Re: To Hyundai tech I'm going to go through these one at a time and give you my thoughts. None
of the work needs to be done at the dealer.
1. Transmission flush. If you read your owner's manual, you'll see that
a fluid inspection is required and that replacing the fluid is necessary
only if the inspection indicates. The fluid usually has a fruity smell.
If your fluid has that smell and isn't absolutely opaque, then it's
probably okay to leave it. My personal opinion, however, is that it's
good to change the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles. In your case,
if it looks good, I wouldn't do a flush. I'd just do a drain and refill.
Remove the 24mm drain plug from the transmission, let the fluid drain out,
reinstall, and add 5 quarts fluid to replace what drained out. Be sure to
use only SPIII fluid. This is VERY important. You should be able to find
SPIII fluid at Hyundai, Kia, and Mitsubishi dealers.
2. Air filter. This should be done every 30k. There's no reason a good
aftermarket filter isn't sufficient.
3. Coolant flush. If you look at your owner's manual, coolant
replacement is recommended every 2 years/30k miles. By replacement, they
mean drain and fill, not flush. Again, this should be fine if your
coolant is in good condition. Personally, I don't see where mileage
affects coolant condition, so I base this service off of time only. In my
personal vehicle, I like to do it every year, but I see no reason why once
every 2 years isn't sufficient. Run-of-the-mill aluminum-safe coolant is
sufficient.
4. Fuel tune up. I'm not even sure what this is. That's a good
indicator that you don't need it.
5. Four wheel alignment. I see little reason to do this as maintenance.
Check your tires. If they're wearing evenly, chances are good you don't
need an alignment. Excessive treadwear on the inside *or* outside edge of
both front or both rear tires is an indicator that you need alignment.
Excessive treadwear on inside *and* outside edges of the same tire is an
indicator that your tire pressure is low.
6. Timing belt. I know this wasn't on their list, but the recommended
interval is 4 years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. Since rubber
deteriorates over time as well as with flexing, you need to consider
replacing the timing belt. While I doubt, based on my experience, that
the timing belt will fail soon, you also don't want the cost of engine
repairs because the timing belt failed due to not replacing it. The
timing belt on this car is expensive to replace, but the expense pales in
comparison to the engine repairs should it fail.
Last, I'd recommend looking at your warranty papers. If you have HPP
(Hyundai Protection Plan), this is a very good warranty which, while not
quite the same as the bumper-to-bumper factory warranty, covers most
nonwearable items. If through a company other than Hyundai, you should be
very interested in your warranty's exclusions. Dealers like to sell them
as "bumper-to-bumper," but in many cases a significant number of things
are excluded. |