Ghettosled
Registered Member
Quick background, my 2013 Genesis 3.8 sedan had a transmission issue at about 60k miles. Delay in shifting from 2-3 and 4-5 like it was in neutral for 1-2 seconds.
New transmission installed under warranty. Fast forward to now and with 118k miles, same problem started (but intermittent). Brought it to dealer and they didn't find any trouble codes, nor felt the issue. I found a TSB online that touches on this issue - https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10160100-9999.pdf Spoke with the dealer about this, and was informed they don't repair transmissions, only replace. They can pull codes to help diagnose what the fault is, but that's it. They reflashed the transmission and sent me on my way. Problem persist, so I though why not attempt the repair myself. I've rebuilt a couple of engines, how difficult can this be? lol.
Order a new R35 shift solenoid, thinking this was the culprit when trying to shift into these gears - about $100. Orders 10 quarts of the Hyundai SP-IV-RR trans fluid (at $17/quart). Ended up needing an additional 3 more quarts. More on that in a bit.
Disconnect the battery. Removed the plastic belly pan, cracked open the fill and overflow ports. (pro tip - always remove the fill openings first. Better to find out the are stuck in place now rather than after all fluids have drained out.). Then drained the trans pan.
Disconnect wiring and remove trans pan. It has a rubber seal, so it came off easily and cleanly.
The 10 bots (8 at one end, 2 on the other) come out to remove the solenoid assembly. Note, the 3 black bolts removed are a different length than the silver.
The rubber o-rings where the wiring goes through the case was hanging up and needed to be coaxed a bit to slide out.
More fluid came out when this was removed. Here is the assembly on the table. (This is the top-down view.)
The connector is just the attachment for the wiring connector, to the cable ribbon. In this photo, you can see it lifted a bit during removal. Everything looks to be flexible and plastic hooks to assemble, so I snapped it back down.
Really odd part, you can see a bit of the ribbon leading to a plug (one tine is showing). In the TSB, there should be a wire from this to the fluid pressure switch. This was not on my transmission. 8 bolts then come out so the E-Module can be removed. The series of connectors on each side will pop out to disconnect.
Remove the bracket that keeps the pins in place, and remove the pin with a magnet for the suspect solenoid.
Old solenoid slides out and new one slides in.
Then reassemble in reverse order. Once the gasket mating surfaces are clean, only parts to be cognizant of is to made sure the black rubber o-rings are still in place, line up the lever to the valve when the solenoid goes back into the transmission.
Once everything was back together, filled the trans with enough fluid to stream out the hole. Turned car on and kept filling. I had to fill quickly, because when I switched from one quart to the next (hand pumping fluid in), it would start to get a little louder until there was more fluid. Did this until fluid streamed out the overflow hole. Closed it all up.
I was so proud of myself until I realized the check engine light was now on. I plugged in my $35 code reader and it didn't pick up any codes (probably not if transmission fault). Oh well, I ignore the light and take the car out for a test drive. The car SLAMMED into reverse. Whoa, that's not normal. I've changed trans fluids before on other vehicles and thought fluid needed to be worked around, so I shifted between D and R a couple of times. Every time I shifted into D or R, it SLAMS into hear. I take the car out for a drive. It's stuck in 5th gear, even from a standstill. Almost like it slips the clutch to get the car going and doesn't do any shifting. Won't go higher either. Using the 'manual mode' shift indicates only 5th gear. Cannot manually change to any other gear.
Thinking it sees a new solenoid and the ECU and/or TCU needs to be reset, I tried different ways to reset. Unplugged battery for 15 minutes, then 2 hours, then 24 hours. Nope. Pulling the ECU fuses (and TCU) for 20 minutes while the battery wasn't connected didn't do anything. It has to be keeping the parameters somewhere, as my radio stations didn't reset either the entire time.
Looking for the magic un-do button so the car would be drivable, I decided to reinstall the original solenoid. After all was said and done (including attempts to reset ECU), the car still slams into R and D, and will only use 5th gear.
I have an appointment scheduled with Hyundai, but that is 3 weeks away. I have a backup car to use so it's not like I will do any (further) damage.
Any ideas on where I went wrong? This was a fairly simple task. I double checked the transmission fluid and the level is proper.
New transmission installed under warranty. Fast forward to now and with 118k miles, same problem started (but intermittent). Brought it to dealer and they didn't find any trouble codes, nor felt the issue. I found a TSB online that touches on this issue - https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10160100-9999.pdf Spoke with the dealer about this, and was informed they don't repair transmissions, only replace. They can pull codes to help diagnose what the fault is, but that's it. They reflashed the transmission and sent me on my way. Problem persist, so I though why not attempt the repair myself. I've rebuilt a couple of engines, how difficult can this be? lol.
Order a new R35 shift solenoid, thinking this was the culprit when trying to shift into these gears - about $100. Orders 10 quarts of the Hyundai SP-IV-RR trans fluid (at $17/quart). Ended up needing an additional 3 more quarts. More on that in a bit.
Disconnect the battery. Removed the plastic belly pan, cracked open the fill and overflow ports. (pro tip - always remove the fill openings first. Better to find out the are stuck in place now rather than after all fluids have drained out.). Then drained the trans pan.

Disconnect wiring and remove trans pan. It has a rubber seal, so it came off easily and cleanly.


The 10 bots (8 at one end, 2 on the other) come out to remove the solenoid assembly. Note, the 3 black bolts removed are a different length than the silver.
The rubber o-rings where the wiring goes through the case was hanging up and needed to be coaxed a bit to slide out.

More fluid came out when this was removed. Here is the assembly on the table. (This is the top-down view.)

The connector is just the attachment for the wiring connector, to the cable ribbon. In this photo, you can see it lifted a bit during removal. Everything looks to be flexible and plastic hooks to assemble, so I snapped it back down.

Really odd part, you can see a bit of the ribbon leading to a plug (one tine is showing). In the TSB, there should be a wire from this to the fluid pressure switch. This was not on my transmission. 8 bolts then come out so the E-Module can be removed. The series of connectors on each side will pop out to disconnect.

Remove the bracket that keeps the pins in place, and remove the pin with a magnet for the suspect solenoid.

Old solenoid slides out and new one slides in.

Then reassemble in reverse order. Once the gasket mating surfaces are clean, only parts to be cognizant of is to made sure the black rubber o-rings are still in place, line up the lever to the valve when the solenoid goes back into the transmission.

Once everything was back together, filled the trans with enough fluid to stream out the hole. Turned car on and kept filling. I had to fill quickly, because when I switched from one quart to the next (hand pumping fluid in), it would start to get a little louder until there was more fluid. Did this until fluid streamed out the overflow hole. Closed it all up.
I was so proud of myself until I realized the check engine light was now on. I plugged in my $35 code reader and it didn't pick up any codes (probably not if transmission fault). Oh well, I ignore the light and take the car out for a test drive. The car SLAMMED into reverse. Whoa, that's not normal. I've changed trans fluids before on other vehicles and thought fluid needed to be worked around, so I shifted between D and R a couple of times. Every time I shifted into D or R, it SLAMS into hear. I take the car out for a drive. It's stuck in 5th gear, even from a standstill. Almost like it slips the clutch to get the car going and doesn't do any shifting. Won't go higher either. Using the 'manual mode' shift indicates only 5th gear. Cannot manually change to any other gear.
Thinking it sees a new solenoid and the ECU and/or TCU needs to be reset, I tried different ways to reset. Unplugged battery for 15 minutes, then 2 hours, then 24 hours. Nope. Pulling the ECU fuses (and TCU) for 20 minutes while the battery wasn't connected didn't do anything. It has to be keeping the parameters somewhere, as my radio stations didn't reset either the entire time.
Looking for the magic un-do button so the car would be drivable, I decided to reinstall the original solenoid. After all was said and done (including attempts to reset ECU), the car still slams into R and D, and will only use 5th gear.
I have an appointment scheduled with Hyundai, but that is 3 weeks away. I have a backup car to use so it's not like I will do any (further) damage.
Any ideas on where I went wrong? This was a fairly simple task. I double checked the transmission fluid and the level is proper.