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Sedans Hyundai Elantra Hyundai Elantra Maintenance and Repair
3260 messages, Last post on Nov 23, 2009 at 8:34 AM
You are in the Hyundai Elantra Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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Replying to: jlflemmons (Nov 01, 2009 7:18 pm)
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Replying to: colloquor (Nov 06, 2009 5:24 pm) 
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New member here asking for guidance on repairing or replacing engine on my daughter's and my 2002 Elantra sedan with 51,00 miles. Does anyone know of cases similar to ours where an overheated and damaged engine was repaired and ran soundly beyond 80,000 miles or so? I like the apparent lower cost of engine repair v. a used, low miles engine replacement. My repair concerns are: 1) increased risks of premature engine failure that wouldn't be paid for by the repair's warranty and 2) replacing the head gasket, machining the head smooth, putting engine together and it still doesn't run. The 2002 (we're third owners) overheated on my daughter at 60 mph, lost power as dashboard red lights came on, and then she and her brother saw steam coming from under the hood. Radiator leaked in many places, engine wouldn't restart. Towed car to our regular, trustworthy garage. Manager diagnosed: "no start, engine turns over rapidly, removed timing cover, found engine to be in time, checked compression low, added oil to cyls to get compression to come up with no luck. Compression is at 30 psi. Found radiator tank split open at the top, possible compression in cooling system causing radiator to split. Recommend replacing engine and radiator." He estimated $3000 p/l for a used engine of 33K miles and new radiator. He thinks the head gasket may be blown and rings seized, yet will need more time to know. Temperature and oil pressure gauges okay. One CV joint boot is cracked, parts dry. Otherwise, car seems okay and has run well. An area Hyundai service manager, without seeing the car, thinks the diagnosis is right except that engine may be repairable for about $1500 p/l and with a new radiator...nearing $2000. "A faulty thermostat likely started the problems...you're daughter had anywhere from a few seconds to a minute to react, good that she got off the road." "This is basically a sound little engine. I've seen a number of cases like what you've described, and your mechanic, and we open up the engine, replace the head gasket, machine smooth, put it back together and it starts up and runs fine. And at this point, with just a basic diagnosis and I haven't seen the car, he has, we can't be sure that the engine really has no compression, because of the order in which the cylinders fire and no one has opened it up yet." And "if you decide to tow the car up here, I'll be glad to pay for finding out what the problem is, but we're not responsible for the costs of repairs (out of warranties)." He agreed to call Hyundai of America district manager about any "goodwill discount" since the second owner, my mother, had thermostat replaced and a gallon of coolant added there at 36K miles along with a new timing belt, drive belts, engine flush, power steering flush, induction service, brakes checked...her complaint coming in was A/C was cool but not cold. She had AT fluid flushed there at 34K after buying the car. So when I hear back on goodwill discount yes or no, then we decide on repairing or replacing the engine, and at which location. I happily drive an '05 Elantra hatchback at 47K miles bought in April from original owner. The community comments I've read so far on overheated Elantras have been helpful. Thanks for your reading and comments to come. |
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Replying to: 57manassas (Nov 18, 2009 9:52 pm) TIA 'backy and the rest of you edmunds Hyundai experts. |
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Replying to: 57manassas (Nov 18, 2009 9:52 pm) Not sure if this helps at all, but wanted to add my $0.02 |
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Replying to: 57manassas (Nov 18, 2009 9:52 pm) What you are describing I never heard of. My husband has an 18 wheeler and he had over 900,000 miles before he had to have engine work done with blown head gaskets. And he paid 4 grand to have a used engine put in and all the head gaskets pulled and stuff. But his truck didn't overheat. My husband and I both have 2008 Elantras now. And I know we have the 100,000 mile 10 yr warranty. And we are the original owners but I sure hope this is not an Elantra thing. Backy...where are you to post to this? I know you know a lot about Elantras. Am I going to be sorry I bought one now? And to let everyone know. I have a silver Elantra. And my paint started peeling on the passenger side under the door. Right now it's being repainted. Be careful of your paint. I had a rock hit me too and it chipped off a chunk of paint which within 30 days started to rust on the side of the car over the summer. That's being fixed too with the peeling paint. 
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I need to replace the thermostat on my Elantra, but the wires to the coolant temperature sensor and to the sensor on the air filter box are in the way. I tried to disconnect those sensors, but I don't know how to unlock the connection. Do I need a special tool? or is there a "trick" to get them separated? Thanks in advance. 
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Replying to: schukanuoslady (Nov 19, 2009 7:01 am) Sorry, but let's maintain perspective here, OK? Cars do fail sometimes. What you have to look at is, how often does a particular model fail? The Elantra would not have racked up high marks in, for example, CR's reliability survey if it has major problems affecting a large percentage of vehicles. I've seen some pretty nasty reports on problems with the Civic. Does that mean it's an unreliable car, in general? No. But say if 1/2 of 1% of Elantras had a significant problem, that would still affect approximately 5,000 of the 2001+ Elantras sold in the US (assuming an average annual sales of 100k). That's a lot of posts on forums like this. Now, if the radiator+++ problem had happened to my Elantra and it had 51k miles on it and was well maintained (preferably by the dealer, so they could see I was a loyal customer) and still under the powertrain warranty, I would work for the repair to be covered--or at least a significant part of it. Technically it would not be covered under the powertrain warranty, but there is an implied warranty here that such a thing should not happen to a well-maintained car with so few miles on it. That is the point I would take up the chain with Hyundai. |
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| The reservoir in My 2000 Elantra recently dumped a lot of coolant when I pulled into my driveway. I replenished the coolant (50/50), and took it Meineke for oil change and check-up. The shop didn't find a problem, saying the pressure was fine, and there was no leak, but by the time I got home (5 miles), all the coolant was gone, and the engine was getting hot. Then I took it to a Napa Auto Care center, and within few minutes, they said the termostat was stuck, and needed to be replaced, ($165 charge). My first question is how can they be sure of the cause? Because I don't think they could have removed the cover to check that fast. My second question is should I attemt to do it myself, as I understand the thermostat is not that expensive? | |
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Replying to: 57manassas (Nov 18, 2009 9:52 pm) bwr |
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