Hi there. Hope someone can help or give advice on this problem.

I bought an AUTOMATIC Hyunda Accent 1.4 LSi (S-Reg, 1998) back in February, and everything was hunky dory. Unfortunately, a few months after, the car started going into what I've been told is "Emergency Fault Mode", where the automatic gearbox goes into third gear - and stays there. This is happening at random intervals, and sometimes goes for a few days without doing it at all. Other days, it'll do it every time I drive, regardless of what gear I'm actually in or whether or not I'm accelerating or braking. It seems to *clunk* into emergency mode whenever it feels like it, and the only way I can fix the problem is by re-starting the engine.

I've taken the car to numerous garages, and nobody has been able to connect to the car's computer to read the fault code - if there even is one! I've telephoned a local Hyundai dealer, but he wants to charge me nearly £150 just for a scan and internal check, which I can't really afford at the moment. Plus, he also said that he *never* has Accents in that have automatic gearbox problems.

So, does this sound like an electrical problem, or a gearbox problem? I'm really hoping it's an electrical problem, as that will at least be fixable in terms of cost ... hopefully!

Oh, and the gearbox oil/fluid has been checked and is perfectly fine.

Obviously, the car is still driveable, but not on the motorway, which is a huge bummer.

So, yeah! Please help, as I have to take my kids to school and get to work every day, and I want to be well-prepared for any possible breakdown! Who knows, the car might just continue doing this if it's an electrical fault ... but if it's a gearbox fault, I guess it could die any time.

Thanks a lot for your help and comments. :)

this is normally caused by lack of gearbox oil changes (or if it has been done,using the wrong fluid)...this will cause dirt and particles to float aroud the system and prevent the input and/or output speed sensors from working properly or a faulty input and/or output speed sensor.......l would suggest that you phone around some other main dealers until you find one that will read the code at a sensible price

Thanks for your advice. As I said in my original post the first garage I visited took a reading of the gearbox oil and said that it was normal, but obviously didn't check it for dirt and or particles (which I guess is pretty impossible to do without changing the oil anyway!)

I've managed to find another garage nearby that *thinks* he might be able to obtain the error code, but he also said that sometimes there aren't any error codes to read ... for some reason. *shrug*

If this ends up being the case, I might just have the gearbox oil changed for the sake of it, and if that doesn't work, I'll see if anyone can check the speed sensor(s) for me.

Thanks again for the advice, and if anyone else has any advice/opinions, please share them with me.

Thanks!

This post has been edited by Spartan X: Aug 13 2008, 02:40 AM

My 1999 Accent GL is doing the same thing. Its really getting on my nerves. I find it does it alot less often if I leave the Overdrive button off but it still happends sometimes. If you find a solution please post it.

P.S. When you say "Gearbox oil" are you just talking about mortor oil? Or transmission oil?

Same here. When the overdrive button is off, it doesn't seem to do it quite as much. I've taken mine to a few garages, and most of the people think the problem is a faulty speed sensor, as the second poster in this thread pointed out. I've booked mine in for a 'check' on 30th August, as the other garages haven't been able to confirm this as they don't have the equipment to connect to the car's onboard computer to look for error codes (and this guy I've booked my car in with apparently has special Hyundai equipment...)

P.S. I think he's referring to the transmission oil, as a lack of motor oil wouldn't cause problems with the gearbox. I've had my transmission oil checked, and everything is fine, so I'm guessing that the problem IS indeed the speed sensor, and not the gearbox itself. Phew!