My '06 Sonata with 32,000 miles on it died this morning while I was on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The whole front end felt like it was shaking like I was driving into a headwind and the engine made a loud "whir!" and then I lost power, including my power steering. I had to glide it over to the shoulder and wait to be towed.

So far all the dealer has figured out is that I have some kind of "internal mechanical failure" (really? Took all day to figure that out? :thumbsup: ) and that I may need a new short block or entirely new engine.

Of course they immediately started questioning that I've changed my oil between 6,000 and 23,000 miles since that was all that was in their computer. I usually get it changed elsewhere (faithfully every 3,000 miles or so) and luckily I've saved my receipts.

Anyone else had a major failure with their Hyundai? Am I going to have to fight with them to fix it under the warranty?

This post has been edited by nerdninja: Jan 12 2007, 07:39 PM

holy jebus. that's crazy man. i'm glad you are okay.

hopefully, everything works out fine and you get a brand new car.

Wow ! I haven't heard of anything like that on here. Keep us posted though if you would about what it turns out to be. Tell them you want an Azera motor put in and you'll have a little sleeper. :57:

you think such a swap is easily doable? i'll drop some dough into that man.

the physical swap is probably easy, getting it to run and figuring out the wiring would be a nightmare i bet.


sorry to hear about the car, thats rotten.
Just proof that S**t happens, no matter what type of car you drive.

Yep, I'm hoping this was just one of those things that happens and not a sign that the Sonatas are not reliable. This is the fourth Hyundai that we've had between my wife and I and so far we've been very happy.

I just hope that when they crack the engine open Monday and figure out what will need to be done that they honor the warranty and don't try to weasel out of it. The service manager seemed like she was accusing me of having never changed the oil but once I told her that I just don't always do it at the dealership and that I have all of the documentation from my oil changes she seemed to be okay with it.

They did warn me it was going to be a couple of weeks to determine the cause, make a case to Hyundai to repair it under warranty, order the parts and fix everything. They are providing me with a loaner in the mean time.

The only thing that concerned me is that when I mentioned that I was disappointed the engine died this soon when I took good care of it she said something to the effect of "well, we don't make the cars, we just fix them." That left me with a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth, like they don't stand behind the build quality of their cars. It could be that I was reading too much into it at the time.

I'll let everyone know what happens as this goes along. One thing is for sure, next week will determine if Hyundai continues to sell me cars in the future or not. Ya listening, Hyundai? :shades:

sorry to hear about your misfortune!
do you have the 6 or 4 cyl?

Don't worry about Hyundai standing behind their engines.

This thread starts out with S-dog's blown engine. You may want to skip the next part and go to S-dog's update near the bottom of the first page.

I calls it "The Convincer." :beer:

I have the 6cyl.

That was an interesting story. I've had the car since 7/05 and have 30,000 miles so I don't think they're going to cut me that nice a deal, but I'll be happy if they just don't give me a hard time and look for loopholes in the warranty.

I had a bad experience with a new engine years ago with a Chevy dealer in Downingtown, PA (which is how I got into foreign cars in the first place). Mine died (my fault at the time, I was young and stupid and didn't change my oil regularly enough, which is also why I am so anal about it these days :grin: ) and I paid for a "reconditioned" engine pulled from a wreck in a junk yard. Apparently the crank shaft on the reconditioned engine was slightly bowed, maybe from the accident. That engine died almost immediately. Another reconditioned engine goes in. This time they gave it back to me having forgotten to check the engine mounts. One day I'm driving and this thing literally comes loose and the car begins to shake violently. Of course the loose engine damages all kinds of stuff under the hood. Once they fixed everything they could not get the "check engine" light to stop coming on, presumably because there were damaged sensors all over. The solution? Disconnect the "check engine" light. :thumbsup: Apparently they though I wouldn't notice but the first time I turned the key half-way I noticed not all the lights on the dash were lighting up properly.

Anyway, my stomach is in knots with the Sonata thinking about how well my last engine replacement went down. :crying:

An update in case anyone is wondering...

The verdict is that something came apart internally and the engine is completely frozen up. Hyundai is covering it under warranty and has decided to just replace the entire short block rather than take everything apart and try to diagnose the problem.

New engine should be here Wednesday.

So far I'm happy with the way its being handled.

great news that they will do that for you. hope everything goes well in the swap
keep us informed

sounds pretty scary, but at least it is getting fixed. . . just curious with what dealer did you get it from? I got my 06 from Conicelli in Springfield, PA

Just curious nerdninja: Did the engine make any noise a few days or weeks before the lockup?

It's highly unusual for an engine to fail catastrophically without warning. Occasionally you can have a defective (cracked) crankshaft or rod, and they can suddenly break without warning. Usually you get a lot of noise to warn you of an impending failure.

Also, were any fluids lost when the engine grenaded?

Mel

i wonder how horribly expensive a new shortblock IS anyways.

glad to hear theyre being good about repairing it though.

A little update on the situation:

I got a call today that they have decided to replace the entire long block, both catalytic converters and the intake plenum. They opened the old engine and found that a valve guide fell into the engine along with two valves (if that's what I remember from the conversation). Apparently there's some concern because they say I am a "model owner" (change oil every 3,000 miles, have all maintenance records on hand) and this shouldn't have happened, especially after 30,000 miles. It sounds like Hyundai is getting involved at a higher level to make sure this isn't a widespread problem waiting to happen. In any case they were finding metal in a lot of the engine so they decided to play it safe and replace everything, under warranty of course.

As far as losing fluids, there has never been so much as a drop under my car and everything was still intact after the incident. The first thing I did when I got out of the car was to pull the dipstick to see if I still had oil and it was fine. I had absolutely no warning beforehand. One second the car was running great, the next it felt like I was hit with a huge headwind. The wheel shook a little and I lost power very suddenly. I was able to get it to the sholder before I lost the power steering, so I was lucky. The noise was very interesting. Not too loud but very scary. It sounded like loud wind noise, like a big "roar".

The service manager said I am welcome to come over and take a look at the inside of the block to look at the carnage. I may try to take a picture, my dad is an engineer and is pretty fascinated.

I would love to see them replace the car as I am always going to be nervous, but I don't know the prospects of that happening after almost a year and a half. I talked to someone at HMA and informed them that this is the 4th hyundai my wife and I have had and will be my last if they don't do something to make this up to me. I should hope that they will do something more than tell me they're sorry which is what they've done so far.

The dealership, Savage Hyundai in Reading, PA, has been great and have gone to extremes to replace anything that may have had any chance whatsoever of being damaged and are working to get the car back to me as soon as possible.

I know Savage Hyundai. . . I grew up outside Reading. That is pretty scary, and I can definitely see why you would be nervous to get back in the same car. I'm sure they will replace everything that could be affected, as that is a lawsuit waiting to happen if anything should happen again especially with the same car, but I would have liked to get a new car myself.

I live across the street from savage, behind the pretzel factory. Mmmmm... baking bread smell *drools*