02 Sonata GLS Trouble Code P0445: Crap, it wasn't the Purge Valve!

Welcome to the club !!!!

02 Elantra, replace cap, same. Check hoses, same. Replace purge valve .... 6 day with NOT codes .... HOORAY.... Drove from Florida to NH, all OK... Just crossed over river at White River Junction LIT UP .... Gave up on stupid problem, in-law used car 2 years on Hanover area, then back to FL, car still going OK, still stupid light on, who cares ???

Yeah, it's something stupid for sure. Knowing I can live 5-7 without a light bodes well for me when emissions times comes around. Still, I've noticed other oddball issues. Recently, I've felt a huge slippage on my trans (the kind with a *thunk*) but this never happened before the check engine light came on. I read a vague reference to output speed sensor as a possible cause but P0445 doesn't seem related to it. I might call up the dealership and ask someone if they know what it could be related too. Annoying that I *thought* I fixed it with the new Purge Valve based on Hyundai's own codes. Arghhh....

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

My advice based on experience. For under $100, you can buy yourself a code reader. Worth its weight in gold. I boned up on the way that the computer works. I tried three of them and found that the two that interpreted the codes would have driven me crazy if I didn't get refunds for them. The one that I kept came from Taiwan, marketed under the name "Equus." Sorry; I've forgotten the real company name. They have a development office in the USA. It doesn't display "Oxygen Sensor #2," but "2053," so you have to go to the provided code list and/or Hyundai's own list.

The instructions provided with this device are so well-written and so comprehensive that the booklet is worth the price of the code reader all by itself.

Very cool. I am not kidding!

Richard

harbor freight sells a good one for $50. make sure you get one that can do the CAN protocol.

There are some cheap ones on Amazon but can this one be beat for bare-bones code reader? It's made in Germany, not China.

There are some cheap ones on Amazon but can this one be beat for bare-bones code reader? It's made in Germany, not China.

The basic issue for me about code readers is how usable they are. Some of these devices are designed with screwy logic that's user-hostile. It's important to buy the thing from someone who will refund your money without giving you a hard time, just in case the device's firmware is programmed to drive you nuts. Or had a display that you can't read. Or uses Martian batteries that cost $15 each and burns them out every five days.

I'm talking from experience. Some engineers, project managers, and product managers, give us products that are very stupid. Instructions matter, too, and the same managers often like to give us the most puny, inadequate, and terribly-written manuals. If these aspects are done correctly, the code reader can be a really useful tool.

Note that a code reader is not what's called a "scanner," such as the device that's mentioned in the Hyundai tech manuals. A scanner is a much more capable diagnostic tool that reveals more about the conditions that produce the codes. The code reader just shows you the codes themselves.

Richard

Don't forget that in addition to being able to read the DTC codes, you want to be able to see the status of all of the internal monitors as well. After you fix and clear all the codes, you don't want to visit your emission station until all the monitors have completed.

Partner's caution is extremely important!!!!!

The code reader that I recommended does, indeed, show the states of all of the monitors on my Hyundai.

A "monitor" is an overall self-test of an entire group of sensors and their accumulated readings.

If you're against the clock for a smog test, you may be shooting yourself in the foot if you clear the codes (blank the "check engine" light). There are a number of start/run routines, all different, that have to be run a certain number of times so that the computer will be satisfied. In other words, after the fix has been performed, the relevant monitor will reset itself from normal driving given an adequate number of starts.

When I investigated this, it was legal here in California for two out of the handful of monitors to not register completed.

We went into this a few years ago. Drive cycles are factory-issued routines intended to be performed in order to run and reset the monitors. For most cars, these are issued separately. But HT said that our manufacturer kept this a secret; I was able to obtain mine (Hyundai-specific) from a book at a nearby smog shop. Hyundai's drive cycles were a pair of all-purpose dragnet routines, each of which was so insane and illegal that it could not be safely performed in normal driving. I've been through it twice with the help of a friend, and I get nerve-wracked just thinking about it.

Bottom line: get your smog test done well before the deadline, like a full month.

Partner: how do you know about "monitors?"

Hyundai drive cycles are published on the hmaservice web site. On the home page after you sign on, put the cursor on the "Service Information" on the dark blue menu bar. select "OBD II. I make it a point to know about the cars I own. Seems like all people know about their cars now days is that if they don't put gas in them they won't go.