My 2004 Santa Fe has 99,740 miles on it and today it has begun acting up. A friend and I were going up the hill and as I turned a corner in 2nd gear (tranny in drive) and applied the gas, the transmission made a huge lurch and a bang. Our forward progress was slowly hindered but the car didn't stop or trigger a check engine light.

I checked the tranny fluid which seemed low so I took it to the dealer. When the lube tech came back, he told me it was fine. Well, on my way home again, almost the same place, identical circumstances, the car banged when accelerating in 2nd gear.

I'm very angry with the car right now. It has been perfectly maintained according to Hyundai's specifications with all services done at the local Hyundai dealer. Now I feel that my transmission will go out shortly after 'America's Best Warranty' runs out. I have an appointment to get the transmission checked on Friday where they will probably tell me 'nothing's wrong'.

If Hyundai can't build a transmission that doesn't drop out at 100,000 miles, they need to review their priorities. And if they can't take care of this under warranty, I won't be back.

From lovemysantafe to I wont be back over a "lurch and a bang". Frustrating, yes. Take Hyundai for a ride to the place where this happens and duplicate it for them. After 100,000 miles of service work on your vehicle you have to have some sort of repore with these people. Besides, what would you replace it with? All things mechanical wear out, some sooner than others, but they do. Good luck.

I would think that now the issue is on file before the end of the warranty you should be OK. At least this was the case for me when I had Acura's and Honda's and even Subaru.. suprisingly enough.

Dear lovemy,

I have a 2004 Santa Fe as well, going over 88,000 miles today. This does not bode well for me with my SF.

The bang is very important. Is this like a metallic bang? I recommend that you have the input and output sensors checked on your transmission. These have been a source of 2nd gear shift issues on my Sonata, but with a different transmission and engine. Your symptoms sound very familiar.

My fix path on the Sonata:
1) Transmission flush and fluid exchange with SP-III...did not fix
2) Replaced input and output sensors...did not fix.
3) Replaced the throttle position sensor...fixed.

Byron

Byron...would a throttle position sensor trip a CEL?

The bang I'm hearing sounds like you hit a metal pole on a steel pipe that is buried in the ground. It's a bit metallic but (obviously) doesn't echo.



Sorry, man. I was already having a bad day and then this popped up. That and I haven't been sleeping well the past month or so. Please forgive my less-than-stellar attitude.

This post has been edited by lovemysantafe: Sep 3 2008, 05:57 PM

Typical machine...it's now working just fine. Before taking it to the dealer late Thursday evening using late-drop, I drove it for a good 15 miles in conditions identical to those where I got the lurch/bang. For the life of me, I couldn't get it to do it. I let a friend drive it and he couldn't get it, either. So I dropped it off anyway and waited.

I got a call around 3:30-4:00 telling me that they could find absolutely nothing wrong with the car. The tech drove it and the service advisor drove it. They drove it nice and drove it hard and did everything I asked and could not get it to duplicate. They scanned the transmission computer and revealed no codes. Nothing in the transmission fluid indicated that it is shedding parts internally.

I think the advisor could tell I was concerned about the tranny failing or needing repair after the warranty expired because he was agreeing with everything I said. Basically, the problem has been noted (but not replicated) prior to the warranty expiration. Should it fail after the warranty, Hyundai will be able to see it started before it expired. Hopefully, should we ever need to cross that bridge, it won't be a painful process.

This post has been edited by lovemysantafe: Sep 6 2008, 05:56 AM