Problems with a 2000 Hyundai Elantra?

Question

The other night while driving home from visiting family, I pulled up to a stoplight and my car(2000 Hyundai Elantra-automatic transmission) just died. There was no sputtering, jerking or any other kind of weird noises...it just turned itself off. I tried restarting it but the engine just made a high pitched whining sound and sounded like the starter was not engaging. We managed to push it off the road and my husband tried to figure out what was wrong with it. At first, we were certain that the starter was not the problem. However, his father came to look at it and said that the starter was not engaging at all and that if the bendix(sp?) had come loose and hit the fly wheel it would have caused the engine to die. We've now replaced the starter with a brand new one but alas, we still have the same problem. Anyone have any idea what the problem could possibly be? We won't be able to have it towed to a garage until Wednesday. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've had my car since July 2001. Bought it brand new from the dealer...it's been babied and taken well care of and it's been a great car the several years and 160,000 miles that I've had it. I know Hyundais USED to be a very "iffy" vehicle to buy but I've had no problems whatsoever out of mine till now and I've heard nothing but good things about them in the last several years.

Answer 1

Urban:
I understand your father-in-laws comments, but I think Hambone nailed this one. Also, it is expensive to fix cars by guessing at which component to replace!

However, I have seen engines make a high pitch whining sound from loss of compression due to a blow head gasket. But that failure is usually accompanied by some of the sputtering and other symptoms that you did not observer.

In either case, the high pitch whining sound is coming from reduced load on the crankshaft and pistons. With the broken timing belt, the camshaft does not turn and the engine will crank faster than normal.

One point that Hambone did not mention is that the Elantra has what is called an "interference" engine. This means that with loss of timing, the pistons can come in contact with an intake or exhaust valve and slightly bend one (or more).

It is not possible to diagnose bent valves until the timing is restored. The valves (cam) must be correctly 'coordinated' with the crankshaft in order to compression test.

If a valve is bent, the head must be removed to repair. With 160K miles, any shop would want to do a complete valve job and typically resurface the head. But this is worse case.

I have seen interference engines incur no damage from a broken timing belt. This is primarily due to the engine speed and cam position when the belt broke.

Say a prayer and hope for the best!
Marc

ps. I hope michrb52 can climb back into the hole from which he emerged. He is of no help to Yahoo users.

Answer 2

Well, you have a 7 year old car with 160k on it. No big deal in this day and age. You mentioned all the particulars of the vehicle except for the maintenance schedule. When was the timing belt replaced? Ordinarily no manufacturer reccommends running the belt over 90k. Easy to check, pull off the oil fill cap, have someone crank the motor for a few seconds while you look at the cam lobes. If they don't move, it needs a belt. If you can't see the lobes, you'll have to pull back the belt cover and look at the cam gear while someone cranks. Sucks to lose a belt, but have to stay on top of the maintenance.

Answer 3

the problem is.... it's a Hyundai, and Hyundai is grandfather to Kia , are you getting my drift? I have always wondered what kind of person buys Hyundais and Kias? and why? I hike cars (from industry auctions and dealers) on and off and the worst ones are these 2. (you need to have a diagnostic done)

Answer 4

i think it may be a good idea to book it into a garage for a tune up and diagnostic job