windeguy
Posts: 1
Joined: 7/18/2007
Status: offline
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Pardon my long first post:
I have a Hyundai 2003 Santa Fe with 4 cylinder engine and automatic transmission. I live in the Dominican Republic, so service people familiar with the Santa Fe are hard to find. Also, there was only a 1 year warranty here, not the 10/100K one like in the US. All of what we needed to do is after our warranty here had expired.
Several months back it had a transmission problem which caused it to shift randomly and then be stuck in what I recall was 2nd gear. The car acted like the brakes were applied full on when the sudden down shift took place. ( I understand that safe mode is supposed to be 3rd gear by reading other posts). I was a long way from home, so I limped back slowly, it would shift normally for a time, but that lock up like the breaks were being applied happened several more times. From the next day, I didn't notice a problem until one day my wife was driving it and the engine seized up. The timing belt prematurely failed at only 30,000 miles, a piston vaporized and bent a connecting rod. We had the engine painfully rebuilt. I had to fly parts in from the US because the local dealer didn't have much of what we needed (rebuilt cylinder head, Piston, rings, belts ) . Also had to have the one cylinder re-sleeved. The engine is now running well, but two days ago the transmission problem happened again a few miles from home and I immediately returned home, slowly. I had also noticed that when shifting from park to reverse it jerked quite a bit. We called the dealer and they came to us with the diagnostic computer interface. No errors were found, but the technician replaced the speed sensor part number 42621-39052. To my surprise, this appears to have been the problem. I think that the previous jolts might have caused the premature failure of the engine as well. It was just like I hit something when the transmission would suddenly downshift and lock up the wheels. Hopefully, this will be the fix for the current problem. (By the way, the cost for the "house call" and the sensor came to $240 US. They had a 120 mile round trip and then charged double what the sensor would have been in the US. Parts and labor rebuilding the engine previously totalled $2,200. )
Any comments on if this transmission shifting issue might have caused the engine damage by stressing the belt(s) and causing the failure of the timing belt?
< Message edited by windeguy -- 7/18/2007 7:35:43 PM >
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Printable Version
2003 Santa Fe auto transmission problem - 
