QuestionI just bought a 01 Elantra with 58,000 miles. I have a hard time getting it in reverse, hear a grinding noise and feel the shifter not fully "seated". What are the possible problems. And also, have you ever heard of the hood release cable breaking? I took the car to get it inspected and after that the release wont work. Do you have any suggestions on getting the hood open? One more thing, when should i get my timing belt replaced and are there any other matainence issues i should know about this model?
AnswerPresuming your car is not moving when you're attempting to shift into reverse, the problem may simply be that the gears aren't aligned sufficiently to engage them. Selecting another gear and returning to reverse is usually sufficient. Allowing the car to roll a little also tends to work well. I doubt there's any problem with your transmission.
For your hood release, check to see whether it's attached to the handle inside the car. If not, it's probably a simple matter of reattaching it. Otherwise, you'll need to try to access the hood latch from underneath the car and manually release the latch. You should expect that this will be quite difficult.
The timing belt is recommended to be replaced at four years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. That probably means you're a year or two overdue for having it replaced. I've never seen a timing belt on this engine fail within the warranty period, but I've seen or heard of failures around the 6 year or 100,000 mile mark.
