Future owner needs advise from current owners

[Mark_888]

Have people had more issues with the 4.6 or 3.8, a lot of what I read is about navigation issues or tech issues. Nothing specifically for the engines. Oh yea some shifter play but again not specified if it's 3.8 or 4.6

There were lots of issues reported with 2012 5.0 engines (excess oil consumption). Also some problems with 2009/2010 4.6 engines (damage caused by rapid start-stop-start on a cold engine).

I don't know what kind of search engine you are using, but I would suggest you try something else since these are well documented on this forum.

 

[Gunkk]

Engine issues with the Lambda 3.8 (both pre and post GDI era) are exceedingly rare.

As Mark said, the early (2009) Tau 4.6 occasionally had an ECU bug that rarely showed it's ugly head, resulting in a random misfire at start up, which would cause the engine to sound like it was tearing itself apart. Only on even rarer occasions would the engine be damaged which would result in a loud bad-crankshaft-bearing-like-tick or thump.

This problem was worse in other cars/engines like Sonatas. Hyundai fixed it in later cars with ECU updates.

I had the misfire with my 2009 only once in three years. I shut the engine off immediately (<2 seconds) and didn't have any permanent tick/thump noise or damage. The engine did throw a check engine light misfire code. Several forum members have had the misfires, but actual engine damage was uncommon.

On the whole, your odds of running into a 2009 4.6 with this issue are 1/1000th of getting stuck in a 2012 5.0 with oil burn issues. And it's really easy to tell if the 4.6 has the issue -- it makes a racket (much louder than a GDI's usual ticking). The oil-burn issues in the 2012 5.0 were far more common in build dates before Q1-2012 and not possible to detect from a simple test drive.

 

[kayv369]

Engine issues with the Lambda 3.8 (both pre and post GDI era) are exceedingly rare.

As Mark said, the early (2009) Tau 4.6 occasionally had an ECU bug that rarely showed it's ugly head, resulting in a random misfire at start up, which would cause the engine to sound like it was tearing itself apart. Only on even rarer occasions would the engine be damaged which would result in a loud bad-crankshaft-bearing-like-tick or thump.

This problem was worse in other cars/engines like Sonatas. Hyundai fixed it in later cars with ECU updates.

I had the misfire with my 2009 only once in three years. I shut the engine off immediately (<2 seconds) and didn't have any permanent tick/thump noise or damage. The engine did throw a check engine light misfire code. Several forum members have had the misfires, but actual engine damage was uncommon.

On the whole, your odds of running into a 2009 4.6 with this issue are 1/1000th of getting stuck in a 2012 5.0 with oil burn issues. And it's really easy to tell if the 4.6 has the issue -- it makes a racket (much louder than a GDI's usual ticking). The oil-burn issues in the 2012 5.0 were far more common in build dates before Q1-2012 and not possible to detect from a simple test drive.

Mark and gunkk thanks for your input. I have searched the forums but searches can be thrown off by what keywords your searching for. I have not found a lot of issues with the 3.8 or 4.6 so I wanted to see if I was searching for the wrong thing.

I am currently looking back and forth between the two.
I have driven the 3.8 and it seems to have enough power for me but I am having a hard time finding the combination I want. Which is titanium/ saddle. I may just go with platinum/black.

I see pros to owning the 4.6, like it's comes loaded and resale value is higher. My cons are the mpg compared to the 3.8 and short term and long term maintenance. Seems that the short term maintenance is higher in the 4.6 but the long term maintenance is higher in the 3.8.

 

[craigt]

+1 for Platinum/Black.

 

[daviderle]

+2 for the color combo.
+1 for 4.6 (for the bumper soot issue, if nothing else!)

 

[Mark_888]

I have searched the forums but searches can be thrown off by what keywords your searching for. I have not found a lot of issues with the 3.8 or 4.6 so I wanted to see if I was searching for the wrong thing.

You can also use Google to search this forum, if you don't like the forum search function.

 

[daviderle]

+1, one easy way to limit your results to genesisowners.com is to type in Google search:

keyword(s) site:genesisowners.com