Hyundai I30 Engine Problems

I’ll assume it’s a Hyundai dealership that wants to charge you to assess the car. And I hear what you’re saying about the car’s service history and the fact that some of these engines have been fixed by Hyundai because they were faulty from new. So, the best advice is to forget about the dealership and go straight to Hyundai’s customer service department at head office.

That cuts out the middle man at the dealership and should get you in touch with somebody who knows whether your car was one of the affected ones or whether you’ve just been unlucky in this instance. My experience has been that Hyundai takes this stuff very seriously and has helped other owners in the past. However, your case will still be assessed according to the service history and how many kilometres the car has covered.

You’re in luck here, Tony, because both the petrol and diesel engines fitted to this generation of the i30 used timing chains rather than rubber toothed timing belts. As such, the chain should be good for the life of the engine, rather than requiring scheduled replacement like a timing belt.

For the record, most manufacturers say a rubber timing-belt should be changed (roughly) at 100,000km or 10-year intervals. That said, some carmakers recommend much shorter intervals, so it’s worth knowing this stuff. A failed timing belt will often destroy the rest of the engine, but so can a timing chain if it fails. It’s just that a chain is much less likely to fail in service.

Hyundai has had a few problems over the years with some of its engines developing piston slap, scoring cylinder bores and consuming excess oil. The later engine fitted to your car should be better, but it seems perhaps the problem is still occurring in some cars.

The reality is that two litres of engine consumed over just 1200km is way beyond the pale. I would be contacting Hyundai Australia's customer service division to see what can be done. The company's response will have a lot to do with how many kilometres the car has covered and whether its service history is complete. But in my experience, Hyundai takes its responsibilities in this area very seriously.

Failures of these engines is a known thing with this generation of Hyundais (and Kias that used the same engine). Hyundai is well aware of the problem, so the first thing to do is contact Hyundai’s customer service division.

You may find that an independent inspection of the engine is a good idea, to determine whether the failure was caused by the known fault or by something more random. In our experience, Hyundai has been very diligent at sorting out such issues.

If you want to take it even further, a class action against Hyundai and Kia on this basis was launched earlier this month.

A car that is difficult to start could be suffering from, literally, hundreds of different problems. You need to have the car electronically scanned to see if the on-board computer has logged any faults of glitches in the fuel or ignition system. That's the best way forward or you could find yourself replacing perfectly good components without any change in the car's behaviour.

And don't rule out basic stuff like a battery that seems fine but is struggling to turn the engine over as well as supply enough power for the ignition to work properly. Modern cars with electronically controlled major functions really don't like a battery that is slack and cold weather will often show that problem up.

Also, when you say you've checked the fuel filter, what do you mean? Did you replace it or simply do a visual inspection. You can't really tell by looking at a filter how gunked up it is inside, so while it all looks okay, it could still be a contributing factor in your starting problems. An accurate diagnosis will also be easier if the mechanic has more information to work with. So start taking notice of exactly what is happening. For instance, is the car more difficult to start hot or cold? Does leaving it overnight make a difference to trying to start it for the second time that day? Does the ambient temperature have an effect on starting difficulty? Are there any specific noises the engine makes when it becomes recalcitrant? Keep a diary of this stuff... it might save you money.

I agree that 136,000km is not a realistic lifespan for a modern car. Especially one that has been as meticulously maintained as yours. Hyundai engines of this vintage are not without their known problems, but in my experience, Hyundai has been pretty good about replacing them when the failures have been the endemic kind.

Your first step should be to by-pass the dealership you've been dealing with and talk directly to Hyundai's customer service department. The dealership, as you've correctly identified, will be more interested in selling you another car, while Hyundai head office is more likely to be interested in keeping you as a long term customer. Ultimately, the car will need to be inspected independently to figure out what went wrong and what caused it.

By the way, if the dealership is right and the 'damage has already been done' by the time the warning light illuminates, what's the point of having a warning light in the first place? The dealership in question has just revealed itself to be ignorant at best with comments like that.

By the way, even though your car has a 2013 build date, the warranty would have started the day it was first registered. Even so, it's well and truly out of warranty, but if the problem is one of the known faults of that engine, Hyundai may offer you a pro rata deal to assist in repairs.

Any smoke from the exhaust of a car suggests there’s something wrong with the fuel system or that there’s wear inside the engine. I’m leaning towards the fuel system in this case, though, as a cold-start is when the fuelling system is under the greatest stress.

To make a cold engine run properly, the engine’s fuel-air ratio has to be altered (more fuel and less air than when the engine is up to temperature). To know how much extra fuel, the engine has a range of sensors that measure the temperature of the air going into the engine, the temperature of the engine itself, the flow of air, as well as sensors that sniff what’s coming out of the tailpipe to make sure the mixture is just right. If any of these sensors begin to send false information to the engine’s computer, the mixture can be incorrect and the rough running, poor idling and visible smoke can be the results.

Even something as simple as the stepper-motor, which controls the idle speed of the car, can be the cause of rough idling, but that’s less likely to contribute to gales of smoke from the exhaust. The best advice is to have the car scanned and see if the computer has logged any faults. Smoke from the engine might also warrant a compression test of the engine’s cylinders, too. From there, you can make a more informed diagnosis and replace only the faulty parts.

This sounds like a problem that should be easily solvable by having your Hyundai dealership electronically scan the car and interpreting the fault codes that result. This can’t be done by the side of the road or in your driveway, so I doesn’t surprise me that your road-service provider hasn’t had much success.

Fundamentally, though, it’s simply not good enough for the dealership to continue to tell you it can’t find a problem. This is a brand-new car and it’s expected to perform faultlessly or, at the very least, to a standard that does not give your partner cause to refuse to drive it. The car is under warranty, so Hyundai is obliged to fix it. If you’re not happy with your dealership’s approach, I’d suggest calling Hyundai’s customer service department. Hyundai guards its reputation very closely in Australia, and isn’t likely to let a case like yours damage that.

Petrol versions of the Hyundai i30 from this era have a rubber, toothed timing-belt. This is a clean, quiet running arrangement, but it does require replacement at 90,000km intervals. The advice is to change the tensioners, associated pulleys and the engine’s water pump at the same time as all these components wear out and are located in the same general area, making it a smart move to do all this work in one hit, rather than pull the engine apart a second time.

The engine in your car uses a rubber timing belt which requires replacement every 90,000km. The design of this engine means a broken timing belt will likely destroy the entire engine, so it’s not something to ignore.