Here's the final mid February 06 update on my 2003 Hyundai Elantra engine
failure at 36K miles. The Baltimore area dealer has done a great job in
replacing the engine in a reasonable amount of time (3 weeks). I went over
the engine installation looking for signs of hasty reassembly etc and found
none, although when I checked the antifreeze protection level, it showed +10
degrees on my ethylene glycol compatible gauge. I had just backflushed the
cooling system and installed a 50% antifreeze concentration (1/2 full
strength ethylene glycol and 1/2 distilled water) before the engine failure,
so I'm sure that when they refilled the coolant system with the new engine,
they did not restore the antifreeze to the proper 50%/50% concentration
specified in the owner's manual. The car is running great. They even washed
it and shined the tires up before returning it to me. I have no problem with
Hyundai's warranty or the dealer's service, which was no charge under the
warranty. I would now buy a new Sonata and my sister is looking at a new
Tucson. A little good service goes a long way in maintaining a company's
reputation, and both dealer and manufacturer came through for me this time.

bobweb wrote:
>Matt, Mike and Bob- Thanks for the discussion on what we should expect from a
>car manufacturer to deserve our continued business with them. I agree that
>you really can't expect internal engine parts not to fail prematurely with
>some small probability, and all the manufacturers must have pistons fail
>occasionally. Actually, I purchased a Hyundai because they gave me more car
>for the money compared to Toyota for example. To some extent I'm willing to
>have a higher failure rate with Hyundai than with Toyota, because a similarly
>equipped Toyota costs more, in general. So you may be a consumer who's
>willing to take a chance on having a few more things go wrong with the car as
>long as the manufacturer upholds the warranty etc.
>
>An update from my dealer is positive in that they decided to replace both the
>engine block and heads as a complete "long block" unit instead of building
>the engine up in the shop as originally planned. So on the one hand I get
>basically a new engine, but on the other hand I've lost use of the car for at
>least a month. Many people can't afford to be without a car for a month while
>still paying for the insurance and depreciation etc costs of owning a car.
>They did not provide me with a rental or loaner car which is not provided
>under the normal warranty. We'll see how the reassembled car performs!
>
>Bobweb
>
>>> My point was that the cracked piston wasn't Hyundai's fault. Sure,
>>>they are the one's that have to make it right, which it sounds like
>[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
>>corrective action. If they give the customer a hassle and let the
>>manufacturer get away with shoddy parts, shame on them.

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