[Wpcom]

Hi all, hope you're doing well.

I bought a 2012 i30 1.4L Manual 6-speed in February, with 176,000 km on the clock. It's my first diesel car, so I’m not sure if it’s supposed to sound like it does in the videos I’ll link below. I’m pretty certain it wasn’t making this noise when I first test drove it.

I got it from a dealer with a 3-month warranty covering major engine and gearbox issues (which is still valid until the end of next month). The dealer did some basic maintenance before delivering the car—oil change and replacement of all filters, including the fuel filter.

Less than a week after I got the car, it started having cold start issues. I took it back to the dealer, and their mechanic replaced the glow plugs. However, the issue persisted. Long story short, the guy stopped answering my calls, so I began investigating on my own and found the glow plug bus bar was faulty. I replaced it with a genuine part from Hyundai—and happy days, issue resolved.

The problem now is that I’ve started hearing some noises that have me a bit worried. Some people say it’s normal for diesel engines, while others say it’s not.

At times, I think it might be the tappets making noise—or worse, maybe one of the cylinder rods is on its way out. The noise is most noticeable at lower RPMs or when going uphill.

That said, the car is running absolutely fine—no loss of power, no excessive fuel consumption. It’s just this noise that’s making it hard to fully enjoy the car.

Could you guys please watch the videos and let me know what you think?

All videos were recorded with the car at operating temperature, after a 25-minute drive:

Video 1: https://youtu.be/KO6Gtb8YsCU?si=UhM2-x1YnCCtvVF4

Video 2: https://youtu.be/3R5hLEUBjmI?si=ads9CckgOfM2S2GA

Video 3: https://youtu.be/5ubIM_dngf4?si=0HjvlflhPpvsrPzN