Power Loss??

[fazerG8R]

Last night I was leaving work. The Genesis started normally enough (it seemed) and I took off, leaving the parking lot at an idle, waiting for the car to warm up. It seemed sluggish, but I wrote it off to it just being cold (it was in the low thirties). When I came to the 55 mph road, I knew something was wrong, there was just no power. The engine was smooth, no stumbling, no rough idle, just no power. I stopped, shut it down, and restarted it a couple of times, but there was no change, there was just no power. It would do about 55-60, and that was it, and it took at least a mile to accelerate up to that speed.

I drove directly to the dealer and left it there for them to diagnose the problem today. When I called them this afternoon they reported there was no recorded error code and that when they test drove the car, there was plenty of power, it accelerated quickly and easily to eighty and it seemed completely normal.

I picked it up this evening, and it ran perfectly. No problem at all.

I'm a little uneasy now, there should have been some recorded indication of what was wrong. In any event, has anyone had a similar experience and discovered what the problem was?

BTW, it's a 2012, 3.8 V6. One additional note, on the way to the dealer, about 25 miles, the average MPG readout increased, so although it was slow, it wasn't because of a poor fuel air ratio.

 

[homeofstone]

I'm guessing a fuel pressure problem or contaminated fuel since it was running smooth just sluggish. Just a guess though.

 

[427435]

If it happens again, find a safe place to stop and turn the car off. Then restart and see if a "reboot" of things makes any difference.

 

[fazerG8R]

If it happens again, find a safe place to stop and turn the car off. Then restart and see if a "reboot" of things makes any difference.

That's exactly what I did but it had no immediate effect. Whatever caused the problem "reset" overnight. If it happens again I'm going to stop, shut it down and then disconnect and reconnect the battery. I hate intermittent problems, tough to diagnose.

 

[Oscar]

See if this old thread helps.
http://www.genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/showthread.php?t=4459&page=4

 

[Gunkk]

Sounds like "limp home mode".

see also http://genesisowners.com/hyundai-genesis-forum/showthread.php?t=10776

or search for "limp home mode"

 

[CanukV6]

I had very similar circumstances with my previous 2009 Genesis. In each case the problem occurred while the car was running. Dealer couldn't find any errors. Second time it happened I went straight to another dealer and after an hour of diagnosis and checks the only thing they found was a slightly dirty Mass Airflow Sensor. After they cleaned this the problem never recurred.

 

[mikec]

I wonder if the Genesis computer can detect a partially blocked fuel line. That'll result in low fuel pressure during acceleration (higher fuel flow demand) but not so bad at steady cruise (less fuel flow demand). A little water in a fuel line can freeze, partially or fully blocking the fuel line. Rare but it does happen.

mike c.

 

[fazerG8R]

Power Loss Update

Well, it's been almost two months, and there have been no further problems. It runs beautifully. One bit of irony, my 2009 Santa Fe had been running a little roughly at highway speeds and just didn't feel right under acceleration. Again, the dealer couldn't find anything, no error codes, the usual. It finally got rough enough to convince the dealer something was wrong and they decided it need a TPS. They replaced that, and that cured all of the roughness. It's aggravating that it took almost a year of denial, four visits to the dealer, and about $100 worth of fuel injector cleaner before they finally fixed it (under warranty). Lots of interesting replies on this thread, thank for all the input.