01 Elantra Services

I've never in my life changed the fluid in a manual tranny. I'm talking cars with 150k to 200k on them with no problem. Coolant flush is not a bad thing, but you can have it done much cheaper, or even do it yourself. At five years, it may even be a good thing to change hoses if they are at all questionable. They do go bad over time but 5 to 7 years is generally OK.

Can't say for the injector service. Find out what the real problem is though. There are many reasons it can be hesitating.

IMO, the only time you go to a dealer for service is if it is a warranty thing, or some very specialized problem not easily accessed by the local mechanic. Routine tune-ups and preventative maintenance can be done much cheaper at a reliable local garage.

Your dealer is interesting in putting his kids through college or remodeling the kitchen more than your well being. Keep hold of your wallet.

There is zero need to do a $150 service on a manual transmission. If you haven't changed the gear oil in the last 30,000 miles, it's probably a good idea to drain and refill it, but that should cost at most about $80 at dealer prices.

Coolant flush is a good idea if you haven't had it done in the last two years. But all that's really required is to drain and fill the system every two years.

As for the injector flush, I almost guarantee it'll be useless. Why does the dealer want to do an injector service? If he suggests maintenance, the he may as well be answering "just because I'd like you to spend $110." If you check your owner's manual, you'll find no recommendation there to clean the injectors, ever. I wouldn't necessarily be against using an injector flush if the car were running poorly (misfiring) due to a clogged injector, but the only injector flushing procedure I've seen that does anything is the one GM recommends, using a mixture of their top engine cleaner an gasoline.

The way the dealer is pushing these things on you, I strongly suspect they're in "cohoots" with some chemical company. The standard deal is that the dealer, the service advisors, and the technicians each receive a spiff each time they use the product. My take: "The stuff is so good, they pay us to use it." Cars don't break as much as before, and many shops use these types of services to keep volume up to a profitable level. Unfortunately, this is rarely done in an effort to genuinely assist the customer more than in an effort to line the pockets of the dealership and its personnel.

If you haven't mentioned the performance issue, you should do that as well. Chances are it'll never be addressed no matter how many flushes, etc. are done unless someone specifically investigates the cause of the problem.

My opinion: it's time for you to find another place to have your work done. The dealership you're taking your car to is recommending services to benefit them, not you.

OK I know something about this with really crappy gas, the fuel filters can clog. try pouring in fuel injector cleaner from the auto parts store, into the gas tank. If the performance improves this is an indication of clogged fuel filters. This really works. It can get some of the crud out of injectors too. Of course when the cleaner runs out, the performance gets crappy again. Also the plugs getting fowled can make the thing run really bad. I changed mine to platnum NKG and it made a huge difference. Of course I will never know as much as Hyundaitech, who is the coolest tech of all time, and I will never be as cool. so,find another mechanic, and dont listen to your dealer. Thats good advice.

Fowled plugs will make it run crappy, but if the chicken bones hit the valves it can bend them.

Excellent advice. I've cancelled my dealer appointment and am now in search of a local mechanic. I'll ask around for referrals. I'll likely do the coolant flush since it's never been done, and I guess I'll ask the next mechanic to sniff around to find out what that hesitation can be. It only happens as I first try to accelerate; never at any other time. Thanks again, everyone.

I agree. Fowls have no place in an engine!

Matt

Does this hesitation occur only on the first start of the day? If so, what's the outside temperature when the problem occurs?

The outside temperature varies and seems to make no difference. The "hesitation" occurs when the car hasn't been driven for some time (more than a few hours sitting). The car doesn't seem to immediately respond when trying to accelerate. Then, all of a sudden it leaps/lunges forward. My impression is that it has something to do with fuel - fuel injectors, filter, pump perhaps?

If you ever get that hesitation issue resolved, please post back as my wife's 02 Elantra does the same. Flashing the ECU helped, but it didn't completely resolve the hesitation that you described.

There's a reflash for a hesitation on cold starts at warm ambient temperatures. Your dealer may still be able to do this for you under the emissions warranty.

Chances are it won't get any better unless Hyundai issues another reflash.

My suspicion is that there's a carboning issue and that the reflash adjusts the cold start mixture accordingly.

If your local Hyundai dealer is also a GM dealer, you might see if they'd use the GM injector cleaning procedure on it. It uses a mixture of GM top engine cleaner and gasoline through the injectors. This will also clean a good amount of carbon of the valves and help unstick piston rings. It can be followed up with spraying the aerosol top engine cleaner in the throttle body. It's possible this may make a significant difference.

When was the last time the that the plugs and wires were replaced? If you don't remember, it's probably been too long. It's possible that your hesitation could be related, but even if it's not, it won't hurt to do the maintenance.

The radiator flush and fill is something you can easily do yourself for a fraction of the cost the dealer is charging. There is no need to "flush" a manual transmission and you can drain/fill it for ~$20.

Your dealer is a rip-off artist. You're smart to go elsewhere. You'd be even smarter if you learn to do this stuff yourself. As they say "it ain't rocket science."

I'm in Canada where Hyundai dealers can't be GM or other dealers, but I assume that I could buy the injector cleaning product from a nearby GM dealer.

Well, it's unfortunately not that simple. You'll need a special injector cleaning apparatus and more special equipment to hook it up to the fuel system.

Thanks for the info. I'll ask the Hyundai dealer if they can do it.

My 95 has 151K miles never had the need to flush the injectors.

And most people never will need to flush the injectors. It is an effective way to get chemicals into the combustion chamber for decarboning, however. But the prepackaged injector cleaners are just about worthless.