[Asterix]

Please don't keep us in suspenders, ttc! 

 

[ttc]

You guys are no fun 


Ok the answer was that some had the dual mass flywheel, some didn't, it varied across the models and years.
He said if you want to know what your car has, ring your local Hyundai spare parts with the VIN number, and they can tell you by looking up which clutch kit it requires.

Mine was definitely only a single.

[rustynutz]

Hmm, the plot thickens... 

[Dazzler]

Breaking News: Hyundai dealers report a meltdown of their parts phone switchboard...

[Phil №❶]

Switchboard made in ROC perhaps. 

[GDTourer]

Hi chaps,

I got my car back today after 2 more days in the dealer, and the news is not good unfortunately.

The car is absolutely 100% fitted with a Dual Mass Flywheel (I saw the old one but wasn't allowed to take photos), which has been replaced under warranty. The guys warned me that despite this, the vibration and noise are still there. They were right. I was understandably frustrated to hear this, and that they have no immediate solutions.

Also, after replacing the front left bearing they have now acknowledged that something else is wrong with the front left of the car, and it needs to come back for further inspection. I had advised them that this would likely be the case because what I was hearing was definitely more than a bearing, and that they should have replaced the bearing first thing yesterday morning and then test driven the car to give them time to fix the other issue. But no, they only did the bearing late today and didn't get time to look further after road testing. I have been complaining about this clunk since 45k kms (now 92k), so this only compounded my frustrations.

The car is going back again next Friday afternoon for two more days, and I'm hoping they can at least fix the front end so I can go on my road trip holiday through Vic and NSW. My only other option is my girlfriends clapped out 1998 Excel which is not an option. 

So far they've given me courtesy cars which has been great, but there are none available for the next one so I'll need to hire a car at my expense.

BUT...I have to do at least 2,000km next week for work, and have to put up with this yet-to-be-diagnosed front end clunk AND indefinitely put up with this bullshit flywheel / clutch / whatever issue.

It seems to me like Hyundai has a problem here - there are numerous threads on this site and others about my EXACT issue (CRDi Manual cars, excessive vibration and noise at 1500 - 2000RPM under load 3rd / 4th gear), with Dual Mass Flywheels being the most commonly suggested culprit. My dealer has dealt with at least 4 cars (with angrier owners than me) with this exact issue and have not been able to rectify it for any customers.

Arbitrarily replacing expensive parts that take hours to fit it is a bloody waste of time, particularly when they accurately predicted before carrying out the work that it probably wouldn't fix the problem.

I'm really hoping Hyundai come to the party here, very soon, with a proper solution (solid flywheel conversion?!?), otherwise I'm really not sure what I'm supposed to do.

Will keep y'all posted....

[Phil №❶]

The only thing I can think of is that as the DMF deteriorates, it also is damaging a non replaced component, say the crankshaft bearings. I can only imagine that a DMF slowly disintegrating, must cause an accelerated wear in either the engine or transmission shafts. As these are not replaced, the worn parts continue to make a noise.

Glad I have an auto. 

[Dazzler]

It is just so weird that one of the best Hyundai techs in the world hasn't come across this problem or a dual mass flywheel

Don't get me wrong, I believe every word, infact, until they get to the bottom of it, I've well and truly gone off the idea of swapping my Calais to an i30 diesel tourer!!!

[GDTourer]

Agreed on both accounts above.

Unfortunately this just got a whole lot worse.

My drive back from the dealer to home was only 2kms through heavy traffic, so I only had a chance to quickly confirm that the flywheel noise is still there.

I just took the car for a drive to pickup dinner, and am sad to say the problem has not only been made worse, but that it's now so bad that the car is undriveable. It's the same noise and vibration, under the same driving conditions, only now it now sounds like my gearbox is occupied by a 44 Gallon drum full of bricks and someone wielding a muffled machine gun as opposed to a saucepan full of pebbles.

Also I'm pretty sure the RH front bearing is also rooted, and the front left clunk seems even worse than it was before.

I am now thoroughly pissed off at this utter bollocks of a situation, and will be back at the dealer at 8:30 tomorrow morning demanding that they not only take the car back immediately (I refuse to drive it 2,000+ kms like this), but provide me with a courtesy car so I can do my job next week or, failing that, re-imburse me for a rental car.

Wish me luck.

[Shambles]

I'll try and get @EssexTech to come to the party - this is his exact area of expertise, though he does get snowed under with his daytime job so may not respond this calendar year


@GDTourer, this is simply unacceptable. Stomp your feet tomorrow.

[GDTourer]

Thanks Shambles, and yes I would anticipate foot stomping of the most vehement kind tomorrow.

[Dazzler]

Yep, I wish you luck for sure. Be nice but REALLY firm. Remember the old squeaky wheel scenario. Pardon the pun... You may have to hint at ACCC/ ombudsman etc..

[GDTourer]

Good advice Dazzler, it never pays to piss of your mechanic or your chef, you never know what you might get back!!

I would guess that Hyundai Australia would be the next step before going to the ACCC etc, but in support of your comments I really didn't want to have to go above the dealers head in fear of annoying them or getting them off side.

We'll see what their response is in the morning and go from there.

[Phil №❶]

If you feel that the dealer has performed their duty properly, then be polite, after all, no one individual at the dealership, is responsible for your problem. It is a technical fault. However, they need to know that the results of their repair work is unsatisfactory to you and requires further investigation involving whatever authorities it may take. What I would call a veiled threat. 

Good luck

[GDTourer]

Unfortunately there is nobody in the office on Saturdays, so I'm going to have to wait until Monday.

Head mechanic came for a drive and agreed that they've somehow made it worse, and that I shouldn't be driving 2,000 + kms in the car next week, so at least he's on side. He apologised on behalf of the dealer, and said he's feeling bad that he had the day off sick yesterday as he wasn't there to supervise the work.

He said they will possibly look at a replacement gearbox next, and failing that possibly an inspection of the bottom end to make sure crank bearings haven't been damaged. He admitted they have no solution for this problem at this stage. I suggested a solid flywheel conversion and he said he's going to look into it.

Once again, will keep y'all posted as I find out more.

[ibrokeit]

Unfortunately there is nobody in the office on Saturdays, so I'm going to have to wait until Monday.

Head mechanic came for a drive and agreed that they've somehow made it worse, and that I shouldn't be driving 2,000 + kms in the car next week, so at least he's on side. He apologised on behalf of the dealer, and said he's feeling bad that he had the day off sick yesterday as he wasn't there to supervise the work.

He said they will possibly look at a replacement gearbox next, and failing that possibly an inspection of the bottom end to make sure crank bearings haven't been damaged. He admitted they have no solution for this problem at this stage. I suggested a solid flywheel conversion and he said he's going to look into it.

Once again, will keep y'all posted as I find out more.

Well that sought of sounds positive - I am hoping as Head mechanic he also gets to call the shots on what gets done to fix issues - or has strong input at least.

If it wasn't for the fact it got much worse - I was going to suggest that you should make sure when your on holiday in NSW to book in at the dealer where, and have it seen by, 'one of the best Hyundai techs in the world'.   Of course issue there is being a road-trip it wouldn't be optimal if serious/multi-day work was needed.

Wish you luck regards to the loan car.

[Phil №❶]

In the New England area of NSW, I presume. 

[GDTourer]

HOLD THE PHONE!!!

This just gets better and better 

My car DOES NOT have a DMF fitted - it has a solid flywheel. AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!

Apologies to anyone I've misled by above posts indicating that the car did have a DMF.

When I saw the flywheel on Friday, I thought I was looking at a DMF - it was bigger and stranger looking than any flywheel I've ever seen.

This morning the head mechanic (who was away sick when my car was being done) suggested we take a look at the old flywheel to see if it gave us any clues. He cut open the box and his head immediately dropped..."That's not a dual mass flywheel" he said. To which I replied "WELL THEN WHY THE HELL WAS IT REPLACED, AND WHAT THE HELL IS MAKING THAT NOISE / VIBRATION?!?!?!?"

So I've written today off as annual leave (they couldn't get me in a rental car until late this arvo), and they're going to try to at least fix the front end noise today so I can get on the road and do my trip, and if they can't then I'll rent a car and they've agreed to claim these costs through Hyundai Australia.

As for the front end noise, they're still scratching their heads as to what it could be. They've replaced a front left bearing, but are now telling me the noise is coming from the right and doesn't sound like a bearing. To which I replied "Well then why the hell did you replace the front left bearing and give me a car back that sounds worse than when I dropped it off?!?!?" I'm still 99% sure there are noises from the left and the right, but hey they're the mechanics, right?!?

The saga continues...will update later today.

[ibrokeit]

Outstanding! 

[GDTourer]

Ok, I picked up the car again just now.

I now have renewed faith in my dealer - they tried really hard for me today and did everything they could given my circumstances.

The noise / vibration under load was only diagnosed just as I was about to leave, and the result may be interesting to many of you.

The guys wanted to show me how much these engines vibrate, so the mechanic used a pry bar to essentially disengage one engine mount while the engine was running. Bugger me if it didn't go from "smooth" to "old tractor" instantly, and the noises being produced were exactly what I experienced when I got it back. It was very surprising indeed! When they dropped the gearbox they must have unsettled the mounts, hence the alarming noise which occurred a couple times over the weekend but couldn't be replicated today because it had all settled back into place. The other noises are still there though, and when I suggested it could be soft or worn engine mounts the response was mutual.

The dealer also pointed out another noise which seems like it could be linked to above, and asked why I hadn't complained about it before - the fact that it shudders a lot on startup but even more on shutdown. I had assumed this was just the norm for a high compression diesel engine, hence why I never complained about it. My guess it that this will also improve with replaced engine mounts. Was pleasantly surprised that they volunteered this concern, and this gave me the confidence that they really do care.

I now have a renewed appreciation for what Hyundai did to make this engine as smooth as it is - those engine mounts are absorbing a massive amount of vibration - get your mechanic to show you one day all you diesel owners!!

The mounts are a fortunately a cheap and easy fix, which they're going to attend to when I get back from my trip.

The front end noise is still not diagnosed after a thorough inspection - even after they ran four sensors under the car with the speaker / headphones inside the car to try to isolate the noise.

All we can determine is that as everything warms up, whatever is faulty expands to the point it doesn't make noise anymore. That would explain why they could hear it when we first drove it early this morning, but not after that and not with the sensors attached. They've agreed to repeat this procedure when the car / weather is cooler and go from there, and I'm happy with that.

End of the day the car still isn't fixed, but I'm confident there are no safety issues and am happy to continue driving it (and taking notes about the front end noise for them) until they can have more time to look at it.

Thanks everyone for your advice and words of support, I think we might be on the way to a happy i30 driver once more!

Cheers,
Tom

[Dazzler]

Good stuff Tom, thanks for your updates. Gee, I might get one after all..

[ibrokeit]

That is sounding a bit more promising... a little annoying about the (apparently inadvertent) run around regarding clutch..

I wonder if others (I think there are, aren't there?) having same/similar symptoms will find it is the same cause.   Of course some service centers might take convincing...

Hopefully they will be able to locate the other noise eventually.

[GDTourer]

So....remember how I said my faith in my dealer had been renewed on Monday?

Well, that was all well and good until one of my front right brake caliper bolts made a bid for freedom 200km out of Broken Hill yesterday thanks to some muppet not doing it up properly - the caliper was flopping around and grinding on the inside of the wheel. 

Fortunately it's a fairly flat, straight road and none of the local kangaroos / emus / goats decided to test my brakes by jumping out in front of me. I shudder to think what would have happened, and feel very lucky that I was able to get it to Broken Hill without needing to stop in a hurry - I only discovered it this morning once the brakes started grinding... I know it happened 200kms from Broken Hill because I heard a loud bang thinking I had it a rock on the road, now I know it was the caliper bolt making a bid for freedom and bouncing into the underside of the car.

Luckily the Hyundai dealer in Broken Hill was good enough to pull parts off a car in their yard to get me back on the road, but it still put me back two hours and I won't get time to see all the customers I had planned to.

Anyway I'm back in next week for a new engine mount (under warranty) and will report back on what sort of difference it makes. I'm betting it will make significantly more difference than replacing a flywheel which wasn't actually a faulty DMF but a regular flywheel that had nothing wrong with it. 

[Dazzler]

The plot thickens. Glad you got through that scare ok...

[Phil №❶]

Blimey, it never ends. Take care out on the road. 

[eye30]

Hope you have reported to dealer  or has broken hill dealer raised complaint!

No other damage i hope!

[GDTourer]

Broken Hill had to make a call to my dealer, who paid for everything and probably told them about the rough trot I've had.

Before they called my dealer, they were saying I could be stuck in Broken Hill for two days waiting for parts. Once they called they came back and said "we'll have you on the road in an hour".

No other damage, fortunately the rotor was ok and the dragging on the inside of the wheel only caused very minor scratches.

[ibrokeit]

Not good on the brakes.  Nice effort from the Broken Hill dealer - even though it was after talking to your dealer.

I suspect you are right and realised over all goodwill would outweigh having some other car disabled for a few days until the part arrived.  Either that or whiskey, or similar, is going to be shipped (or ordered online for delivery).

Hopefully you will get everything sorted at some point and then you won't have any more issues.

[GDTourer]

Hi chaps,

Have collected the car with it's new engine mount and whilst there is some improvement (especially on startup and shut down where it used to knock quite badly), there is still a vibration and noise under the same load conditions. Evidently the engine mount was just part of the problem, which is still yet to be fully diagnosed. The old engine mount had pretty much collapsed apparently.

Front end noises are still there too because they couldn't hear anything on their test drive. It's better since the bearing was replaced and the brake caliper was secured properly, but there are still clunks.

At least they re-checked all suspension mounts & bolts to give me peace of mind that it's not going to fall apart on my road trip holiday which starts on Wednesday.

Unfortunately though, I don't have time or patience to keep chasing the tail of these issues. My i30 was an excellent car and I've loved it, but for a car with 93,000kms and a relatively light history of use it feels a lot older and more used than it is. Unfortunately some of this relates to things that won't be fixed under warranty like diminished shock absorber performance as supported by a Pedders safety report (with replacements being hideously expensive) and seemingly un-diagnosable front end noises. Some of this has led me to the conclusion that whilst these cars might be well built, some of the components being used are of questionable quality and simply not up to the task. Recent experiences driving Accent and Sonata courtesy cars hasn't given me any more confidence - in particular the ride quality, engine noise and road noise of both these cars was pretty average.

Also, because my car is used for work my warranty was reduced to 3 years / 130,000kms, so I only have about 6 months left of warranty support.

All this means that I am likely to be looking at trading it in as soon as possible, and at this stage I'm sorry to say it's unlikely to be another Hyundai.

[Dazzler]

Wow! Such a tale of woe. Can definitely see where you are coming from. 

I would do exactly the same thing in your situation.

Please keep us posted on your future movements.