One simple very well educated pair of single words you better memorize. OEM And WARRANTY. You WILL buy Hyundai filters and use them exclusively or you are opening yourself up to the whim of that company. You read the horror stories and you can bet your bonnet they are true so don’t take the chance and give them an out that will cost you $5000 minimum. Note that there is a SB directing OEM filters only. Besides the Hyundai filters are fine and cheap enough. This is one car makeyou want to [censored] well document, save receipts and use OEM filters. I buy mine off Fleabay by the 6 pack for around $6 each.
I’ve watched this little soap opera since buying a Sonata in 13 . Supposedlythe year after the problem was
fixed. The famous sloppy block cleaning procedures at the new plant in Alabama. Great but then it kept happening to Sonatas in post 12 model year. Oh well, after years of blaming it on owners and a truly bullying campaign to pressure owners to buy the extended warranty NHSTI hit them with a safety recall so the jacked the warranty to 120k / 10 years in the US. Oh well ours is fine......so far.
but as often happens there’s more.
Problem is with the Sonata and great deals on Elantras whose engines are unaffected and they were making killer deals . Daughter buys a new 15 Elantra which I do the maintenance on exclusively. First oil change at 2k then every 5 ish all with top tier synthetics. Fast forward to last month at 45k miles she’s hearing a quiet ticking. I listen to it and figure it’s nothing or at most a loose valve on the left most cyl. So I change the oil and way it goes. By Christmas she’s saying the tickin, which is continuous not just startup is getting louder. So I pull it in and hit it all over with the stethoscope after reading how Elantras are dying of similar circumstances o Sonatas. Absolutely silent down in the crank bowels where a rod Knox likes to surface.. Nothing, all up top way up on the timing chain and where it goes around the camshafts. It’s right there but I’m not pulling anything on a warranty car to even peek so i bag the filter and label it for the dealers guys. I strained the old oil and came up with a bit of bubbly goo and trace water all of which probably fell in the pan from the dirty base. After all it is winter and sloppy out. Later that day I check paint strainer again , the water is gone the goo is mostly too, no chips or aluminum smear mud either by the feel of it. Nothing to indicate metal failure. The tap stayed though just like a solid valve 5-10 thou loose.
Anyways she drops it off and next day dealer calls right up and says new warranty engine and gives her a nice 17 sport Ute loaner. So I have no problems with them as you Can imagine. I only wish I could have gotten to see what was damaged and in That filter can.
Now everything I can glean from peoples experiences seems to be this. Failure of some coating on the pistons coming off. They admit to that and also say that a new and updated coating was used in 2014 onwards. All I can say well, I guess it didn’t work now did it? So do watch your [censored] with your new one. Cross all your ts and dot those I’s in case it happens to you. Keep those receipts and use those OEM filters just to be safe. Listen to the engine , record the sound for reference. If it starts ticking lightly anywhere make sure the dealer checks it for that all important documentation and date / mileage stamp. AFAIK there is no Elantra recall yet. What that means to you is that your warranty is still 60k and after that you will likely be SOL. Also FYI Canada has way weaker consumer protection laws and Hyundai takes full advantage of it. Good luck to anyone with one of these affected Theta engined DI cars because we have a whole lot of company in our club. Im sure this 5+ year old saga is going to keep expanding