2004 Santa Fe 96000 km oil change issue

Okay, I love my Santa Fe. ..has had all required service changes. I
would recommend one to anyone... but, is it not standard for the
dealership to tell you an estimate... be it that I am naive I guess,
or just simply having blind faith... I feel that I am ready to scream
at the service advisor I dealt with today in a Southwestern Ontario
dealership...

I expected the 297 oil change price... expected to have to replace a
few things... I asked the advisor to explain what exactly was going to
be done... which he read from a list and then I phoned at noon and
asked if it would for sure be ready at 5pm... i dropped off at 9am.
they said it would be an all day job... it was a big service #4...so
being a bit unsure I phoned at noon and asked what had been found...
they said they recommended a windsheild wiper, i declined... they
recommended a brake service and I declined... then they said that in
order to keep warranty in tact, i needed to replace timing belt and
spark plugs... no mention of cost at this point in time... so
expecting at end of day to pick up my vehicle I entered the dealership
to not find my car wtg.... they were not done yet but would supply a
dealership car rental free of charge... so then I decided to ask what
kind of price I would be looking at so far since the advisor had not
yet ever given me a price... he brought out a pencil and basically i
am looking at about $900 - so I am now at home stewing about the
cost.... i understand having to get the work done to keep in line with
warranty.... he said that this had to be done, does anyone know if
that is correct... i have also asked to have the old timing belt and
spark plugs... anyone tell me if this is right that they have not told
me prior to doing this stuff... other than I phoned at noon and said
fine to timing belt and spark plugs, being stupid that these were
under the price of $297 oil change... do these items really need to be
replaced in order to keep any warranty left on vehicle.. also when we
phoned another dealer , they said that they should also be replacing a
pulley tenisonner system that typically can leak at around this time
or else it will cost me $150 in a few months time... does anyone know
about this>

 

That alone is a priy service.


..

Most any engine with a timing belt has a recommended change interval of
60,000 miles or 100,000 km. If you have an "interference" engine, the
damage done if the belt breaks is very expensive as the engine is pretty
much trashed when the valves hit the pistons.

If the timing belt change is $600 CDN on top of the 297, that sounds about
what I've heard from other dealer experiences posted here. They should have
also asked you if you wanted the water pump change. The reason for that is
the water pump cost is about $80 or so, but the labor is about free since it
is being done for the timing belt. If you last another 97,000 km, change
the pump at that time.

The service probably could have been done for a lot less at an independent
repair shop and you'd still have the warranty. While most dealer do good
work, they tend to be considerably more costly than the small shops.

 

While I'm not sure about the laws in Canada, most U.S. states have laws
that prohibit charging more than a certain amount (usually $50 or so)
without the customer's permission. Most also have a law that prohibits
charging in excess of 110% of the estimate for the estimated work.

I'm not sure why spark plugs would be required to keep your warranty in
force, but it is about time to have them replaced (100,000 km interval).
Similarly, Edwin's exactly correct about the timing belt. But unless I
understand the Canadian warranty incorrectly, isn't it about to expire
anyway? If so, why would you need to do things that are recommended to be
done at 100,000 km to keep a warranty in force that expires at 100,000
km?

Most likely the pulley the other dealer is speaking about is not a pulley
but a hydraulic tensioner for the timing belt. I, too, recommend
replacing this, since I've seen some of them fail. I consider it a case
of better safe than sorry when dealing with the potential of engine
damage. But there's no certainty that it'll fail soon if not replaced.
It'll probably cost you another $150CDN if you replace it while replacing
the timing belt, but about $600CDN if you do it separately because of the
labor involved with accessing the tensioner.