Hyundai Sonatas

I have spent all of my free time for the better part of a week now underneath a Hyundai Sonata. The timing belt on this bad girl decided to give out on my wife about 600 feet from the driveway so the first sweat involved in fixing it was pushing it home and into the garage. Now, I have reached the stage in my life where spending lots of time under a car is about as appealing as sitting on tacks and I would much rather have a pro do it than attempt this myself. So I call my mechanic.

Apparently this year of Sonata had an interference engine, interference means that the valves hit the pistons and that will interfere with your beer drinking if you pay someone else to fix it.

So here I am in my garage, car in a million pieces, got lots of help from a couple of websites and was really impressed by the interactivity and the helpfulness of those at Hyundai Forums. Was able to find everything I needed in terms of help, instructions and support. I was even more impressed with Hyundai that I had been in the past, they keep their service manuals on-line (FOR FREE) at hmaservice.com. American car manufacturers take heed, this might be something consumers want and part of the reason we are bailing your a**** out of a jam.

Not that this has been an easy chore by any means, nor was it cheap, but I did save at least a G note and a half by doing it myself. Tonight I should put the last bolts (there are about 125) in place and get it working (hopefully), maybe in the next week or so my bloody knuckles will heal up and I can fix something else -- like a martini.

posted by Matt @ 4:21 PM