Connecting rod failure Hyundai Veloster 1.6

[mazolt]

I purchased this car new 2013, 29,999 miles and the dealer has been the only one who worked on it. We use synthic oil. After driving the last 100 mile at 60 mph the engine stopped. I had it towed to the dealership. The lower end of #4 con rod was sticking out of the Aluminum block. The hyundai rep said, it was because the fuel injection system was modified . It was not. They are denying a warranty repair.

They have refused to inspect the engine failure, ie. physcially take the engine apart or check the on board computer as to the cause. How can I determine the cause of failure? I believe the bolts in the bearing cap came loose or broke and then the con rod failure occurred.

I had a g-force performance chip on the engine to improve economy that they are saying changed the manufacture engine specification.

Suggestions as to how I can proceed .

MAZOLT; mazolton@msn.com

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[Ranger Mike]

Placing a chip on an engine voids the warranty. It is established law in USA. I use various chips on diesel VW and Dodge turbo Cummins diesel and when I purchased these, the seller told me about warranty going void once installed. Did it cause your engine to grenade?// doubtful. But the manufacturer is no longer responsible for the outcome.

 

[cjl]

What kind of chip exactly was it? From a quick bit of research, the G-force performance chip is a scam and doesn't do anything at all (assuming that the one I found is the same as the one you had). This is the best possible scenario for you, since if you had a chip that actually modified the engine's performance in any way, your warranty would be void. If your chip was actually a scam, and you haven't tried to do anything else to the car to improve power or economy or anything like that, then you should be able to get a new engine under warranty.

 

[Ketch22]

Mazolt, Sorry about the car. Ranger Mike is correct about the chip voiding the warranty. As stated also I do not know of the gforce chips actually achieving the claims. Two thoughts, 1) if you look at it be super careful about capturing and looking at fluids. Often pieces get thrown out in the oil so look at it carefully. If you are correct about the big end of the rod being the origin do to coming loose you will find complete fasteners and possibly even the loose (and unscrewed nuts). It is easy to see if something was assembled or not when it blew up. 2) Commonly the approach taken by aftermarket chips to improve economy is to do something that causes the engine to run leaner. This can cause temperatures to rise significantly. Another scenario to look at is a small end failure or a piston failure due to seizing. This would likely be heat related and if the small end seized it would break the big end.

Either way if you go inside look for the evidence of heat, oil loss, and wether the components were assembled or not when they failed.

 

[Ranger Mike]

A lot of bad news on Hyundai 4 cylinder engines...
Connecting rods do not just break. If the rod bolts are still in tact then the piston has seized in the cylinder bore and snapped the connecting rod. The main reason this happens is lack of oil on the cylinder walls. From what I read about your engine, you may have lost oil thru leakage and it got to a point that there was not enough to do the job. You may have suffered an oil pressure drop because of pump failure, clogged oil passage. As bad a a reputation these engines have, I doubt the chip did anything but lean out the fuel / air ration and make it run hotter. It may have been enough that the additional heat added to the piston expansion and the seizure occurred. in any event you do not have valid argument since you added the chip.

see nightmare scenarios below
http://www.carcomplaints.com/Hyundai/Sonata/2011/engine/engine_seized.shtml