Hello every one figured I would write up what i have done to get my car which is the 2019 elantra gt nline to with in a proper working order. This means proper idle and good handling. (Images can be found at this link) Hyundai gt Elantra
So when i first got my car it was declining quickly. by6000km my car would struggle to start had the crappiest idle and started to have the turbo put the car into limp mode. I also had poor handling and a bad vibration. The vibration is the only thing i have not had rectified yet but am close to solving.
Not everything is completely required but is defiantly a highly suggested update from me. So it has been a long road but at 26000km i finally have a engine that wants to idle correctly and stably and this is what i did to achieve this. First off i changed the oil weight to 5W40 which the dealerships should be telling you to do as there is a tsb out stating such. Second i changed to a set of hks40xl plugs and MSD Ignition coils I mostly went with these plugs cause they have a higher then stock heat rating which was an 8 for stock and 9 for the hks plugs. If you are tuned or modified tho I can recommend the hks45xl plugs as the 40's are for none tuned engines. The msd ignition coils the reason for a change tho these coils is because they are the best performing coils on the market. They produce a spark nearly 5 times stronger then the original coils meaning your 100% getting ignition in the every cylinder and it promotes stronger start up. it is a slight performance upgrade but in my mind a very required one.
what you need CRC valve cleaner, Throtle body/carburator cleaner, MSD ignition coils or other like products and a set of hks40xl plugs or hks45xl plugs if tuned.
So here is what i did to help correct this part of that issue. Alot of this you can do at home with basic tools and a extra person to help you out. ((!I recommend doing this at the end of an oil change as alot of this carbon will go to your oil as does the cleaner.!)) First off i removed the egr valve line from the top of the throtle body this will allow access to the intake system for a can of CRC Valve cleaner or like products to help break down those bad carbon deposits(this is not a 100% fix for most cars I caught the build up early so it helped but for higher mileage cars you will require a walnut blasting process as carbon the longer it sits the harder it gets to take off) You spray the cleaner down thru the the open valve into the throttle body in short bursts while the engine is at 1500 -2000 rpms. this allows the cleaner to Dissolve most of that build up on the valves and restores some power to the engine and hopefully corrects the idle. if it does not work you likely need walnut blasting to remove the buildup. Once that is done you let the engine sit for an hr or more then start it and drive it and let it smoke all the carbon out of the engine. After this process is done i Highly recommend pulling the throttle body and cleaning it with throttle body cleaner you can also use carburetor cleaner. be gentle with the throttle plate and do not use metal tools on it as any damage to it will require it to be replaced. Between the crc valve cleaner and the sludge build up it will quite dirty and likely stuck in an open position due to adaptation. this is also what causes a poor idle. once clean make sure the bolts are snuggle in place mine happened to be slightly out of spec all around which allowed air to pass thru the sides. I pulled my gasket and fully cleaned it and the mounting position.
(Explanation for carbon buildup and why you need to use a catach can)
"Next up we have engine protection. Now for those that do not know what a gdi engine is it basically means the designer put the injector assembly's in the cylinder rather then behind the valves. The gas in other cars with them behind the valves would allow gasoline to clean them and there for promote a healthy valve system for extended periods. But because the injector is not there the valves get dirty and they get dirty bad and quickly. The system is designed to take all the blow by and recycle it back thru the air intake or rather in thru those valves. Now you would think this should clean my valves but it unfortunately does not. Anything good and bad goes back thru this air way the PCV system and that's basically Oil, Water, Carbon deposits, and Gasoline. this creates a slurry of bad stuff that plasters your valves in a heavy carbon deposits which will in turn cause horrible idle. My car was so bad by 16k with out a can i had to do a decarbonization process and clean the throttle body cause the idle was just atrocious and getting way worse daily. You can mitigate this by installing a catch can which catch's most of this nasty stuff and in 7000km it is normally to have a mason jar FULL of this byproduct that causes huge issues. "
what you need 2 Catch cans, 1 check valve, 1 - 2 ft worth of high pressure of similar size as the pcv line hose and throttle body/ carburetor cleaner.
This allows you to come to the last place i worked on to get my car running correctly The Oil catch cans. This is a job that is very easy and VERY required of a GDI engine. It catch's the slurry of crap that is fired back into the system. You will want to remove the pcv valve completely from the car and check to see if it is free and clear you can unscrew it from the headcover. Shake it back and forth if you hear the little metal ball clearly it is clean but in most cases this will be stuck or making dull lazy thunking noises. You do not have to always replaces this part. try spraying a bit of throttle body cleaner in it and see if it helps clear it up. mine had a rock sized chunk of carbon blocking it and it cleaned out just fine with this method. Once this is cleaned and reinstalled you can now install the catch can. the can should have a Micron filter built into as this is what catches all the harmful gases and oils that come back thru the pcv pipe. It is setup so that the in side is facing the pcv and out is facing the air intake. Insure you install a Check valve on the intake side as this is a pressurized system and it makes sure that nothing can blow back into the can. get a good metal ball bearing valve as the silicon ones break down quickly. and will require replacement with in 5-8 months down the road. once hooked up be sure to check the can once ever 1 or 2 weeks in warmer climates you can likely leave it unchecked for 3-4 weeks as colder weather promotes alot of water in the system. Once this is done you can optionaly install the second can. it is not a required install it is jsut a precautionary one. the reason for installing this on on the rear port is because some times oil can blow back into this port and throw particles and oils into your turbo. this can cause damage and premature turbo failure. this can will very likely not collect any fluids over a period of a year but is good to have it.
There is 3 options for setting up this can. all options are fine and have no negative effects. First is basically to hook up the can band insure that both lines are hooked up accordingly you can also install a air filter on this can to help release crank case pressure. Second option is to simple close the inlet side of the engine from the pipe on the air box and installing a filter on the catch can pipe instead. I personally did this on mine as it runs zero risk of blow back into my system. The thrid option requires some extra work or a third out pipe from the catch can. Basically it routes the secondary pressure and air to the rear intake just after the box. this mod requires 2 check valves. it is more preferred to tuned engines. the head side is simply filtered.
Additionally you can add a performance air filter to the air box as well or go full after market but it is not required to make the engine run more stably. I do recommend the K&N air box dry filter tho as it will last you for many many many more miles then the stock filter and allows the engine to breath better.
This concludes what i did for engine performance next up is suspension and handling of the vehicle.
So what you will need here is:12 set of lower engine mount bushings Power flex or like products I personally like the yellow power flex bushings as they are closest to stock and make zero vibration and a set of ridged collars for the subframe both back and front is required for the best performance.
(((Explanation of what it does and why it makes it better)) So here i will explain what it does and how it affects the ride quality. So lets start with the bushings. these are by far the most important upgrade to the car in my belief. The original engine mount allows for WAY to much flex of the engine which results in the engine moving back wards and forward by nearly 1-3 inchs each direction under load. This in turn creates what we call Wheel hop. its basically the bounce of the tires on the ground which can cause damage to your suspension, engine mounts, and even the engine and exhaust itself after long period of time. With this much movement parts on the engine will move and rub and eventually break as things like fuel lines are solid even the flex pipe in the exhaust can give out after a bunch of abuse of this kind. mind you most of it will be a long time down the line but i have heard of engine fire issues due to to much flex breaking fuel lines. so unless you drive like your driving miss daisy you will cause significant damage to your vehicle over a period of time. The more durable silcon bushings like power flex produces allows to very little of this to happen and keeps your engine firmly in place and not at the cost of judder back into the unibody of your car. The bushings are also only 54$ so at that cost you can have a much smoother ride and beable to do it yourself ! 4 bolts and your done its as simple as that.
This brings me to the second much required upgrade which literally only runs you maybe 74-100$ cad. Ridged collars are basically a washer with a insert on it made from billeted aluminum that fit in and close the gap around your subframe bolts. The sub frame has nearly a half inch gap in totle to freely move and yes it does move when you take a corner mine were so tight i broke a 3/4 ratchet on them and it still moved under cornering. what this translates to is body roll or a feeling of sliding when the car is not actually sliding. When you take a turn at any speed this will allow the subframe to shift from one side to the other depending on the direction you are moving and will show no signs that it has done so when looking for an explanation why. the ridged collar fills the void and also helps in snugging the frame firmly to the car this does alot of things for the vehicle as well. First immediate thing you will notice is how your car handles bumpy roads. Before the car would feel rough or clunky while now it feels more smooth more firm and as if the suspension is finally doing its job at absorbing road shock. The second it does is when taking a corner you no longer will feel as if you are sliding around the corner on ice it makes the car feel firmly planted and rigid allowing the suspension to do its work which will also aid in keeping your tires from getting cupped at proper inflation pressures. )
Ok so now we come to the handling portion of things you may require a hoist or set of 4 jack stands to perform this last part all the work is under the vehicle. Install is preaty simple and straight forward. First off remove the lower engine mount. you will want to loosen the bushing bolt while its on the vehicle then remove. take the bushings out and if your like me clean the mount and paint it to help keep it corrosion free. Install your performance bushings then put it back on the car DO NOT only replace the back one replace both bushings there is a reason there is 2 pieces in the box don't put lipstick on a pig and expect it to work out do the job properly. Once reinstalled this will reduce the wheel hop by nearly 80% and help with the handling of the vehicle. Now moves us to the ridged collars. while the car is properly supported remove each subframe 1 at a time placing the ridged collars in and snugging before removing the next one. I would recommend loosening all the subframe bolts ahead of time before pulling bolts as this will insure your subframe is 100%in alignment and centered. do this for both the front and the back it should not take more then 30minutes to complete both tasks and the results will speak for themselves afterword's.
And this concludes my guide I will be linking images to help aid in the process. I know this post is a little long winded but a good explanation is better then a poorly writen mysterious one. cheers
Jake AKA Deathjam4
So when i first got my car it was declining quickly. by6000km my car would struggle to start had the crappiest idle and started to have the turbo put the car into limp mode. I also had poor handling and a bad vibration. The vibration is the only thing i have not had rectified yet but am close to solving.
Not everything is completely required but is defiantly a highly suggested update from me. So it has been a long road but at 26000km i finally have a engine that wants to idle correctly and stably and this is what i did to achieve this. First off i changed the oil weight to 5W40 which the dealerships should be telling you to do as there is a tsb out stating such. Second i changed to a set of hks40xl plugs and MSD Ignition coils I mostly went with these plugs cause they have a higher then stock heat rating which was an 8 for stock and 9 for the hks plugs. If you are tuned or modified tho I can recommend the hks45xl plugs as the 40's are for none tuned engines. The msd ignition coils the reason for a change tho these coils is because they are the best performing coils on the market. They produce a spark nearly 5 times stronger then the original coils meaning your 100% getting ignition in the every cylinder and it promotes stronger start up. it is a slight performance upgrade but in my mind a very required one.
what you need CRC valve cleaner, Throtle body/carburator cleaner, MSD ignition coils or other like products and a set of hks40xl plugs or hks45xl plugs if tuned.
So here is what i did to help correct this part of that issue. Alot of this you can do at home with basic tools and a extra person to help you out. ((!I recommend doing this at the end of an oil change as alot of this carbon will go to your oil as does the cleaner.!)) First off i removed the egr valve line from the top of the throtle body this will allow access to the intake system for a can of CRC Valve cleaner or like products to help break down those bad carbon deposits(this is not a 100% fix for most cars I caught the build up early so it helped but for higher mileage cars you will require a walnut blasting process as carbon the longer it sits the harder it gets to take off) You spray the cleaner down thru the the open valve into the throttle body in short bursts while the engine is at 1500 -2000 rpms. this allows the cleaner to Dissolve most of that build up on the valves and restores some power to the engine and hopefully corrects the idle. if it does not work you likely need walnut blasting to remove the buildup. Once that is done you let the engine sit for an hr or more then start it and drive it and let it smoke all the carbon out of the engine. After this process is done i Highly recommend pulling the throttle body and cleaning it with throttle body cleaner you can also use carburetor cleaner. be gentle with the throttle plate and do not use metal tools on it as any damage to it will require it to be replaced. Between the crc valve cleaner and the sludge build up it will quite dirty and likely stuck in an open position due to adaptation. this is also what causes a poor idle. once clean make sure the bolts are snuggle in place mine happened to be slightly out of spec all around which allowed air to pass thru the sides. I pulled my gasket and fully cleaned it and the mounting position.
(Explanation for carbon buildup and why you need to use a catach can)
"Next up we have engine protection. Now for those that do not know what a gdi engine is it basically means the designer put the injector assembly's in the cylinder rather then behind the valves. The gas in other cars with them behind the valves would allow gasoline to clean them and there for promote a healthy valve system for extended periods. But because the injector is not there the valves get dirty and they get dirty bad and quickly. The system is designed to take all the blow by and recycle it back thru the air intake or rather in thru those valves. Now you would think this should clean my valves but it unfortunately does not. Anything good and bad goes back thru this air way the PCV system and that's basically Oil, Water, Carbon deposits, and Gasoline. this creates a slurry of bad stuff that plasters your valves in a heavy carbon deposits which will in turn cause horrible idle. My car was so bad by 16k with out a can i had to do a decarbonization process and clean the throttle body cause the idle was just atrocious and getting way worse daily. You can mitigate this by installing a catch can which catch's most of this nasty stuff and in 7000km it is normally to have a mason jar FULL of this byproduct that causes huge issues. "
what you need 2 Catch cans, 1 check valve, 1 - 2 ft worth of high pressure of similar size as the pcv line hose and throttle body/ carburetor cleaner.
This allows you to come to the last place i worked on to get my car running correctly The Oil catch cans. This is a job that is very easy and VERY required of a GDI engine. It catch's the slurry of crap that is fired back into the system. You will want to remove the pcv valve completely from the car and check to see if it is free and clear you can unscrew it from the headcover. Shake it back and forth if you hear the little metal ball clearly it is clean but in most cases this will be stuck or making dull lazy thunking noises. You do not have to always replaces this part. try spraying a bit of throttle body cleaner in it and see if it helps clear it up. mine had a rock sized chunk of carbon blocking it and it cleaned out just fine with this method. Once this is cleaned and reinstalled you can now install the catch can. the can should have a Micron filter built into as this is what catches all the harmful gases and oils that come back thru the pcv pipe. It is setup so that the in side is facing the pcv and out is facing the air intake. Insure you install a Check valve on the intake side as this is a pressurized system and it makes sure that nothing can blow back into the can. get a good metal ball bearing valve as the silicon ones break down quickly. and will require replacement with in 5-8 months down the road. once hooked up be sure to check the can once ever 1 or 2 weeks in warmer climates you can likely leave it unchecked for 3-4 weeks as colder weather promotes alot of water in the system. Once this is done you can optionaly install the second can. it is not a required install it is jsut a precautionary one. the reason for installing this on on the rear port is because some times oil can blow back into this port and throw particles and oils into your turbo. this can cause damage and premature turbo failure. this can will very likely not collect any fluids over a period of a year but is good to have it.
There is 3 options for setting up this can. all options are fine and have no negative effects. First is basically to hook up the can band insure that both lines are hooked up accordingly you can also install a air filter on this can to help release crank case pressure. Second option is to simple close the inlet side of the engine from the pipe on the air box and installing a filter on the catch can pipe instead. I personally did this on mine as it runs zero risk of blow back into my system. The thrid option requires some extra work or a third out pipe from the catch can. Basically it routes the secondary pressure and air to the rear intake just after the box. this mod requires 2 check valves. it is more preferred to tuned engines. the head side is simply filtered.
Additionally you can add a performance air filter to the air box as well or go full after market but it is not required to make the engine run more stably. I do recommend the K&N air box dry filter tho as it will last you for many many many more miles then the stock filter and allows the engine to breath better.
This concludes what i did for engine performance next up is suspension and handling of the vehicle.
So what you will need here is:12 set of lower engine mount bushings Power flex or like products I personally like the yellow power flex bushings as they are closest to stock and make zero vibration and a set of ridged collars for the subframe both back and front is required for the best performance.
(((Explanation of what it does and why it makes it better)) So here i will explain what it does and how it affects the ride quality. So lets start with the bushings. these are by far the most important upgrade to the car in my belief. The original engine mount allows for WAY to much flex of the engine which results in the engine moving back wards and forward by nearly 1-3 inchs each direction under load. This in turn creates what we call Wheel hop. its basically the bounce of the tires on the ground which can cause damage to your suspension, engine mounts, and even the engine and exhaust itself after long period of time. With this much movement parts on the engine will move and rub and eventually break as things like fuel lines are solid even the flex pipe in the exhaust can give out after a bunch of abuse of this kind. mind you most of it will be a long time down the line but i have heard of engine fire issues due to to much flex breaking fuel lines. so unless you drive like your driving miss daisy you will cause significant damage to your vehicle over a period of time. The more durable silcon bushings like power flex produces allows to very little of this to happen and keeps your engine firmly in place and not at the cost of judder back into the unibody of your car. The bushings are also only 54$ so at that cost you can have a much smoother ride and beable to do it yourself ! 4 bolts and your done its as simple as that.
This brings me to the second much required upgrade which literally only runs you maybe 74-100$ cad. Ridged collars are basically a washer with a insert on it made from billeted aluminum that fit in and close the gap around your subframe bolts. The sub frame has nearly a half inch gap in totle to freely move and yes it does move when you take a corner mine were so tight i broke a 3/4 ratchet on them and it still moved under cornering. what this translates to is body roll or a feeling of sliding when the car is not actually sliding. When you take a turn at any speed this will allow the subframe to shift from one side to the other depending on the direction you are moving and will show no signs that it has done so when looking for an explanation why. the ridged collar fills the void and also helps in snugging the frame firmly to the car this does alot of things for the vehicle as well. First immediate thing you will notice is how your car handles bumpy roads. Before the car would feel rough or clunky while now it feels more smooth more firm and as if the suspension is finally doing its job at absorbing road shock. The second it does is when taking a corner you no longer will feel as if you are sliding around the corner on ice it makes the car feel firmly planted and rigid allowing the suspension to do its work which will also aid in keeping your tires from getting cupped at proper inflation pressures. )
Ok so now we come to the handling portion of things you may require a hoist or set of 4 jack stands to perform this last part all the work is under the vehicle. Install is preaty simple and straight forward. First off remove the lower engine mount. you will want to loosen the bushing bolt while its on the vehicle then remove. take the bushings out and if your like me clean the mount and paint it to help keep it corrosion free. Install your performance bushings then put it back on the car DO NOT only replace the back one replace both bushings there is a reason there is 2 pieces in the box don't put lipstick on a pig and expect it to work out do the job properly. Once reinstalled this will reduce the wheel hop by nearly 80% and help with the handling of the vehicle. Now moves us to the ridged collars. while the car is properly supported remove each subframe 1 at a time placing the ridged collars in and snugging before removing the next one. I would recommend loosening all the subframe bolts ahead of time before pulling bolts as this will insure your subframe is 100%in alignment and centered. do this for both the front and the back it should not take more then 30minutes to complete both tasks and the results will speak for themselves afterword's.
And this concludes my guide I will be linking images to help aid in the process. I know this post is a little long winded but a good explanation is better then a poorly writen mysterious one. cheers
Jake AKA Deathjam4
