Hyundai Santa Fe. - Is this Normal?

Ele115

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Had to go out West for a week and they gave me a choice of rentals, Hyundai or Buick something. He said Hyundai would be better on gas which I knew would be false but I wanted to experience the Korean stuff. The trunk was not bad at all. This was Vegas, but I had to go way out in the desert, so I was going to use it and use a lot of gas. It had 70 miles on it so it had probably been used only once before I got there. The seats wouldn't go back as far as I expected but I'm over 7 foot and my legs have been broken a bunch of times so I don't fault them. Not bad for room, especially for one person. Driving it is average. The first thing I noticed was after going from reverse to drive, often the backup camera stays on. That is very distracting at night in the pitch dark desert, the display is quite big and it's on the top of the dash, like someone just bolted it there. Also, it wasn't long before I noticed a sputtering and missing when sitting at a stop. No check engine light though. I think it was fuel delivery, as the fuel level go lower it got a lot worse and it was stalling below half a tank. Also, the blower fan: it would stop blowing, or it would change speeds randomly, it would even run when I shut the car off and took the keys out. Cycling the key a dozen times or more was needed. It did make it back to the airport, I kept the fuel level fairly high, as much as I could and it drove OK when things were not going haywire.

Is this pretty normal?
 

Aspen500

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No, it is not normal. That one needs to go to the shop for some work. Usually b/u cameras stay on maybe 5-10 seconds after shifting out of reverse. That's in case you are doing a maneuver where you're going forward and backward a few times, so the display isn't on-off-on-off. The running problem, is a problem, along with the possessed blower fan.

Was it just a reverse camera or did it switch to what they call overhead view where you see an image that appears to be coming from above the car? Some of those can get annoying although, they're awesome for getting a car centered on a hoist!
 

Ele115

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No I know it's not the way it should work, mine goes off when I start going forward. Just wondering if this is normal for Hyundai/Chia/GM. The fuel pump doesn't surprise me that much. GM has the same problem. You get what you pay for. Was good to be back in my car again and have my legs out from under my chin and not worried about a tow truck getting me before the coyotes or the Hells Angels
 

Aspen500

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Most GM's stay on a few seconds after shifting out of reverse.

Yeah, GM fuel pumps.........At work I'll bet we replaced 50 GM pumps for one on all other makes combined. Wheel bearings are more like 100 to 1 GM to all other makes combined. Also, speed sensors, timing chains, air bag sensors, wiring repairs, electronic system faults, failed modules, broken transmissions, puked engines, etc............JMO but, GM builds the worst engineered vehicles with the poorest quality (too many Chinese parts among other things), with Nissan coming in a close second in poorest quality but I digress and go off topic.:confused:
 

Ele115

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CHINA! Bingo !!!! Yup. Seoul is only a few hundred miles from the Chinese border. Both GM and Hyundai use a high percentage of Chinese parts. GM is big in South Korea AND China. The new Camaro and Blazer is something right out of Harbor Freight. They don't even pretend to care about quality or the customer anymore. Japan is even closer to China, yet they are very reluctant to use Chinese parts.
 

Aspen500

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I almost kind of laugh when we get factory dealer parts and then read the "Made in" label. Toyota is usually either Japan or U.S.A, Chrysler is a majority USA, Ford is USA and various European countries, GM seems to be a vast majority of Made in China, Hyundai and Kia are South Korea and USA quit a bit but also China. Anyways, by far the winner in the made in China contest is,,,,,,,,,,,,drum rool please,,,,,,,,,,,,,General Motors, and it shows. Suppose I really should call GM products "job security". :p
 

Ele115

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You can't fix a GM with OEM parts because OEM parts are just Chinese junk. They are as bad as redbox bargain stores, "test fit to waterbuffalo". They are actually stupid enough to give their technology to the Chinese Government, they will be gone soon so I cannot feel sorry for them. They deserve what they get.
 

brotherGood

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Neither should be normal. I have noticed in my Sonata though that the lower the fuel level gets, the less responsiveness it has. The only issue I ever experienced while selling/driving them is how terrible the turbo with the dual clutch automatic was. I even said something to our trainer (the dude grew up near Woodward in the 70s..he was only there for the paycheck) and he agreed..they were garbage but he couldnt say that
 

Aspen500

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I can't stand cars with a dual clutch gear box. Herky-jerky hesitating junks. Worse are the Ford Focus and Fiesta with their single dry clutch automatic gear box. When I worked at the Audi/VW dealer, the VW diesels had a DSG and they caused nothing but trouble and grief. If you really want one that will make you absolutely hate the dual clutch trans, drive a 3.0 Diesel Ram Promaster (the full size van). They are absolutely HORRIBLE plus, they have no "park" in the trans, only a parking brake (drum type in the rear rotors) to keep it from rolling away. Pretty sketchy on a hill. Seems kind of silly to me.
 

brotherGood

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We didn't stock any promasters, thankfully. We did have a couple leftover Darts and 200s.. everyone knew I was the car guy, but couldn't figure out why I'd switch people off of those cars... Haha
 

Aspen500

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We have a transport/delivery company across the side street from our shop and do the majority of their vans, mostly Promaster and Promaster City but they still have a few Transit Connects yet also. Most of the Transit Connect's are approaching 400,000 miles or more and one by one, they're getting replaced by Promaster City's. Still think the Promaster should have a park position in the trans.
 

Aspen500

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The problem isn't the fact GM uses Chinese junk, its that they use junk.
The parts are made as good as GM wants them.
You hit the nail on the head.
Had a 2014 Equinox with 90,000 miles get hauled to the scrapyard today. The 2.4l Ecotec froze the PCV system (gee, how rare LOL), blew the rear main seal out, ran out of oil and seized the balance shafts, which breaks the balance shaft/water pump drive chain and causes all sorts of destruction, especially if the chain gets into the cam chain. The valves and pistons try to occupy the same space at the same time. Once the balance shafts seize, it's not field repairable. Reman or used engine are the option. Last winter when it was really cold out for a long time, they were dropping left and right. I can remember replacing engines in 8 of them at our shop alone. I guess the Chevy dealer had them lined up like cord wood waiting for engines. Haven't any this winter (yet) but it's been relatively warm and mild also. The owner of this one decided to cut their losses. Can't blame them, A GM reman installed is roughly $6,200, with about $5,000 of that being the engine itself. Last winter we had a 2016 Equinox go to scrap for the same reason, except it had almost 200K on it being a business fleet vehicle. With the miles, they said it was worth maybe $4,500 with a good engine and sticking $6,200 into a $4,500 vehicle didn't make good business sense. I would agree. My experience only but I'd have to say the 2 worst engines currently on the market are the Ecotec and the GM 3.6L.
 

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I haven’t been impressed with the GM ('04 to present) Theta vehicles (Equinox/Torrent/Terrain/SRX/XL7/9-4x), with 4-cyl or V6. They all have a very high cost to repair – more so than most cars on the marketplace and a higher frequency of breakdowns (all of which is my opinion).

Then you get to all the cheap plastic on their smaller cars. I’ve seen a bunch of the flimsy plastic valve covers start to vibrate because the plastic rivets holding it together have broken (PCV is sucking outside air instead of internal engine), or other chancy plastic items on the cars.
GM would have a better repetition if they just spent a tad more on making their parts not be SO CHEAP to begin with.

Getting to another subject, a Turbocharger for a Chevy Sonic, GM part number 55565353 looks like:
Cruize Turbo.jpg

This is the only way to get a turbo (which is about 1/3rd of the engine). Many times, all a person needs is a turbocharger cartridge replaced – which you can’t get from GM:
Sonic Cart.jpg

Sigh. At least we are keeping Aspen500 busy.
Plastic cars don't rust. They will melt and/or burn, though.
BudW
 

Aspen500

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I forgot about those. I've personally replaced half a dozen of those so far, and a couple others were done at the shop as well in various GM Eco-Tec vehicles. Every one of them had the same problem. They come in with the MIL on and complaint of lack of power. Housing cracks at the waste gate ports and then you have a boost leak. Like having the waste gate partially open all the time. Don't recall the price for parts and labor but, it's not cheap and it sure as heck isn't a quick and easy job to do either. They've all been on cars 2 to 3 years old but with too many miles for powertrain warranty which is why we were doing the job. It's gotta suck having 2 or 3 more years of payments on a car and then having to stick mega bucks into it. Eventually a lot of the cheap parts that fail WAY prematurely is going to backfire on GM when people trade their GM product in for another brand.
 

Oldiron440

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How about GM trucks exhaust manifolds leaking. Broken bolts, now theres a fun repair.
 

BudW

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The Hemi pickup/Jeep exhaust manifold to head – broken stud repair is not fun repair, either.
I understand trying to save money by using the smallest (ie: cheapest) fastener – but those exhaust manifold studs/bolts need to be a size larger diameter.
BudW
 

Aspen500

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Ford 5.4L and 6.2L are the most common manifold stud offenders, followed by Chrysler (Hemi and 4.7L) and Chevy is a distant last mainly because they use bolts and the bolts are larger dia than the studs the others (especially Ford) use. Nine times out of ten, the manifold is shot also from warpage either because of the broken studs or,,,,the cause of the broken studs. What we see a lot is the manifold rusts between itself and the head which makes it expands and put more stress on the studs until,,,,,,,,,snap. MIG welding a nut to the broken stud (sometimes takes multiple tries) almost always gets the remain out. he heat from welding plus something to put a socket on gets them to release and unscrew. Worst part is access. Seems the broken ones are almost ALWAYS the one or two that are the hardest to get at. Never fails. Figures the one that's easiest to do (Chevy) is the one that fails the least also.
On Ford's, it's not a new thing. I remember fixing broken manifold to head bolts on 302's before they became 5.0L's. Bad part was, it's MUCH harder to do when the head is cast iron. Aluminum, not that big a deal IF you can get at it decent.
 
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