I'm looking at a used 2003 Elantra that's in pretty good shape. Had 1 owner and car has 97k miles. Here's the two issues I did find:

- Brake pedal pulses a bit -- very likely warped front rotors? Scanning other threads/comments posed on the web - seems to be a common issue, so not worried about getting it addressed via a local shop.

- Engine bay has a whine (in belt area) that goes away when throttle is pressed a bit. Move the revs up to 8-900 rpm or so and it goes away. For other owners out there -- when the A/C compressor is activated (and car is sitting) is there a whining noise? Saw this reported elsewhere on the web? I'm thinking that maybe the compressor's clutch is locked and that's causing this issue on the car I'm inspecting? I was not able to get the engine's idle to change when hitting the dash A/C button. It was a cold day here so hard to tell if the A/C really works OK? But on other car's I've been testing, hitting the A/C button usually cause's a change in the engine's idle...

Any thoughts???


Everything else on the car looks pretty good - no water in the spare tire well, interior is nice and clean and no cigarette smell or related discoloration of the headliner, , overall condition of the body is good (other than a few minor dings), muffler has a little rust but not any worse than other cars we own in the 6 year old range, car drives nice, handling was fine.

I was able to verify the t-belt and water pump had been changed at 70k miles (via carfax report) -- will contact a local dealer to see if I can get other mtce history via the VIN #. This car is being sold thru a local dealer --so can't talk to the original owner directly...

 

Based on the VIN # , any Hyundai dealer should be able to pull up the maintenance records for you.
If you buy it from an ordinary dealer, I would suggest you do an inspection first at a Hyundai dealer. $ 100-150 the cost of the inspection might save you some unseen/unaware of problems down the road if you buy it with faults.

Brake pedal pulses - either it may need new rotors/pads, or the control arm bushings start going bad.

Whine - always when the AC is turned on, either idling (sitting) or rolling, the compressor kicks in so there's a noise.
If you have a noise without the AC compressor on that disappears when revved up, it may be one of the pulleys turned by the drive belt (alternator, etc), or the belt itself. Maybe it needs an adjustment, as maybe it became a little loose overtime.

Good luck with your new purchase.

 

Does the whining sound change if you have the steering wheel turned back and forth?

 

No it doesn't -- only changes when the throttle plate is opened a little bit....

 

I have the same problem. Once the engine warms up I get this "whine/sqeal" from the alternator area when it's idling. It goes away only when I rev the engine. Before I took it into the dealer I did notice that turning the steering wheel would start the noise if it wasn't already sounding out. I did take it to the dealer and the first thing the service tech said was, "water pump". The water pump was replaced about a week ago but the sound came back two days later. I think this whine is getting louder by the day. An interesting side note, Mini Cooper owners seem to be having this problem too. I just want to get it fixed because I just bought it 3 weeks ago and it only has 25k miles on it. I just hope the belts don't rip apart or the water pump bust up the rest of the engine. Any advice/help would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

Use a little rubber hose and stick it in your ear and poke around with it to isolate the location of the noise. It's probably the alternator or the power steering pump.