Hyundai i30 Engine Problems

As our politicians keep saying, you should be alert, not alarmed. It's happened twice in 40,000km, so it's going to be hard to diagnose until it's doing it more regularly. Monitor it closely, and keep a record of when it happens and any symptom you observe that might help your mechanic trace the cause.

It would seem that a part of a spark plug has dropped down into the engine and caused it to be damaged. If that's the case the only way to repair it is to take the head off and check to see what damage has been done. Once that has been established, and a cause worked out, you can then go forward with a plan to repair and negotiate with Hyundai about who pays the bill. I wouldn't recommend running the engine until the head comes off; if there are bits of a plug floating around inside the engine running it could cause more damage.

Ask that a service representative go with you, so you can show them what the problem is and that it is still present. Once you have their agreement that there is a problem you should be able to move forward and get a resolution.

Don't you just love it when the dealer and the carmaker can't get their heads together to sort out a problem, instead they just duck shove it back and forth between them. Go back to the dealer and express your disappointment and ask that they call in Hyundai to help sort out the problem. It's their responsibility to sort it out and they should take the lead.

If it's pinging all the time, there's something wrong and it needs investigating. If it's only there when the engine is under load, like accelerating or climbing a hill, it could be a transient thing while the engine adjusts to the new conditions. Today's engines are dependent on electronics and there is little that can be done to fix a problem like pinging, you can't swing the distributer a few degrees to get rid of it. It could be a sensor that's on the wrong end of the spec band, or the timing could be marginally out. Using a higher grade fuel is quick fix that might work, but of course it comes at a cost at the pump. If he's really  concerned about it take the car back to the dealer and insist that it be fixed. The company recommends 91-octane fuel and they should be held accountable for ensuring that it will.

We asked Hyundai to check with the dealer and they have responded by confirming that your car is currently using 100 ml of oil per 1000 km, which is well within the specification. They added that because the engine is a new one they would expect the amount of oil consumed to reduce once the engine has been run in further. They also told us that the dealer believes loud rattling noise is caused by a faulty engine mount and a new mount will be fitted the next time you take the vehicle in. Hyundai believes the action being taken will resolve the issues satisfactorily. From our view it would seem the company is doing everything possible to sort out the problems for you.

We contacted Hyundai on Mark Pearson’s behalf and we received the following from a company spokesman:

“Fuel consumption figures displayed in accordance with ADR 81/02 are based on a static laboratory combined city and highway cycle test. They are not tested on the road. As a result, actual fuel consumption will vary. This is due to a combination of driving conditions, driving style as well as the condition of the vehicle. (e.g. air-conditioning, fuel type/quality used, weight, tyre pressures, wind, average speed, etc.).

These figures are therefore most useful to compare the relative performance of different vehicles – they all undergo the same test. The average motorist will experience consumption of approx 15-35 percent higher than what is stated on the fuel label due to the conditions that the laboratory test cannot simulate. Mr. Pearson’s vehicle is just over one month old, optimal fuel consumption figures are not likely to be achieved until the vehicle has travelled 10-15,000 km.”

If you apply the maximum variation Hyundai quotes you would get fuel consumption of a little over 6 L/100 km, which is about what he gets.

There’s no such thing as a problem that can’t be fixed. If you have on record that Hyundai doesn’t know what is causing the problem and can’t fix it I would think you have good grounds for asking for your money back.

More info for anyone thinking of using E10.