Hi all, before I get started I just want to say I don't know much about cars as you can probably tell already but here's the deal, I recently bought a new 07 elantra and my problem is, between all the issues I've been dealing with in my life, I've neglected the maintenance of my new car and I haven't changed the oil in over 11k miles since I first bought it. I noticed one day it was not accelerating like it normally does so I check the oil and remembered that I haven’t gone and changed it at all since I first bought it, so I added some oil right away and I called the dealership, they are telling me how I might have voided my warranty and I am really worried about this hoping I didn't do any serious damage, if there is anything seriously wrong with the engine I can certainly kiss my warranty goodbye and rebuilding an engine is not in my price range at the moment. I really screwed this up big time and I am really sweating bullets. Anyone have any feedback? I have my appointment today and I just know I'm going to just get yelled at the whole time.

Oh an for the accelerating issue, it takes a lot of pressure down on the gas pedal to accelerate and it seems like when I hit 40+ it starts to feel like the more I press down the harder it is to accelerate, feels like the gears are spinning fast but with low RPM's if that makes any sense to you. Also I don't have a check engine light.


Please no flaming, I already have plenty of moroseness as it is. :crying:

Hi Runes,

I wish you luck as you can bet that hyundai will not honour the warranty on the engine. The sluggishness may be caused by sludge,assuming the oil level was OK, and this is lubrication worst enemy. Talk to the dealer and see what they suggest.
Good Luck and let us know

:00000732: rune of seldom oil changes!

The Beta II is reasonably bullet proof similar to the Honda Civic VTEC engines for their abuse tolerance.

Do not go to the dealer first. Go to any other trustworthy oil change place. Pay for a full engine oil flush...most quality places will use the Quaker State or Valvoline oil flush product which are actually a product with high grade oil and special solvent and detergent ingredients. Don't let them use a kerosene based product...these can do serious damage if left in more than 3 minutes.

Get a fresh filter and oil change per your owner's manual. Keep your receipt.

Because your car is sluggish, do check your transmission fluid level COLD and HOT to insure your level is full, not over filled or under filled.

For your acceleration issue, check your air filter. Remove the air filter from the filter box, hold up to the light, replace if you cannot see through it.

Your car spinning fast with low rpm's sounds like a transmission issue. With a fresh engine flush, oil, oil filter, correct transmission fluid level, and clean air filter, open your owner's manual to the scheduled maintenance onor about pages 5-3 and 5-4, check that all other services for 11,000 miles were done.

You are now ready to take this to the dealer for transmission warranty work.

Byron

Byron,

I usually respect all of your advice on this forum, but I whole-heartedly disagree with the "deny" aspect. Should the lack of an oil change be the culprit of this problem, it was the OP's negligence that caused it. This particular behavior is the reason that warranties and return policies on just about everything get abused. Now, if the lack of an oil change did not cause the problem and Hyundai tries to claim that it did because the oil was not changed, then we have a different issue.

That said, I feel bad for the OP, but to make the dealer pay up for the user's bad judgment is wrong. If too many people do this, then the cost for Hyundai goes up and they raise their prices.
To the OP, I would follow everything else that Byron stated as he is very knowledgeable about servicing Hyundais.

-Todd

Todd,

You are right. Modified my previous post. rune will have to recover as best he can.

I still think he has a transmission warranty problem that should be independent of any engine problems he may have caused. He has not passed any required maintenance services on the transmission yet.

Byron

Thanks guys,
I'm really scared about this, and I hope it's just related to the fact that I haven't been to routine maintenance, oil change, filters and not something like the transmission. Oh and when I looked at the oil the first time it was low, so I added some, and now the car doesn’t run as bad as before but still not in top condition, for obvious reasons, although I haven't driven it on the highway since I added some oil so I don't really know.

I do know however that If this turns out ok I will be doing my regular maintenance suggested by the book.



Again thanks for the help, I'll keep you posted :)


Oh an the more posts the merrier, talking about it with knowledgeable people will help get some of these knots out of my stomach.

This post has been edited by runethomas: Jan 30 2008, 11:32 AM

I got my 2007 Elantra with 5500 miles on the odometer, and I didn't bother to ask if the car had it's first oil change. 10K miles rolled around, and I went to change to oil. It was pure black. So I'm thinking perhaps that was the first oil change that car had received (before I bought it, it was being used as a runabout at a Texas dealership, so I can imagine it didn't see much maintenance work there). However, I didn't notice any problems in performance. The car now receives oil changes every 5K miles with Valvoline conventional 5W-20 (though I'm pretty sure it's in dire need of an air filter).

Chris

Ok so this is what happened,

When I got to the dealership they said they would perform my 7500 mile check up even though I was 11k almost 12 and they would do a multipoint inspection, oil change, and road performance test.
They did their thing and said I was all set, they checked everything, from the looks of it, and said they didn't notice any performance issues. They never mentioned the warranty and told me to come back to schedule the next mileage checkup to get me back on track with appointments. I was kind of shocked, but I guess I lucked out.

So far, I haven't noticed anything odd since the checkup, and I'm hoping I won't have a warranty issue in the future. : )




Oh and yes, I did learn my lesson, I will be changing my oil as often as needed from now on. Thanks guys!

Glad to see that things worked out for you. Did this also resolve the accelaration issue?