2004 3.5L 6 cyl AWD Hyundai Santa Fe stalls and has trouble staying on when you hit the gas. It’s stopped running while I’m driving it 2x.
Bought it used with around 78K miles on it a few years ago. Ran fine for the first year I had it. Then the Check Engine LIght came on, so off to the shop we went. They put in new platinum plugs, new wires, intake plenum gasket, lube, oil and filter, vapor canister, vapor canister filter, canister closed valve got it back (at 80,536 miles.) Check engine light was off. Don’t drive much. A year later, check engine light’s back on and the car runs rough when it’s rainy/humid out. DIes at a local store, had it towed home and called a mobile mechanic that was a song and dance in itself, and not resolved yet after a number of visits by them. P1193 is the code I get over and over and over and no one addresses. Apparently, that company can’t access Hyundai specific codes, which I didn’t find out till after the fact. They tell me plugs, wires, etc. and filters are all good. all ignition coils are now replaced. Had the throttle body cleaned, it ran a smidge better but still threatens to shut down. Been on a Hyundai forum but could it really be as simple as connecting a ground wire from negative battery post to a solid ground on the motor? The codes that come up now are P1193 and P0301. The 1193 code keeps coming up and my problem keeps not being solved. Note the battery was replaced maybe 300 miles ago. Any ideas/insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Possible causes
Faulty Electronic Throttle System (ETS)
Motor Faulty Electronic Throttle System (ETS)
Electronic Throttle System(ETS)unit
Electronic Throttle System(ETS) harness is open or shorted
Electronic Throttle System(ETS) circuit poor electrical connection
So yes, it could be something as simple as a bad ground wire - note the last line.
The P0301 possible causes
Faulty spark plug 1
Clogged or faulty fuel injector 1
Faulty ignition coil 1
Fuel injector 1 harness is open or shorted
Fuel injector 1 circuit poor electrical connection
Ignition coil 1 harness is open or shorted
Ignition coil 1 circuit poor electrical connection
Insufficient cylinder 1 compression
Incorrect fuel pressure Intake air leak
It truly sounds like you need a better mechanic. I pulled these right off the internet in 10 seconds. The P1193 is a common Hyundai problem. Do a search for an independent shop that specializes in Hyundais or… take it to dealer. It beats blindly throwing parts the problem which is what it seems you have now.
Given the comment my MM above, your car probably uses the drive by wire method, which means when you press on the gas pedal, a computer reads how much the pedal was pressed, and then it commands the throttle valve electric motor to move the throttle valve an equivalent amount. As you might expect, that method has to work flawlessly, otherwise it would be unsafe. So the computer is constantly checking and double checking the pedal and valve are tracking each other correctly. When they don’t, you get the p1193 code. It’s hard to predict just how that problem would affect how it drives though. It could be barely noticeable, or it might cause the car to never move from a stopped position. Most likely the solution for this is either a new gas pedal position sensor mechanism, or, more likely, a new throttle body electric motor ass’y.
The other code is a misfire in cylinder number 1. Not possible to say for sure, but imo that’s more likely the reason for the stalling and overall poor engine performance. Misfires in one specific cylinder (as opposed to all cylinders) are usually diagnosed by swapping ignition and injection parts between cylinders; e.g. coils, injectors, spark plugs. If the misfire moves to the other cylinder, you’ve got it. Suggest to focus on the misfire problem first.
As far as the engine ground to chassis ground suggestion, yes it could be that, esp if you live in a rust-belt area, but still not the most likely reason, and that would only be guessing. If you want to do something about that idea, look for existing wires connecting the engine ground to the chassis ground, and clean both end at the connections so you got a good metal to shiny metal contact for the ground wire. If the engine consistently cranks robustly, very unlikely you got an engine ground to chassis ground problem.
All the plugs, all the ignition coils have been replaced within the last 600 miles (14 months) - each time something’s replaced/repaired, there’s a new P030X code. After the plugs, wires, etc were replaced when it first died it showed P0304, P0306, and P1193. Mech. replaced 2 of the 3 ignition coils since the plugs and wires are just fine. The car was drivable for 40 miles and it died while being driven. The coils were replaced under warranty and the other was put in. Still had CEL and still trying to shut off. Throttle body was cleaned and mechanic test drove it, it tried to die again so, all told this car has been parked since April 6 when it died on the road. After the last round the codes were P1193 and P0301.
If you want to try the ground wire solution you can do it for free, providing you have jumper cables. If you do, connect one end of the black cable to the engine, on a solid metal bolt or bracket. Connect the other end of the black cable to the battery terminal that is marked - or NEG and already has a black cable attached. It will be the terminal that does not have a rubbery cover over it. Don’t mess this up. You DO NOT want to connect to the + or POS terminal, the one that has a red wire, the one with a cover. That’s the WRONG one.
If you connected the cable like I told you, nothing will happen right away. No sparks, no noises, nothing. If that’s true, great. The red cable that’s part of your jumpers will be connected to nothing at all, at either end. Make sure everything is out of the way of the fans behind the radiator. Now go and start the car and see if it runs different. If it does, you may have gotten lucky. Report back.
The 304 and 306 are misfires for cylinders 4 and 6. Repeat coil failure can be caused by the computer increasing the current to the coil to compensate for some other problem, like out of spec spark plug gap, or bad connection to the spark plug. Low battery/alternator voltage could cause that too. As could an engine grounding problem. But like I said above, if the engine consistently cranks ok, the latter’s unlikely.
The p1193 is the electric throttle body problem you already mentioned I presume.
The grounding was checked today along with some other things. Nothing wrong with the grounding. It cranks right up, no dash lights, runs fine, doesn’t try to die when you give it gas. He let the car run for about an hour, no codes showing. Still leery of it shutting down during driving so will run it on little trips but we decided to replace the throttle body during the next week.
