Help!

ionapaul

Folks, some help / advice needed.

Bought a '99 Hyundai Coupe from a dealer on the Naas Road last month, have 3 months engine and gearbox warranty. Out for a drive tonight, went around a tight corner at a 4-way junction, shifted into 2nd and put the foot down. A second or two later I feel a sudden loss of power, the foot is down but hardly any acceleration - something is very wrong. At the next stop I shift to neutral and the car is really shuddering and feels as though it's going to cut out. I pulled over to the side and stopped it for a while, and got a distinct smell of burning? Opened the bonnet but nothing seemed out of place - that said I know nothing of cars.

In the end just drove the 1/2 mile back to my apartment, no power when accelerating and shuddering when at neutral the whole way, felt like it was dying, though could cruise along ok. When I got out, I heard a very audible ticking sound coming from underneath the car, around the mid section, again something out of the ordainary. Very scary in fact.

Any ideas what could be the matter? No red lights flashed on the dash by the way. Is it the engine / gearbox? Wondering about this as the ticking over sound when the engine was switched off was coming from underneath the mid section of the car, not under the bonnet. I'll have more questions regarding the logistics of fixing the car and getting the dealership to pay (if appropriate), but for now need a clue as to what the hell happened to me!

Thanks

mike65

No power, stuttering etc means you have a problem with fuel delivery I'd say. ie injection system.

Mike.

pauln

Yip fuelling or electrical my guess. I had a similar problem on my little AX, traced it back to a faulty idle control motor and it seem to solve it.
I can't say that's your problem but can sympathize and just say that sometimes it's not a easy to diagnose this type of fault if nothing obvious jumps to the fore and could be quite costly time and parts wise.
I'd say get it back to the dealer ASAP and get it solved as it probably will only get worse over time.
As for the clicking, could just have been the exhaust system cooling and the noise of the metal contracting? Dunno really.

ionapaul

Thanks for your thoughts. Started her this morning with the plan to drive to work and then on to the dealer or mechanic during lunch, and was surprised to find the car in perfect working order. However, after a few hundred yards it suddenly went back to engine shuddering and power problems, so I left the thing at home as I didn't want it cutting out or dying on me in morning traffic on Rathmines Road. Again, when I got out I heard the very unusual metallic ticking over sound coming from underneath the mid section of the car - this is not normal.

Assuming the second hand dealer does not give me any trouble about honouring the warranty, anyone know how the repair process will work? Do I leave the car with the dealer to sort out? Do I let them nominate a mechanic? Am I expected to pay the mechanic and then look for the money back from the dealer? I really don't want to be in that situation!

ds20prefecture

I would suspect the fuel pump. Perhaps you have a split in your fuel line and the pump is sucking air?

You'll need to leave the car with them, but make sure that they quote you for the work to be carried out BEFORE doing it. If it is outside of warranty - ask why. For example, the fuel pump is very much an "engine" problem, but they could argue that the fuel line is part of the "bodywork" of the car.

They should carry out the warranty work themselves.

mike65

The ticking from mid section does suggest fuel pump or accumulator.

Mike.

ionapaul

Left the car into the dealership today (scary 4 mile drive from apt to the Red Cow at 15 mph!), they seemed anxious to fix whatever was wrong. I got a call at 5 saying they replaced the spark plugs and some other stuff (he mentioned the name of the kit but I forget) but the problem was unresolved and they would bring it to a proper garage (the dealership doesn't have the facilities) tomorrow morning. Gonna ask for a written report from the mechanic when they fix the thing. Will keep y'all informed

ionapaul

So the latest update: seems two cylinders are not firing (not sure what that means) despite the spark plugs and coil being replaced. They mentioned something about the Hyundai mechanic 're-programming' the engine and used an abbreviation I had never heard (i.e. 'He's gonna get into the XXX') - does this mean the cylinders / timing sequence are controlled by an electronic chip? I wouldn't have thought a 6 year old car would include such technology.

mike65

Oh no, they hav'nt mentioned the - flux capacitor have they?!

Mike.

unkel

ionapaul wrote:

're-programming' the engine and used an abbreviation I had never heard (i.e. 'He's gonna get into the XXX') - does this mean the cylinders / timing sequence are controlled by an electronic chip? I wouldn't have thought a 6 year old car would include such technology.

XXX=ECU?

Electronic Control Unit. Indeed a computer that controls engine management and what not and yes your 6 year old car has one

Wibbs

xxx may mean ECU. Basically the engine management unit. As for a 6 yr old car having the technology, mines 11 and it does. Do I get a prize?

Tbh I never heard of an ecu problem causing the car to fire on only 2 cylinders, though I could see how it might. The cylinders(usually 4 sometimes 6 and if you're real lucky 12) are what're driven by the bangs of the petrol/air mixture that drives the crankshaft that makes your wheel go around, or something like that anyhoo. Flux capacitors on the other hand.........

Could be a wonky distributer too(fires the sparkplugs in the correct order and speed), or injectors(squirts the petrol/air mixture into the cylinders).

Good luck with it anyway.

ionapaul

Well, finally got the car back today, the dealer said that something had blown in the ECU (he showed me the removed unit with one of the chips blown) and it took ages for them to get a replacement installed. That's the good news.

However, now I notice the fuel gauge is stuck at 3/4 full, no matter if the engine is running or not. Is this function controlled by the ECU? I will bring the car back into the dealer if needs be, but hopefully someone here will have a suggestion to fix. I am sure the mechanic unplugs numerous wires and cables during diagnosis and replacement of the ECU, could this be it?

edit* I topped up the fuel and the guage did rise, but again stays in place when the engine is turned off. Also noticed (now that it's dark) the dashboard 'back-light' to illuminate the four gauges isn't working, making it a bitch to drive at night. I assume both things are connected.

mike65

re fuel gauage its possibly a blown sender unit, or a connection in the chain to the dash is broken.

Mike.