[i30bluedrive]

Hi all, I am after some advice regarding maintenance on my 2014 i30 1.6 crdi bluedrive. The vehicle has done 81k miles .

I have had the car in for a fuel filter replacement today, as was unsure when this was last done. During the health check they picked up a few things :

-The alternator belt is starting to crack (this was something I was aware of and monitoring already) - I would just like to know a figure of how much this is likel to replace (fully fitted).

-On the health check they noted that the clutch pedal biting point is quite low to the floor which they said is indicative of the clutch needing to be replaced soon.

-I haven't had any issues with the clutch such as slipping etc and it seems fine to me apart from being a little jerky when first setting off on a cold engine sometimes (not overly noticeable). I anticipate that the clutch hasn't ever been replaced before and just want to again, get an idea of cost for a clutch fully fitted. From my research it seems that there is a bit of confusion around whether my car has a DMF or if it is single mass? Is anyone able to confirm and if so how many hours labour it is likely to take to replace?

-Has anyone had any success / experience changing gearbox oil? I am considering buying some 75w85 gl4 genuine hyundai oil and trying this myself, although if labour is cheap I might just pay to get it done.

-Coolant question - my car currently has blue/green coolant it, again, I'm not sure when this was last changed. Am I correct in thinking that red coolant can be used, as long as it is ethylene glycol based - it would just need to be flushed properly?

Thankyou in advance!

[BrendanP]

Aux drive belt.
I've replaced this on my older i30 diesel a couple of times, it's not difficult to do it yourself, although on the 2nd generation i30 there's a bit less space to work with. The belt itself shouldn't be more than about £25, and a garage shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to fit it.

Clutch.
The car has a single-mass flywheel. I had the clutch replaced on my 2011 diesel 18 months ago and it cost £650, mainly because so many bolts had rusted up and it took longer than expected to remove them. Bear in mind the car was 11 years old and done 245,000 miles on the original clutch. Here is a link to a video clip I made showing the old clutch parts. If your car has the clutch with an external slave cylinder, it might be worth checking the seals aren't leaking  which means you have to press the pedal down further to get enough stroke to release the clutch

Hyundai i30 clutch after 250K miles - YouTube

There are quite a few YouTube videos about i30 clutch, it would be worth watching those.

Gearbox oil.
If you get the clutch done, the gearbox oil will have to be drained so it would be a waste to change it and then have it done again if the clutch needs replacing. If you decide to do it, make sure you can loosen off the fill plug before loosening off the drain plug and letting the old oil run out. To refill, I used a plastic funnel with a length of PVC tube pushed over the spout, and the other end pushed through the fill hole. When you're close to putting in the right amount, just add a little at a time because it will start dribbling out of the fill hole when the level is right. Car needs to be on level ground. I used Comma SX 75W90 GL4 gear oil. Link below is a video I made showing where the fill and drain plugs are, this is on a 2011 car but I think it's similar. My drive slopes so I could drive the car onto ramps to let me get under the car, but keeping it level. Obviously a lot easier in a garage where it can be raised on a lift. Shouldn't take a garage more than 20 minutes.

i30 gearbox plugs - YouTube

Coolant.
The colour of the coolant should be the same unless you're sure you can flush it all out. Trouble is, if you open up the drain cock on the radiator, it doesn't drain all the old coolant out, there are pockets of coolant that won't drain by gravity alone. I drained as much as I could from the radiator, then re-filled with de-ionised water. Ran the engine until it was hot enough for the thermostat to open and all the water was circulating. Repeated this 3 or 4 times by which time the coolant drained out pretty clear, meaning any sediment had been flushed out, and the old coolant had been diluted to a small concentration. I then put in enough new concentrated coolant to get the correct dilution ratio, then topped up with more de-ionised water. It took a bit of driving around to bleed all of the air out so keep topping up the header tank until the level remains stable.

[i30bluedrive]

Hi Brendan, Thankyou for the detailed reply! I that gives me more confidence my clutch is in fact ok still! Time to crack on with the other bits.

Out of interest, does the i30 1.6 crdi come with blue coolant as a factory fill?

[BrendanP]

The coolant in my 2015 car is blue. I have mine serviced at the dealer for the 20,000 mile services, and do the intermediate oil & filter change myself. While it was still within warranty, the last service was pretty expensive and they told me 'yeah, that's because the coolant needs changing'

The next service was one of these fixed price Hyundai Essentials services, and when I looked on the worksheet, they'd changed the coolant again. I asked why they'd done it when it is supposed to last 5 years, and they said they're supplied with a box with all the fluids and filters, including coolant, so they went ahead and did it.

I mentioned earlier about using de-ionised water to flush and refill the coolant. I found Asda was cheapest, I probably used about 10 litres in the process and drain - refill - run engine - drain - refill etc. I didn't try and drain all the coolant out because 1, it's difficult and 2, I didn't want to get trapped air pockets that would be hard to clear. To save time, I heated up the water in a big pan so I was topping up the hot engine with hot water.

[i30bluedrive]

Coolant is definitely near the top of the list. I bought the car with full service hyundai dealer service history and the previous owner had services bang on every year , only doing approx 8k per annum.

Since my ownership I’ve paid for one of the base eSensetial services which was £99. Out of interest, which level of eSensetial service did you purchase for it to include coolant?

Thanks again for your replies.

[eye30]

Full service at £229

[BrendanP]

It was an eSENSEtials Full service, August 2021. £229. Engine oil & filter, air filter, pollen filter, fuel filter, brake fluid and coolant.

The previous service, while it was still in warranty, was £495, which did the same jobs but also replaced the transmission oil. Next time I'll do the gearbox oil myself. I've done it on my 2011 diesel and the oil was about £10. I've changed the fuel filter as well, but on the GD it's less accessible because the bonnet is smaller. Not sure if I want to tackle that.

At some point I'll probably stop taking it to the dealer and just service it myself, I think there comes a point where having full service history adds little value. The last time my old car went for a dealer service was when it was 6 years old and done 109,000 miles. Now it's on 287,000 miles and still going strong.