I have a 2012 Hyundai Elantra GLS that we bought new. Driving home the other day the engine oil light came on, about 3 seconds after that the engine started running rough. I was doing 60 MPH on a 4 lane road.

I pulled over on the right side grass strip and shut it down. Got out and checked the oil, none on the dipstick!

Crawled under the car(as far as I could) and discovered oil all over the underside. Well shit! Got the car towed home and did some more research and found the damned oil drain plug was missing!

Called the dealership and they towed the car to their shop. I went to the dealership to see what was happening.

It is important to note that EVERY oil change was done by the dealership and at substantially less than the max mile recommendation.

Got a huge ration of crap about why it was not their fault, yada yada.

Now it seems like the engine is "making noise" that would seem to indicate mechanical damage, and now they are continuing to "hint" that somehow it is my fault. Not buying it!!

No idea when I will get my car back, and even when I do, I am not sure I will trust it!! Especially given their performance with simple oil changes.

If I had not been getting oil changes and filters at no cost I would have done it myself!!!

Working, slowly, with SWHMBO on how to deal with this. Our general consensus is to trade it in on a new one.

This 2012 model car with 67K miles on it was purchased in June 2011. Low mileage in most anybody's book.

Frustrated does not begin to describe my feelings at this point.

Start the process of giving Hyundai corporate an earful and definitely don’t deal with those idiots local to you again!

Yes. Call Hyundai customer service line now.

They should man up and own this problem as their screw up.

I had a coworker who did just as you did: he had all maintenance and repairs done by the dealership so that if anything went wrong, he knew who to blame.

Load the engine up with 90w gear oil and trade it back to them.

You need to make some noise with corporate.

Free oil/filters or not, this is still why I do my own work. If I fuck up my car, that's on me. But I don't trust others to care about my car as much as me, especially when I'm not paying them.

maybe call the local tv and radio stations

Sorry to hear of the bad experience you had with your Hyundai dealer.

My experience with my San Diego Hyundai dealer has been excellent – much better than with two different Toyota dealers. I’m in my second consecutive Hyundai Sonata, and will buy a third one later this year.

Good tips about contacting Hyundai corporate!

Thanks

Edited to add: Sent their HQ an email.

Will be interesting to see the results.

Shame on them.

See if the oil filter on it is a factory Hyundai filter of the type they install at the dealership. If it is, I think it’s gonna be harder for them to deny their culpability. I agree, contact Hyundai corporate. If they don’t help you, I’d hire a nasty ass lawyer with long greasy hair to send the dealership and Hyundai a strongly worded letter and blast them on social media.

Hell, even Walmart and Jiffy Lube stand behind their work better than that.

quote:

I’d hire a nasty ass lawyer with long greasy hair to send the dealership and Hyundai a strongly worded letter and blast them on social media.

After the letter is sent I think it would have more effect if the nasty lawyer showed up on the showroom floor at peak hours.

When did they do the last oil change? Was it very recent?

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:

quote:

I’d hire a nasty ass lawyer with long greasy hair to send the dealership and Hyundai a strongly worded letter and blast them on social media.

After the letter is sent I think it would have more effect if the nasty lawyer showed up on the showroom floor at peak hours.

Forget the lawyer. Just hire Guido and Angelo.

quote:

Originally posted by 1967Goat:
When did they do the last oil change? Was it very recent?

Several months ago. About 6700 miles according to their records.

Hyundai recommends oil changes at 7500 miles.

Never went that long as they always had those free oil and filter change before that. Average miles per year just over 9500 and all "easy" miles.

Absolutely try and get local media involved...they LOVE shaming car dealerships only because they can usually loom like heroes by doing so

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Absolutely try and get local media involved...they LOVE shaming car dealerships only because they can usually loom like heroes by doing so

Yes and No. Stations get A LOT of revenue from those dealerships for the stupid advertising.

Well, something seems to be happening. Not sure it is a result of my email to corporate or the sales manager was brought into the mess.

We got a phone call regarding doing a trade-in with the current car, on a new one.

Wife handled the call, nobody argues with her and her German logic. I think she told them that if they apply $8K towards the new car we would buy it.

I just wish they would shit or get off the pot! Seems like it requires a bunch of running around on their part before anybody actually makes a decision.

leaving it in her hands.

I'm confused.

You got an oil change.

Then, 7k miles later, you lose all of your oil out of the oil drain plug, and the car runs dry.

How is it necessarily the dealers fault? Is the theory that they didn't torque it down to spec or forgot the lock washer when reinstalling the bolt, and the bolt backed itself out over the past 7k miles?

From the dealer's perspective, I'd be concerned that someone would just back their oil drain plug to mess up the engine because they wanted a new car. It's hard to find a really fair middle ground for everyone.

quote:

How is it necessarily the dealers fault? Is the theory that they didn't torque it down to spec or forgot the lock washer when reinstalling the bolt, and the bolt backed itself out over the past 7k miles?

I have been driving for 64 years and have NEVER had a oil drain plug fall out, or come unscrewed, etc, etc.

They did not torque it to the required specs, IMO.

Late breaking news, somebody there must agree with me because they called about 10 minutes ago and offered to put a new engine in the car, at their expense.

And, I do not figure it is excessive to expect a company to actually do the right thing when they screw up. And it appears they agree.

that's great news!! glad they decided to make it right