Got the Hyundai home

[ram_man]

She's a 2000 Hyundai Elantra 191,000 miles . Air bag light has been on for years. All maintenance has been kept up my aunt owned it since new. All it needs is a back window.
Which has proven difficult to get.
The transmission after driving a good 30 minutes or so sometimes when taking off from a stop or if you have to make a real sharp turn on to a street at say less than 10mph it'll slam into gear. Shifts through the gears fine but sometimes will be pretty harsh on the initial start. The fluid doesn't smell bad but is a dirty reddish color. Any thoughts on changing the ATF ? Think it would help? I haven't decided if I'm going to keep it or sell it. It's not worth a whole lot but it runs good interior is in good shape has new tires new brakes all around and a new battery.
Your thoughts on it?

 

[ram_man]

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Get the back window and drive it another 100K miles.

 

[FordBroncoVWJeta]

I'd change the transmission fluid and use a quart of Lucas Trans Fix. I know a lot of people don't like it here, But it has helped on the 3 cars I have used it on. No doom and gloom stories here. If anything it saved the cars from an early Transmission death.

In 2016 I purchased a 01 Sunfire. $900. 130,000 miles. Guy lied about the transmission issues. When driving on I70 back home it wouldn't downshift and it clunked in the initial gear. Took it home, dropped the pan, added a quart of Lucas. Never had any issues again with it. It made it to 160,000 miles. Then sold it for $500. Cheapest car and started every time except for when the battery took a dump.

 

[Rand]

transmission has a drain plug so its super easy to do.. dirty red might be pretty recent though.. these go dull pink/brown pretty fast with hyundai fluid.. so if its red it might have aftermarket stuff in there(I'd hope so at 200k miles)

hyundai of that era weren't cheapoboxes like the excel anymore, but they werent nearly as nice as 2008+ models.

unless you plan on selling a car and using it to commute letting older cars sit around will likely cause issues.. and extra $$$ for insurance etc.

 

[CKN]

A common problem Hyundai owners experience is the airbag light turning on and staying on. Hyundai airbag light on means that there is a problem with the airbag system or a sensor malfunction. It is possible that the air bags in your car won't deploy in case of an accident.

 

[benjy]

free is good as long as your state don't have tough inspections emissions included!

 

[Railrust]

I'd keep and drive it till the wheels fell off...what are you going to get for it if you sold it? Next to nothing? Best to get something out of it...sometimes that's worth more than cash, plus you can't really sell it with the tranny potentially having issues.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

If the annual registration and insurance isn't onerous, I'd keep it to run errands/commute.. especially given it's a hatchback. More flexibility to throw crape in the back. Do the rear seats fold down on this giving you more room??

Fwiw MaxLife in the tranny will work just fine. It replaces both SP2 and 3 IIRC. Maybe try that Lucas as suggested or a bottle Lubegard Red.

 

[pandus13]

hmm SP III.
I think both Kia and Mithubishi use the same specs but as Diamond something.

Also Castrol Import should be OK.

I would do just drain and refill as to not "shock" the trans.

 

[double vanos]

Almost sounds like your trans fluid is low. Introduce some G force pulling off or in corners and the pickup gets uncovered, then picks up fluid and slams. Just a theory.

 

[Mad_Hatter]

Originally Posted by pandus13
hmm SP III.
I think both Kia and Mithubishi use the same specs but as Diamond something.

Also Castrol Import should be OK.

I would do just drain and refill as to not "shock" the trans.

Been using MaxLife in lieu of Hyundai/Diamond SP3 for over 60k miles now. Tranny runs like the day I bought it.

 

[skyactiv]

The airbag module might be the issue? If so, it can be reset and/or fixed if needed. Old, used airbag modules from a salvage yard are a gamble and having one reset and or fixed doesn't break the bank.

 

[HyundaiAbuser]

Some people recommend ATF +4 for an atf change, that'd be something to research. I can state that castrol import worked better than maxlife in my previous XG350 and its closer to sp3 in viscosity. SP3 likes to shear down and wear out pretty fast. Ive also had lubeguard red and lubeguard black help hard shifting in my Hyundai. I would start with a gradual fluid exchange with your choice of fluid and from there experiment with additives. Personally I'd go castrol import or atf +4 (seriously look it up) then LG red then LG black then lucas if all else fails.

 

[TXMXTruck]

We purchased a 1999 Elantra new from the dealership and it served our family well for 18+ years. For us, using only Hyundai ATF seemed to make a huge difference in transmission performance.

 

[daves87rs]

Drive it!

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by daves87rs
Drive it!



Yep....Keep the thing and drive it till the wheels fall off.

 

[ram_man]

So I guess that's the question. The back window will likely cost 400-450 to fix. Other than that changing the transmission fluid and I know the timing belt is 10k over due but I pulled the cover last night and it looked really good. Also may have a rear wheel bearing starting to get noisy but I am not sure.
Insurance cost about $25 a month for liability and i really don't need another car as I have the Saturn, the dart and the ram. But it was free and runs good other than the shifting thing but that may be able to rectified.
If I sold it I could probably get 7-800 out of it.
So I'm torn sell it and take the money and run or put money into it and use it. Obviously if I fix the window and what not I'd be able to sell it for more but my profit would still likely not be bigger than $800 since the glass is not cheap. And if I pay insurance and maintenance on it I'll likely never get as much for it back as I can right now but if it could serve us well for a while that would offset the lack of Monetary gain.
But i also don't need another car. Yea I'm torn!

 

[ram_man]

Originally Posted by Rand
transmission has a drain plug so its super easy to do.. dirty red might be pretty recent though.. these go dull pink/brown pretty fast with hyundai fluid.. so if its red it might have aftermarket stuff in there(I'd hope so at 200k miles)

hyundai of that era weren't cheapoboxes like the excel anymore, but they werent nearly as nice as 2008+ models.

unless you plan on selling a car and using it to commute letting older cars sit around will likely cause issues.. and extra $$$ for insurance etc.


Funny you said that. Before this car she had an 89 Hyundai excel. That car was a total dog I remember her having to downshift to get up hills on the highway and still remain doing a mere 55mph. ...‚

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted by ram_man
So I guess that's the question. The back window will likely cost 400-450 to fix. Other than that changing the transmission fluid and I know the timing belt is 10k over due but I pulled the cover last night and it looked really good. Also may have a rear wheel bearing starting to get noisy but I am not sure.
Insurance cost about $25 a month for liability and i really don't need another car as I have the Saturn, the dart and the ram. But it was free and runs good other than the shifting thing but that may be able to rectified.
If I sold it I could probably get 7-800 out of it.
So I'm torn sell it and take the money and run or put money into it and use it. Obviously if I fix the window and what not I'd be able to sell it for more but my profit would still likely not be bigger than $800 since the glass is not cheap. And if I pay insurance and maintenance on it I'll likely never get as much for it back as I can right now but if it could serve us well for a while that would offset the lack of Monetary gain.
But i also don't need another car. Yea I'm torn!

If you really don't need the extra car, find someone who is down on their luck and maybe give them the car either for nothing, or for really really cheap, since if you keep it you'll spend close to what it's worth fixing it.