Tachometer drops to zero RPM, traction control light comes on, and acceleration almost non-existant

Hello, sorry if this has been asked before, I tried doing a search but couldn't find anything relevant.

My 2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS 2.4L with ~72000 miles has had some strange engine problems intermittently, most recently two nights ago.

Towards the tail-end of my 33 mile drive home from work, I was accelerating from a stop light when the car jerked as it lost all power, the RPM needle dropped to 0 on the tachometer, the traction control light illuminated and stayed on, the air from AC started blowing warm, and the acceleration would not increase if I pushed the gas pedal more than 1/8th of the way down. If I stop moving, the engine will sputter and shake the whole car.

Whenever this happens, I can pull over to the side of the road, turn my car off and then back on and the problem will go away. I'm not trying to drag race anyone, but this can be a problem should it happen while merging onto a highway or trying to pass in traffic.

I have tried bringing it to the dealership to have them investigate it with a warranty claim, but they can never replicate the issue. Does anyone else have experience with this issue that they had resolved? My warranty expires in less than 3 months, so I'd like to get the issue fixed ASAP.

Thanks in advance

 

Hey did you ever get a resolution for this issue, my family member is experiencing the exact same issue?

 

Hello.
Did your family member get a resolution for this issue? My hyundai elantra has the exact same issue.

 

I am having this same problem as well. Exact same vehicle No check engine light no codes. Happens a lot when going up hill and it kicks down from 6th gear into 5th. I can pull the shift lever to the left into manual shift and it says its back in 6th but still in limp mode.

 

Did you ever get this figured out? I have the exact same issue

 

My daughters 2011 Sonata is dong the exact same thing. Why isn't someone from Hyundai answering these questions, do they not review the forum?

 

No I did not get any answers. IDK why no one is jumping in to help. I did find similar threads in the forums with answers of crank sensor, knock sensor, speed sensor but nothing definitive. It's annoying as hell to drive this vehicle

 

The crank sensor is the most likely problem

 

I bought a new OBD2 scanner 3 days ago and scanned my sonata yesterday and it found a generic code for crank sensor. My old scanner didnt find it and the CEL wasnt on. I ordered a new crank sensor from parts geek so it should be here by the weekend. Hopefully it keeps running for the next couple days. Thanks for the reply!

 

Most of the time a crank sensor will not show a code, because the computer does not think the engine is running when no pulses ate sent to it

 

Agreed. The symptoms were, sometimes the tach would just drop and then come right back up and continue on. It almost felt like running out of fuel, then sometimes the tach dropped to zero and went into limp mode, traction control light came on, a/c compressor stopped running fan worked fine and never threw up a code for anything...Then one glorious day, it happened and my CEL came up. My 10 year old or so scanner could not read it. Said no codes. I went and bought a new Craftsman Scanner and scanned it. The result was... "Generic" Crank Sensor no code number just that and wouldnt let me clear it. Said "Permanent" now the hard part is trying to find where the stupid thing is so I can change it...I got one from parts geek

 

If I remember correctly, it's on the back of the engine near the transmission.

 

Yeah I cant see it from the top so Im assuming I have to jack it up and pull the bottom cover off with 123,986,345,881 10mm bolts in it.

 

I know! it's a pain! I have had that cover off a few times already.

 

Alright guys I’ll help solve this issue you’re having. The problem is your ignition coils. Change them to a brand new oem coils or the one from autozone. I had the same issue after I changed to aftermarket coils but soon as I put new oem ones in the issue disappeared totally. I drove 150miles today and nothing went wrong. My car is a 2011 Hyundai Sonata gls. Get a 10mm and you can do it yourself

 

Alright guys I’ll help solve this issue you’re having. The problem is your ignition coils. Change them to a brand new oem coils or the one from autozone. I had the same issue after I changed to aftermarket coils but soon as I put new oem ones in the issue disappeared totally. I drove 150miles today and nothing went wrong. My car is a 2011 Hyundai Sonata gls. Get a 10mm and you can do it yourself

 

Thanks for the response, have you had any additional issues with it shutting down since you changed out the ignition coils? I don't want to spend the money on that if it's just going to do the same thing a few hundred miles into it.
Still very disappointed as with a lot of folks posting on here that there is no Hyundai tech support chiming in with a most likely culprit causing everyone's shutdown issues. The dealership I have taken it too wasn't much help either.

 

Found the solution, at least for my daughters 2011 Sonata 4cyl. First, I changed the coil packs/spark plugs as one person suggested. this made it much worse as while the engine itself ran much smoother, it caused the car to go into shutdown mode even more often...3-4 times per day. Finally, the check engine light came on along with the traction control, and loss of power. O'Reilly scanned and showed it to be the crankshaft position sensor. I ordered a Hyundai brand sensor off of Amazon for around $40 and changed it out myself (consult a couple YouTube videos for help) and the car has been running great for a few weeks now with no issues. This worked in our situation, hopefully it will help some of your cars issues also. Good luck!

 

Crank sensor fixed my problem

 

I just went through this issue and it was an absolute nightmare.
I drive a 2014 Sonata.
Same issues.... Car while driving would jerk, rpm drops to 0, traction control light comes on and car goes into limp mode. No check engine light. Turning off the car for 5 minutes and turning it back on resets the issue.
I initially took it to a local automotive shop, where they replaced the full throttle body three separate times. Claiming that the first aftermarket part was a faulty. The second replacement they said that perhaps my car doesn’t do well with aftermarket. So then we ordered an OEM part, with the issue still happening. I finally caved and took it to the dealership.
Within 24 hours they diagnosed the issue as the Crank Sensor. Replaced the part. Problem solved.