[Asterix]

Kylie, might be time for some tears, a shorter skirt, a bigger smile or a combination of all three.. I'm sure they must have a spare car of some sort! Tell them you have to get to work and anything will do!

 

Don't they have a demo car you can drive..

[Keith]

Personally I'm more intrigued by the sudden, unheard of and "coincidental" oil burning issue...

What if the guy who test drove it revved the thing to busting point?

Sounds like possible oil ring to me... I cant even imagine what might cause oil burning following a pot-hole wallop or any sort of suspension failure... Doesnt make sense.

What does make sense is that the Mechanic that took it out broke it... But proving that would be impossible...

[eye30]

I've read that police/insurance company can download data from the Ecu although not actually read they do it.


As it stores data on driving style wonder if over revving would show up?

[Keith]

It did on Fiat ECU's cos it was used to escape some early cambelt failure claims when Fiat originally claimed 70k mile or 5 year cambelt replacement periodicity.

[KylieR]

Well, this is bullshit, I tell you.

After four days, they finally tell me that there is bad oil in the car, that it should have been changed over. The car was serviced 8 months ago, its only two months overdue - how does oil get that bad so quickly? And why wasn't it bad oil on Friday when I drove it, or Saturday morning, before the accident? It ONLY became bad when they took it for a test drive.

They are replacing the wheel, but I am sure the girl on the phone said it was a new steering wheel because mine is buckled - how the hell does a pothole, or a drainage ditch cause a freaking steering wheel to buckle? And wouldn't I have noticed this myself?

They spend four days calling up Hyundai because they don't know what is wrong, and they finally decide to check the oil now? Isn't that the first bloody thing you would do if the exhaust is spewing out black smoke, and that is STILL no reason for the oil to be pouring into the exhaust.

Picking up the car shortly, and I am going to get it checked elsewhere because I am not bloody happy. They haven't given me a reason as to why the whole bloody car collapsed on me. Stupid girl I spoke to practically accused me of it being my fault because I didn't get it serviced every 7,500 ks. If I did, it would be serviced every two months!!!

[KylieR]

Kylie, might be time for some tears, a shorter skirt, a bigger smile or a combination of all three.. I'm sure they must have a spare car of some sort! Tell them you have to get to work and anything will do!

 

Don't they have a demo car you can drive..

Nope. They just said that hey, these things happen when your car breaks down, like its no big deal to have to take a day off work because you can't get into town.
No help at all. They were a great help on Saturday, but today, they have become useless and I am not happy with the explanation.

[AlanHo]

My guess is that you hit something in the road - if not a pothole, perhaps some debris that had fallen from a truck. I was under the impression that they found oil in the exhaust - but it now appears that it was black smoke and not liquid oil. That being the case it is a total nonsense to blame a heavily smoking exhaust on the engine oil not being changed dead on schedule.

Manufacturers set the oil change schedule to cater for the worst type of owner - and that would be someone who potters around town at low speed and stops off often - thus never letting the engine get hot enough to drive off any water vapour in the crankcase. If you do regular longish journeys - you could safely double the time between oil changes without a significant problem.

A few years back I had a company car and the firms fleet of lorries and cars were serviced in our own workshop. I was engineering manager and it came under my wing. Shell supplied all lubricants to the company - for the light machinery, heavy rolling mills and vehicles. Every 3 months samples were taken and laboratory tested to determine when the oil in a machine or vehicle needed to be changed - (or additives added in the case of large machines). In those days the owners manual for the petrol cars specified an oil change every 7,500 or 10,000 miles.  The lab tests regularly found that the engine oil, though black, was still fit for purpose at more than 15,000 miles. I had a 28 mile commute to work in those days on main highways and my cars usually had an oil change at around 25,000 miles - on just one occasion it went beyond 30,000 miles.

Now, as a private owner not having the facility of an oil lab doing such tests, I comply with the owners manual whilst the car is under warranty - even though I am quite sure that this is not strictly necessary because I do regular long fast runs.

Your dealer is either spinning a yarn or covering something up that happened on the test run that they have perhaps rectified without telling you.

[rustynutz]

Normal servicing is every 12 months or 15,000k so unless your car is being used under extreme driving conditions their claim is bullsh*t....

Did the same dealer perform the last service?
If so then if there is "bad" oil in the car, it is their problem...

[AlanHo]

Reading your last post again you state that you do 7,500 kms every 2 months. That is 45,000 km per year which is higher than average mileage.

If true for the last 8 months, you will have done 30,000 kms after the last service, which really is stretching things a bit versus the Hyundai service schedule.

Having said that - even though you are way over the recommended oil change distance - you have been doing a lot of long distances and your engine oil will have had an easy life.  Thus it should not result in heavy smoke from the exhaust. Unless of course, the engine valve guides, cylinders or pistons are badly worn and whoever did the test drive gave the car a thrashing.

By the way -
how often do you check your oil level
how often does it need topping up
and by what amount
How many Kms has the car done in total.

[KylieR]

I have the car back, and they did tell me (and my dad) on Saturday that 'oil is pouring into the exhaust and its blowing black smoke'. Those were the exact words. We were put under the impression that something was leaking, and seriously wrong.

Today I went in and was told that my last service was at around 12,000ks and the car has done 26,000, so very close to the 7,500 mark. Fair enough, the oil may have done bad because it was overdue for a service. Last service was in May, by the way. I can own that mistake - but not the fact that the oil was pouring into the exhaust and suddenly, they won't mention it to me.

The wheel needs replacing (the tyre, they mean) and I would have assumed they'd put the spare on for me, but they didn't. I didn't buy a new tyre from them ($295 are you kidding me?) but they could have at least put the spare on for me in the meantime.

Mum and dad are going in to see them and find out what is wrong. I didn't hit a pothole or anything, and there is no explanation as to why the entire front left side gave way. Understandably, I am wondering whether the car is actually safe to drive.

As per AlanHo's questions:

I don't check the oil - have no idea how to. I would have though that is up to the people who service it.
It has had three services so far (including this recent one) and its been topped up three times.
No idea by what amount.
Total ks traveled as of today - 26,265.

They want the next service at 30,000ks. So am I meant to book it in again at the end of the month? I want a proper service that will last for a good six months. I don't drive the car anywhere but to work and back, and in town. Gets a lot of long drives, no short drives, so it shouldn't have such a big problem with oil being so new.

[rustynutz]

Forget the 7,500k malarkey, unless the car is being used under extreme conditions servicing is only required every 12 months or 15,000k...which ever comes first.

Therefore, if the last service was at 12,000, the next service isn't due until 27,000k.....

[rustynutz]

You really do need to learn how to check the oil though as some engines will require a top up between services, especially as they get older...

[Aussie Keith]

I suspect a major failure of some kind unrelated the the service interval and the "age of the oil". They are really trying to pull a fast one with that story. Oil that enters the exhaust in sufficient quantity to produce that amount of smoke is normally worn rings or valveguides or some sort of associated mechanical failure such as a cracked ring, broken valveguide or seal as stated elsewhere.

It may be on the petrol engined cars it can get in via the inlet manifold somehow as well. I'm thinking about the good old days of sticking redex in the carburetor and the effect that had on the exhaust. Did the the crankcase vent put oil into the inlet manifold perhaps. With luck it may be as simple as that.

As for refitting the damaged rim that to me is incompetence. A damaged rim should never be reinstalled on a vehicle.

Good luck on your quest for answers and a satisfactory outcome.

[Surferdude]

Hi Kylie, I hope I can give you a few tips for ongoing, safe motoring.
You  SHOULD know how to check your oil and other fluids in the car - radiator coolant, battery electrolyte and brake and clutch fluid.
As reliable and safe as the modern car is, no amount of regular servicing will prevent the occasional problem occurring. So, checking these things yourself, between services is as important as filling the car up with petrol.
I suggest you have someone show you how to check these things. They might need to show you more than once. But from that point on, I'd suggest you check them periodically - maybe every month or so. If a leak develops, you have a chance to pick up on it before any damage is done.
You should allso check your tyre pressures at least monthly. Most service stations these days have the unit where you preset the pressure you want and then just connect the air hose and it'll beep when the correct pressure is reached.

I'm old now( )  but when I first started learning to drive I had a friend who was about a year older than I was at the time. I can still remember him telling me that if I didn't know how to do the things listed above, as well as some basic repair/servicing tasks on my car, I wasn't being a reponsible motorist. His attitude (from the lofty height of one year older  ) was that you should be able to demonstrate proficiency in those things before you got your licence.

I took no notice of him (all too hard  ) and over the next few years I paid dearly for that attitude. I was in my mid to late 20's before I started to gain some abilities in just the most basic car maintenance procedures.
Eventually I went on to a career in the auto industry and spent 20 years building and driving rally cars. Not suggesting you do anything like this, but basic checks are pretty important for trouble free and economical motoring.

Also, as much as I know you don't want to hear it, based on your description of the damage to wheel and tyre, it can only have come from an impact of some kind. Only today, my wife and I were driving in her car and despite the fact that neither of us saw anything, something flew up and hit the underside of the car. Sometimes the damage can happen earlier and only become apparent when the damage to the tyre worsens through use and it fails.
As eye30 suggested earlier, it IS possible to have a defective tyre but the fact that the rim was damaged and the tyre is sound enough to be refitted after straightening the wheel suggests this is not the case.
I'd take the complete wheel and tyre to a reputable tyre dealer and explain what happened and ask him to check it over. There is a possibility it's still serviceable (if it is a steel wheel, not an alloy one) but if not, I'm sure he can offer you a better price than the car dealer did.

Hope this helps and all the best.

[Phil №❶]

Please ask someone with mechanical knowledge, to teach you how to check the oil, tyre pressures, tyre wear, brake fluid level, windscreen washer fluid level. As previously mentioned, all these items + lights, should be checked AT LEAST WEEKLY.

Checking these items, will ensure that you are not inconvenienced by an unexpected failure during your working week.

If you don't have access to anyone, you can ask here, we will help you.

[beerman]

With the greatest deal of respect, your original post states that you were intending to turn right and then you heard a loud bang. I would suggest that you might have missed something on the road. The buckling of the rim and tyre damage support this. If the suspension had have imploded like you seem to be suggesting, the car would have an obvious defect. The Hyundai service people would not hide this from you, you need to sign for the warranty repairs.

The oil in the exaust is a strange one. Has the oil been changed? Is it still doing it? Is there a chance someone got overly excited?

The oil thing could be an issue, if the car has gone over 12 months without a service, then it could be an issue, at least to the point that it could void the warranty that requires a service every 12 months regardless of Kilometres. Dealers love the 7500 service BS. Last Hyundai service I did I made them replace the label that fraudulently listed the service as due at 22500 rather than 30,000.

On average you do around 1733 per month based on the stated km, so you would need a service roughly every 9 months, at the Hyundai official Hyundai service distances.

[KylieR]

Forget the 7,500k malarkey, unless the car is being used under extreme conditions servicing is only required every 12 months or 15,000k...which ever comes first.

Therefore, if the last service was at 12,000, the next service isn't due until 27,000k.....

Yeah but they said something about short trips. If I am working, the car gets driven about fifty ks each day - 25 there, 25 back. When does a short trip become a long trip?

[Dazzler]

Forget the 7,500k malarkey, unless the car is being used under extreme conditions servicing is only required every 12 months or 15,000k...which ever comes first.

Therefore, if the last service was at 12,000, the next service isn't due until 27,000k.....

Yeah but they said something about short trips. If I am working, the car gets driven about fifty ks each day - 25 there, 25 back. When does a short trip become a long trip?

25 Kms is not a short trip (I would call regular 5 km Trips short)

[KylieR]

This afternoon I went to pick the car up, and they had changed their story yet again.

Now they reckon the oil in the exhaust was just from grit and condensation because the oil needed changing. Fair enough, I guess. They thought it was a fault with the engine, so spent four days on the phone with Hyundai before they bothered to check the quality of the oil.

As it was coming up close to the 15,000km service they said this is the reason the oil is bad, and again, fair enough, I guess I will have to buy that.

The wheel is buckled, I need a new wheel, a new rim, and a new tyre. They were going to put a new wheel on for nearly $300 but thank God I refused. Dad says I can get one cheaper elsewhere, and it will still be good quality.

I obviously must have hit something, but maintain that this could only have occurred after the initial 'collapse'. The fact that they couldn't find anything doesn't reassure me at all. The car does drive brilliantly, though, now its had a service.
I just wish I had an explanation for what happened that day, because any explanation is better than none.

[KylieR]

Forget the 7,500k malarkey, unless the car is being used under extreme conditions servicing is only required every 12 months or 15,000k...which ever comes first.

Therefore, if the last service was at 12,000, the next service isn't due until 27,000k.....

Yeah but they said something about short trips. If I am working, the car gets driven about fifty ks each day - 25 there, 25 back. When does a short trip become a long trip?

25 Kms is not a short trip (I would call regular 5 km Trips short)

Try telling that to them. They apparently think its a short trip. I have to get another service in 3,500ks which is about end of next month, so they can do everything they already did with it today and expect me back a few months after that.

They said if I was over the 15,000ks since last service I wouldn't have been covered by warranty. The car is driven frequently - it can be driven up to and over 100ks a day, to and from work, then to and from town for my karate classes. How much more can I drive it before they quit blaming me for its problems?

[Dazzler]

Forget the 7,500k malarkey, unless the car is being used under extreme conditions servicing is only required every 12 months or 15,000k...which ever comes first.

Therefore, if the last service was at 12,000, the next service isn't due until 27,000k.....

What Rusty says above is correct so as long as you work with those guidelines there is nothing they can do!

[KylieR]

Forget the 7,500k malarkey, unless the car is being used under extreme conditions servicing is only required every 12 months or 15,000k...which ever comes first.

Therefore, if the last service was at 12,000, the next service isn't due until 27,000k.....

What Rusty says above is correct so as long as you work with those guidelines there is nothing they can do!

Apparently they recommend a service every 7,500ks so they can check certain things, I dunno.

I don't want to lose my warranty. I think they see me as being an ignorant female driver they can make a quick buck from.

[Phil №❶]

You are only required to have the car serviced at the time / km intervals specified in the car manual. Any extra servicing is pure profit for them. Don't be fooled. However, you MUST ensure that servicing is performed, as close to the date / km's otherwise you risk loosing your warranty.

[KylieR]

You are only required to have the car serviced at the time / km intervals specified in the car manual. Any extra servicing is pure profit for them. Don't be fooled. However, you MUST ensure that servicing is performed, as close to the date / km's otherwise you risk loosing your warranty.

I had done around 14,000 since last service, so it was getting close. I will do the next service in a few weeks and see how it goes then. If I am still not happy I will just take it elsewhere. Not much else I can do.

[AlanHo]

Perhaps you are doing Karate in the wrong location - you are perhaps well capable of knocking or kicking some sense into the dumb dealer.........

[beerman]

You are only required to have the car serviced at the time / km intervals specified in the car manual. Any extra servicing is pure profit for them. Don't be fooled. However, you MUST ensure that servicing is performed, as close to the date / km's otherwise you risk loosing your warranty.

I had done around 14,000 since last service, so it was getting close. I will do the next service in a few weeks and see how it goes then. If I am still not happy I will just take it elsewhere. Not much else I can do.

If you have done 14000k they should have done the full service. Full stop. Anything else is just boosting their profit. I would demand they complete the 15000k service and nothing more.  I certainly would not change the oil and filter after a few thousand k's.

What they are telling you is bulls#$t on servicing. The book says 15000k unless being used as a taxi, police car or in other circumstances outlined here Demanding driving conditions - Hyundai Motor Company Australia. 25k each way in my opinion does not fit this description. Based on your k's  average your doing close to 70k per day.

As for the wheel you can often buy replacements on Ebay or Gumtree for a good price.

[Asterix]

I think you need to accept the fact that you won't get an explanation regarding the front wheel. Not because they won't tell you, but because they can't.

If anything bad was wrong they would have found it when inspecting the car on the lift.

Regarding the service. I believe that in OZ the intervals are 15.000 km or 1 year, whichever comes first. In your case it will be the 15.000 km first. So, for you, service every 15.000 km.
I agree with others; You must learn how to check the fluids in your car. It really isn't that complicated. 

I don't remember if your car is petrol or diesel, but here in Denmark the service intervals for a car like yours are much different:

Petrol: 20.000 km or every 2nd year, whichever comes first
Diesel: 30.000 km or every 2nd year, whichever comes first

So, their explanation about bad oil because it's 14.000 km since last service is bullsh1t, especially whit the pace you do those km.    Only reason for the oil to be bad at that point, would be if they have used oil that didn't meet the requirements of Hyundai.

[KylieR]

Yeah, I reckon they put crap oil in when it had its last service and they just wanted me to come back. Grr. And they were so good in the beginning, too! Such a disappointment, I buy a car from them, get it serviced by them, and now they turn around and hit my hip pocket.

I am going to have to learn to check the oil. I wonder what would happen if I checked it right before a service, and it was fine, and they changed it again? What color does the oil have to be before its changed, anyway?

[Aussie Keith]

Looking at the oil itself won't determine if its still serviceable. It needs to be tested which is outside the scope of me and you. Checking the oil level is important though to ensure the engine has sufficient oil for safe operation.

[Dazzler]

I am going to have to learn to check the oil. I wonder what would happen if I checked it right before a service, and it was fine, and they changed it again? What color does the oil have to be before its changed, anyway?

What keith has said is entirely correct. There is a minimum and maximum mark on the dipstick. The dipstick is the yellow thing in the picture below.

You need to park on level ground and either check it in the morning before you move or start the car, or if the engine is warm give the oil at least 5 minutes to settle before checking it.

It should be on or just under the Max (or full) mark on the dipstick if it is closer to the low mark than the full mark then it may need a top up with fresh oil.

For the record, in a petrol motor the oil should be a golden colour like runny honey when fresh but by the time a service is due it will start to look dirty and dark like weak black coffee.

In a diesel it goes dark fairly quickly after a service (but I think you said yours was a petrol)