Thread: Oil problem in Hyundai Terracan 2.9 CRDI Diesel

How many kilometres has the vehicle done? Does it get regular oil changes?
Do you use any engine flush products to help clean out the old oil?

I recently did and oil change on my diesel and used an engine flush product, the crap that came out with the oil was quite surprising.

Thanks Geoff, yes it does get regular oil changes, I have only had the vehicle just over 6 months. We only use it for trips and it has not been used over winter.

The previous owner was quite religious with servicing.

I had a Nissan Diesel engine in my houseboat on the Murray in SA and hvae a diesel tractor. It is actually quite discouraging changing the oil in a diesel. The minute you run them again it is as black as the ace of spades again.

Anyway I have found my problem As this was the first time I changed the oil on this car, I went under the car and found what I thought was the sump plug in the middle under the engine, only it was actually the drain plug for the front diff, wasn't it, which takes 2L of oil so that checks out.

The drain plug for the sump is actually at the rear of the engine at the flywheel end. When I drained that I got quite a bit of oil out! The 6L I put in this afternoon plus whatever was in the engine.

Anyway, will dump the lot, lesson learned off to Repco to buy another 10L of oil.

On the subject of oil, had to really look around for the filters for the Terracan this morning and at every place I asked for filters I checked out the price of the Penrite Diesel oil, dearest was Burson at $105 for 10L, Supercheap and Autobarn were both $92, Repco (the last place I checked and the only one that had the filters I needed) was $78 and they asked whether I was a member of the RACV, that card gave me another 10% off. So between Repco and Burson there was a cool $34 difference, or almost 50% more than Repco for the same Penrite Diesel Oil (HPR Diesel 5W40) so it pays to shop around a bit.

Does it use the same grade of oil in the engine and the diff?

That would seem strange.

Diff oil is usually heavier and often has a distinct odour.

Originally Posted by Avery

Does it use the same grade of oil in the engine and the diff?

That would seem strange.

Diff oil is usually heavier and often has a distinct odour.

Nope, front diff uses 90W.

Both front and rear diffs have ARB lockers fitted.

Originally Posted by Big Shed

Checked the oil last night, prior to draining and changing, and it was below the L mark, but still on the dipstick.

Drained the oil and that was a bit strange in itself. When I removed the sump plug the first oil that came out was quite clean and clear, almost like new oil, then the normal black oil that comes out of a diesel came out.

Measure the total amount of oil that came out and that was only about 25-3L, plus what was in the filer of course.

So today I bought new oil and a filter, fitted the filter and put 6.0L of new oil as per the manual.

Let it settle and when checking the level on the dipstick it was way over the full mark.

So checked the manual again, yes 6L it is, so went to drain some out, and this is where the real surprise hit me!

When I removed the sump plug, yes the same sump plug I removed lst night, absolutely no oil came out, not a drop.

Poked in there with my finger, then a screw driver, nothing.

Checked the dipstick, still way over full, put sump plug back in and started the engine, just in case it had to pump around, oil light went off almost straight away. Switched off engine, removed sump plug, no oil coming out!

Has anybody got any clues?

Fred you had me worried there you have written 25-3L I thought holly crap since when did Hyundai put a GM 8v92 size motor into one of their engine bays .

I was about to type you have undone wrong plug and was reading again the post when I saw you had discovered you dilemma glad you sorted that one.

Yes, left out a decimal place there I actually measured it now and it is just on 2L, according to the manual the front diff takes 1.8L, so that lines up.

Darned lucky you didn't take it for a run after filling the motor, the diff would not like a dry run.

Bit surprised that the diff oil had stratified i.e. clear on bottom and grotty on top. I presume that you hadn't given the vehicle a good run prior to dumping the oil, and the crud is lighter overall than the oil so floated to the top.

Lesson learned.

You got that right!

Engine oil now drained and refilled with fresh stuff to the correct level.

Had rear diff drained and both front and rear diff filled with new oil.

All's well that ends well