[anshul_babbar]

The title might sound gullible, but this prominent Hyundai dealership has ruined the gear box of my Santro Xing (2009).

I had done the 30K service at HMP and per the service schedule I had got the required fluids replaced (gear oil included). Somewhere around the 35K mark the gears had become quite hard during cold starts; I thought it must be normal as many people on the forum have reported this as normal during winters. Gradually, the gears became more hard during mornings and I struggled changing gears, especially shifting to second (both upshift and downshift) was tough.

Lack of time due to personal and professional commitments kept me from visiting HMP (though i had made appointments a couple of times). At the 37K mark I was totally fed up with the gear shifts and went to a local mechanic, who advised me to change the gear oil and engine oil to smoothen the engine and the gear box.

I bought Mobil Super 10W-30 for the engine and Mobil 75W-90 for the gearbox (Hyundai recommended ratings). When the oils were being flushed, the mechanic observed a somewhat unusual color gear oil being drained and shouted that the sump is full of water!

I thought it must be their usual trait to exaggerate about the ills of going to authorized service centers to make more regular customers. But when I bent to see the oil I was literally It had the color of dough mixed with milk or something and was coarse as rust in an completely oxidized iron tank.
This might sound exaggerated but I have witnesses present at the work shop.

Now, post the oil change the engine has become butter smooth but the gears still remain somewhat hard. I think the gates are damaged as I need to alter the directions to engage gears properly. The shift from 1st to second isnt a straight pull downwards, I have to put it in neutral first wait for a sec and then engage the second gear at a 80 degree angle rather than 90. At times I also have to rev match and double clutch to engage gears in the mornings.

I am looking for a solution for this; going to HMP directly doesn't seem to be a good option as they would likely try to round me up for the service done outside. I have dropped a complaint on the Hyundai website for this and I am still awaiting their response.

I need advice of bhpians about-

1) how to go about the gear box overhaul (if needed)
a good local mechanic/HASS

2) how to fight my case against HMP.

I do know some top managers at Hyundai professionally (we are their consultants) but I don't think I would be able to go to them (being their vendors )

I am also evaluating a third option of selling the car and getting a maruti/fiat diesel but that would cause unnecessary stress on my finances.

I have all the service bills with me and would upload everything here once I get to town.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by anshul_babbar

...this prominent Hyundai dealership has ruined the gear box of my Santro Xing (2009).

It makes no sense at all when you say that your gearbox was water-contaminated after HMP changed the gear oil for you at the 30k km mark. HMP & HMIL will completely rubbish your claim, esp. since the oil was drained outside and refilled.

If you had driven in water / the street where you park had been waterlogged, this is the likely result. Haw long ago was it that the gear oil was changed? Can you conclusively prove to anyone that your car was not immersed in water?

I would suggest you flush out the gearbox with a flushing oil and refill with fresh oil once again. If, after that, there are no weird noises while driving and the shifting is not too difficult, you can live with it or sell the car.

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

7K after oil change, if there is water in engine - have you checked the water levels in the cooling system?

How is the emission? Have you done a pollution certification lately? Please do it again, and see if there is anything abnormal.

As advised, I suggest you do a oil change again - since you got foreign solids in oil. And preferably, from another place - for I have enough (bad) experiences with workshops who think I am a n00b.

[Durango Dude]

Sorry to hear of your Santro. How did your car behave after service and until 35K? If it has been OK then water may have entered sometime in between service being done and that 35k odo reading. Recollect where all you have driven to arrive at a solution. I have found HMP quiet good in service as they have no vested interests as they are COCO. Hope you have shot of a mail to cr@hmil.net with the requisite info and photo's if any. Keep the bills and receipts safe for future reference. Also talk to the service advisor who handled your car. I think it wasn't a good idea to have taken the car to a local mechanic before getting it checked by HMP. My Elantra developed a engine oil leak after service and I had to take it back twice before they set it right and finally changed the drain nut free of cost after I shot of a mail to cr@hmil.net.

[amrisharm]

A fairly new santro should have a water tight gearbox with all the seals and rubber/metal gaskets in tact so where could the water have gotten in from?

I just have a general question. i too am a satisfied customer of a 2010 santro and last monsoons, my santro did drive across fairly deep pool of water as in 40% of the wheels submerged I would say. This happened a few times, 2-3 times. Am I in danger of a similar consequence? Can i do any sort of check?

For the record I have not noticed any hardness or anything while changing gears.

[anshul_babbar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

..HMP & HMIL will completely rubbish your claim, esp. since the oil was drained outside and refilled.

If you had driven in water / the street where you park had been waterlogged, this is the likely result. Haw long ago was it that the gear oil was changed? Can you conclusively prove to anyone that your car was not immersed in water?

I also think the same doc, they would rubbish my claims. But this happened for no fault of mine; I have never driven through water logged streets or parked the car in such conditions. I did all the services on time and took utmost care of the car; I would take this as far as I can..

Is factory gear oil transparent? It might be possible that the oil wasn't changed at the 30k service and it lost viscosity at 34-35k kms and changed color.. Is this plausible?

I would change the oil again and maybe try a good synthetic gear oil to save the tranny now.

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

7K after oil change, if there is water in engine - have you checked the water levels in the cooling system?

How is the emission? Have you done a pollution certification lately? Please do it again, and see if there is anything abnormal.

As advised, I suggest you do a oil change again - since you got foreign solids in oil. And preferably, from another place - for I have enough (bad) experiences with workshops who think I am a n00b.

All PUCs and services are done on time and the engine is in mint condition. It revs w/o fuss and also has good low end grunt like all santros have. Also, the clutch is as good as new, no slipping, not hard..nothing!!

Originally Posted by Durango Dude

Sorry to hear of your Santro. How did your car behave after service and until 35K? If it has been OK then water may have entered sometime in between service being done and that 35k odo reading.

I get the car washed regularly at petrol pumps every month or so. Could that enter the tranny sump and cause so much damage? The water pressure is quite high but I don't think that it might have entered at such an angle (the gear oil inlet is quite low)

I need to probe this further; I would spend some time reviewing all possibilities tomorrow. (sunday gone!)

P.S- I could not take the car to HASS due to lack of time and I think that was a mistake.. But I don't think they would have bothered to check/change the oil or investigate the root cause. They hardly bother unless you know someone personally there. I had good relations with Sandeep and he took good care of the car (till 22k service) but he left some time back; the guy replacing him is an idiot from Maruti and has worst service ethics. He over charged my dad twice for his i10 service and didn't even bother to address basic complaints like loose rear view mirror etc.

I'm b/w a rock and a very hard place right now.. I hope I am able to sort this out myself tomorrow and damn Hyundai supprort!!

[anshul_babbar]

@amrisharm.. There is no need to worry mate. Santros have good build quality and last quite a bit (my dad had one which lasted 1.5L+ kms w/o major repairs)

I think mine is a one off case :(

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by amrisharm

A fairly new santro should have a water tight gearbox with all the seals and rubber/metal gaskets in tact so where could the water have gotten in from?
...
Am I in danger of a similar consequence? Can i do any sort of check?

All cars are prone to water ingress in gearbox through the air vent / breather pipe. Oil colour changes to opaque brownish to whitish in appearance if contaminated with water. For most small hatches, it is not advisable to drive through water that is more than 300 mm (1') deep, to prevent water going into vital components.

Originally Posted by anshul_babbar

Is factory gear oil transparent? It might be possible that the oil wasn't changed at the 30k service and it lost viscosity at 34-35k kms and changed color.. Is this plausible?

No one will comment without actually looking at the oil, isn't it?

Originally Posted by anshul_babbar

I would change the oil again and maybe try a good synthetic gear oil to save the tranny now.

Try a regular mineral oil with higher viscosity (say, 90W-140) - no need for synthetics - and you could perhaps just manage to not open the gearbox if no funny noises start coming. Change the gear oil after 5k km again, just to wash out the mud and metal particles if any.

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by anshul_babbar

When the oils were being flushed, the mechanic observed a somewhat unusual color gear oil being drained and shouted that the sump is full of water!

Hi,
Engine oil was OK?

Regards
Sutripta

[dhanushs]

Originally Posted by anshul_babbar

2) how to fight my case against HMP.

Here, I think it might be very difficult for you to build a case against HMP. Only because, you changed the oil from a nearby garage.

That said, the reasons for water entering has been discussed above.

1) how to go about the gear box overhaul (if needed)
a good local mechanic/HASS

Going forward, if you decide to keep the car, I think the syncro rings are worn out, and hence the difficulty to change gears, and the need to manual revv matching. And, as SST suggested, change the oil in the next 5k kms or so, just to flush out impurities.

[amitpunjani]

On many occasions i have seen the gear oil color change to milky white when contamintated with water.

Just a suggestion, just check the gear lever rods, they might be the real culprit.

Amit

[MadhuG]

Originally Posted by amrisharm

A fairly new santro should have a water tight gearbox with all the seals and rubber/metal gaskets in tact so where could the water have gotten in from?

I just have a general question. i too am a satisfied customer of a 2010 santro and last monsoons, my santro did drive across fairly deep pool of water as in 40% of the wheels submerged I would say. This happened a few times, 2-3 times. Am I in danger of a similar consequence? Can i do any sort of check?

For the record I have not noticed any hardness or anything while changing gears.

I dont think this would happen if you drive with wheels submerged in water... I have driven my santro a few times with wheels submerged in water, but never experienced anything like this... Yes one issue that would arise out of car being driven with wheels a larger part fo the wheels submerged in water or a car parked in a waterlogged place is that the bearings would go for a toss... But with the quality of parts, Gaskets, sealants used in Santro, I dont think water would ever get into the gearbox.

[tanwaramit]

I once drove (around 2008) around 30 kms to HMP to get my car serviced. They did regular servicing and while replacing the oil filter didnt tight it properly.

As a result my car started to lose oil slowly, after a few days, one fine day I noticed the engine oil light not going away even after starting the car, called up a local mechanic, he checked filter, which was new, but noticed, it wasnt tight, got a refill for engine oil and got it fixed tightly.

Car ran beautifully after that.

Avoid HMP, their employees are quite lacking in basic work finesse. I goto a Hyundai Dealer service center next to my home, and they work good.

Would recommend, visit a service center closer to your home and get your current issues rectified. Santro parts are not that costly to replace (if need arises)

[carbookie]

Originally Posted by tanwaramit

They did regular servicing and while replacing the oil filter didnt tight it properly.

As a result my car started to lose oil slowly

If you are overseeing the job being done by mechanics, make sure they lubricate the gasket of the new oil filter. The gasket can be lubricated by the engine oil itself. This will ensure that the filter twists on smoothly, and that the gasket does not break off during installation. Non-lubrication of the oil filter gasket is one of the biggest reasons filter come loose.

[anshul_babbar]

quick update: got the oil drained on sunday. There is some bit of improvement in the shift quality; its more like Maruti 800 now (and I'm happy with it!).

Hyundai called on sunday and asked me to service the car again. I asked her to make some senior call me so that I can atleast explain the issue. Mr Ankur Sharma called yesterday but I couldnt explain him the issue as was in a client meeting.

I would be visiting HMP this weekend to get everything recheck even if they don't cover the expenses. Sigh!

And, I'm sorry for writing all this in a rush.. will elaborate soon.