What is it with these Sonata transmissions?

Discussion in 'Hyundai Sonata' started by pdp11, Dec 14, 2004.

  1. pdp11

    pdp11 Guest

    When we purchased our 2000 Sonata last year it had 22,000 miles on the
    clock, coming off a lease. The second day we had the car, the automatic
    transmission failed right in the dealer's parking lot when we drove
    there to pick up some paperwork. Much embarassed, the dealer promptly
    replaced the tranny under warranty.

    Some months later we brought the car in due to a noticable whine
    emanating from the drivetrain -- diagnosis: excessive pinion noise,
    requiring replacement of the new transmission.

    Now, several months later, a very noticable whine/whirring sound was
    coming from the drivetrain after returning from a vacation trip. Very
    faint at first, it started getting louder so we brought the car in to
    be checked. After machining the brake rotors and replacing a front
    wheel bearing, the dealer's service people told us the noise persists
    -- diagnosis: replace the transmission (again!!).

    This car has had had to have its transmission changed almost as
    frequently as the engine oil! Thank goodness for the long factory
    warrantee, but that's not even the issue at this point. Just what is
    the deal with these transmissions? Is there some person or department
    at Hyundai to complain to? The dealer's service department has been
    great, but Hyundai seems to be providing them with transmissions that
    fell off the truck somewhere along the way!

    Admittedly I'm from the old school, I've come to expect a certain level
    of reliability in basic drivetrain components. The Sonata is the wife's
    car, I have an old AMC Hornet that I tool around in. The latter has
    been on the road for THIRTY YEARS and, aside from occasional fluid
    changes, the transmission and final drive have NEVER had to be
    serviced. Of course the Hornet's transmission and rear axle alone
    probably weigh almost as much as a complete Hyundai Accent and
    realistically I don't expect the Sonata's drivetrain to go for decades
    without repair, but I'm pretty mortified over this car being on its 4th
    transmission in a year's time.
     
    pdp11, Dec 14, 2004
    #1
  2. pdp11

    halatos2000 Guest

    This car has had had to have its transmission changed almost as
    I would imagine that your repeat failures are caused by improperly
    overhauled replacement units. Originally the transaxles installed in
    these cars were made by mitsubishi if I'm not mistaken. Aside from the
    shift flare problem that was remedied by the TCM update, these
    transaxles seem to work fine provided you do the fluid changes as
    required. My experiences with overhauled automatic
    transmissions/transaxles has been rather poor, most do not last as long
    as the original and they usually develop annoying problems early in
    their life.

    See if you can talk the dealer into giving you a factory new unit. I
    would imagine that you would have much better luck with a new one
    rather than another overhauled one.

    Chris
     
    halatos2000, Dec 15, 2004
    #2
  3. pdp11

    pdp11 Guest

    I would imagine that your repeat failures are caused by improperly
    That may be the case, though I would think a factory rebuilt unit
    should be pretty good. Actually, except for the first failure, it's not
    the transmission itself that has been problematical. Both replacements
    shifted quite well, the trouble with both was pinion whine, indicating
    excessively worn or misaligned gears in the final drive. In an older
    car with conventional rear-drive, the rear axle or differential would
    be serviced in such cases, but of course in a front-drive transaxle the
    differential is part of the transmission. (Presumably it is not
    cost-effective to tear down and fix just the differential in these
    units, particularly since differentials are tricky to set up right.)
    I recall reading someplace that the design came to Hyundai through
    Mitsubishi, but that it ultimately is derived from Chrysler. Not sure
    whether Hyundai buys them, or builds them under license.
    At this point they have already ordered whatever they are going to
    install. If the same problem rears its head we're going to have to get
    more aggressive about obtaining a proper fix.
     
    pdp11, Dec 16, 2004
    #3
  4. pdp11

    KR Guest

    I am on my fourth trans in my 2002 XG and it is now starting to act
    up. Shifting twice when going into 4rth gear.
    My car has 26,000 miles on it.
     
    KR, Dec 16, 2004
    #4
  5. pdp11

    hyundaitech Guest

    Unfortunately, there's little you can do. Hyundai will neither allow the
    dealer to overhaul the unit themselves nor install a new unit. If it has
    an internal failure, they are required to replace it with a remanufactured
    unit.

    This transmission has relatively few failures, so I suspect there aren't
    many remans out there. I've replaced so few, I can't judge reman
    performance. Hyundai has had problems with their remanufacturing vendors
    in the past, and has learned how to take certain actions that will improve
    things. With their original remanufacturer, they began shopping for
    another, and (big surprise) this remanufacturer's quality went up. The
    problem is that they're paid per unit, so they naturally try to do as many
    units as they can as quickly as they can. It's been clear to me that the
    original remanufacturer was simply not doing all the things they said. I
    recall a car in the mid nineties in which I had to replace the
    transmission three times in the period of a week. It came it with a trans
    problem and left ok. In a few days it came back because the torque
    converter clutch was staying on and causing the car to stall at stops. I
    believe this was because the remanufacturer failed to open and overhaul
    the torque converter like they said they did. The next transmission
    didn't even leave the lot. On the test drive, fluid was spewing out. It
    looked like a bad end cover seal, so I removed the cover to replace the
    seal only to find that it looked like someone had dragged the sealing
    surface about fifty yards across a concrete floor. The remanufacturer
    said they bench tested all the transmissions, but obviously they didn't
    test this one or I would never have received it. The third one finally
    did the trick.
    If you continue to have problems, try to get Hyundai to give you some
    sort of concession. You probably won't get the new trannie, but you might
    get an extended powertrain warranty or something. I think it's reasonable
    that if you continue to have problems with these units that Hyundai make
    some gesture that indicates their willingness to stand behind them.
     
    hyundaitech, Dec 16, 2004
    #5
  6. pdp11

    Sniper Guest

    Hyundaitech,

    Are the current Sonata transmissions any better?

    Thanks
     
    Sniper, Dec 17, 2004
    #6
  7. pdp11

    pdp11 Guest

    I have no problem with remanufactured transmissions as long as they
    have been properly overhauled. (I've gotten excellent service from such
    units over the years in other cars.) On the first two replacement
    trannies that were installed in our Sonata it appeared that whoever did
    the overhaul job either never bothered to check the final drive, or did
    not service it correctly.

    This evening we picked the car up, and it seems OK. This transmission
    is the quietest of the bunch and it shifts just fine, seems essentially
    like new. Hopefully the third time is the charm and that will be the
    end of this aggravating problem.

    Maybe they just don't care, but Hyundai has to realize that there is a
    lot of "bad karma" associated with these kind of incidents. Not only
    are we considering our own plans to perhaps purchase a new Sonata or
    Santa Fe in a year or two, everyone we know is telling us "see, we told
    you those cars are junk!" I personally don't believe that, but it was
    not long ago that this was pretty much the case and the market has a
    long memory for such things.
     
    pdp11, Dec 17, 2004
    #7
  8. pdp11

    KR Guest

    I remember in April Hyundai earned a best New Car Initial Quality
    Award. I laughed at the time as I felt it was a joke with all the
    problems I have had with my XG. I feel sorry for anyone purchasing
    anything better than an Elantra from Hyundai.
     
    KR, Dec 17, 2004
    #8
  9. pdp11

    hyundaitech Guest

    1999-2005 Sonatas all use basically the same transmission and are
    relatively trouble-free. The poster likely had a rare issue with his
    vehicle and has had reman issues since that time. I see no significant
    problem with the 99-05 trannies in Sonatas.
     
    hyundaitech, Dec 17, 2004
    #9
  10. pdp11

    theta Guest

    didn't

    Really..how were you able to communicate with the remanufacturer?
     
    theta, Dec 18, 2004
    #10
  11. pdp11

    Sniper Guest

    Thanks!!!
     
    Sniper, Dec 18, 2004
    #11
  12. pdp11

    me Guest

    I would like to think so, but the tranny on my '04 Sonata GLS hasn't
    been right since the day I drove it off the lot, but of course the
    dealer says there is nothing wrong.
     
    me, Dec 19, 2004
    #12
  13. pdp11

    hyundaitech Guest

    I think you've got pretty much the right attitude about this. The Sonata
    isn't the best quality car out there, but it's better than any American
    car I can think of that directly competes with it. If you're looking for
    tops, I'd recommend the Camry or Accord.
     
    hyundaitech, Dec 22, 2004
    #13
  14. pdp11

    hyundaitech Guest

    The award Hyundai received was for -initial quality- for the -Sonata-. If
    you know what this award means, then you also know it doesn't mean very
    much. If I recall correctly, initial quality refers to problems in the
    first three or six months. This is of course not very indicative of the
    overall lifetime quality. Similarly, the award was for the Sonata, not
    the XG or any other model. I believe the XG to be the lowest quality of
    any Hyundai model offered in the U.S. It's got more doodads and more ways
    to break. I've seen or heard of nagging problems with the transmission,
    variable intake, and electronic throttle on the XG. Two of these can't
    even exist on the Sonata, since it doesn't have these systems. Hyundai
    knows of several problems on 01 XG's and has made many steps to correct
    them. But, as the original poster said, there's a long memory. Although
    at the very least, Hyundai has probably corrected the trannie issues, I
    don't know whether that's really so. While I don't see many XG tranny
    problems, either, that doesn't change the fact that I know these problems
    existed and that my opinion is now tarnished.
     
    hyundaitech, Dec 22, 2004
    #14
  15. pdp11

    theta Guest

    If I remember correctly, you didn't answer my question when I asked the
    first time, so here's another chance for you to come clean on this.

    How familiar are you with Toyotas and Hondas?

    I've never seen you posting in the Honda and Toyota newsgroups. Not a
    single post.

    One extra question:

    Why is a GM tech masquerading as a "Hyundai tech" on Hyundai newsgroup?
     
    theta, Dec 22, 2004
    #15
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