VERY solid puke tank..

[toocrazy2yoo]

New 2008 Accent Sedan, 1.6L (again, same as my 2005GT). On every car I ever had, the recovery tank was no more substantial than the W/S washer tank with the same snap on, non-airtight cap as the W/S fluid tank. On this new one, the cap is screw on, has a heavy rubber seal, and the structure of the tank itself is much more substantial and solid. It had a hose nipple for overboard dump of fluid, but even there, it has a substantial widening of the neck exiting the tank making me wonder if there isn't a check valve in there. I know there's expansion and contraction as the level goes up and down with the hot and cold cycles of the engine, but why the heft built into the tank and cap for the puke tank? Is evaporation of coolant an EPA issue now? Or is the isolation from the ambient air a protection for a Dex-Cool style coolant? A hydraulic or emissions-sensor consideration? There are no wires running to the tank that I can see.

The radiator appears to have a standard 13PSI cap, and the syrup inside is heavy, sweet-smelling, very slippery to the touch and very, very blue. I know this is a lot of questioning for a lousy puke tank, but this isn't like anything I ever saw.

 

[JTK]

Hmmm. Good question. Lots of vehicles now use the "degasser" bottle as the main fill and level check point for the cooling system. Those have a heavy bottle with a thread-on cap like you are describing and no fill neck on the radiator core/tank. Your Hyundai has both for whatever reason.

 

[glennc]

Maybe the design intention was to make the overflow tank part of the pressure system as JTK described, but at some stage of development the design changed and they decided to put a pressure cap on the rad and make the overflow tank just a normal catch/supply tank like on most cars - too late to cost-effectively change the downstream components.

 

[ctrcbob]

The Accent uses a 1.6 liter engine?? Did not know that. If true, it should give great gas milage. I will have to check it out.

With a 1.6 engine and a manual transmission, it should get close to 38 or 39 mpg. A few years ago while in Europe, I leased a Renault Laguna II with a 1.6 engine and manual transmission.
I was getting 38 to 40 mpg day in and day out. Much better than the later Laguna's with 1.8 and 2.0 engines that only got down around 30 to 33 mpg.

 

[toocrazy2yoo]

Well, it doesn't do 39 this time of year, but I've done the fill it-run it-fill it thing for various types of driving I use this car for, and it does return 38mpg for steady-state 55MPH without the air conditioning on the rural track in central Virginia I take to check on Ma in Charlottesville. The same route with A/C costs me 2MPG. Running around Northern Virginia, with a realistic mix of interstate and suburban stop and go with the air conditioning, it gets every bit of 33. These numbers are far higher than the 27/32 MPG ratings from EPA on the sticker. Would that Prius drivers had the benefit of the same truth-telling on their EPA ratings, eh? I know a few folks that paid big dough for a Prius and they're getting 2/3 the mileage advertised.

I only got it a few weeks back, so the air is always on, it being pretty hot around here these days. In the Fall when the A/C is no longer needed, and as it breaks in, it should get better mileage. I'll also expect a little better mileage from the loads of syn I still have on the shelf, too (0W20 and 5W20 M1 and PP) on the 7500 mile OCI plan. For now, it has Mobil Clean 5000 5W30 that I just swapped the dealer swill for at 1000 miles, so if a higher viscosity oil costs mileage, I'm experiencing that now even with the decent MPG I get so far. For a small car that gets out the door for a lousy $10,500 with the rebates and whatnot, it does ok. I just hope my last Accent, the 05, turns out to have been the lemon they say it was and this one is better, service-wise.

With me, this car is Hyundai's last chance to get it right. Not that they care all that much.