[ralvarellos]

Hi
I have a 2011 i30 1.6 crdi 115hp with 75.000km .
I have a problem, I went to a ski center and I almost can't go up because the engine had no power, that was at 2500mt / 8200ft of altitude, I live in Chile and go skiing all years, and with my former petrol yaris 1.3 I didn't notice any loss of power. I'm worried because I'm planning a trip to Argentina and I have to go 3200mt / 10500ft and I don't think that the car can make it... (I been there on that yaris 1.3 and a Octavia 1.9tdi without any issues)
On normal altitudes the engine has plenty of power, on flat reaches the 188km/h that should make according to Hyundai
anyone has a clue of what can be wrong?
thanks!

[Johnno]

Hi and welcome to the Forum.

I can't really give you any advice on high altitude. Except try changing the fuel and air filter. Thin air at altitude can cause havoc on some diesel and petrol engines. I've heard that some manufactures have a high altitude compensator fitted to some vehicles for such problems, I don't know if you can buy a after market kit or if Hyundai have them available for regions with high altitude.

Does it blow out black smoke the higher you go?

[Johnno]

I've done a bit of digging around and found this, looks like Hy do have a compensator, Just put in your details and see if one comes up, hopefully Tim can shine a light on this

1989 Hyundai Excel High Altitude Compensator - HyundaiPartsDeal.com

[Asterix]

I think there's a intake pressure sensor, there could be something wrong with that one.

I know it's not quite the same heights but I've been at 1300 meter on the motorways in the Alps towing the caravan, no loss of power as we get higher.

There's definitely something wrong with the car.

[crayman]

Most MAP sensor engines are a compromise when it comes to altitude correction, so you may find the sensor doesn't have sufficient range to accommodate that altitude. 
Perhaps the Hyundai expert might chime in and give the factory stats????

[Dazzler]

Hope Tim can help when he sees this thread, although really high altitudes aren't an issue in Australia. 

I'd be contacting Hyundai direct and explaining the problem (tell them you haven't had the problem with other brands!)

[Phil №❶]

If engine coolant is above 129 Dec C engine will not rev past 2800 rpm. Did this happen, or did the engine rev past this limit. The Diesel should normally be excellent at high level work, due to the turbo boost that is normally available. Have the car checked for any resident fault codes. If a non turbo petrol car can do the trip, a Diesel should easily be able to do it, also.

[sundiz]

Are you sure your car did not go in limp mode?

[ralvarellos]

Hi thanks, excellent forum by the way,  I'm impressed with the amount of feedback!!
The engine is definitely not in limp mode, I had that issue a few months ago because of contaminated fuel, got the fuel tank cleaned and filters changed and never again.
at altitude the engine revs to about 3800-4000 rpm full power without load, don't go up because it don't have power (i had a bad experience, the car wasn't able to start uphill at the ski center and almost cooked the clutch, and stalled like 4 times trying this...
i didn't notice black smoke from the exhaust, at least not more than usual (on night at full power I see some on the mirror with the glare of the car behind me).
I'm going to check the intake pressure reading with a bluetooth OBD2 and see if is erratic, at least I don't have any fault codes here at home, I'm going to try to go up and check up there.
Thanks

[Johnno]

What you might be experiencing is that the turbo is not working as efficient at high altitude compared at your normal level. The MAF will be reading that there is low air volume going past the sensor because of the lack of oxygen and the turbo will have to spin up more due to the lack of air which it will be difficult trying to maintain boost. This is pure speculation on my part.

[Lorian]

It revs ok with no load, but has no power?

so what actually happens under load at altitude, are you sure its not the clutch slipping due to the gradient?

[ralvarellos]

Is not revving ok, it should get to the red line to about 4800rpm (i never do that, but should be capable of doing that), it doesnt have power to star moving the car in a 12% gradient as I  release the clutch the revs go down until the engine stalls,  i have to do it very slowly but i dont want to burn the cluth . then when it starts i have to keep 1 gear because doesnt have power for 2°. The turbo kiks in at about 3000 rpm (weakly), and lose the boost at 3500 rpm, so i have to stay in that range.
I'm going to check with odb2 the intake reding, hope i find something there
thanks

[Johnno]

I would of thought it would perform better than that. Check your boost at your normal location and check it again when your going up there and see what the difference is

[Phil №❶]

Turbo or not, ALL engines will suffer some power loss due to less density of air at altitude, not less oxygen. Having said that, I think there is a fault in your engine sensors somewhere. Pretty sure that the turbo is the variable vane type, which alters the angle of incidence of the vanes inside the turbo, to maintain proper efficiency and power.