Torque converter solenoid & Solenoid harness

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Hello,

I drove my 2007 Hyundai Tucson (see link for VIN information: https://www.searchquarry.com/vin-decoder/results.php?sqtb=VIN&vin=KM8JM12B17U576823) to Pennsylvania from NJ and then back to NJ today.

During the drive I head some rattling coming from the inside – my brother-in-law who was with me said it might be some ice chips/shards that got inside the engine area. After some time it stopped. However, by the time we got to PA the “check engine” light came on. And throughout our drive, I noticed that when accelerating after stopping, the vehicle would struggle to pick up speed and shudder/shake. It almost felt like it was close to breaking down on us.

When we got back home in NJ, my brother-in-law used his diagnostic tool to see what the issue could be, but the tool only came up with “linking error” and we couldn’t figure out what the issue was.

We checked the dipstick and it looked as if the oil was over-flowing – we thought maybe the dealership over-filled it when doing my last oil change. We also noticed some dark/black fluid leaking/dripping from underneath the vehicle.

We then took the vehicle to the Hyundai dealership to have it checked out. Initially, after an hour or so, they called to tell us that the leaking was from the top of the transmission. But after my father spoke with them about it they said they’ll keep looking to make sure.

After about 2 hours, they called back to say that there was no damage to the transmission. However, the “torque converter solenoid” and the “solenoid harness - the wiring to the vehicle’s computer” needed to be replaced. And it would cost $943.26 (that’s with parts and labor; with taxes it comes out to be $1,000). I decided to give them to go ahead to fix it.

I also did some Googling as to what those two items are, and I saw that those parts don’t typically needs to be replaced until a vehicle has around 100,000 miles – mine has about 43,000. Does anyone know what could’ve possible been the reason(s) for this to happen?

Thanks

2

Mice chewing on the wires comes to mind.

3

Linking error probably means the scan tool is unable to communicate with the car’s engine computer. Could be a hardware or a software issue, hard to say. For diy’ers it would usually be that their scan tool’s software is incompatible with the car’s software for some reason.

It is sort of unusual that part would fail at only 43,000 miles. But such a thing is certainly possible. Suggest to ask the dealership if Hyundai Corp has any customer interest or recall bulletins on that failure. The article below shows what a torque converter solenoid looks like, where it is located, and how it would be replaced. Also why the wiring harness and seals where the wires go into the transmission might be involved. Every transmission design is different, but it will give you a good idea what’s involved. The price you quoted seems reasonable for that job.