Check Engine Light On problems of the 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe

My 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe stalled twice today. It also stalled on the same day twice last week. This happened each time I came to a stop light or wanted to make a turn. The engine stopped running, the power steering ceased working, and check engine light came on. After each occurrence, I switched my hazard lights on, pushed the transaxle to park and then restarted the car to pull out of traffic. The stalling is often accompanied by loss of power (power steering and brakes too), complete failure to accelerate, and the check engine light comes on.

I exited a toll and proceeded to enter the NJ turnpike, suddenly, the steering became tight. I noticed that the power steering was out, along with the engine. The engine just turned off. Thankfully, no traffic, I proceed to pull to the feeder of the entrance. Put car in park, and the car restarted. I am not sure what happened, and fearful that this could happen, with trucks behind me, unable to pull to the side and risk serious injury. No check engine light warning was indicated. I recently had two knock sensors replaced at the Hyundai dealership.

My Santa Fe awd 2008 was bought in June 2009 and now has ~99k mileage. I had four or five similar incidents with my Santa Fe starting on 4/21/15, which led to significant power loss and speed loss of the car on the road. The first time, I was driving on a local road at ~25 mph. Suddenly I felt the car lost the power and began to slow down. I stepped down on the accelerator, but the car could not accelerate (the speed dropped to ~10 mph). I saw 3 system indicator/warning lights the esc off(electronic stability control) and check engine indicators had a steady light and the awd system warning light was flashing. I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the car, waited ~1 minute, and then restarted the car. The check engine light stayed on, but the other lights went out. Then I drove the car to continue to my job. The 2nd incident occurred on my way home. The same scenario except that I was driving at ~40 mph at the time. The sudden power loss caused the car speed quickly dropped to ~10 mph and probably led the car behind mine to make a sudden stop to avoid a crash. Again, I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and then restarted the car with the check engine light staying on. The other times I was on the cresent city connection (bridge) in the center lane. I had to work my way over two lanes to turn the vehicle off to restart to continue on my way to or from work. After the 5th time, I did some research online and found an article stating that this problem was on the TSB (technical safety bulletin). Maybe someone somewhere should be aware of more than one vehicle having this problem. . . . . . .

Safety issue: failure of the fuel sending unit permanently turns on the "check engine light" which denies the use of the "check engine light" for other serious conditions. Many consumers have previously reported the failure of the fuel sending unit. These units cost between $800 to $1200 to fix so most drivers do not fix it and instead use the odometer reading to determine when fuel is needed. Unfortunately, driving with the "check engine light" on at all times prevents the driver from seeing the "check engine light" illuminate when a serious condition exists. Therefore, this is a safety issue. Considering the number of consumer reports already sent to NHTSA regarding failed fuel sending units, Hyundai should immediately issue a safety recall to fix these units.

My Santa Fe limited awd 2008 was bought at the end of Feb 2009 and now has ~44k mileage. I had two similar incidents with my Santa Fe today (7/6/2014), which led to significant power loss and speed loss of the car on the road. The first time, I was driving on a local road at ~45 mph. Suddenly I felt the car lost the power and began to slow down. I stepped down on the accelerator, but the car could not accelerate (the speed dropped to ~20 mph). I saw 3 system indicator/warning lights the esc off(electronic stability control) and check engine indicators had a steady light and the awd system warning light was flashing. I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the car, waited ~1 minute, and then restarted the car. The check engine light stayed on, but the other lights went out. Then I drove the car to continue my grocery shopping (several stops, ~30 miles in total). The 2nd incident occurred on my way home. The same scenario except that I was driving at ~40 mph and going uphill at the time. The sudden power loss caused the car speed quickly dropped to ~10 mph and probably led the car behind mine to make a sudden stop to avoid a crash. Again, I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and then restarted the car with the check engine light staying on. After got home safely, I did some search online and found several similar incidents reported on Hyundai Santa Fe suvs before (see the attached links below). So I decided to report this serious issue. The link of websites with similar incidents reported: 1. . Read more...

Once my car has gone 200 miles on a tank the check engine light comes on and the fuel gauge is not accurate. The fuel gauge will show completely empty and then change to more than 1/4 tank and back. Once the tank is refilled the check engine light goes off and then comes back on and acts the same after again going 200 miles. The dealer said the warranty is only good to 60000 or 5 years on the fuel sensor but reading online this is a problem that a lot of Hyundai Santa Fe owners are having after reaching 60000 miles. I had the check engine code checked and it listed p0 464 - fuel level sensor a circuit intermittent. With the amount of complaints on this part Hyundai should recall and fix this problem at no cost.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that the fuel level sensor circuit was providing erroneous fuel level readings. Additionally, the check engine warning light was illuminated. The dealer and manufacturer were both notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 72,000. Updated 02/27/lj.

Upon turning the engine on, my gas gauge showed empty when I knew there was more gas than that. Then it started to fluctuate up and down . I checked my range indicator and it was blinking the word "range" (which normally doesn't) and the numbers were dashes only. As I continued to drive my check engine light came on. It showed quarter tank then empty and back to some gas. The range indicator started going up and down in numbers as well. I put gas in just to see if it helped but didn't, showing about 30 miles fluctuation in the range indicator. I checked some forums and apparently it is a very common problem for Santa Fes 2008 right as they reach 60,000 miles (as the warranties end and it costs over $600 to repair!). It is a dangerous issue that should be a recall , as it poses a very dangerous problem if a car runs out of gas on a highway or anywhere due to the faulty gas fuel level indicator!.

As noted in other complaints, my check engine light came on and my fuel gauge will not register the amount of fuel, it fluctuates from empty to a 1/4 tank to 3/4 tank. The fuel sensors are bad. There should be a recall for this. This is a known problem based on NHTSA complaints but yet it appears that Hyundai will not take action. This problem began right after I hit the 60,000 mile mark.

On 5/15/13 I had my stop lamp switch replaced per recall campaign 110. The following day, I noticed cold engine fluctuation and surging. This has happened regularly, with the engine sometimes fluctuating up to nearly 2000rpm while the car is in park. Gradually, the issue progressed to difficulty accelerating and a shaking/hesitation feeling while downshifting that feels like the engine is going to stall out, but it does not. This began 6/20/13. Also on 6/20/13 my check engine dash light came on, and the "esc off" light was illuminated, even though I had not shut the esc off. Additionally, the awd system light was flashing. Upon restart, only the check engine light remained on. I brought my vehicle to grismer for diagnostics. They found error codes: c1513, c1611, p1295, p2106, and p2135. I revisited my local Hyundai dealer (voss Hyundai) and they state that they believe the stop lamp switch is working properly and that the throttle positioning sensor needs to be replaced. They refused to cover this cost due to being outside of the warranty. I was told by grismer that the tps issue is directly related to the stop lamp switch issue. I believe that what I am experiencing also relates directly to service bulletin #TSB-09-FL-003-1.

The gas gauge has not been working for over 2 years and the check engine light is on most of the time but will go off intermittently. We track gas usage with the trip odometer (20 miles per gallon x 17 gal tank=340 miles driven) but fill up around 275 miles driven. But this is not a reliable way to track fuel and it was bound to happen-we ran out of gas-unfortunately on the tollway. Now we want to fix it. We have had estimates ranging from $400-$800 to fix the problem but think that this is a defective part that Hyundai has installed in their vehicles. There should be a recall for safety reasons. The car is only 6 years old. We take care of our cars-regular maintenance and parked in a garage. (also had to replace the throttle sensor after 2 years and both hvac mode door actuators after 4 years. The window washer fluid recently stopped working).