Hyundai Elite i20 - Random limp mode

prabhu.reddy92 · 11th August 2019, 08:21

Hi All,

I own a Hyundai Elite i20 Asta(O) diesel bought on 1st March 2019. First free service is completed and now car is running at 8200 kms on the odo and is due for second free service at 10000 kms.

First 5000 kms, i have driven the car very modest with rpm limited to 2000 for every gear change and speed limited to 80-100KMPH.

After crossing 5000km, i have been taking it occasionally to speeds above 100KMPH and also making gear changes above 2500 rpm when overtaking someone or when i feel like doing a spirited drive.

I use the car everyday for my office commute which is 70 kms to and fro. Its a combination of 65% city and 35% highway.

One fine day when i was doing a spirited drive to overtake a car which is going very fast, i was doing every gear change above 2500-3000 rpm and all of a sudden while driving...the car wouldn't go above 2500 rpm in any gear and also in neutral but car can do speeds above 100KMPH but pickup is very slow and feels like car engine is running without a turbo and also no check engine light nor any warning lights. I have stopped the car and started it again and everything back to normal.

This repeated quite a few times later, only when i do spirited driving and everything goes back to normal if i restart the car.

Took it to Hyundai showroom and the service adviser did test drive the car in the way i wanted him to and the issue popped up and he showed the mechanic too without turning the car off. To my surprise, the mechanic just pressed the accelerator and turned off the car inspite of me telling him that the issue will be gone if restarted. I expected him to connect to a OBD scanner when the issue is present.

They did had the car for a day and did testing and said that the ECM needs an software update and other than that everything is fine and there are no mechanical issues.

They said they need a password to do the update which needs to be given by Hyundai, so they asked for 3 days time and said that they will do an software update and then do a OBD scan and clear this and its just a minor glitch and not to be worried.

ECM update is done 3 days later and they said they took a test drive and the issue didn't popup so they delivered me the car. On the way back home, i wantedly made every gear shift above 3000 rpm and to my surprise the issue popped up again and the engine not revving above 2500 rpm.

Took it back to the showroom and thank god they connected the OBD scanner without turning off the engine and there goes the main culprit. There is a fault in the boost control solenoid valve and the mechanic said he will swap it with a different one and do test drive and after confirming he will order the part and will replace in warranty.

I did some research and found various causes for limp mode including problems in EGR valve, MAF sensor, Turbo not working etc. If it is any such thing then engine warning light will be on and in this case there is no engine warning light.
Please guide me if i need to check other things as well as i am new with diesel engines and my previous car Santro Xing never gave such troubles and the showroom guys itself are seeing this issue for the first time.

jonesanto · 11th August 2019, 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by prabhu.reddy92

[left]Hi All,

Connected the OBD scanner without turning off the engine and there goes the main culprit. There is a fault in the boost control solenoid valve...

I had somewhat similar issue with my Elantra long back. RPM won't go above 2200 mark and it happens only when I use the car above 120 km/h on highways. If I keep it under under 120 km/h I could run all day long without any issues. I used to get engine check light when this happens.

Hyundai diagnosed it as faulty EGR, which was cleaned and later replaced, issue still persists, changed MAF sensor, with this issue got resolved. While doing the scan they found "turbo vacuum modulator" was not opening all the time and I changed that part too. I am not sure which one did the trick but for me the issue fixed with that.

My car has done lot of miles when this happened, yours is a new car and it's too early for any of this to happen. If Hyundai said "boost control solenoid valve" is at fault, let them change the part, your car is under warranty and hopefully that will fix the issue. "Boost control solenoid valve and turbo vacuum modulator" are the same I believe.

All the best.

prabhu.reddy92 · 11th August 2019, 18:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonesanto

I had somewhat similar issue with my Elantra long back. RPM won't go above 2200 mark and it happens only when I use the car above 120 km/h on highways. If I keep it under under 120 km/h I could run all day long without any issues. I used to get engine check light when this happens.

Hyundai diagnosed it as faulty EGR, which was cleaned and later replaced, issue still persists, changed MAF sensor, with this issue got resolved. While doing the scan they found "turbo vacuum modulator" was not opening all the time and I changed that part too. I am not sure which one did the trick but for me the issue fixed with that.

My car has done lot of miles when this happened, yours is a new car and it's too early for any of this to happen. If Hyundai said "boost control solenoid valve" is at fault, let them change the part, your car is under warranty and hopefully that will fix the issue. "Boost control solenoid valve and turbo vacuum modulator" are the same I believe.

All the best.

Hi,

Glad to hear that issue with your Elantra is resolved.

I ruled out EGR valve, MAF sensor and turbo problems as there was no engine check light. If anything is going wrong with these parts, definitely engine check light would show up and as the car is also new i am not suspecting these.

Service center guys have already ordered a new boost control solenoid valve and will be replaced in 2-3 days. Will post an update after that.

Jaggu · 13th August 2019, 11:49

Ah wonders of an ECU controlled modern car

Follow the error codes and address the part one at a time, and test drive. Error code clearly shows it is something to do with the turbo and intake, so address it first. That is the only logical way out. Which dealer workshop is this? Engine is momentarily getting an error and throwing it into limp mode, surprised that limp mode is not giving check engine light.

paragsachania · 13th August 2019, 12:12

Some time In February, while driving back from Shimoga, when the Odo was at 167K, I was doing usual highway speeds and released the accelerator pedal once to wait for a gap to be created to overtake few trucks and as soon as I hit the accelerator pedal again, I sensed roughness and lack of eagerness to accelerate although it wasn't a situation of "Power Loss".

The warning light came up on the MID and the feeling remained till I quickly pulled over. I had no scanner with me in the car then so checked any loose connectors inside the bonnet but found none.

Shut down the engine and restarted but the light remained. However, everything with the car felt absolutely normal. Perfect acceleration and no roughness. I managed to drive the next 120km with this light on without a fuss. Even drove on 2 lane road for the last 60 Km with many overtaking maneuvers that demand right power at the right time and I faced no issues.

First thing I do after reaching home was to hook the OBD scanner to find the fault code and here it was:

Hyundai Elite i20 - Random limp mode-img_20190813_115315.jpg

I used the Torq App to clear this fault code that never appeared back which means the code was logged only during that instance.

Researched a bit more on this topic and realised that the issue may be associated with the TC Control Solenoid malfunctioning resulting in improper functioning of the Turbo at that time. Note that I never faced this issue ever again.

Called few MGP dealers asking for this TC control valve and thankfully Essar had it. Drove on a Saturday and picked it up for 1200 bucks and returned and replaced the same in under 5 minutes.

Hyundai Elite i20 - Random limp mode-img_20190813_115546.jpg

I am not fully sure what caused that error but it certainly hinted at an auxiliary device that aides the functioning of the Turbo and not the turbo at all. This is because the Turbo performs fantastic even today and they are not prone to failures even at this age.

Replacing this was mainly a preventive measure and happy to say that this was the only instance of an engine malfunction light on my car in these many km of ownership. Everything is normal as of today.

swiftdiesel · 13th August 2019, 22:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by prabhu.reddy92

Hi All,

This repeated quite a few times later, only when i do spirited driving and everything goes back to normal if i restart

I’ve had this exact problem in my March 2017 i20 diesel and still face it if I drive pedal to metal. I’ve learnt to live with it as I guess it’s Hyundai engine design characteristic. The same problem has been reported in petrol i20s too. I didn’t raise a complaint as I knew mechanics would have no clue and I was wary of them rash driving my car.

I’ve stopped spirited driving and in the rare occasion I do, I never shift to 6th gear. I stick to 5th even above speeds over 120. That keeps the engine revving high and this stupid drag doesn’t surface. The trait I notice with Hyundai engines is that they’re great when driven gently. Even above speeds of 120 the engine will perform marvellously if you reach those speeds gently. You want to do a quick overtake and you stomp the pedal, it’s game over. Also, constantly driving spiritedly blunts the engine performance. Strange but true. The engine’s at its best if driven gently. I know this is not a solution but this is my observation after 2 years.

prabhu.reddy92 · 13th August 2019, 22:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by swiftdiesel

I’ve had this exact problem in my March 2017 i20 diesel and still face it if I drive pedal to metal. I’ve learnt to live with it as I guess it’s Hyundai engine design characteristic. The same problem has been reported in petrol i20s too. I didn’t raise a complaint as I knew mechanics would have no clue and I was wary of them rash driving my car.

I’ve stopped spirited driving and in the rare occasion I do, I never shift to 6th gear. I stick to 5th even above speeds over 120. That keeps the engine revving high and this stupid drag doesn’t surface. The trait I notice with Hyundai engines is that they’re great when driven gently. Even above speeds of 120 the engine will perform marvellously if you reach those speeds gently. You want to do a quick overtake and you stomp the pedal, it’s game over. Also, constantly driving spiritedly blunts the engine performance. Strange but true. The engine’s at its best if driven gently. I know this is not a solution but this is my observation after 2 years.

Hi,

When you have this issue, you can try visiting the service center and connect an OBD scanner without turning off the engine and that should throw up some code as it did for mine.

Once you restart the car, this issue will be gone and OBD scanner will not throw up any codes and it will show as if everything is fine.

I urged the service advisor to connect the OBD scanner infront of me when the issue is there in the car and only then the scanner gave a code clearly saying it is the issue with boost control solenoid valve. They swapped it with a different one from another car and everything was fine so going ahead to change it in warranty.

I am an OCD, and I am never going to live with it unless it is solved.

Ideally this should never be the way the engine behaves. My showroom guys are in a huge problem unless they solve it. And as I stay near to Chennai, I don't mind making the Hyundai engineers visit the vehicle if this isn't going to solve.

prabhu.reddy92 · 14th August 2019, 12:45

Mod Note: Back to back posts, use Edit post instead and use Multi Quote [Quote+]. Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Ah wonders of an ECU controlled modern car

====
Engine is momentarily getting an error and throwing it into limp mode, surprised that limp mode is not giving check engine light.

Hi,
The dealer is Himavasini Hyundai, Hosur.
Yes there is no check engine light and the OBD scanner gives the code showing that there is a problem with boost control solenoid valve only when the issue is present.

Once i restart the car and the car is out of limp mode, it doesn't throw any errors and says everything is fine unless i drive again and make the issue popup and then connect the OBD scanner.

And i have a small doubt. Prior to this scanning, showroom guys informed me that there is an update due for the ECU. If there is an update due for the ECU, can't they scan the car before the update or is it so that scanning can be done only after the update?
I am wondering if the service center guys didn't scan before the update or they couldn't scan before because an update was due.
They made me wait for 4 days to update the ECU as they need a password from Hyundai and then i am waiting another week on top of that for the part to be replaced in warranty.

MOD NOTE: Trimming entire large quote, affects readability especially on mobile devices. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Some time In February, while driving back from Shimoga,
====
Replacing this was mainly a preventive measure and happy to say that this was the only instance of an engine malfunction light on my car in these many km of ownership. Everything is normal as of today.

Hi,

Glad that your issue is solved. I feel a bit relaxed now. I have searched in the internet and hardly i can find any similar issues. The replacement part has arrived and I will be visiting them and give an update after that.

And which scanner do you use for your car? I want to buy an OBD scanner but i literally have no idea on which one to buy. I couldn't get to see the exact brand of the scanning device and the app they used.

paragsachania · 14th August 2019, 12:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by prabhu.reddy92

And which scanner do you use for your car? I want to buy an OBD scanner but i literally have no idea on which one to buy. I couldn't get to see the exact brand of the scanneing device and the app they used.

This thread should give you all the information that you need.

OBD Scanners

riturajsharma19 · 14th August 2019, 13:05

Had the exact issue with my Punto diesel from 2012-2015 and Fiat service was clueless. The car would lose power at the 2000-2500 rpm range and I had to stop and restart the car to make the issue go away, albeit temporarily. The EGR valve was changed thrice. Eventually, it turned out that the first three EGR valves were faulty. The fourth one finally solved the problem.

Jaggu · 14th August 2019, 14:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by prabhu.reddy92

And i have a small doubt. Prior to this scanning, showroom guys informed me that there is an update due for the ECU. If there is an update due for the ECU, can't they scan the car before the update or is it so that scanning can be done only after the update?

My guess is they were following standard procedure, update firmware to latest and hope no issues are there. But in such cases where the cause is an external sensor or component, will not work. And no there is no dependency on doing scan without a firmware update.

prabhu.reddy92 · 17th August 2019, 09:22

Hi All,

Here's an update.

I have changed the boost control solenoid valve under warranty and took a long test drive and finally the issue didn't popup and it's fixed as of now.

And I have done second free service also for the car. Wondering how high the service costs are in Hyundai as well. 4000/- for a free service. Better than Volkswagen thou.

Please find the attached bill.

11th August 2019, 08:21	#1
prabhu.reddy92 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2019 Location: Bengaluru, KA Posts: 44 Thanked: 39 Times	Hyundai Elite i20 - Random limp mode Hi All, I own a Hyundai Elite i20 Asta(O) diesel bought on 1st March 2019. First free service is completed and now car is running at 8200 kms on the odo and is due for second free service at 10000 kms. First 5000 kms, i have driven the car very modest with rpm limited to 2000 for every gear change and speed limited to 80-100KMPH. After crossing 5000km, i have been taking it occasionally to speeds above 100KMPH and also making gear changes above 2500 rpm when overtaking someone or when i feel like doing a spirited drive. I use the car everyday for my office commute which is 70 kms to and fro. Its a combination of 65% city and 35% highway. One fine day when i was doing a spirited drive to overtake a car which is going very fast, i was doing every gear change above 2500-3000 rpm and all of a sudden while driving...the car wouldn't go above 2500 rpm in any gear and also in neutral but car can do speeds above 100KMPH but pickup is very slow and feels like car engine is running without a turbo and also no check engine light nor any warning lights. I have stopped the car and started it again and everything back to normal. This repeated quite a few times later, only when i do spirited driving and everything goes back to normal if i restart the car. Took it to Hyundai showroom and the service adviser did test drive the car in the way i wanted him to and the issue popped up and he showed the mechanic too without turning the car off. To my surprise, the mechanic just pressed the accelerator and turned off the car inspite of me telling him that the issue will be gone if restarted. I expected him to connect to a OBD scanner when the issue is present. They did had the car for a day and did testing and said that the ECM needs an software update and other than that everything is fine and there are no mechanical issues. They said they need a password to do the update which needs to be given by Hyundai, so they asked for 3 days time and said that they will do an software update and then do a OBD scan and clear this and its just a minor glitch and not to be worried. ECM update is done 3 days later and they said they took a test drive and the issue didn't popup so they delivered me the car. On the way back home, i wantedly made every gear shift above 3000 rpm and to my surprise the issue popped up again and the engine not revving above 2500 rpm. Took it back to the showroom and thank god they connected the OBD scanner without turning off the engine and there goes the main culprit. There is a fault in the boost control solenoid valve and the mechanic said he will swap it with a different one and do test drive and after confirming he will order the part and will replace in warranty. I did some research and found various causes for limp mode including problems in EGR valve, MAF sensor, Turbo not working etc. If it is any such thing then engine warning light will be on and in this case there is no engine warning light. Please guide me if i need to check other things as well as i am new with diesel engines and my previous car Santro Xing never gave such troubles and the showroom guys itself are seeing this issue for the first time.
	(1) Thanks

13th August 2019, 11:49	#4
Jaggu Team-BHP Support Join Date: May 2004 Location: Bangalore Posts: 20,215 Thanked: 15,907 Times	Re: Hyundai Elite i20 - Random limp mode Ah wonders of an ECU controlled modern car Follow the error codes and address the part one at a time, and test drive. Error code clearly shows it is something to do with the turbo and intake, so address it first. That is the only logical way out. Which dealer workshop is this? Engine is momentarily getting an error and throwing it into limp mode, surprised that limp mode is not giving check engine light.
	(2) Thanks

13th August 2019, 12:12	#5
paragsachania Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Belur/Bangalore Posts: 7,148 Thanked: 27,140 Times	Re: Hyundai Elite i20 - Random limp mode Some time In February, while driving back from Shimoga, when the Odo was at 167K, I was doing usual highway speeds and released the accelerator pedal once to wait for a gap to be created to overtake few trucks and as soon as I hit the accelerator pedal again, I sensed roughness and lack of eagerness to accelerate although it wasn't a situation of "Power Loss". The warning light came up on the MID and the feeling remained till I quickly pulled over. I had no scanner with me in the car then so checked any loose connectors inside the bonnet but found none. Shut down the engine and restarted but the light remained. However, everything with the car felt absolutely normal. Perfect acceleration and no roughness. I managed to drive the next 120km with this light on without a fuss. Even drove on 2 lane road for the last 60 Km with many overtaking maneuvers that demand right power at the right time and I faced no issues. First thing I do after reaching home was to hook the OBD scanner to find the fault code and here it was: I used the Torq App to clear this fault code that never appeared back which means the code was logged only during that instance. Researched a bit more on this topic and realised that the issue may be associated with the TC Control Solenoid malfunctioning resulting in improper functioning of the Turbo at that time. Note that I never faced this issue ever again. Called few MGP dealers asking for this TC control valve and thankfully Essar had it. Drove on a Saturday and picked it up for 1200 bucks and returned and replaced the same in under 5 minutes. I am not fully sure what caused that error but it certainly hinted at an auxiliary device that aides the functioning of the Turbo and not the turbo at all. This is because the Turbo performs fantastic even today and they are not prone to failures even at this age. Replacing this was mainly a preventive measure and happy to say that this was the only instance of an engine malfunction light on my car in these many km of ownership. Everything is normal as of today.
	(5) Thanks

14th August 2019, 13:05	#10
riturajsharma19 BHPian Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: AS 03 Posts: 154 Thanked: 198 Times	Re: Hyundai Elite i20 - Random limp mode Had the exact issue with my Punto diesel from 2012-2015 and Fiat service was clueless. The car would lose power at the 2000-2500 rpm range and I had to stop and restart the car to make the issue go away, albeit temporarily. The EGR valve was changed thrice. Eventually, it turned out that the first three EGR valves were faulty. The fourth one finally solved the problem.
	() Thanks

17th August 2019, 09:22	#12
prabhu.reddy92 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2019 Location: Bengaluru, KA Posts: 44 Thanked: 39 Times	Re: Hyundai Elite i20 - Random limp mode Hi All, Here's an update. I have changed the boost control solenoid valve under warranty and took a long test drive and finally the issue didn't popup and it's fixed as of now. And I have done second free service also for the car. Wondering how high the service costs are in Hyundai as well. 4000/- for a free service. Better than Volkswagen thou. Please find the attached bill.
	() Thanks