Any recommended antifreeze to use on a 2003 Santa Fe

I have a 2003 Santa Fe w/the 2.7L engine. It's just over 30,000 miles and I was planning on changing out the coolant per the maintenance schedule. The manual states that you should use antifreeze suitable for aluminum, but doesn't give any other information.

Is there a particular brand/type recommended, or would any of the major brands be OK. Also, is it going to be a special case to find one that's acceptable for aluminum parts? With all the aluminum engine components anymore, I would think it would be a pretty common requirement.

Any information would be appreciated.

Mike O.

Reply to
Mike O'Donnell
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Reply to
Jody

I would think any name brand antifreeze should be suitable for aluminum by now. The no-name stuff we have here specifically mentions it protects aluminum on the bottle. I'd suspect reading the back of the bottle in the store will be sufficient to determine whether any particular antifreeze is okay to use.

Reply to
hyundaitech

Thanks, that's pretty much what I figured. Usually though it seems that car manufacturers have all these requirements "...Must use genuine Garbonzo brand that meets standard 403-13/sy.7465 or equivelant...". With the long warranty on the Hyundai, I want to make sure I'm not missing something in case I have some problem later and they try to blame it on the wrong antifreeze..

-Mike O.

Reply to
Mike O'Donnell

Can you (or anyone else) give me some direction on where the drain valve, plug, etc. is on the Santa Fe, 2.7L engine? I briefly looked at it earlier today and didn't seen anything obvious. I did some internet searching and it sounds like it's a large phillips type screw on the bottom of the radiator, is this correct? I didn't see one, but I'm going to take a more detailed look tomorrow.

Also, there's a cover or shield on the underside of the front of the car. I'm not sure where to get at the lower part of the radiator with this in the way. Is there a trick to access the drain point? I did see a small screwed in panel on the underside, near the left front. Is this where I access it?

Thanks.

Mike O.

Reply to
Mike O'Donnell

There's no drain I know of on the engine per se. The drain in the radiator is right above the front of the subframe. There's a hole in the subframe under the plug so you can insert a screwdriver through the hole to get to the plug. A #3 phillips works well.

Reply to
hyundaitech

Thank you very much for the info. Actually, I did figure it was on the radiator somewhere; I just mentioned the engine size in case there was a difference between the models.

Mike O.

Reply to
Mike O'Donnell

I looked today and found the red plastic plug so I went ahead and changed out the coolant. I like the Santa Fe, but the radiator drain seems like a very poor design. The coolant hit the subframe and spread out all along the front of the frame. I ended up having to use two buckets to catch the stuff. A small tube extending down, with the end flush with the frame would have made things much easier. At least I don't have to worry about the next change at 60K; Along with the timing belt, etc., it's going to be done by someone else..

Another question I have now: The manual shows 7 quarts for the cooling system capacity. Allowing for some that didn't make it into the bucket, I ended up with about 5 quarts drained out. After running some clean water from the hose through it, I sealed up the drain and filled it with fresh

50/50 mix. Is the extra two quarts or so that I didn't get out of the engine going to be a problem? What did come out was pretty clean.

Mike O.

Reply to
Mike O'Donnell

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