This might be a dumb question but if you have a Hyundai Elantra Touring with an automatic transmission, how did you get it with 5 gears. I thought the autos had 4 gears only and manuals had 5 gears.

 

SBR711 gave the response I would expect from a brush off mechanic. With his logic, a car be redlining to the moon, and there would be nothing wrong as long as it wasnt knocking or slipping. And as for the double talk on codes.
Rediculous.
Technology is, at best, somewhat dependable. I am a computer network engineer, and the last thing I do is simlpy trust the computer. There are ahundred differant things that could be wrong in this car the computer wouldnt catch.
No one should ever accept an answer like SBR711's. Never ever.
Its that sort of logic that gets these dealers out of doing necassary work, and believe me, I've dealt with it before. I've seen these dealers twist and squirm like there's no tomorrow to get out of warranty work.
And to Zero10: Classy response. My apologies for taking a tone. For what its worth, your response was dignified and mature. Yea, I'm just upset.
Anyway, I've driven this car in every possible way, including force shifting by lifting my foot off the accelerator, it just winds down, doesnt shift below 3k rpms, which is rediculously high, and makes for a gas hog.
Can I just get some feedback on where some of you are getting your shifts in automatic. I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
John

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I went to the dealer 3 times for a steering issue. The first 2 times, they said the alignment was set to the computer, they just rotated the tires and gave me a story about people needing to get used to driving a new car. I made a fuss about doing a test drive with a mechanic and an hour later they came back and said the computer was set for a 2009 and not a 2010.

That corrected 90% of the pull but it was still not right. On my next visit for an oil change i mentioned it to another service adviser and he said the steering wheel was crooked so they just adjusted it. Now the car steering is 100%


No issues on RPMs or MPGs for me. I keep toys on my roof rack so I barely get 20 but that's still better than my old van which barely got 13 with the same stuff on the roof

 

Perhaps my response was a bit abrupt as well, my apologies.

I have driven 3 2010 Elantra Tourings with automatic transmissions (we did a lot of poking, prodding and test driving before we bought ours). 2 of them were near-new (under 500km) and they shifted as follows:
1-2: 2500-2600RPM
2-3: 1800-2000RPM
3-4: ~1800RPM (and this left it at ~1300RPM in 4th which is IMO too low, since it has no power and would vibrate badly at this speed)

I also was given a 2010 ET as a loaner while my car was being held overnight, after driving it for ~80km it shifted as follows:
1-2: 2100-2200RPM
2-3: 1800RPM-1900RPM
3-4: 1600-1700RPM (leaving it at ~1200RPM in 4th, which again, is FAR too low)

When I picked it up, the first 5 or 6 shifts from 1-2 were at 3000RPM or higher, then it would pretty must just jump 2-3-4, almost no time in each gear along the way. I was wondering to myself just what was wrong with the car but it did clean up and behave properly after ~10-15km

I did not think the automatics had a 5th gear either, as I don't recall the ones I drove ever shifting a 4th time while accelerating.

It seemed to me that the transmission shift points depend on your driving style over time, i.e. that the transmission computer learns your driving style, but perhaps that was just my imagination. If it does learn your driving style this can make it very hard for a tech to diagnose an issue like incorrect shift points. I wonder if there is some way to reset the learned shift points to aid in further diagnosing the issue? In my VW this could be done by playing with the accelerator pedal with key on, engine off, I forget the exact procedure but every time I let somebody else drive my car I had to do this or it would shift at times I wouldn't expect.


Could you provide more details about the report including shift points that the dealership provided you with? Did they run the car on a dyno to measure it's shift points? You mentioned a dyno in a previous post so I am curious. What I am wondering is exactly how they got those numbers?
I mean, it isn't like the transmission computer logs every single shift since the car was new, so they can't exactly pull those numbers from your drive to the shop or something, and it sounded like they couldn't duplicate those numbers while road testing the car.

Lastly, I hate to play the bad guy here but:
You took it to the dealership and the dealership mechanic agreed there is a problem, they said they would speak to their tech line and call you back within 3 days, but from what is posted here it does not sound like you have called the dealership back over a week later? My first step would be to call back and pursue this directly with the dealership technicians. If you can get them to agree that their computer readings do not match the car's behavior they should be obligated to follow up on this.

 

My 2010 has about 2200 miles on it so far, and this is about where it shifts:

1-2: 25-2700

2-3: 24 to 2800, depending on how heavy my foot is.

3-4: 21-2200

I'm getting about 28 mpg combined--not stellar, but I'm OK with it.

Good luck getting your issues sorted out.

 

Thanks Zero10, appreciate it.
Ok, feel kind of dumb here, but have to raise my hand. Yes, 4 gears is right. I listed a fifth value by mistake. It was late that night, and works been killing me lately, which probably isnt helping my attitude. That said, I bought this car for better mileage and I drive 95% city miles.
To answer your questions. The figures I listed were from the Dyno. The car was hooked up and ran. I didnt actually see it, but have the printout. The values I got are in line with what you have experianced in your test drives etc. The mechanic, sitting in the service managers office with me, said the Dyno values were spot on factory spec.
Then he and I test drove it together. Me for a few miles, then him.
No matter what we tried, as in, lifting our foot off the gas pedal to force a shift, going slow, etc. It WILL NOT shift before 3k RPMs. And if we gunned it, it wouldnt shift until well in the red.
I did phone the service manager this past Friday. I left a message on his voice mail. So far no call back from anyone.
Its beyond me how their Dyno was so far off on each shift point.
These things are supposed to recreate real world conditions.
The test drive was on flat, city streets by the way, some long runs, a half mile or so, and some stop and go with traffic lights.
At this point, I feel a fight comin'. Call it gut instinct.
I hope I'm wrong, but I met this same resistance with a Tioga motohome in 2000, and my Nissan Titan.
The motorhome had various issues. Tioga tried screw with me, blaming me, then calling me a complainer. Yea, for 100k, you bet I'll complain if things aint right!
Fleetwood ended buyin that hunk back under Ca. Lemon Law.
I sued for court costs, and time off work too. Won that as well.
The Titan was a tranny issue. You can google it. Alot of the 06 Titan 4X4's had these bad tranny's. I took it in, dealer balked. I drove it with a mechanic, It was slipping in low gear, the dealer still balked. But Nissan Corporate took over and fixed it with no hassles. It was the dealer who didnt want to deal with it.
Anyway, I've had alot of good cars in my life. Just these two past issues.
But what this Hyundai's doing just aint kosher. And if they think I'm just going to suck it up, they are sadly mistaken.
I'm going to give it until next Monday before I call again.
Call it stubborn, but i shouldnt have to keep calling them. I mean, its not like this is some no name motorcycle I picked up on ebay through some chinese company. (No, never have, just sayin') This is a major car manufacturer. And when I pay nearly 20k for something before alls said and done, (Tax, etc.) I shouldnt have to beg for their attention. And if thats the case, then once they get my attention, they wont like it.
I'm a decent man who works hard for EVERY dollar, and I dont like to be screwed, if you know what I mean.
What goods a warranty, ANY warranty, if the company giving it wont honor it?
Dont mean to go on and on, but hey man, even there Dyno isnt working right. Whats that tell you?
Anyway, like I said too, just to be clear. I like the car, or wouldnt have bought it. But like anything, when it dont work as advertised, well, I want it fixed. Pretty simple.
Thanks again for your time and help Zero, and everyone else. it is very much appreciated. Good Karma to you all!
John

 

The reason I asked about the dyno is because I wanted to make sure they didn't do something stupid like put the car on a hoist and run it with the wheels in the air to get those numbers. Sounds stupid but I've seen it done in shops here and of course, that would not reflect real road conditions when it comes to shift points.

It sounds like your Elantra Touring is shifting at about the same points as everybody else's (and the ones I have driven). I think it would be beneficial if other people posting mileage also posted their driving conditions so that a more direct comparison could be made.

I thought I posted this above but it looks like I didn't. The only mileage numbers I have are from the loaner car, I drove the dealerships car for 82km and it took 7.8L to fill for ~10.5L/100km or 22mpg. My driving is 100% city traffic, I live near the center of Calgary and drive almost exclusively during rush hour morning and night.

 

So, I finally figured it out on my own.
Went to hmaservice.com, the Hyundai factory service site, and confimed my Elanta Touring, 09', has the adaptive transmission, or Adaptive TCM. All I can figure is that i broke it in on a long road trip, almost 1k miles up the Ca. coast. It must have LEARNED to wind out, thinking I like to race around. seems these cars will adapt to the drivers foot. From what I gathered through research, there used to be a switch in most Hyundais that allowed the driver a choice of three driving styles. Their choice would adjust the Transmission Control Module. About three years ago they started using this adaptive thing. So, it would APPEAR I need the TCM "reset" to learn my style not driving up the windy coastal roads of California coast. Funny thing is, the mechanic who drove with me said, and I quote, "I think some of these cars learn to shift, but not this one" End quote. But on the hmaservice site, which requires registartion, I found the actual step by step instructions for reseting the TCM for just my issue. The mechanic didnt know this, nor the service manager. Or, if they did, they didnt let me in on the secret. Neither of which gives me faith in these guys. Now, in all fairness, this could be specific to the dealer. Tomorrow I am calling Hyundai North America to explain my problem, the evident cure, and referral to a differant dealer for the TCM reset. Because yea, my foot was ALOT heavier driving north through Big Sir etc. But here in town, I drive easy like Weezy.
Thanks again to everyone, and I hope this info helps others with problem. By the way, for anyone who cares, there is a TCM notice (code/program update) for new Sonata's because of, (all together now), "Bad Shift Points"
John

 

Nice to know John! Nice research.

 

I have not read the exact article on hmaservice, however I want to throw one thing out there to think about:
Adaptive transmissions usually only consider the last few trips when picking their shift points, it is rare for them to consider more than say 100 miles unless you only drive for long distances on each trip. Because of this, the transmission will then need to be reset frequently, possibly explaining why the dealership was not interested in performing this procedure, because it would need to be re-done at regular intervals. Typically something like this would be covered by the 1 year "adjustments" warranty, so I would only expect them to do this for the first year.


For what it's worth, the procedure to reset the adaptive shift points in my golf was to turn the key to on, and either slowly depress the accelerator and hold it to the floor for 10 seconds then lift and turn the key off, or it was to press it 3 times within 8-10 seconds then turn the key off. I don't recall which, but it was one of those two methods. Perhaps one of them may also work on your car? Hyundai copied a lot of things from VW when they designed the car, so maybe this helps? (also, I heard that the US Elantra Tourings had a drive-by-wire setup for the throttle, unlike us Canadians who have the throttle cable, making this more likely to be of assistance)