Seals on 2002 Sonata GLS

What, specifically, exactly, are the "seals"?

What, specifically, exactly, are the "seals"?

Aquatic mammals! On the other hand, I'll bet it is a valve cover gasket leaking oil on an exhaust pipe or manifold.

Ok, I erred. This was back in December that it was brought to my attention. It's not my seals but the Oil Pressure Switch and Valve Cover Gasket is leaking. That's what they wrote on my estimate. They quoted me $645 which seemed like a lot.

OUCH! I bet that you can do both of those yourself in a few hours on a weekend and save about $600. Check the Hyundai or Kia online tech sites for diagrams and info. Looking at the 2.4 diagrams, it won't take much to fix. OTH, if they said "oil pump" then I would be tempted to let the techs fix it.

I hope it comes with a large jar of lubricant. That seems to be about double what I'd expect to pay.

First thing I'd try is just tightening the valve cover gasket. Check the information at

Yeah, that's why I let my mechanic do work on my car. He does work for

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

Yeah, that's why I let my mechanic do work on my car. This was Midas quoting me. My mechanic does work for around 1/3 of what most shops charge and he does it right the first time. He's got 35+ years experience. I'll check the diagrams over at the HMA site. Thanks!

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

By the way, you are referring to the Install Instructions section HMAService, right? Although I have the SVG plugin installed, it ain't working in IE8 or Firefox 14.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

Yes. Adobe SVG must work in order to view the diagrams. I use IE8.

Do you happen to have Windows Vista as your operating system? I have one computer with Windows Vista and others with Windows XP (XP Pro). I have IE8 on all of them.

On the Windows XP computers, the SVG plug-in works. On my Windows Vista computer, SVG doesn't work. I did some researching and, as far as I can tell, the SVG plug-in just plain won't work with Windows Vista. I tried looking for another workaround, or a way to get the SVG plug-in to work with Windows Vista, but I don't think there is any way to do that.

I use XP and IE8 too. No dice. Wish HMAService would get rid of the plugin requirement and get with the 21st century.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

I'm not sure what's up then. I have XP and IE8. It's not the plugin's fault. That plugin was End of Life'd in 2006. All modern browsers do SVG internally without plugins. It's HMAService fault.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

If it is the valve cover gasket you had better fix that! I let that go too long on our 2003 Santa Fe and oil got onto the alternator and somehow caused it to fry. Never had that happen on any other cars, but apparently things are arranged such that it can happen on the Santa Fe. I'd be surprised if the overall configuration wasn't similar on the Sonata. KWW

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So in the meantime, it seems I have bigger problems. I was driving to work this morning when I smelled gas. I pull over and see gas leaking from near my oil pan. Turns out my gas lines are rusted and formed a crack. Dealership was right by work so I took it there. Turns out my brake lines are rusted and about to crack. $1200 a 1 1/2 days worth of time to fix but likely less because all the lines are right next to each other. Damn Chicago and their street salt!

But, for having the car nearly 11 year with absolutely zero problems, I think that's pretty darn good. Haven't had my mechanic look at the oil Pressure Switch or Valve Cover Gasket yet but the switch looks so easy to fix. Right next to the oil filter. Valve cover gasket seems like it's not too bad either but a bit too complicated for me.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

So in the meantime, it seems I have bigger problems. I was driving to work this morning when I smelled gas. I pull over and see gas leaking from near my oil pan. Turns out my gas lines are rusted and formed a crack. Dealership was right by work so I took it there. Turns out my brake lines are rusted and about to crack. $1200 a 1 1/2 days worth of time to fix but likely less because all the lines are right next to each other. Damn Chicago and their street salt!

I am surprised at this. I thought gas/brake lines would be stainless steel or galvanized at least so that this sort of problem would be unlikely.

But, for having the car nearly 11 year with absolutely zero problems, I think that's pretty darn good. Haven't had my mechanic look at the oil Pressure Switch or Valve Cover Gasket yet but the switch looks so easy to fix. Right next to the oil filter. Valve cover gasket seems like it's not too bad either but a bit too complicated for me.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

Steel is steel and combined with salt, anything is possible. I thought this kind of stuff wouldn't happen either. I thought auto makers coated these kinds of parts with rubber to prevent any type or contact with outside elements.

- Thee Chicago Wolf [MVP]

Brake and gas lines rot out. They are still made of steel and coated in plastic. Mfgs don't use cadmium plating much any more. Zinc reacts with sulfur. Stainless is expensive and reacts with chlorine. About all you can do is wash the salt off and inspect.

Yeah, it's like anything, you don't keep it clean, it just goes. Makes me wish I would have kept up on the under-carriage inhibitor treatments.

I never heard of gas and brake lines rusting out until recently. I've had plenty of older cars years ago, never had to replace a brake line. In the past year or two, I've heard of many people (including my own

Either the tubing is thinner or the road chemicals are more corrosive. I've had bodies rust away to nothing, but never the brake lines.