Well I have some great news to report. Still diving into the details and the answer I was given has sparked a few other questions but the bottom line is, the engine is fine. Nothing cracked or broken but I would have lost a ton of money on a bet when this first happened, based on the noise coming out of that engine!
Seems I was caught in a perfect BAD loop. Between the cold and the circumstances of the progression of the issue, I actually exacerbated the problem by doing what anyone else would do.
Here is the deal. Car was cold, started it and moved it about 15 feet, without letting it warm up or finish what I call the "high idle" process. Car sat for several hours in the even colder weather and then I started it and moved it back into the garage (about another 15 feet). That is when I first smelled an odor. No smoke or noise at this point.
Car sits for several more hours (getting even colder outside) and I go out to start it so we can head to the neighbors. Start the car, son comes out and sees a cloud of smoke and I immediately shut off the car. I check under the car and under the hood for visible signs of leaks but see nothing.
I then proceed to start the car one more time, smoke immediately comes out the exhaust so I do what came natural. I shut the car off. Too dark to see much in the garage so I decide to look at it the next day.
VERY cold now. I start the car and that is when I heard the nasty "something has come apart" noise I described as sounding like a broken valve spring. So what do I do? I immediately shut off the car, like any sane rational person would do. I sit for a few minutes, call the wife out to the garage and ask her to take a listen. Start the car up and same noise, same smoke so again, I immediately cut the car off.
Rollback comes to get it yesterday and they have been looking at it every since.
Dealer diagnosis (with help from the Hyundai tech folks to confirm)?
It seems that in some instances, on very short starts and stops (garage to driveway and vice versa) there could be some unspent fuel in the cylinders. The first time I saw smoke, that is what I was seeing as it tried to burn it off. I simply compounded the situation by cutting it on and off as I stated above. Evidently, it had so much unspent fuel in it at that point that it made the nasty noises as it stumbled to run and get it right.
They have been driving it with no problem for the better part of the day and I am getting ready to pick it up but it does make me wonder if there might be something brewing with the electronics of the fuel delivery system.
We shall see but like I said, the engine is fine and for that I am very happy!!
Downside? I didn't even get to lobby for the new higher HP engine.
