[Stubblemonster]

Hi all,

I have a 53 plate 1.6 diesel i30, I read another sticky post about clutch issues but honestly as a non mechanically minded person it didn't make a lot of sense. I mean once I know what something is I'll be ok, I am in the IT game and know my way round wiring and and like better. My Gearbox went at 60k so I had it and the clutch replaced (pattern part). Whilst doing the 90k service it came off the ramp and the clutch died again, something about a spring clip breaking. They replaced the clutch again but the bite point is rock bottom, I have to stomp on the pedal and I can feel things biting / difficult to change gear occasionally. This can't be good for the car and I plan on riding this thing until electric is affordable so want to keep it going. He said I should do some research into clutch dampeners as it's a common problem (normally a great garage but felt that response was a little disappointing). Well the sticky post mentions that there may or may not be one already, it may or may not be part of the Master or Slave assembly, then lots of people saying it's easy to DIY and buying cheaper mitsubishi parts. I don't want to go to the Hyundai main dealer as they are a truly awful bunch of human beings. Do you have any advice as to what I should do to get this sorted out? I am in East Sussex UK and would gladly take it to get sorted if I knew they would do so without sucking through their teeth first!

As regards Auto Start / Stop, well that stopped working when I had the battery replaced a good while ago. I was jump starting my wife's car the other day when I noticed a black cable had broken that was attached to one of the battery terminals and I believe that the auto start stop connects in that way so as to monitor the battery condition and I'm guessing the two are connected (or not ...). I could probably re-crimp the cable but my question is should I bother? I read a lot of posts from people saying its a pain in the arse or just not worth having, what's the consensus? I kinda liked it.

Thanks

Graham

[Stevo30]

Low bite point? Hi owned a diesel Sonata several years ago wherein, on a hot day, the clutch would not disengage.  Hyundai dealer was not interested because they couldn't reproduce the problem.  I telephoned the Australian head office and asked if there was a known Hyundai  clutch problem.  He got a bit shirty well I told him it was a common problem and to google Hyundai clutch problems.  Eventually I took it to the dealer from whence I bought it and told them that not being able to disengage the clutch in hot weather was a safety issue.  They said they would try replacing the slave cylinder despite my protests that it had to be a master cylinder problem.  Got a phone call later that day saying they would replace the master cylinder as it was cheaper than replacing the gearbox internal slave cylinder! anyway it worked.   Similar problem with my i30 diesel, the clutch bite point has been getting lower and lower (last time I had it serviced by Hyundai (just out of warranty) they told me I had a worn clutch (with low bite point - where do they train their mechanics?).  Of late, on a warm day I had to stop the engine to engage reverse without grating the gears (after having removed the clutch damper which brought a slight improvement but not for long).  Bought an replacement master cylinder from Supercheap and after much procrastinating installed it myself and all is good now.  It is a relatively easy process to replace the master cylinder but not without its traps for the unwary.  Hate to think what Hyundai would have charged me for the repair, I am probably several hundred dollars better off.

[chrisdarl]

Take a look at my profile, I think I posted some pictures on this. I have the same car and removed the Dampner and put a plug in instead - pretty easy to do but requires draining the brake fluid (it's a shared reservoir), re-filling and bleeding.

Start stop - I had a loose connection on my battery at one point and it wasn't working. Remember when repacing the battery it needs to support start-stop I believe? At least I paid extra for one recently that did....

I suppose it depends where/how you drive whether it's useful or not. Sometimes I like it, other times it's a bit frustrating the engine stops right as I'm about to set off again.