You have done all this and only 34K on the clock?

 

Yes,
It all started with an oil pan leak that started on the long trip. It wasn’t excessive but a cause for concern. After I got home I dropped the oil pan and resealed it. It was dry for a few months then started seeping again. Now I’m seeing seepage from other locations.
The rear main crankshaft seal problem spans quite a few of these chassis. I know of at least 7.
It appears to be a manufacturing flaw in the machining of the engine block. At 22000 miles my particular seal literally fell out and dumped its oil rapidly. The other vehicle in the photo had the same issue happen. It’s not a difficult repair if you can turn a wrench. It does require pulling the engine to repair and mitigate the problem. The seal can be pressed in using light finger pressure. It’s definitely not a press fit. There is nothing holding it in place. I used a center punch and punched 4 locations around the seal on the block. This will create a small amount of interference to keep the seal from just falling out. It’s been running for about 11k miles now without issue.
You don’t need to pull the engine and trans. Only the engine needs to come out. The easy way is to unbolt the flywheel from the torque converter. This allows for several more inches of space as opposed to removing the torque converter with the engine. We‘ve done it both ways. We were able to pull the engine and replace/remedy the seal in about 3.5 hours.
Its a fun little vehicle to drive. If I had bought it as a primary vehicle I would have sold it by now.
I enjoy tinkering with it in my spare time.

Don.

 

Check the PCV isn't blocked. Remove it and give it a blast out with throttle body cleaner. If the PCV is blocked it will ramp crankcase pressure which can then force oil out past seals.

 

Thanks for that. I’ll definitely check it out.

Don.

 

Here’s a photo of the crankshaft seal after it mysteriously fell out of the engine block. View attachment 487723 This resulted in dumping nearly all of the oil when the engine was running.

 

Make sure also the vacuum port and hose to the PCV valve are clear.

 

Here’s one part that contributed to one of my oil leaks. The o-ring is failing and allowing oil to pass by and leak onto the engine block. If anyone is interested the O-ring part number is 27161-22000. This part is located behind the coil bracket on the end of the cam. I believe it’s also used for the distributor port in non- electronic ignition engines. Not to hard of a fix. Worst part is finding an o-ring locally. Hyundai says the part is discontinued.
I might end up using the old o-ring and smearing some Toyota sealant on the flange. That should be fine. It’s a pretty large surface contact area.

 

My search for oil leaks in the ATOS G4HC engine continues. I resolved the leak that I attacked yesterday. I took the metermaid car for 50 mile ride to test it. That area is completely dry.
Today I figured I’d check under the timing belt cover since there seems to be oil coming from that area. The oil staining is up and down the engine block on the timing belt end of the engine. What I thought might have been a coolant leak now appears to be oil from the cam seal. After pulling the timing belt cover I can see where oil has been leaking down from the cam seal and saturating the whole area under that cover. It also appears to be the cause for dripping oil from the oilpan on that end of the engine. I was fearing that I might have a leaking head gasket but at this point appears to be the cam seal. I haven’t done one of those before so this is new territory for me. I’m hoping I can replace it without removing the cam. I hope it’s as simple as the rear crank seal. Now to try and locate a new seal.

 

Wow! We own 3 Hyundai 2010 Santa Fe (170+k miles) and Tucson (160 k miles), 2013 Sonata Hybrid (119K miles) and 2023 Elantra Hybrid 12k miles. None of my cars have oil leaks, zero. My neighbor's 2017 Hyundai has over 360k miles with no leaks.

Are you sure it's not poor cleaning during oil changes? or bad oil filter removal, causing spill???

Best Wishes

 

Yeah they make very good vehicles.
Since I bought this used I don’t know how it was treated or maintained. When I bought it, it didn’t run and it was filthy dirty and the engine was covered in grimy oil and dirt. The valve cover gasket had been leaking as well. In fact, its leaking again from under a bolt flange. That’s even with a 10k miles old gasket on the valve cover. I would have expected better service from an engine with 34k miles on it. It’s an old engine (2003) as well and sat in a field for many years unused due to the rear main oil seal had fallen out. I’m not sure what the expected life for these types of seals should be. I would expect well over 100k miles.
I just pulled the seal and the lip is very rigid. It should be reasonably flexible. I’d say it’s time for replacement based upon that and the leak.
Im not sure how many miles can be expected from a G4HC Epsilon engine. It was used in a few vehicles for a few years. There was the ATOS, ATOS PRIME, ATOZ, mine is a Westward Industries Go-4 Interceptor and unknown if there are others. None of these were imported for the US market except the Go-4. Im not able to source parts locally. It’s all online nowadays. It’s really not that bad considering I can order parts from a site in Korea and have them in a few days and cheaper than if I were able to source them locally. Most times the delivery is faster too. The Hyundai # is 22144-21010 which is superseded by this number, 22144-3B001.
Turns out Fel-Pro has an equivalent part. The number is, TCS 45704.
I was able to source this from O’Reilly Auto Parts here in San Diego For about 10.00 each. Comes in a box with two seals.

I have to admit, it’s had more issues than any other vehicle I’ve owned. Maybe it’s the application.

 

The front cam seal and valve cover gasket have been replaced. I ran the engine without the timing belt cover for about 30-45 minutes and did not see any sign of oil leakage. The valve cover gasket(22441-02400) was replaced later. I added a very thin layer of Toyota sealant to the head to hopefully completely seal it this time. While the cover was off I checked and cleaned the PCV valve. It appeared to be working fine but did it just to be sure. The old timing cover is pretty beat up. I’ve ordered a new one from Korea (21350-02551). Hopefully it will be here in a few days.
Tomorrow I will run it again for an extended time to see if the new valve cover gasket has any issues.
Hopefully this will resolve my oil leak issues.

 

did you take it to your mechanic??

 

Yup, me. I am my mechanic.

 

The oil leaks just keep on coming! After replacing the camshaft oil seal on the timing belt side and sealing the other end with Toyota sealant since it doesn’t use a normal shaft seal. I took the Go-4 (Atos) for a 200 to 300 hundred mile drive over several days of driving. The oil pan still shows some seepage on the transmission side and a considerable amount of leakage on the timing belt side. Curious what had happened I tore it apart again today to find I had somehow damaged the cam shaft oil seal internally. The small spring that keeps the shape of the seal lip somehow was folded over part of the seal lip. There was no way to see that upon Assy. Fortunately, the Fel-pro seals come two in a package so I had a spare and replaced it.
Next I found the crankshaft oil seal on the timing belt side started to leak. Upon inspection I found that it was in position where it should be but using my finger I could spin it around the crank. No wonder it was leaking between the seal and crankcase. This is very much the same problem that happened on the transmission side seal as well. Except it completely fell out on that side.
Fortunately I had a direct replacement from a gasket kit I purchased awhile ago. I tapped it into place and got it pretty level. I just ran it for 30 minutes up in the air and so far no leaks from those two places. Now I need to find if the oilpan leak is remnants from the above leaks or possibly the rear main seal is starting to leak again. I can see in there with an inspection mirror to see that it is still in place. There’s no smoke trails in the bellhousing indicating it’s being thrown around. Even with the inspection plate off I’m not finding oil dripping or running down to the bottom of the bellhousing.
Hopefully this will end soon. I despise engine oil leaks.
Top photo is the crank seal. Bottom seal is the damaged cam shaftseal.

 

Today was the day to once again pull the engine for a rear main crank seal. Got it out and noticed it is indeed leaking from around the shaft as well as the circumference of the seal. I found with a flat blade screwdriver I was able to rotate the seal around the crank while the seal was seated in its recess. That’s not good. At least it didn’t fail like the original where it just fell out completely. For those who want to try a DIY repair be sure to support the transmission since you wont need to remove it. You can remove the transmission flywheel inspection plate and remove the three bolts that hold the flywheel to the torque converter. You will need to index the engine with each bolt for access to the bolt for removal. A 19mm open end wrench on the timing cover side crankshaft bolt works fine. No need to remove the torque converter and gives you several inches of clearance you wouldn’t have if you pulled it with the torque converter.
This time I smeared some Toyota sealant in the recess and on the seal before reinstalling the seal. Yes, I cleaned it well with degreaser first. Hopefully this one will last a little longer. The last one only lasted about 12k miles before it started leaking again. It was leaking down on the lip of the oilpan and migrating to the rest of the engine. Eventually finding its way to the exhaust and burning.
For the last few weeks I had been smelling coolant at random times but could not pinpoint where it was coming from. I rented a radiator leak tester from O Reilly auto parts and found the heater hose was leaking randomly at a plastic coupler where it eventually connects to the transmission cooler. Today I found that the coupler had fractured inside the hose and under certain conditions it would leak a small amount of coolant and spray on the hot engine. The coupler has now been replaced. Hopefully both the rear main seal leak and heater hose leak are resolved. I drove it 50 miles home after repairing it and everything seems good so far.

 

As a retired mechanic, if I would have seen an issue where it seemed like the seal was a twitch too loose for the bore, I’d probably have used a little bit of Right Stuff” made by Permatex. But, if you ever need to remove it, you need a wire brush, in a high speed grinder.

 

Great idea.
Thanks for the input. I’m hoping this time the Toyota sealant holds it in place and keeps it from leaking.
I’m happy to say that so far, I haven’t seen or smelled anymore leaks of oil or coolant. I’ve driven it approximately 200 miles since it’s been replaced.

 

Just for some context here is a pic of the vehicle I’m working on. It is made by a company called Westward Industries in Canada. It is a 2004 Go-4 Interceptor II. They make these vehicles for parking enforcement, grounds keeping or just general utility. These two machines are one serial number digit apart and are retired Metermaid cars from the Visalia, Ca.. They originally sold for approximately 31000 dollars as I’m told. They were purchased at auction for 3000.00 each then sat in a dirt lot in Victorville, Ca. for a number of years before I found them on Craigslist.
It uses the Hyundai Atos running gear on their body. The body also consists of other vehicle parts made by Kia called a Towner. So it’s kind of a mishmash of a few different vehicles. The ‘90s vintage utilized Mazda/Ford running gear and the late model ones are running Ford 3 cylinder running gear. Getting parts for the Hyundai can be challenging since the Atos vehicle was never imported to the US. Almost all the parts have to be ordered online from different parts of the world. The last part, a coolant hose, had to be ordered from Kuala Lumpur. Parts are becoming more scarce for this engine. I’ll keep it running as long as I can with available parts.

 

Interesting. Obviously, wherever you live, they are street legal, or you wouldn’t be putting the miles on that you have been. What kind of fuel mileage do they get? Getting parts for any discontinued cars can be a challenge, but especially with a ba$tard child like that!

 

Just a quick follow up.

I now have driven another 1260 miles since I replaced the rear main crank seal and the coolant hose coupler.
Im happy to say the engine is completely dry underneath and I no longer smell the odor of coolant and burning oil.
On another note, my nieces boyfriend has driven his ‘06 Go-4 from Atascadero, Ca. across the country to Virginia Beach, Va. and then to Miami Beach, Fl. He is currently in Alabama on his trek back home to Atascadero. He had a couple of minor issues which he was able to resolve. Around Albuquerque, Nm he had to replace the transmission speed sensor. He was staying in a campground and had a new sensor delivered overnight to the campground and was back on the road. He also had a transmission pan leak along the way. He was able to find a place that let him drop the transmission oil pan and reseal it. Surprisingly, he has only been stopped by Law Enforcement once and they let him go.
He has a number of fun and interesting stories to tell about his trip so far.

He contacted the manufacturer in Canada and asked if we could do a company tour at their site in Winnipeg next year if we drive our Gophers up there. Apparently they are all for it and will give us a company tour if we make it. He’s going to put the word out on Facebook and invite anyone that wants to go in their Gophers.
Thats going to be a long ride from San Diego. I hope my knee holds out. I drove mine 1200 miles from San Diego to Virginia City, Nv and back. Sitting in that position for hours really wears on my knee for some reason. I’m looking forward to the trip though.

Don