I have a 2004 Hyundai Accent. Earlier this year, I noticed a bad smell while drive uphill. I did some research, found it might be a leaky oil gasket and took it in to get looked at. Sure enough - leaky oil gasket. A few months later, it was still smelling occasionally and then the tranny started making an awful sound. I brought it back and they told that something was failing in the tranny and that the smell might have been coming from whatever was failing there. So I had them rebuild the tranny and everything seemed fine… however, the smell still occurs sometimes and when the car stops the first time of the day (while the engine is still warming up), it jerks a bit when coming to a stop. I’ve brought the car back in three times and the guys say they don’t know what the problem could be. Then today, while stopped at a red light, the RPMs suddenly jumped up.
Are these guys jerking me around? Did they rebuild the transmission correctly or do they need to get back in there? Any thoughts would be incredibly helpful. I still have 7 months on the warranty for the work.
I suggest you get whatever you can from the guys who “rebuilt” the transmission while the warranty is still in effect, and then sell the car as quickly as possible.
You have seven months to sell the car. Start now.
Don’t even think about trying to keep it. Once the transmission goes the car is worthless. Bail out now. It’s not going to get better.
It seems that there was more than one thing going on at once. The awful sound from the transmission went away and stayed away, right?. I think the rebuilt transmission is working as you’d expect, changing gears when you expect them to change, not slipping in any gear, or failing to achieve any gear. Is that the case? If so, the transmission is at least working as it should.
The jerking while the car is still warming might be the brakes, or it might be something related to how well the car runs when it is cold. I would try this, warm the car completely without driving it and when you drive it, see if the jerking occurs when you stop for the first time. If it does, then you might have a less than perfect caliper that works better when it heats up a little. Calipers and brakes pads and rotors only warm up by being used, not by the heat created by your engine.
If so, leave it be unless the same thing starts to occur after the first stop.
I can’t say what might have caused the RPM surge, or the smell (another oil leak seems likely). I doubt that any of these problems are related.
This is a Hyundai. I would be careful spending a lot of money trying to keep ahead of the problems that have occurred and the myriad of problems yet to come. Not as much as Kia, this is Dixie Cup of cars.
So, one should never have a transmission (can we please stop calling them “trannies”?) rebuilt?