Question2003 Hyundai Santa Fe V6 - 70,000 Miles
1. Dealership called and said I've missed some required maintenance, and I need to get it done or my warranty is no longer good. Timing belt @60k, Fuel Filter around 50k, spark plugs and a coolant replacement. Will getting these things replaced now (at 70k) keep my warrant valid? Do I need to get them done at the dealership, or can I go anywhere? And if I go somewhere besides the dealership, how do I know if they are honest and quality workers?
2. I have a remote starter on this vehicle, and its worked great for over a year. This week, I noticed it now has to try to start 2 times. The first time it attempts to start, the engine turns over several times and then quits. About 2 minutes later it trys again successfully. However, there is a significant vibration/jerking that I can feel with my feet through the floorboard for about 6-7 seconds when the vehicle does start... any idea what that could be?!!!
Answer1. If you're not the original owner of the vehicle, the bumper-to-bumper warranty has already expired, so no servicing would restore that. If you are the original owner, your powertrain is warranted for 10 years/100,000 miles.
The timing belt is considered a powertrain component by Hyundai. But in all states except California (probably a legal technicality), you're required to replace the timing belt at the specified maintenance interval to maintain the warranty on the timing belt. The maintenance interval is four years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. At this point any problems resulting from a timing belt failure would not be covered by your warranty. On your vehicle, engine damage is likely if the timing belt should fail. If you're the original owner, replacing the timing belt with a new Hyundai timing belt will continue the warranty until 10 years/100k miles. Any shop you desire can do this work, but a factory belt must be used. Hyundai obviously won't cover defects in parts that aren't theirs.
The fuel filter is only warranted for 1 year/12,000 miles, so any problems that would originate from the fuel filter not being replaced wouldn't be covered at all. If the dealer installs a new filter, that filter will be covered under the 1 year/12,000 mile warranty that's offered with all factory repair work.
Spark plugs are covered for four years or 60,000 miles, the maintenance interval on the spark plugs. They're out of warranty, and new plugs installed by the dealer would carry the 1 year/12,000 mile warranty mentioned above.
Replacing the coolant is required every 2 years or 30k miles. If failure to replace the coolant caused a problem with the vehicle, Hyundai would have the right to refuse warranty service on the problems caused by the failure to change the coolant.
Your warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship for the specified periods. Failure to do the proper maintenance won't change your warranty coverage. What it may do is cause problems that occurred because you didn't do the proper maintenance. Those wouldn't be considered defects. For example, if your cooling system began to rust because you hadn't changed your coolant and it had become acidic, that wouldn't be covered by the warranty. As a counterexample, if your transmission broke, failure to do any of the maintenance items you mention above wouldn't have any affect on the warrantability of the transmission as none of them affect the operation of the transmission.
You can get your maintenance work done anywhere. It simply needs to meet the Hyundai's specifications. This means that the proper fluids and parts must be used and that the proper procedures must be used when servicing the vehicle. Any work done by any shop should be warranted by the shop that does the work. I.e., if a shop replaces your spark plugs, you should get a warranty covering your spark plugs against failure for a certain time period and mileage. The timing belt is a special case in that if a factory belt is installed, Hyundai will continue the coverage on the timing belt until 10 years/100,000 miles (original owner only).
I find that word of mouth is the best way to determine whether a shop is honest and competent. And that applies to dealers as well.
All the things you mentioned are good things to do simply because they're the manufacturer's maintenance recommendations.
While the cost of a timing belt may seem large, it's very small compared to the cost of repairing the engine damage that will likely occur if the timing belt fails.
Fuel filters rarely cause problems, but they're often inexpensive enough to be worth doing just to have additional insurance that you won't have a problem.
The worst thing that will happen if you don't replace your spark plugs is that your vehicle will eventually stop running properly. How long it will be until that occurs is impossible to tell. The spark plugs were designed to last 60,000 miles, so that's why the dealer is recommending that you replace them. If you install high quality new platinum spark plugs, they *should be* good for another 60,000 miles. Because of the significant labor involved in doing this job on you're engine, I'd also recommend replacing the spark plug wires when replacing the plugs. The servicing shop should be willing to replace the wires as well for little or no additional labor charges while they're replacing the spark plugs. I recommend using only factory spark plug wires. I've been very unimpressed with even name brand plug wires that aren't factory.
I recommend changing coolant based on the time interval only. How much you run the vehicle shouldn't affect the condition of the coolant. In your case, I'd recommend every two years.
2. It's difficult based on your description to determine whether the problem is with the remote starter or with the vehicle. Furthermore, I don't have any information about the operation of the remote start system on your vehicle. One possibility is that the battery is weak. Other possibilities include just about anything that could affect engine performance. There's also the possibility that the remote start system itself is malfunctioning.
