Wife has a 2002 Elantra with 46000 miles. Is the 4 cylinder engine an
interference engine and what is the recommended mileage to replace the
timing belt?

From the factory, does anyone know what type of spark plugs were used -
platinum, iridium, copper? and also the recommended mileage to replace the
plugs.

Thanks

"paul" <pehodson@nospamverizon.net> wrote in message
news:gOf6i.5321$zN5.1005@trndny05...
> Wife has a 2002 Elantra with 46000 miles. Is the 4 cylinder engine an
> interference engine and what is the recommended mileage to replace the
> timing belt?

Four years or 60,000 miles

paul wrote:
> From the factory, does anyone know what type of spark plugs were used -
> platinum, iridium, copper? and also the recommended mileage to replace the
> plugs.

Probably platinum, but any type of plugs will work. The NGK V-Power
copper plugs are popular, as they provide better performance than
platinum or iridium plugs at a bargain basement price (<$2 each). The
downside is that you have to change them more often (~every 30K).

Your original plugs should be good for ~60K miles if they're platinum.

paul wrote:
> Wife has a 2002 Elantra with 46000 miles. Is the 4 cylinder engine an
> interference engine and what is the recommended mileage to replace the
> timing belt?
>
> From the factory, does anyone know what type of spark plugs were used -
> platinum, iridium, copper? and also the recommended mileage to replace the
> plugs.

Answers to both should be in the owners manual.

Matt

Actually -

a) Information about an engine being an interference engine would never be
in the owner's manual. Service manual (the one that costs a good bit of
money and does not come with the car), yes, maybe even possibly the
maintenance guide that does come with your car, though usually that only
lists the change interval;

b) The '02 Elantra 2.0L 4-cylinder IS an interference engine. And while
one should not dismissively ignore maintenance intervals, the Elantra has
had a reputation of being able to do a little better than the 4-year, 60,000
miles. I bought mine at 77,000, had it replaced immediately, and was
surprised how good the old one looked. Mechanic said the same thing.

Tom Wenndt
"Matt Whiting" <whiting@epix.net> wrote in message
news:wXm6i.10305$Oc.246658@news1.epix.net...
> paul wrote:
>> Wife has a 2002 Elantra with 46000 miles. Is the 4 cylinder engine an
>> interference engine and what is the recommended mileage to replace the
>> timing belt?
>>
>> From the factory, does anyone know what type of spark plugs were used -
>> platinum, iridium, copper? and also the recommended mileage to replace
>> the
>> plugs.
>
> Answers to both should be in the owners manual.
>
> Matt

Rev. Tom Wenndt wrote:

> a) Information about an engine being an interference engine would never be
> in the owner's manual. Service manual (the one that costs a good bit of
> money and does not come with the car)

You don't have to pay a dime for the service manual. Simply go to
www.hmaservce.com, sign up for a free account and you can access the
manuals for any Hyundai vehicle free of charge. Two caveats are that the
site only works with IE and you need to download a viewer from Adobe
using the link provided on the site.