About 3 weeks ago I posted that my sons 99 Sonata 2.4L would intermittingly cut off and restart in a few minutes. There were no DTCs. Then one day it would not restart and he had it towed into a independent shop. Their diagnosis was that the valve cover was leaking oil into the spark plugs and had shorted out the plugs and the coil packs. I told him that I didn't think they knew what they were doing, but they had him over a barrel. They ended up charging almost $800 dollars to replace the valve cover gasket, 2 coils,
4 plugs and wires. Much to my surprise, he was able to drive it home after with no more work required. But it only lasted about 3 weeks and it died again on the road. He had it towed to the same shop thinking that they would stand behind their work. Of course the next day they come up wanting another $700 for fixing it this time. Now they want to replace the crank sensor and the output speed sensor. He asked them if it would be OK if he waited till the next day to let them know what he wanted them to do and they replied that they had already moved the car out of the shop. He asked how, and they said they just started it up and drove it out. He called me and I told him it was time to cut his losses with these bandits and to lets go get the car back . When we got to the shop they wanted $80 (1 hour labor) for diagnostics to determine the problem. I asked them how it took an hour to read the DTCs with the scan tool, and hadn't he paid them enough already. After an lively discussion we agreed to pay them $40 to get the car back. I read the DTCs and they are P0335 P0715 P0725 and P0715 (P) So it looks to me like it needs a new Crank Sensor and a new Input Speed Sensor. I went back and looked at receipt/work order and it definitely had output speed sensor on it. I wonder if they were setting him up for a return visit for more bucks. After some cursory research it appears that the speed sensor should be a piece of cake, but I am concerned that the crank sensor may be more complicated that I first thought. Few questions for HyundaiTech. 1) Is it just a coincident that these combination of codes showed up or does it mean something more serious?. They appear to be two completely unrelated problems. Why would they appear almost simultaneously? 2) Is it normal for the same code (P0715) to show up solid and pending? 3) Any idea why they would want to replace the output speed sensor? I'm assuming they didn't clear out any codes. 4) I haven't done any real engine work since they did away with the distributor, do you think I will be getting in over my head to try to replace the crank sensor? 5) Any comments, hints, shortcuts, got'yahs will be appreciated.. 6) Where did they put the location photos in the new format Hmaservice.com? I had figured out where they were in the old format, but can't find them now. 7) I am assuming that there's no timing issues I need to be concerned with by changing the crank sensor, correct?- posted
15 years ago