Ask the Car People.SM


2011 Hyundai Elantra

575 messages,  Last post on Feb 28, 2013 at 10:58 PM

You are in the Hyundai Elantra Forum.

What is this discussion about? Hyundai Elantra, Future Vehicle, Sedan

    

Messages Page 57 of 59

#553 of 575 2011 Elantra Exhaust Smoke by flyingv82

May 03, 2012 (6:28 am)

Wanted to see if anyone has had this issue.
My 2011 Elantra (around 19,500 mile and less than 1 year old) has on 2 occasions blanketed the road with very dark grayish smoke. I say blanketed because I couldn't see anything behind me on a 4 lane interstate due to the amount that blew out of my exhaust. The car has only had maintenance done at Hyundai dealers and always on time. The first time the Hyundai tech couldn't find anything wrong and left it at that. The second time, the tech said it is the ethanol blended gas causing buildup in the engine and the smoke is due to that buildup being burned off.
 
I'm trying to find if there is any truth to this statement and if anyone has heard of this before.

#554 of 575 Re: 2011 Elantra Exhaust Smoke [flyingv82] by ivan_99

May 03, 2012 (8:51 am)

Replying to: flyingv82 (May 03, 2012 6:28 am)
Never heard of it on a 2011...
 
On older cars we (when younger...) used to give them the "Italian tune-up"...take it on the highway and floor it to get the carbon build up removed.
 
Were you just getting on the highway giving it a large amount of gas...or just cruising along.

#555 of 575 - by dudleyr

May 03, 2012 (9:21 am)

This is not good at all. It is also not caused by any normal fuel. If you get blueish smoke behind your car under load (full throttle uphill) it means that you are probably burning oil that is leaking past your rings. A well tuned car should have colorless exhaust all the time.
 
You can try driving up a hill under load to see if that replicates the problem. You can also look at all the spark plugs. If you are burning oil they may have oil on them or be darker in color - a healthy plug has a light greyish or tan color. Spark plugs are a good indicator of engine health. did the dealer do a compression check? That would also tell you if the rings are leaking.

#556 of 575 Re: 2011 Elantra Exhaust Smoke [ivan_99] by flyingv82

May 03, 2012 (1:43 pm)

Replying to: ivan_99 (May 03, 2012 8:51 am)
Both times I was getting onto the highway/interstate. The first time the RPMs jumped to 5500. Out of all the cars I have owned, many of them with well over 100,000 miles, I've never seen this before.
 
So far it isn't look good for Hyundai if they are looking for a repeat customer. This is my first and most likely last Hyundai.

#557 of 575 Re: - [dudleyr] by flyingv82

May 03, 2012 (1:47 pm)

Replying to: dudleyr (May 03, 2012 9:21 am)
I just talked to the Hyundai technician at the dealer and they said they checked all through the engine and transmission and since they couldn't pull an error code (check engine light never came on) they couldn't do anything.
 
This weekend I am going to drive it around and try to recreate the problem. So far the smoking is not consistent at all with mine or my wife's driving habits.

#558 of 575 Re: - [flyingv82] by ivan_99

May 03, 2012 (7:13 pm)

Replying to: flyingv82 (May 03, 2012 1:47 pm)
That's pretty lame...not everything throws error codes...hey my door latch doesn't work...sorry, I didn't detect an error code.
 
It may be difficult...but if you're going to try recreate it try to see if you can have somebody record a video of it. Without a video, if you cannot recreate it in front of the mechanic I don't think they'll do anything for you.

#559 of 575 - by dudleyr

May 04, 2012 (6:46 am)

Low compression or leaking rings would most likely not throw a code. They need to step it up and look into this. A compression test is not that expensive. Just take out the plugs hook up the tester and crank the engine.

#560 of 575 Re: 2011 Elantra Exhaust Smoke [flyingv82] by roger_p

May 04, 2012 (2:51 pm)

Replying to: flyingv82 (May 03, 2012 6:28 am)
I have a 2011 Elantra Limited and have experienced the exact same thing! On two occasions, once at about 14K and just today and just under 20K. I've been around cars my whole life and am pretty sure I can differentiate between burned oil and carbon. This is definitely oil, blue/whitish smoke. I have two concerns that I'm going to take to the dealership. One, this is just plain unacceptable from a new car (less than a year old). I'm wondering if one of the dealership personnel had this problem how it would be handled? The second is the legal implications if this plume of smoke causes an accident. Today's episode filled 4 lanes of a busy city thoroughfare with so much smoke that the cars behind me disappeared from view. I'm taking the car in on Monday and sincerely hope that I don't get blown off with "nothing we can do for you". Please let me know if anyone gets an answer that makes sense....

#561 of 575 Re: 2011 Elantra Exhaust Smoke [roger_p] by flyingv82

May 07, 2012 (12:27 pm)

Replying to: roger_p (May 04, 2012 2:51 pm)
If you get a good answer to this issue, please post it on here. The 2 dealers I have visited blew me off with the "no error code means no problem" answer. I too have thought of the legal issues if the exhaust smoke from my car causes a wreck. I

#562 of 575 Re: 2011 Elantra Exhaust Smoke [flyingv82] by blade14

May 14, 2012 (5:55 am)

Replying to: flyingv82 (May 07, 2012 12:27 pm)
Did anyone at the dealerships check to see where your oil level was at? I took mine in for an oil change at Nashua, N.H. hyundai 2 weeks ago and it started to blow white smoke on acceleration. It turned out they had put too much oil in the crankcase at the last change. Oil leeks into the cylinder and burns off out the tail pipe. run your finger inside the tail pipe when it's cool and see if you get a oily-greasy blackness on your finger. Good indication your burning oil!

Messages Page 57 of 59

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement