Anyone know how hard it is to do a tune up on an '04 Santa Fe?

[Reimann]

My mother's Santa Fe is 20,000 miles past due for a tune up. With my dad in the hospital she forgot about it and now it started running rough. A Hyundai dealership is wanting $574 for just spark plugs and wires and $891 for a total tune up. They are also saying that it needs a new timing belt which costs $659. So a full tune up plus the belt will be $1659 after tax. With all the medical bills and everything she is afraid to spend that much on it right now. I am considering paying to have it done myself but (being the cheap bastard that I am) am wondering if I could do the tune up myself. I know I can't do the timing belt myself though. Thoughts?

 

[CBus 06 GT]

Don't know how the engine is laid out, but I don't see why you can't do your own plugs and wires? Definitely pay to get the belt changed. Most likely it's an interference engine, so if it breaks, your mom is effed.

 

[Darkwriter77]

This is why cars like Hyundais and Kias are throw-away vehicles. When it comes time for them to finally need a full tune-up, or anything other than little stuff like tires or wipers, the cost of the labor and parts for repair is so absurdly high that hardly anyway will wanna dish out the money because the vehicle probably isn't even worth that much by then.

That being said, I could ask my buddy how tight things look on his Sante Fe and see how bad it is. I know that timing belts on transverse-mounted vehicles are rarely any fun, especially on imports where they like to run the water pump off the timing belt (might as well replace that, too, while you've got it all apart), and if it's a V6 motor then it's even MORE of a royal pain getting that long-ass belt over and around those two overhead cams. The time I did a belt and water pump on a '94 Probe GT (basically a Mazda motor/trans in a Ford body), that crap took me TWO DAYS to replace because it was in such a tight spot (no room between the motor and frame) and I had to take apart so much crap to get it all apart and back together again.

Even if it's an OHC engine, half of the plugs are probably a pain to get to and necessitate removing the upper intake plenum, kinda like on the Toyota Camry V6's. Imports (and a lot of domestics, too) just aren't made to be serviced easily anymore. They're made to run well for a really long time ... and then, once they stop working, they get crushed and replaced with a new model.

 

[Reimann]

Would it be cheaper if we took it somewhere else besides a dealership to get serviced? Sadly right now them getting a new vehicle isn't an option. They have a Dodge truck which is probably in about the same condition.

 

[Reimann]

I talked with the dealership this morning and told them to do the full tune up and replace the belts and I will pay for it. I can't help my dad but I can at least help my mother with this. I can not have her driving around in a car that I KNOW is going to break on her and leave her stranded. Especially if she traveling back and forth between home and the hospital, about a 100+ mile drive, and knowing that if the belt breaks the entire engine goes with it. I'm going to have to have an interesting conversation with her later today