Hyundai Santa Fe - Hyundai Santa Fe autobox failure

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Tue 11 Aug 2015 18:42
Hyundai Santa Fe - Hyundai Santa Fe autobox failure - Optimus Prime

My Santa Fe 2007 2.2 diesel automatic, 70k miles broke down this weekend with what seems like a transmission failure. Towed to the local Hyundai dealer, and they have told me that I need a full new autobox, priced £5000 all in! I challenged and asked what was wrong with the 'box and whether it could be repaired - they said that they send the whole thing off to a specialist and they do the analysis and repair if possible. It's £216 to send off to the specialist, which is a no-brainer given the alternative of just saying yes to a new one at £5000, but can anyone provide advice?

- is an autobox failure common on these models (I hadn't heard of one)? car has a tow bar, so might have done some heavy towing before I owned it, but even so...

- is £5000 a reasonable replacement cost?

- do main dealers just rip you off - is there a good chance that the specialist will find a cheaper repair?

- the dealer is saying that I also need two new rear shock absorbers (leaking) at £800 each - further evidence of wear to the car?

- car is probably only worth £7000, and with the other work plus an annual service due I am evaluating my options - what do you think my chances are of being able trade it in to this dealer to buy something else without losing a lot of money?

Any advice appreciated. Thanks,

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Tue 11 Aug 2015 19:06
Hyundai Santa Fe - Hyundai Santa Fe autobox failure - gordonbennet

Main dealer isn't the place for this car.

Unless you know of a good auto specialist (beware this sector has its unscrupulous side who won't be members of fed) you should consult www.fedauto.co.uk/ and find hopefully a local member and seek their advice, have you checked the gear oil level firstly, does the car have a service history, if it's full Hyundai history it might be worth asking for a goodwill contribution whilst its at the dealer.

Meantime i'd be searching for a used box from a crashed vehicle from a reputable breaker, never know they might have some rear shocks on the wrecker that are still good too.

It's a job for indy labour rates really if no goodwill forthcoming, not main dealer figures.

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Tue 11 Aug 2015 19:44
Hyundai Santa Fe - Hyundai Santa Fe autobox failure - RT

At that price for rear dampers, you seem to have a 7-seater with self-levelling rear-suspension - you can fit the much cheaper conventional dampers from a 5-seater of similar age.

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Tue 11 Aug 2015 19:51
Hyundai Santa Fe - Hyundai Santa Fe autobox failure - gordonbennet

Is it that simple RT (hopefully it is), i know its a completely different vehicle but the hugely expensive Boge self levellers that Volvo fitted to the 7/900 series high spec estates were combined with softer springs too, so if you went for the much cheaper standard shocks you would need to fit the stronger compatible springs too.

by the way, thanks for the tip anyway, jotted in the old memory banks.

Edited by gordonbennet on 11/08/2015 at 19:58

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Tue 11 Aug 2015 20:44
Hyundai Santa Fe - Hyundai Santa Fe autobox failure - RT

AFAIK spring rate is unrelated to damper rate, and vice versa - although both affect roll rate as does the anti-roll bar rate.

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