Wow…another Haunted Hyundai!
Owner of this 2011 Sonata says that for the last 3 YEARS she has had to REPLACE the ALTERNATOR to repair a low voltage condition at IDLE as the cold season approaches…BIZZARE!
Car starts fine every time, and as soon as the rpms go up, the voltage is fine at 14V.
The car is on it’s 4th alternator, and sure enough like clockwork it’s getting colder and the flickering lights are back!
Let’s reproduce the customer complaint and see if this Hyundai needs yet ANOTHER alternator? Do the aftermarket replacement units only last 1 year?
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Enjoy!
Ivan
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had the same problem on a sonata , car came in not charging replaced alternator twice and still not charging. removed the ground battery cable cleaned it, and the body where it bolts to and POOOF ! everything was fine !!!!!! and it wasnt that dirty to begin with . i have seem much worse in my 27 years of being a tech.
Cannot compare a modern electric system to an old one!
Many more devices, modules and load/amperage in a modern car.
I’m familiar with this charging system and they do not behave like this, so please don’t state this is “Hyundai’s design or issue”.
This is an older car so I’m sure it doesn’t have a battery monitoring system, used mainly for the engine stop/start system (ensure battery has charge to restart engine).
what is it about pennsylvania that brews the best diagnosticians? and what is going on with hyundais
I had an issue with battery charging and it was one of the ECU fuses in the wrong slot. The ECU could not read the battery voltage properly. Lots of error codes for low voltage (abs etc) and battery not charging properly. Put the fuse back in the right slot and sorted it.
Have not watched part II yet but had one of these cars (same year too!)
In my case, I had issues with no crank intermittently. Checked battery (good per test at parts store) and started to suspect the alternator but then found out that the main ground on these is notoriously poor from the factory. It is right behind the battery bolted into the body — there is a pin on the terminal that sticks into the body while the bolt secures it down to the painted metal.
Solution was to sand down to bare metal and torque bolt to "factory specs". Never had that problem again and sold car with the fix @114K.
Currently have Hyundai Santa Fe Sport…had same issue and did same fix. Still rocking at 167K!
Customer not very smart. Why not replace tires every year. Oh hell why not replace car every year?
What does AMS stand for?
Why not leave well enough alone- single terminal alternators have worked for years. I'm an electronics tech.
Is there a reason why it's better to pierce a wire to monitor readings on the scope instead of back proving? In school we were taught to always back probe and only pierce when there isn't access to be able to back probe.
Are this replacement alternators aftermarket garbage or manufacturer, Garbage..?.?.
Check battery terminals and earths. Why? Battery also works as a load balancer, a capacitor. When terminals not titght current spikes load alternator and blow it up eventually. Terminals may be loose because of aftermarket batteries or lazy mechanics 🙂
I believe that 73% is “desired” not actual duty cycle. That’s why it doesn’t change when the other one goes to zero
diagnose and tell them its not the alternators every year no reman does that its a bad connection .. heres what you do replace the positive cable to the battery and alternator the negative cable from batt to engine ground clean them grounds to vehicle etc clean the alternator bracket thats its ground replace the alternator 3 -4 wire connector that plugs in back a loose pin then if your getting same issue its either a engine wire harness or pcm.. heres why wiring harness if it gets wet and has a loop in it some loop alittle before entering the firewall this collects moisture it will penitrate plastic wiring also rats can chew the wiring and you wont see it so worst case new engine harness and pcm pcm because it controlls the alternator when it energizes the coil provides ground etc to keep the battery topped off im a tech of 30 years then if they go to much tell them to sell the vehicle the repair could cost upwards of 2-5 grand engine harnesses are about 500-2500 dollars a pcm 1500 so do the first things i mentioned also never replace a alternaor head gasket radiator etc major stuff with cheap reman stuff also relace the battery with a sears batt not one from walmart you repalce the batt too because the alternator was sending eroniouse voltages to it not keeping it topped off so clean grounds new alternator new batt new positive cable and negative with cleaning all groundss to chassis etc..
also how you can fully determain if its the main engine harness since the ground to alternator power and signal wire go though it to the pcm is you back probe from the pcm to the alternator connector the 3-4 wire connector on the back to determain if shorted you wiggle the wires now im seeing when it gets cold ie moisture then when it thaws water moisture so mostlikely its the main harness prevantative new pcm etc…. so start small new batt new alternaotor both power and ground and signal after youve tested the main harness for continuity wiggled etc then give them a worst case before you start any work then a ultimate worst case ie not worth the money get a new car ive got 30 years as a tech for major dealer ive seen it all
You missed that the pulsing green trace lifts off the zero volts mark when it's idling. It's pulsing with the duty cycle at 12 volts when it's high but the low time it fluctuates from near zero volts to well above zero volts. I think it's a ground problem. The green trace should stay at zero volts when it pulses low. I don't think it's the alternator. The clicking solenoids seem to point to a ECM ground problem too.
I have a 2012 Sonata with the faulty Theta ll engine. When the engine was replaced per the warranty I had the same charging problems shown here. Turns out, the tech screwed up an engine ground when replacing the engine.
Another variable could be was the correct alternator ever replaced the first time.
This is so much bull crap. All this electronics is so unnecessary. Manufactures should be forced to go back to how things were. like just an alternator and regulator. What ever problem they tried to fix by doing this crap you're trying to sort out should be eliminated. Theses modern cars when found sitting in a barn or backyard in twenty , forty years. A little work and it still will not run or start. You can almost count on finding a Model T all the way up to a mid seventies and have it running in no time with very little struggles.
It’s most likely the alternator Ivan. I would still do the standard charging system voltage drop test jus to confirm there is no external issues. I have had this issue with wire color mismatch but the PIN numbers are usually correct so keep tht in mind.
I may be out of order here, but are you interested in diagnosing a 04 dodge ram 1500 5.7 hemi non-mds remotely? (I live in Germany)
What happened; drove it home, evap code in system, but ran fine with it for years. I parked it, couple hours later on startup it went to wide open throttle and had a major backfire that dislocated the muffler.
Parts cannon so far;
– new MAF
– cleaned TB
Have ordered a new TB, so thats going to the parts cannon list aswell. Now i know the throttlebody talks to the accelerator position sensor and power control module. Have simple Bluetooth scan tool that actually can read voltages. Now i have a gut feeling the new TB wont fix it and a APPS is like unobtanium it seems. Worst case is a fubar PCM. How would you go about this problem?
Hey Ivan, you said that you weren't concerned about a voltage drop, but from the scan data you've got pulled up (around 10:40 in the video) there is right at .5V difference between the Battery Voltage pid and Battery Voltage AMS pid. Not sure what AMS is but half a volt difference doesn't give me a warm fuzzy. Like several other comments, I believe that you'll find some trouble with a poor connection. Love your videos! Great work
We see similar issues on Fords (and cars related to them like 00s Jags and Volvos) – people see the charge light so replace the alternator/battery and it's OK for a while (weeks or a couple of months) and then the problem returns and they think it's not the alternator because it's "nearly new" and – well – it is…
The only solution we've found is to put a factory (or at least OEM brand) alternator on the car – the aftermarket (Lucas comes up a lot – absolute garbage) or reman units just stop working after a while
My guess is that they just don't send back QUITE the correct waveform due to being a bit worn or just a bit out-of-spec – the car stops commanding them so they go into "always charge" mode in-case you need to get home but staying in that mode will quickly kill them completely as they're not designed to work constantly…
Hi Ivan. I concur with Russell! That ground shift is concerning…