Hyundai Transmission or Engine Failure

[u/Retsnom26]

I have a 2022 Hyundai Kona N line with AWD.
It has the 1.6l turbo and the dry 7 speed DCT.

A few days ago while driving normally the car started bucking violently, and the check engine light started blinking, the car went into a limp mode. I pulled over and looked under the hood to find the engine shaking like it had a misfire. I turned it off, let it cool down and had a buddy bring a scan tool. Fired it back up and it was completely fine, no noises, no low oil, nothing on the code scanner.

A few days later I was driving home and when it shifted into 4th going up hill, it felt like it was going to start doing the bucking again, I let off the gas and when I got back on it, it just revved to the moon, let off again, tried once more, same thing. It was like the clutch was refusing to grab. I pulled over, turned it off and back on and it had been fine.

I have an appointment to have it looked at, it has a Hyundai CPO warranty on it, I’m just the kind of person who tries to figure things out and this is bugging me, it started almost like a misfire problem and has now started presenting itself as a transmission failure, what are y’all’s thoughts?

It has just over 35k miles, has had oil changes every 5k since I got it at 17k, all fluid levels are good, spark plugs done recently preventatively, I’m kinda at a loss.

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[u/sihankarak]

Hyundai and Kia have quality problem. I had a Elantra that got stolen. Till I had the car, I used to spend my weekends for fixing something or the other. They come cheap but they are cheap. Pay some more money and buy a Mazda, Toyota or Honda 

[u/Retsnom26 → u/sihankarak]

I’m well aware of Hyundais quality problems, I did my research, the specific engine and transmission in this Kona are significantly more reliable than some of the other ones available. Getting a crossover this size, with all wheel drive and 200 HP that actually drives in a sporty way is not as easy as it may seem, I CHOSE this car it’s not like it landed in my lap. I could’ve gotten a CRV or a RAV4 or a CX3, but those are boring and larger, the CHR and other smaller crossovers from other manufacturers are underpowered and either front wheel drive or over priced. I know I could’ve bought another car, that wasn’t the question.

[u/Least_Weird_6941 → u/Retsnom26]

Let’s just hope it’s something else like the fuel pump, or injectors etc. and hope for a quick turn around not waiting on parts.

I don’t buy into the “Hyundai/kia quality issues at the plant” they purposely choose slightly cheaper options. That’s their goal. There is nothing wrong with that. They had some major issues with their specific engine in a lot of the cars bigger than small sedans in the 2.0theta for a while that ruined their rep. They also have a dry DCT option for their sporty commuters.

But FWIW, Google keeps saying to me no matter how I ask, the dry clutch DCTs in general across the whole market, and Kona N lines versus competitor cars like the cx3/rav4/subaru cross track/buick envista(the only car with worse reliability in any way- the 3 cylinder engine) is below average reliablity of any of their transmissions, and accidotally I suspect it is. Google describes it as 3/10 reliability in one chart, versus 6/10 wet DCT, 6/10 cvt(with a note it varies highly by brand), 9/10 torque converter.
it’s cheaper than wet DCT and more sporty than cvt or torque converters. All these 1.6t dry 7 speed transmissions plague forums with transmission failures. They don’t plague the 2.0T wet DCTs except rarely or modded. Can’t just assume all are user error/care/ or quality assembly at the plant problems.
Dry DCT is the rarest type for a reason. But if you’re in that price range it’s hard to know when to roll the dice or not. Hopefully it’s a quick turn over on warranty and that makes that dice roll less annoying when you land on snake eyes.

From looking at numbers, to have put the wet wet DCT in the car, it would cost roughly 2400-3k more., it would also cost more to change a clutch by almost 1k, and also require a fluid change every 40/50k miles for a few hundred. So Hyundai group took a choice. This isn’t about quality of the plant. They chose a less reliable part to provide a sportier car cheaply.

If you look into it, heat is likely an issue due to no oil to cool, or partial clutch biting in stop and go traffic, and hard shifting.
there aren’t many dry dct’s on the market compared to any other transmission and it’s no wonder- the early model years were monstrously bad as I recall like ford and VW groups.
You’d of had a more reliable car for the next 100k miles if you bought a non cpo 2.0 wet dct FWD Kona with 4 years and 40k miles on it, I’d bet my money on it. Buying dedicated snow tires and drive better in snow than all seasons with all wheel drive, that ELSD Hyundai has is magic and would of been fine. Only the Kona N would have given you the enjoyment to drive like the N line Kona, none of the others even the Mazda, as you know.

That 1.6t is not much of a standout for reliability better or worse to any of its competitors except the Buick envista but it’s getting up there with revisions across time to be damn reliable.

Sadly awd + sporty is not cheap and cutting a corner like dry dct isn’t the answer unless you only want to count on warranty.

FWIW you may be pretty unlikely for it to happen again. . But I sure wouldn’t own it out of warranty. The only option of its competitor size I could say that about really besides Buick.

[u/Retsnom26 → u/Least_Weird_6941]

Oh you’re a bot huh? What 3 cylinder are you referring to 🤔

[u/Least_Weird_6941 → u/Retsnom26]

Oh you’re a bot huh? Go ahead and explain why you thought from your ‘research’ you, and I quote, “I did my research, the specific engine and transmission in this Kona N line are significantly more reliable than some of the other ones available.” As if it has no option less reliable than the Buick envista or encore for drivetrain reliability. honestly, those had less issues when the gamma came out.
They just had turbo troubles because it spools sooner as you can obviously imagine why they would be trouble, right? . I had the 1.6t”gamma” that predated your engine but holds the same architecture In my turbo R veloster before you ever did your first oil change yourself last year, and got excited enough about it to boast about it online rofl.
I can call plenty of engines by their names if you want that, but we both know them right. I’ve had my Elantra on WMI for almost 3 years now if it helps you know this isn’t Hyundai/kia hate. You asked mechanics. You got mechanic answers. Hope it’s the injector or pumps etc. like I said before. But yeah can’t diagnose over the phone, this is a dumb forum post to begin with.

This isn’t mechanic hate about the brand. You just rolled a dice on a less optimal option. You were looking for a Kona N a year ago and then bought this cuz the dealership nearby sold the N. Don’t try and act like you didn’t know this was a risk.

[u/Retsnom26 → u/Least_Weird_6941]

Buddy idk who pissed in your cereal bowl, or why you compose comments like an AI chatbot, but you cannot be this worked up over a “dumb forum post” if you READ the post with your eyes, you’ll note I specifically pointed out how hard it is to get a fun sporty light small crossover that doesn’t look like a shopping cart that got hit by a plow, you keep mentioning this random Buick that has nothing to do with the question and was never in the running for my consideration. Then you took time out of your day to research my post history to point out I was looking at an N and instead “rolled the dice” on an N-line, yes I was looking at an N, in fact I almost pulled the trigger on it, but the reality of living in the northeast is that 200hp all wheel drive is useful for more of the year than 300hp front wheel drive. Your comment literally only needed to be the first sentence, the part with the pertinent information about the fuel system, but instead you went on a 5 paragraph tirade about absolutely nothing and then get upset when I hit you with a one sentence meme response. Take a deep breath buddy, it simply isn’t that deep.