I have a 2003 Hyundai Accent 1.6L. I moved to phoenix arizona a year ago and started to notice cold start and rough idle problems immediately and they have gotten progressively worse (appearing to be worse during the 2 summers). After research I discovered all gas stations in phoenix use up to 10% ethanol, more so in the summer months. Hyundai officially states the use of ethanol blend fuel in fuel injected hyundai made before October 2003 (me) may cause advanced corrosion of fuel system components, and cause the exact symptoms I am having. Needless to say I called all the local dealerships who have no idea about Hyundai's official position to avoid ethanol blend gas in 2003 and older models. In fact they say they have to do a lot of fuel system maintenance on those vechicles and recommended I get a cleaning... classic treat the symptoms not the problem scenerio. I argued with Hyundai consumer affairs for hours on the phone.. they say if you get those symptoms when using ethanol that the only solution is to not use ethanol blended fuel.... HELLO not an option in most cities!

- my question is, short of paying for all kinds of frequent fuel system maintenance does anyone know of a way to combat having to use ethanol in 2003 and older Hyundai's. I know a lot of it is finding a good gas station as some have levels of ethanol much higher then others. Is there anykind of fuel system corrosion inhibitor etc?

I've read a lot of other foreign cars are starting to show the same ethanol symptoms such as mini's, german cars and other asians cars of the 90's. Mini's have had a huge fuel pump failure problems do to ethanol blend gas.

Has anyone else experienced having to start twice on cold starts and rough idling under slight load when using ethanol gas.. especially in the summer? Or noticed excessive maintenance on fuel systems for these vehicles. If so I believe there should be some sort of movement to have Hyundai replace the suseptible fuel components (injectors etc) or treat the fuel systems with some sort of additive.

Before I was in phoenix.. I loved my Hyundai, great car, but based on the response I got with this fuel issue and the fact my car will continue to have fuel problems based on the gas used in my state im starting to feel like I might want to get rid of it.. please give me some feed back.

Why not try and replace your fuel system components with ethanol compatible ones??
Might end up being cheaper in the long run...




Cheers
scythe

That would be a good course of action... I just felt seeing how its an unavoidable problem applicable to a large consumer demographic that Hyundai should be replacing my fuel components with compatable ones. They are the ones who sold cars in areas that are now un-compatable with current gas standards. But your right... in order to have a drivable car I will end up having to replace all my fuel components.

Are you sure it's fuel related? I have 2000 1.5L that I bought new and it's got 113,000 miles on Phoenix area fuel and runs fine.

James

Im pretty sure its fuel related because the symptoms started as soon as I moved here and other forum descriptions of ethanol problems described on cold starts first start it stalls, then second it starts up just fine.. is a tell tell of ethanol related problems.

Could be the gas stations you've used are better... what brand gas station do you normally use???

I'm way out west and was using a "love's" gas station.

thanks

We've used Mobil or QT, with the occasional Sam's Club gas. I'm on the west side as well. I'm a firm believer that all gas isn't the same due to some experience with ARCO gas (AM/PM).

Thanks for the tip. I just tried a circle K gas station and added a bottle of generic fuel system cleaner and have noticed a marked improvement. Each station puts in different amounts of ethanol, not to mention the quality of the base fuel varies. I will definately stay away from the station I was using and try to find a better alternative closer to my house.

UPDATE - I checked my spark plugs and one was not sparking (bad plug). Replaced and car is running much better. The plug had only 13K miles on it. Was the cheapest BOSCH plugs I could get. Seems these cars burn through plugs fast (owners manual recommend every 30K). So avoid the cheapos!