Absolutely ludicrous! My first question was the 25 psi compression test. If a piece of wood were jamming a valve open wouldn’t the compression be zero psi? I would think that Hyundai and Kia manufacturer’s warranty compensation to the dealer would be the same. When I was puzzled by my Kia dealer’s willingness to do warranty work (The GM dealership I worked for “welcomed” warranty work like they would an incurable STD! This was due to factory compensation of 70% labor and zero% profit on parts). I was informed that Kia paid 90% labor and full 40% profit on parts. If Hyundai pays the same, why would the dealership be trying to dodge this repair with a factory short block already delivered? Even worse! How are they expecting to fool anyone with this nonsense?
latest. I have filed a complaint with Hyundai motors and they stated will expedite it and call me with 72 hours. They denied me the car rental even though I was told 3 days before turning it back in that Hyundai would not pay. There reasoning was that dealer said vandalism. I asked how could dealer proof it when my insurance has not. they are just basing it on the dealers call. I wanting for the insurance company to provide with some of their findings and know that they cannot sd dealer did it without proof, but once I hear back from Hyundai will go meet with owner of dealer and if not result file claim with the texas new car commission and then go thru small claims court. I hope I can get it moved to another dealer so I get that 2nd opinion and then bust them.
thanks for all the feedback . it is greatly appreciated
And will file complaint with the texas attorney general if not resolved thru owner thanks
...4th chips look like brand new with no damage and not discolored...
Well, I see some discoloration. My point is that if you make the above statement to the judge and the judge can see some discoloration, you’ve deflected the argument to a side issue and maybe shed doubt on other statements you make. Just a thought…
Sarge, you made a good point. There are so many things wrong with the dealer’s story it borders on a children’s fantasy.
No stick of wood is going to survive 30,000 violent 2000 degree F explosions and 30,000 times being forced into exhaust valves and still be sitting in a little woodpile on the middle of a piston. If anybody believes it would, please have them call me. I have a bridge I’ve been trying to unload sell.
To the OP: feel free to use my comments in your quest. You have not only my permission, but my blessing.
I wonder if an autopsy would find any wood pieces in the catalytic converter.
Doubtful. Extremely doubtful.
How did you get the picture?
It would be interesting to see a picture of the damage rather than the garnish, that might offer a clue as to what really happened.
hmm … well this is definitely an unusual situation. Wood chips put into the spark plug hole by a vandal seems beyond belief. But it is possible I suppose for wood chips to get there from another path, through the throttle body and through the intake valve. That could happened if a wood somehow got into the air intake path, like a damaged boot beyond the air filter, or the air filter was incorrectly installed or not installed. A non-intentional vandal mouse or bird or something like that might be involved.
A small piece of wood, if it made it to the throttle body, could then presumably make it through, maybe a part of it stays jamming the intake valve, then the rest of it that got into the cylinder gets smashed up like that by the piston action, and stays there on top of the cylinder. So why no burned up wood? Well, one idea, the wood chip might have got through just prior to the engine conking out. Another idea, the fuel injector for that cylinder might be shut off by the ECM since it would notice that chamber wasn’t contributing to boosting the crank velocity like it should when it fired. Done to protect the cat. There would presumably be an error code stored in memory for that. Has the diagnostic memory been checked yet? If so, what were the stored codes?
In terms of what to do about it, I think the owner is on the right path. I’d guess that this might not end as well as the owner would prefer though.
When a object enters the combustion chamber it usually bends the spark plug electrode closing the gap and with no compression/misfire the injector will likely be turned off so no 2000 F heat. The should be a lot of marks in the carbon on that piston left by the wood but it looks untouched.
I don’t think that I can even elaborate on this incident anymore. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of loopy things, bad (horribly bad) diagnoses, and outright fraud beyond belief but this one is one of if not the goofiest things I’ve heard of.
If it was iron then yeah I could see damage but not soft wood chips. It would be interesting to know how they arrived at that 25 PSI compression pressure and what, if any, their next step was.
Nevada, that’s an interesting thought on the subject, but it would not stop the piston from trying to stuff the sticks through the exhaust port. I cannot envision any possible way that these sticks could remain laying in the chamber virtually unmolested for 30,000 exhaust cycles even if combustion never happened.
I don’t believe the wood was in there for any length of time but are you suggesting the OP drove for thirteen miles on three cylinders? Should it take 60,000 revolutions to stop the engine once the misfiring begins? The OP didn’t state how long the engine was operated after limp in began.
No, I’m assuming that all the mechanical parts kept working even if the plug gap got banged closed and suggesting that the OP could NOT have driven even a small portion of that mileage without the sticks being destroyed. Even If one eliminates the combustion variable, the piston tying to stuff the sticks through the exhaust ports would have demolished the sticks all by itself. IMHO there’s absolutely no way that photo could be anything other than staged.
In short, the evidence leaves me believing that someone at the dealer shop HAS to have staged the photo. What they’re suggesting would IMHO be impossible.
Looking at that photo I thought there might have been some piston damage at the top right by the valve relief but after digging up some pics of Elantra pistons for reference it appears to be made like that so there’s no chunks missing.
I could be wrong but that wood also looks to be something soft such as pine and not oak. The end of a shop broom comes to mind…
Very low compression (in this case 25) in most cases means a cylinder head valve problem unless the piston is broken or the cylinder wall is trashed. If there is no valve problem it becomes even more suspect because the piston looks intact.
Until proven otherwise I agree with mountainbike.
I enlarged the photo and it looks all rotted and bug-eaten to me. The kind of stuff that you could crumble with your thumbnail.
The wood could have been placed there after the cylinder head was removed, just before the cylinder head was removed or as George mentioned eventually passed by a valve causing the misfire/limp in condition. The vehicle was certainly not driven for 13 miles with this condition.
I start to wonder whether one of the guys in the shop was playing a practical joke on the mechanic when he went to coffee, and now he’s in so deep he can’t come clean. I just can’t see any way this makes any sense.
@GeorgeSanJose
"But it is possible I suppose for wood chips to get there from another path, through the throttle body and through the intake valve."
“A small piece of wood, if it made it to the throttle body, could then presumably make it through…”
I highly doubt it when I think about it. I know (I’ve removed and replaced them to clean the TB.) that on all my GM cars there’s a fine mesh “screen” that is installed with a snap ring, right in the opening of the throttle body intake throat. Nothing anywhere near that size would have a chance of getting through. I would think all manufacturers have a similar design.
CSA