Originally Posted by Cujet
Originally Posted by Jake_J
Hyundia/Kia are having a ton of problems with the Theta II 2.0L and 2.4L engines right now.
The core of the issue is debris left in the engines during the manufacturing process, which causes the engines to eventually lock up and in some cases catch on fire.
While it's entirely possible that some early engines were chock-a-block full of debris, leading to early failures, that's not true today. The engines continue to fail and are doing so due to design and materials issues, not poor quality control. I do not believe the issue has been fixed, and I continue to see reports of engine failures well below and up to the 100K mark.
Mine was a 2015 Hyundai Sonata SE, purchased at 71000 miles (last odometer reading just over 92000 miles), and it caught fire shortly after being parked 2 weeks ago. Hence why I am on this forum (and similar sites) searching for answers. Am certainly not highly knowledgeable when it comes to cars and have learned more about engines in the last 2 weeks than ever before.
Mine had a 2.4 L GDI Theta II engine. Seemed to run well during the 1.75 years I owned it. Then the oil light began flashing on and off intermittently in December 2019. Checked the oil a few times and it always appeared to be full (last oil change was in Sept. 2019 at 88,332 miles). Booked an appointment at the local certified Hyundai dealership to have the oil light issue looked into and to undergo recall work (had one recall notice pertaining to the engine, bill says "ECM & CLUS UPD") right after the holidays. Dealership claimed it was leaking oil and wanted to change out the valve cover gasket, which I agreed to. Drove it home later and began noticing a burning smell over the weekend (friend said it was burning oil), so called and left a message telling them I needed to bring it back in first thing on Monday since the car obviously wasn't fixed. I drove it very little over the weekend and kept an eye on the oil level. Oil pressure light never came back on, nor did any other light illuminate on the dash. Parked it Sunday evening after a short little drive home from my side job (in city, not taken on the highway, less than 12 minutes commute) and headed to the grocery store in my boyfriend's car only to see it smoldering when we got back about an hour later.
This experience has thoroughly blown my mind and prompted me to learn what I'm able about these engines and similar problems others have been experiencing with Hyundais and Kias. I had no idea about the fires until this month, nor the class-action suits. I really liked the car and wouldn't have ever guessed such a fate lay in store for it. Now it's a question of whether this is a case of negligence on the part of the dealership (which my insurance company is currently investigating) or a defect from Hyundai (my car, like many others being affected, was built in the Montgomery, AL plant), or possibly both. At this point I'm not even sure if it'll be possible to say since the entire engine compartment was destroyed. Thank God I wasn't driving it when it happened (though I had just parked it minutes before), and luckily it was parked near the end of the parking lot and didn't damage any other cars. Some people have had these cars catch fire while parked in their home garages, come to find out - pretty terrifying ordeal.
So, I, for one, am on the side of no longer trusting these particular Hyundais possessing these types of engines. Never again will purchase a GDI engine now that I know more about them. Have now purchased a Hyundai Elantra Touring a few years older with a 2.0L beta engine which is said to be a lot safer. Am thinking in going forward that I'd rather not purchase anymore cars less than 7 years old, giving them time to develop a track record and show signs of whatever problems they may be prone to have.
