Engine falls flat on it's face

[fungo45]

This happens to me as well - not a lot, but enough. I brought it to the attention of the dealer, who of course told me nothing was wrong.
Mine is a 2009 3.8

Off topic...
My previous car was a 2009 G8 GT, and while it was a blast to drive, it doesn't have near the fit and finish of the Gennie.

 

[Silver Gen]

First, HELLO KMAN! I'm also a member of the Think Tank and saw your post regarding this and decided to "chime in". Here's a portion of what I posted there: "...I had this same problem with my Sonata and it was attributed to carbon buildup in I think it's called the throttle body housing. I have to believe this has something to do with it because when they "cleaned" it out on my Sonata, I immediately saw a difference. Also I just had my Genesis Coupe serviced today (30K) and one of the things they did was (and this is what it is called on the repair invoice) "PERFORM MOC FUEL INDUCTION DECARBONIZATION SERVICE". I immediately felt a difference in the throttle response! So maybe this is the problem, just my two cents..."

 

[Rey]

I have had four Genesis - '09, '11, '12 & '13. The first three were V8s and now I have a V6. In my opinion the flat throttle response is a result of Hyundai's protecting the transmission with a torque management/reduction programming. My experience is that Hyundai continues to evolve; and my '13 transmission is considerably better than my '12's, etc.
I did install and use successfully on my six-speeds ('09 &'11) a Sprint Booster. This is the real deal. It effectively amps the signal to the transmission making throttle response more sensitive. It does not increase hp or affect gas mileage. The basic torque management was still there on first gear fast starts, but kick down was much more sensitive and controllable.

 

[kman]

First, HELLO KMAN! I'm also a member of the Think Tank and saw your post regarding this and decided to "chime in". Here's a portion of what I posted there: "...I had this same problem with my Sonata and it was attributed to carbon buildup in I think it's called the throttle body housing. I have to believe this has something to do with it because when they "cleaned" it out on my Sonata, I immediately saw a difference. Also I just had my Genesis Coupe serviced today (30K) and one of the things they did was (and this is what it is called on the repair invoice) "PERFORM MOC FUEL INDUCTION DECARBONIZATION SERVICE". I immediately felt a difference in the throttle response! So maybe this is the problem, just my two cents..."

Hi Silver Gen,
What I experienced felt more like the transmission not shifting to the right gear quickly enough rather than the accelerator not responding. I can clearly see the engine revs going up as soon as I step on it, so the accelerator is responsive, but none of that power is transferred to the wheels for those 1-2 seconds while the transmission is slowly downshifting one by one with the revs climbing.

 

[Gunkk]

Thread title is a misnomer. Should be "Transmission falls flat on its face."

 

[landtuna]

I must be one lucky SOB because I haven't yet had any problem with my R-spec that wasn't *ahem* "operator error".

That said, I tried mashing the throttle the other day entering a local freeway and the car performed exactly as I would have expected. It downshifted (I felt only one but it may have changed more than one gear) and then pinned everyone back in their seats as it took off. Initial speed was probably 25-30 MPH.

You can normally feel the upshifts if you pay attention but under full throttle you can definitely feel them. I was only at full throttle for a few seconds as the car accelerated so quickly I was at 80+ in a matter of seconds so had to back off.

Nothing wrong with the performance of this car. Nope. Still trying to wipe the silly grin off my face.

 

[waveman]

I had to do that last week entering a freeway with a too-short acceleration/merge lane. An 18-wheeler was coming up fast and I didn't have enough room left to stop, so I punched it and was thankful for the quick response.

 

[EXBMWGUY]

The backs of my eyeballs are perpetually flat.

 

[landtuna]

I campaigned a 'C' gas rail back in the late 60's. Launching one of those was a breathtaking, eyeball pounding, spine jolting experience. When you hit the button you knew something very mean and big was going to kick you in the butt and shake you like a terrier does a rat for about 10 seconds.

Punching the Genny is like having a British butler escort you out of the Master's dining hall at warp speed. You know you are going in a big, fast hurry but you have none of that rough stuff or loud noises. Very civil indeed.

And for that reason you have to pay attention to the speedo or come up with some cash for the County Mounties because you will gain speed effortlessly and be beyond their definition of "reasonable and prudent" before the wife can threaten you with the couch.

 

[P-bar]

Well dropped off at the dealer today . Ready for the B.S. tomorrow

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[kman]

Well dropped off at the dealer today . Ready for the B.S. tomorrow

Not sure if it would help, but when I mentioned this on Hyundai Think Tank they created a case number that can be referenced. You might want to give this to your dealer. Case number 5797645.

I'm not sure if the number is specific to me, or the issue.

 

[P-bar]

Thanks Kman will throw that at em' . Told the service writer (chick) hard to communicate with to have the mechanic call me . we will see about that

 

[P-bar]

Well got it back from service . We also have had issues in the morning starting where it felt like it was running on 4 cylinders instrumentation didn't come on or the headlights, once I cleared it up it came to life. Well of course they couldn't duplicate the problem and no codes so a big waste of time........

 

[kman]

Out of curiosity I checked Hyundai Think Tank today to see if there were more comments under the topic I started a while ago. There were one or two additions, however, what really caught my eye is that basically every new post from (i'm guessing new invitees) mentions the same 1-2 second lag problem that shows up once in a while. Shame that we don't hear if Hyundai is working to resolve this transmission logic issue.

 

[shagnat]

Don't know if anyone else has had this problem couldn't find anything in the search. When I am moving slow and need to accelerate quickly the engine just falls flat on it's face and stumbles for a second or two. we do use regular gas but I don't think that should be the problem. Ideas?

I've had this happen with at least 2 previous cars I owned. One was the Azera, the other was a Buick Park Ave Ultra. Exactly as you stated, stubles for a second+ then finally gets going. I was just assuming it was the fault of the engine (fuel deliver) and/or tranny not working well together.

I haven't had a chance to check this out on my recently acquired Gennisis 4.6L. I'll report back once I get a chance to get try it out.

 

[Nobody]

I have noticed the kick-down hesitation many times with my 2012 3.8 Genesis. I asked my dealer to check it out and the technician said no fault codes were found and the transmission performed "with in spec".

My opinion is that the hesitation issue is two-fold. The 8-speed automatic transmission is programmed for fuel economy and features a relatively slow torque converter. Thus, it holds a higher gear while coasting, even under 25 mph and it takes time to switch to the lower gear when full throttle is suddenly applied. The second factor is Hyundai is notorious in the car mags for their non-defeatable extremely sensitive ESP/TC program that limits full-throttle input until the ECU is confident that tire grip is present.

Hyundai could solve this by offering a dual-clutch automatic with the ability to completely turn off traction control. Certainly should be offered on the R-spec model.

 

[P-bar]

I'm amazed by the responses this thread has received. bman and shagnat you may be on to something . I'm wondering if it's the drive wire (gas pedal) is an issue too. we have had these problems on out diesel trucks too. They could fix this with someone spending some time on reprogramming and flashing the ECU . I guess they feel if it ain't broke we aren't going to fix it.

 

[lncaylor]

Hi, I am new to the forum but have been visiting here for over a year doing research on the Genesis. I recently purchased a CPOed 2012 Genesis 4.6L with only 12,750 miles on the clock. I really like the way it drives very close to the 2008 BMW 535i I have driven. The reason I bought a used 2012 rather than a 2013 is because that was the last year to get a conventional multipoint fuel injected Genesis. However, the GDI 2008 BMW has over 50,000 miles on it but no symptoms of carboned up intake valves yet. So that is encouraging.

One complaint I have though is the severe stumbling that I have experienced a couple of times in the 6 weeks I have owned it. The first time I was stopped for a turn and I saw a car that I was afraid could not stop for me so I floored it. It took it seems a couple of seconds to move. The second time was today. I was going about 20mph and wanted to accelerate to get through a traffic light. This time it seemed like the accelerator linkage had come loose and was unresponsive. Both times I did not hear the engine revving up. It seemed more like the engine flat spotting than a transmission problem. I wonder if this is caused by the drive by wire system.

 

[P-bar]

Incaylor thanks for chiming in on this thread. I have wondered too if it's the drive by wire or maybe the traction control is afraid to give us the power we want??

 

[Gunkk]

More like drive by CPU.

The TCU is protecting the transmission from damage while it downshifts. It's holding back the engine. You may have also noticed that it rev matches...

Problem is the 8 speed transmission is slow to downshift. So you wait while it goes 6-5-4-3-2-LAUNCH (about 2 seconds).