[Andyhop]

So my 5 year old and up until now reasonably healthy i30 CRDi seems to have become possessed by some kind of Carriage Demon

It started about 10 weeks ago with the occasional throttle cut, which is easily remedied by taking my foot off the throttle and reapplying. This happened at first once every few days, but has now become once per km!! However, that's not all. In the last few weeks, the CC will suddenly drop off and not allow me to reapply it until the car has been switched off and restarted. The ESP OFF light will now come on on nearly every journey, (I did have this problem before but was resolved by my local Hyundai Dealer in Geraldton when they replaced some brake assembly switch, but hasn't come back until these latest troubles started to get worse). And the newest dimension to this most vexing issue is sometimes when I get out of my car the brake lights are locked on and can't be switched off without starting the car, applying the brakes and turning off before any of the other aforementioned gremlins hit.

My i30 has nearly 100,000km on the clock, and the only major drama I had recently with her was due to having used too much Biodiesel and had some kind of fuel bug that had blocked up my filter with black sludge (which my dealer had no idea what it was as they had never seen it before!!) but a fuel filter change resolved that problem about 5000km ago, which was causing complete cut outs of the engine or the occasional entry into limp home mode.

Living in Geraldton in Western Australia (having emigrated from Blighty 4 years ago) means I'm about 450km from any serious Hyundai Main Dealer, and with so little [no] competition, you can imagine what it costs here, but it is in the order of $150ph for investigations. Hence I am going to see if I can, with your help, get to the bottom of it myself.

Any insights anyone might have would be greatly welcomed.

[Dazzler]

Hi Andy,

Not good mate!  (I am a master of the understatement)

I am no mechanical expert, the brake light switch and or dirty fuel or a combination of both would be my main suspects. It would have been your brake light switch that was replaced under warranty, but they could have either fitted the wrong one or the replacement could have failed. A fuel bug usually takes more than a filter change to fix (the tank should be drained and cleaned and an anti fungal additive added to be on the safe side. Hopefully others can help.. 

[Phil №❶]

I highly suspect that aside from any electrical issues you have with the brake lights, you also still have contaminated Diesel fuel. The black sludge is the tel tale sign of infected fuel. Changing the fuel filter will only provide tempoary relief, the problem will return. I  use the following product in both of our Diesel's in order to prevent what you have experienced. I highly recommend you commence using it too.

Fuelmaster

Hope this helps.

I suspect your brake switch need further attention, too.

[Andyhop]

Thanks guys, I will get straight onto the fuel additive products. My only thoughts on whether or not it's the same thing this time time is that, the accelerator will cut out usually whilst going round any corner (fuel tank full or empty doesn't affect it) but a quick lift off and reapply on the pedal sorts it out every time, whereas before it would die completely and need to be restarted.

Is changing the brake light switch a possible job for home?

[Phil №❶]

If your out of warranty, I can't see why not. Be aware that for cars fitted with Cruise Control, there is a special brake switch. Be sure when ordering, to specify the correct type of switch.

Given your location, I would be careful about where you obtain your Diesel from. Do not use garages with low turnover of fuel, as their tanks may be the source of contamination. If you see semis filling, I would also fill there as well. The Diesel bug is an airborne fungus and seems prevalent in Australia, compared to other countries. The northern Oz territories can be quite warm and humid, ideal for this sort of stuff to grow. The fungus grows and survives only in the layer where water and oil meet, so by eliminating the water from the tank, the fungus can not survive.

I have no affiliation with the supply company. The product is expensive but 1lt treats 4000 lts of Diesel. A tank clean by Hy is around $300 I believe.

Condensation can form in your tank as it empties. The fuel when full is eventually replaced by air from outside until the next fill, so this treatment should eliminate contamination issues.

[Andyhop]

Thanks Phil,

I was using Biodiesel for a couple of years and suspect that was the source of the infection. I have just order a Fuel Biocide and we shall see if that helps at all. My 2010 CRDi did come with factory fitted CC, so I shall watch out for that, and it does lend some weight to that as the problem as they are all interconnected; ESP OFF light problem, CC disabling, brake lights etc. I was thinking that maybe there was a loose cable somewhere or even a faulty throttle position sensor??

[Andyhop]

  How's this for a quick result, just found this on the web from a couple of years back...

Hyundai Australia issued a confidential bulletin to dealers in June warning of a problem with the brake light switch assembly on all passenger and commercial vehicles made between August 2011 and May 2012 - during which time the company sold more than 70,000 vehicles.
It listed the following conditions: “stop lamps inoperative upon brake pedal application, cruise control inoperative/drops out, engine starting not possible [some models], unable to shift transmission lever from or into “park”, ESP light staying on."

Just spoke to my dealer and apparently it went back as far as 2008, and they are changing the switch for free on Wednesday!!!

[Phil №❶]

 

Way to go. 

[FatBoy]

Great result!!

[Andyhop]

Lets hope so, I'll keep you posted, but I have a funny feeling the accelerator failing isn't related, but time will tell 

[cruiserfied]

By the sounds of it you haven't had the revised brake light switch installed.
Get that done and all will be good.
Remember to test your cruise afterwards before going too far. Just to be sure they fitted the correct brake light switch.

On a side note I agree with all about the diesel bug. There will still be contamination but I don't think that's your problem now.

[Dazzler]

Now that is an impressive forum brainstorming session! 

[Doggie 1]

 
Hopefully this sorts the problems out, but keep away from bio-diesel.
I have only ever used it a couple of times when the option was use it or walk 100 kms, but I stick with BP or Caltex premium fuels.
100,000 kms on one of these diesels is bugger all so hopefully you can sort this out and continue to enjoy the car. 

[Andyhop]

 
Indeed I agree, I never thought I'd get such great responses so quickly, so a big thank you to all and fingers crossed. I did read up about making sure the correct replacement goes in, and I shall remind them on Wednesday 

[bumpkin]

Looking at this fresh, it would not surprise me if the cutting out and back in when re-applying the accelerator is also associated with the brake switch rather than being fuel related.

This is not to take away from the advice given re fuel, but since the accelerator is also electrically driven and would be in tandem with the brake system under the overall electronics it just seems to be too much of a coincidence.

[Andyhop]

Whilst I definitely agree with your suggestion that it's not related to the fuel, I'm not so sure that it's brake switch related either. I've seen no other posted problems which are anything like the problem my accelerator pedal is giving me, and the fuel switch issues have been widely written about on the web and this forum specifically. Nevertheless, we shall see by Thursday, as the problem rears its head very very frequently, so I shouldn't have to wait long (like the drive back from the dealers lol)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[cruiserfied]

Brake switch for the win

[Phil №❶]

Poll time 

Switch for me, too.

[Shambles]

I think  suspects correctly that his i30 is possessed.

[bumpkin]

I think  suspects correctly that his i30 is possessed.

In which case we can make a new badge for the boot - CRPi.

[Dazzler]

I think  suspects correctly that his i30 is possessed.

In which case we can make a new badge for the boot - CRPi.

Make 2 (one for Dave as well... ) 

[Doggie 1]

I think  suspects correctly that his i30 is possessed.

In which case we can make a new badge for the boot - CRPi.

Make 2 (one for Dave as well... ) 

 
I like that.

[Andyhop]

OK I definately want one of those now

[Asterix]

I also vote for the brake switch.

Try to apply the brake at the same time as keeping a steady speed, and you will see the power disappear. 

[Andyhop]

So it's early days, but it would appear that the problems have all disappeared

Try to apply the brake at the same time as keeping a steady speed, and you will see the power disappear. 

This was the nailer for the Brake switch for me, I wasn't aware of this until I tried it driving to the dealer. So about 50% of the time I touched the brake it would drop the revs and return when I removed, but the other half of the time it would cut the throttle completely and I would have to lift off and reapply. My wife driving behind me, said that each time it had the fail state, my brake lights would remain on after I removed any brake pedal pressure. So I was pretty much convinced by that point that the I needed to changed my vote from demonic possession   

[cruiserfied]

Good stuff. You'll be right now.

[Dazzler]

Orr sum

[FatBoy]

Despite evidence to the contrary, I will still say demonic possession.  I must be Ken Ham.

Ken Ham - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Shambles]

... I will still say demonic possession ...

Same here, which accounts for the photo tag for this article on the portal home page

[Andyhop]

Well I reckon it has been exorcised for sure, she hasn't put a foot wrong since they sent the priests in