Transmission Oil Blowout; need advice: 2000 Sonata 6 cyl.

The car's a 2000 Sonata with 6 cyl engine.

My ATF blew out, probably from a broken connections at the transmission cooler (in the radiator).

The leak began a 1/2 block from my house and I was able to back into the driveway as normal, so I have at least some fluid left in the transmission. There's a fluid film on the radiator, etc., about 2/3 down the radiator height, which suggests my diagnosis.

Butr I can't see anything from above due to obstructions (fan, tubing, other stuff in the way); the car's on a slope right now that's preventing me from looking up from below.

I need a sequence; any relevant diagrams would be nice, too. Advice would be appreciated about how to go about inspection and repair.

Thanks!

Richard (back again after a long absence caused by computer/software issues).

Reply to
Richard Steinfeld
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Should not need tech info to repair this. Just remove the bad part and splice in a new part.

I don't have a Hundai tech acct but do have a Kiatech acct.

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I use XP3 and either old SeaMonkey 1119 or IE8. Both work good. The site never demands money for me. Sounds like your computer got hacked and has viruses, trojans, re-directs, etc.

Reply to
Paul in Houston TX

Nope. Nothing wrong at my end. The Hyundai site is not the same as Hyundai's. As HT wrote, the H. site can be cantankerous, fussy, and senseless. To which I'll add that the H. site is excessively over-scripted and programmed by someone who is playing at his programming hobby, out-of-touch with the real world of real users.

I'm using Opera and FF. The site rejects almost all browsers and virtually all versions of them. How do you spell S-T-U-P-I-D?

I had to install IE just to be able to register, after which it wouldn't accept IE to log-on.(HT mentioned this). But once I registered, I was then able to go into Opera, log on and enter the next page: "Now, pay us sukka: $30 for one week, $300 for one year." All of this with maddening bogus error messages. I'm especially intolerant of bogus error messages: they're the ultimate in wasting the time of people other than the programmer.

All I wanted to do was look at a diagram of the hoses.

What's the effect of this? To keep us from working on our own cars. What's the purpose of this? To keep your local non-dealership garage from working on your car. It's legal. I'm familiar with this ploy in the office machinery field, where it was explained to me by a regional repair manager. And in electronics repair where it works the same way to wear down the independent shops. And that's why you don't see those any more.

Reply to
Richard Steinfeld

The story so far:

I found the nipple for one of the transmission oil cooler lines sheared off at the radiator tank. I'd hit a wicked, unmarked narrow and tall speed bump a few weeks earlier. The day of the blowout was the hottest of the year, so far. (Note: stay clear of all side streets in San Pablo, California). The 2000 Sonata is an unusually low-clearance car. My car leaped into the air, then slammed down onto the bump.

I'm not able to work on the car here. My friend brought over his trusty backyard muscle car mechanic (a former dealership man like HT). The fix: we put on a nice transmission oil cooler, bypassing the radiator for this. There's a lot of room for the cooler between the front plastic grille and the radiator.

Here's the interesting part: everything's fine, except that the temperature gauge is reading higher than it ever has before under all conditions. I'm carefully testing the cooling system's prowess, putting the car under a little more load every day. We're having a heat wave here, so I gave the car its biggest city street loading so far: driving home uphill with the AC on. Although the temp gauge reading is higher than it's been for the last 7 years or so, it cycled over a small range and kept within that range and recovering nicely. The computer reveals that there are no stored codes and all the drive cycles have completed.

I've been a good mechanic, but mostly on stereo equipment, and tend to look for correlations. Here's an interesting one. I keep a little digital volt meter plugged into the cigarette lighter. This is showing unusually high system voltage, which has been ranging between around 14 and, today, briefly 15.5.

My theory: if the system voltage is high, the reading on the temp gauge is increased because the gauge, itself, is getting more juice. Is this correct? Any comments?

Reply to
Richard Steinfeld

I'm using Opera and FF. The site rejects almost all browsers and virtually all versions of them. It did not used to behave like a stuck-up prima-donna. How do you spell S-T-U-P-I-D?

I had to install IE just to be able to register, after which it wouldn't accept IE to log-on.(HT mentioned this). But once I registered, I was then able to go into Opera, log on and enter the next page: "Now, pay us sukka: $30 for one week, $300 for one year." All of this with maddening bogus error messages. I'm especially intolerant of bogus error messages: they're the ultimate in wasting the time of people other than the programmer.

All I wanted to do was look at a diagram of the hoses.

What's the effect of this? To keep us from working on our own cars. What's the purpose of this? To keep your local non-dealership garage from working on your car. It's legal. I'm familiar with this ploy in the office machinery field, where it was explained to me by a regional repair manager. And in electronics repair where it works the same way to wear down the independent shops. And that's why you don't see those any more.

Reply to
Richard Steinfeld

When I first got a Hyundai and found that I could see the service manual, I thought it was a great benefit. I was able to get a better understanding of how some systems worked but I no longer do any of my own work.

Then some idiot decided to turn a nice benefit into a money stream. I've looked out of curiosity, not to bypass anyone else, but the penny pinchers took that away from us. Never will I pay them a penny.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

Pay very close attention to the transmission cooler line fitting at the bot tom of the radiator. They're prone to failure even when not impacted. I'v e seen them leak both coolant and transmission fluid and even cause mixing of the two. You definitely want to make sure it's not leaking coolant.

And as odd as it seems, check your negative battery cable. Start the engin e and turn on the headlamps. Install one end of a voltmeter to the negativ e battery terminal on the battery and the other end to a good contact on wh atever the cable attaches to-- I cannot recall if it attaches to the body o r the transmission; so you'll have to follow the cable. The voltage should read less than one tenth of a Volt. If the cable runs to the body, you ca n run a similar test between the terminal and the engine to get the total v oltage drop, but you won't know where the specific issue is. If your volta ge drop is excessive (usually half a volt or more will cause an issue), rep lace the negative battery cable. This causes an issue because when the a/c is used voltage from the a/c compressor clutch, which normally grounds via the engine, bleeds a little through the coolant temperature sender and the coolant gauge causing a false high temperature reading.

Reply to
hyundaitech

This may have been it. That fitting was sheared off. But now, the transmission cooling is being done by the new little transmission radiator.

I still have a hairline crack in the top plastic radiator tank; it was only leaking until the water level had dropped enough. I'd overfilled the recovery tank. I've been living with the crack for years and hardly ever had to add water. Interesting because it's California here (a milder climate, but with some hot trips inland). I'm thinking Bars Leaks, maybe the light-duty type.

I've been noticing the high reading with the AC off. Warmup seems a bit faster than usual. Now, one thing that I'm seeing: from a cold start: the gauge is immediately a little above zero. This is repeated. The amount that it's above zero is similar to the amount that it's been reading above its former behavior.

HT, that's a wonderful reply! Thank you very much!

Richard

Richard

Reply to
Richard Steinfeld

Gauge not at zero on cold start is a strong sign the gauge is wonky. I'd feel better if I compared a scan tool's temperature reading to the gauge position, but I suspect there's no actual increase in temperature.

Reply to
hyundaitech

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