project Free car - Hyundai Santa Fe 2.7 V6 rescued - I can see clearly now the clouds have gone!

[Blake's Den]

3 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Cambelt interval appears to be 60k / 6 years.

I normally say to go by mileage as that's the work done by the belt. Although age does of course come into it as with any rubber component. 

A tricky one but I'd suggest at 5 years overdue it might be worth considering a change not in the immediate future but at the same time don't wait until it reaches the 60k! 

Yes, I do want to do it. It actually doesn't seem to be too bad of a job to do at home. Just need to find the time and the willing!

[Blake's Den]

I'm still using this regularly. Now onto 35000 miles! However winter driving has highlighted the fact that the headlights are quite crap. I'm guessing that they were average when new, even with upgraded bulbs, mainbeam on and the front driving lights on it still isn't great. Anyway, upon inspection, I noticed that my headlights and clouded up again, the passenger side being the worst. I quikcly attacked them with some T-Cut and they are much clearer now.

See for yourself here!

I drove it in the dark yesterday and the brightness has improved a bit. It still isn't as good as these modern LED projector lights but at least I can see a bit better now.

[Blake's Den]

The Santa Fe was in for its MoT test today. Good news, a pass with only one advisory which was the same as last year (play in a ball joint).

I have had a problem with squeaky suspension. There must be a dry suspension bush somewhere on the front end. I've sprayed all that I can access easily with GT85 and it has made it quieter but I know that it is not a long term fix.

[RoverFolkUs]

Suspension squeaks can be caused by ball joints, makes sense if you've got one worn out that's been advised

Jack up each corner and then very slowly lower the jack, you'll often get ball joints to creak when doing that, if they're going to do it

Other possibility would be anti roll bar D-bushes

[Blake's Den]

The Santa Fe is still doing its job of being my daily driver. I'm really surprised my air con 'fix' is still working! Which is pretty cool (pun intended!) I'm this weather.

One thing that I have spotted is that the air con is colder on fan speed 2 rather than 4. It's almost like the condenser can't  keep up with the increased air flow. Also, on idle it's is a little asthmatic but above 2000 rpm and it's fine. 

There is a whine with the AC on but that is fixed by turning the volume knob on the radio.....

 

I'm other news I have decided that I'm going to replace the Hyundai with something else, just not sure what yet. Ideally I could do with something that provides more than 23mpg on my commute. But actually, I don't think that 23mpg is too bad considering its a 2.7 V6 petrol, it has a four speed slush box, is awd and has the aerodynamics of a snail.

[Blake's Den]

So this happened today, 40000 miles. Possibly the lowest mileage Mark 1 Santa Fe in the UK?

 

[Blake's Den]

Thought of the day....we know that speedometers have a -0/+10 % tolerance on them so does that also mean that the odometer does too? So 40000 miles could actually be 36360 miles? 

[somewhatfoolish]

No, the odometer is more accurate, it's only the tyre diameter that mucks that up if you fit non-standard sizes.

[Blake's Den]

A busy week for the Santa Fe.

Since getting it back on the road I have always had a whiff of fuel near the fuel cap.  I replaced the fuel filler pipe as it had been chewed by a rodent and I remembered that the vent pipe also looked a bit iffy. Well after two years I decided to fix the vent pipe to make the smell go away! Sure enough, the vent pipe was also chewed so I splice it with a pipe connector and the smell is gone.

I'm doing this I needed to remove the nearside  real wheel. In doing so I noticed that my tyre was worn out 😕. I was running some Event ML mud and snow tyres which were great in mud and snow but absolutely rubbish in anything else. I replaced them with the finest ditch finders, I chose the tyre type that you don't know what you are getting until the day of fitting. I've ended up with Delinte SUV tyres which actually feel really good, the ride is much smoother.

I treated the new tyres to a 200 mile motorway trip and averaged 27.4 mpg on the return which I don't think is too shabby for a 2.7 V6 and a body which is as aerodynamic as my house.