hyundai dealer has had my azera all week; it's still starting no problem; the problem is the battery once jumped (charged) takes weeks if not months to drain down again? they can't find a problem, sent them your reply sbr711. thanks

 

Please clarify the specifics of the daily life of your car..

 

i drive the car daily; mainly around town, 35 to 45 mph; 12 to 20 miles a day average.

 

I have a 2012 Sonata GLS bought new. We left town for 7 weeks and the battery was down too far to start the car when we returned, although the radio presets still held. We left town again for 10 days and the battery would not start the car when we returned. A friend had a 2011 Sonata and now has a 2013 Sonata. He has left his car unattended for longer periods, but it always starts fine when he returns. I found this discussion related to the Azera, but did not find a discussion of this related to the Sonata, so I posted here. Thank you.

 

I removed the grounding cable from the battery and connected my digital multimeter between the battery post and the cable's clamp in order to measure any current draw. As best I was able to do, every user controlled device on the car was "off" and the key was removed from the ignition. The current draw was nearly half of an amp. This seems excessive.

 

My factory radio/stereo was the culprit; they replaced under warranty; first they used factory rebuilt radio and it still drained battery; then they put in new radio and praise God Almighty, no problem since. It's been almost a year now. Try cutting off the radio, this may save your battery. It was only draining battery with the radio on, car off.

 

I took the car to the dealer yesterday for its 7500 mile checkup. The technician ran a diagnostic procedure on the charging system and says everything is just fine. The people at the desk claim Hyundai issued a TSB advising that people do not leave their car for more than a week without starting it. They advised connecting a trickle charger to the battery.

I think I mentioned I have a friend with a 2013 Sonata. He has left his car for more than ten days without starting it and his battery did not go down.

I wonder what I am to do if I park the car in an airport garage and am gone for two or three weeks.

I will check the power drain with the radio fuse removed.

 

I just discovered my 2012 Sonata has a "memory fuse" located in the fuse panel low between the steering column and the driver's side door. It is really two fuses mounted in a yellow fuse holder the owner can easily grasp and pull toward himself. That takes out the radio, the dash lights, and the dome lights at minimum. The current draw goes from half of an amp. to forty milliamps when the memory fuse holder is pulled. It is an extra thing to remember when leaving the car at the airport, but the battery should be good after several weeks. The car will start with the memory fuse pulled.

Information about the memory fuse is in the owner's manual in the section on fuses. Even if I had read that part, I doubt I would have made the connection between it and my problem, or remembered it. Why didn't my dealer tell me about the memory fuse instead of telling me a half amp. current draw is normal and I should simply get a trickle charger? Here is a detailed description I posted about this.

 

I sent some e-mail to Hyundai America asking why the dealer did not mention the memory fuse to me when I asked what I do at the airport when I need to leave my car for a couple of weeks. I told them about a friend who asked the same thing of his dealer in another city. My friend even led the dealer and asked if there were a fuse he could pull. The dealer said he knew of none! Anyway, Hyundai said each car has roadside service for a period of about 5 years. So, Hyundai would prefer that you call roadside service late some cold night when you land at your home airport and your car will not start rather than telling you ahead of time about the memory fuse. This seems like a horrible way to do public relations. What is an owner to think when he learns Hyundai could have told him about the memory fuse and he could have avoided a dead battery, but had to call roadside service and wait? This seems crazy.

 

First, this is totally normal. I had to jump start my wifes Kia Sedona minivan (Hyundai Entourage twin) at the airport parking lot after we got back from a week in Disney just last week because I forgot to pull the memory shunt. Your battery WILL DIE from just a few days of sitting.

Like you found out, that information is clearly printed in your owners manual. Do you really expect the dealer to know and tell you every small detail of your car when you buy it? That's what the manual is for. YOU are supposed to read it and educate yourself.



Did the dealer tell you what weight oil you should use?
Did the dealer tell you what the correct tire pressures should be?
Did the dealer tell you every detail of the radio system?
Did the dealer tell you how to replace the battery in your keyless entry remote?
Did the dealer tell you the correct lug nut torque?

Again, the dealer isn't going to tell you every little detail. You need to find all that information in the owners manual they provide for you. Take ownership instead of blaming others. That's a common problem in America today. Everything is someone else’s fault.