Hey friends.
2012 Hyundai Accent hatchback, 115k miles.
My car has always had slow oil loss. I typically need to put 2 quarts in between oil changes. Recently it’s increased to 4. But there’s not a drop of oil where I park, so I figure it’s burning instead of leaking.
So I scheduled an appointment with the dealership to have that figured out. They quoted me a diagnostic fee as normal.
When I got there, the service writer told me all they can do is a “top engine clean for about $500 where they take it all apart, soak everything, clean it real good, remove the carbon, and see if that helps. But it usually doesn’t, which means you’ll need a whole new engine.”
To clarify I asked if all the gaskets and seals get replaced during that process. He came back with “well no because they don’t actually take the engine apart, they just clean it real good from the outside.”
I’ve had problems with this dealership and their communication before, so I want some outside opinions. Is this place an absolute joke, or am I missing something here?
For the curious, I told the dealership I’m not interested in that.
What they are doing is a top cylinder cleaning, basically the run the engine to heat it up, then you fog in a cleaner into the engine through a vacuum line enough that it shuts the engine off, then you let it set for a while, then start it back up and see if it helped free up the rings and carbon and did anything to help the engine. The thing is that there is no real way to know if it is going to help until you do it.