally @$10,988 last July says he has sold to out of state purchasers (Florida was one). I don't know why the prices are so much lower here.
As for carsdirect, I have never bought from them, but I have used their quote in making sure I got at least as good a deal from the dealer. A friend of mine, however bought 2 BMW's for himself and his brother about 3 years ago through them. He saved a lot of money and was able to order exactly what he wanted (color, options, etc.), and had to wait only 7-10 days for the cars.
If nothing else, if you stick the quote in your back pocket, you can always use it to negotiate!
My car is Sonata. Uniroyals are good replacements, but hard to find a dealership and they cost almost as much as Michelins.
And I really like this car! My 11 year old son refers to it as "Hundy, the go-cart with shocks"
The incentives on Elantra ended here on 4/30, and the cars are getting hard to find. My dealer indicated that they may not see any new Elantra shipments for 45 days or so.
Still waiting for the gas tank valve. I am wondering if it is also under warranty and trying to wait long enough for me to get 80,000 and charge me?
I have a feeling that the Elantra is going to be like that old Nova, a car that I can drive into the ground and still like after ten years and 200,000. Good cars age well--mediocre cars are an annoyance.
by the way my 01 is getting 12.5k miles old here in Costa Rica with an "almost perfect performance", so there's no reason for paying extra thousands $ for Hondas,Toyotas or Nissans any more
Note: The Eclipse GS you are talking about has a 140hp 2.0 engine as well.
I am so glad I didn't go with the Pro 5 now. After 750 miles at 85 in one of those, I'd probably be deaf.
I did encounter my first problem, however (my own fault). When I was detailing my car in MN, I left the wipers in the up (off the windshield) position and then tried to open the hood all the way (I was washing the engine compartment). This resulted in a loud "BANG!" and the driver's side wiper arm busting in two.
Yes, I am a total idiot. But let this be a word of warning to the other idiots out there reading this column: make sure your wipers are down before you open the hoods on your Elantras.
Someone in the Protege forum had their wiper broken and their windshield cracked from opening the hood with the wipers up. Count yourself lucky you only broke the wiper.
And the Protege is not a loud car really. I don't know if it's quieter than the Elantra, because I have never driven the new Elantras.
I took a delivery of new Elantra a week ago and drove home which was 15 miles away. And there was a burning smell coming from under the hood (sort of some plastic burning smell). I took it to the dealer yesterday and what they are saying is "the coating on the engine is burning" and on demand for explanation their explanation is "There is anti corrosion coating under the engine, and another coating on the top of that, and that top layer is burning, and he said he removed the coating now and shouldn't smell after a week's run" And also said its not a problem with the car.
Did anybody out there heard of a similar problem ?