23rd Sep 2008, 15:00

Hi, I'm a Hyundai owner for the past 8 years. I had a 1999 Elantra GLS, which I sold to a friend; that one is still on the original clutch at about 257,000 kms. I currently have a 2003 Elantra GLS with about 164,000 kms, and the clutch probably could stand to be replaced -- it's starting to slip a little, but still drivable. Overall, I have found these cars to be pretty high quality for the money, but your mileage may vary, I guess. The comments about the clutch design are interesting, and I'd have to agree that the design seems poorly thought out.

5th Nov 2008, 16:33

My mother in her mid 50's purchased a 2003 Elantra 5sp. At around 25,000 k's clutch went and dealers didn't want to listen to talk to her. Went again at around 45,000 and now it has almost gone again at 70,000! Time to sell, very disappointing.

28th Nov 2008, 05:53

I own a Elantra G. T 2004, and it to started to slip when I first purchased it. It only had about 30,000 miles. I took it in and pretty much demanded them replace it, they did; but now after a year and a half 55,000 miles the clutch needs replaced again, this is redidcoulous.

Hyundai will not replace it because it's a wear item, the dealership replaced it the first time, only because I bought it a week ago.

I did bring it to a mechanic and they were sup-prized to see it need a clutch at low miles, he asked "were you racing" I replied "No" he said to see if it has any warranty, also if it is clutch most dealers don't cover it.

9th Mar 2009, 08:20

I have a 2002 Elantra, and yesterday I just put in the 4th clutch (@217,000 miles). The latest clutch only lasted 32,000 miles. I am not rough on the clutch... but if you compare a new clutch to a worn out one, the difference in thickness is only 1/8 inch. I think the small diameter flywheel makes it hard for the flex plate to have much horizontal play... and the new clutch disc is limited in how thick it can be. Its annoying, but the whole reason I bought a manual was so I could keep replacing clutch discs, instead of the entire automatic transmissions.

29th Mar 2009, 01:17

I have an '06 Elantra with 55,000kms and the same slipping clutch symptoms. The worst part is that Hyundai will void warranty to everything connected to the clutch if they don't fix it themselves. Personally, I trust my mechanic much more than any dealership service dept... and his labour costs about half as much! I think I'm going to go ahead and buy a stage 1 clutch, get my guy to do the work, and remove the slave cylinder restrictor. Apparently warranty doesn't cover the things it should anyway. While we're at it, the synchros gotta be done too. (Grinds into 2nd badly and a little into 5th... can slam it into 3rd and 4th no issue.) We all know Hyundai won't cover that either!

22nd Apr 2009, 21:05

I was given a 2002 Hyundai Elantra by my sister who was tired of putting repair money into it. It has 109,000 miles and the check engine light is on and the clutch needs replacing because it slips when accelerating. My family has always had vehicles with manual transmissions and we never had to replace a clutch. Currently I have a 1997 Honda Accord with 187,000 miles. My two sons learned to drive and parallel park with the Honda and it still has the original clutch. There is a major problem with the design of the Elantra clutch!

9th Jun 2009, 09:57

I had a 2005 Elantra and had to replace the clutch at around 41,000. I have always driven a manual and have never had to have a clutch replaced. I took it to the dealer and they basically said that that 41,000 wasn't too bad for clutch life!!! Independent mechanic put in the new clutch and said it just looked like wear. Also, the front end of the vehicle shook at 65 mph. Felt loose with the steering. We traded it in before the next inspection fearing that it may require extensive front end work. Got a Honda Civic and I can't believe how different the car feels! I think that the clutch replacement still didn't feel right on the Elantra. I guess you get what you pay for!

30th Jun 2009, 18:17

I have a 2005 Hyundai Elantra with 36,000 miles. The clutch is already slipping. I am pretty much the only driver, and I never hot road (i doubt that anyone that buys an Elantra is). I was a truck driver for 10+ years, and have always owned standard vehicles. I have never had to replace a clutch, even with a Toyota hatchback that I drove for almost 200,000 miles (I always thought that if you had to replace one, it showed that you did not know how to shift). It is not just hot rodding, but not getting your foot off of the clutch. I have seen many people that do this.

Now that I read the comments on this site, I feel that I am up the proverbial creek.

18th Jul 2009, 20:40

I'm thinking of buying a '03 Elantra and a fairly high price (what can I say, I like it). But the shop I took it to was concerned that the clutch was engaging high, with only about 4" of depression. Is that a slipping clutch? It doesn't quite sound like it.

26th Jul 2009, 13:01

We bought an 04 Elantra GT 5 speed new from a local dealership, which had serviced our previously owned Hyundai's. (1999 Accent GSI 5 speed, 285,000km when wrote off-original clutch-best car ever owned, '03 Accent GSI 5 speed 60,000km, didn't like as much as '99, so traded for Elantra). We felt very comfortable with Hyundai.

The Elantra has made us rethink another Hyundai purchase. The clutch is causing a problem as others have described. The slipping clutch (initially slips a few hundred rpm and then grabs like it should) has been doing this for over 100,000 km. The car has 226,000 on it. In the very beginning the car would not idle down. When you would step on the clutch to shift up, the rpm would not come down. The dealership removed the restrictor and spring from the slave cylinder to rectify this problem (didn't work). Maybe the removal of the restrictor and spring was the reason we had such long clutch life.

Our thought now is that the clutch is just not getting enough pressure on the disc quick enough to eliminate the "slipping" effect. Going to clean out the master and slave cylinders today and see how it goes.

2nd Aug 2009, 23:14

I bought a 1996 Elantra with a slipping clutch up front. I repaired it myself. Car had 72,000 miles on it which I thought was low miles for a clutch problem.

I am used to a clutch design having a release fork which is removable from the bellhousing, a return spring, and a push style release bearing pushing the clutch fingers forward for disengagement.

This Elantra, however, has the release bearing moved by an arm integrated into the bellhousing supported by two plastic bearings. The release bearing snap locks into the clutch fingers and always rides the clutch fingers. Since the release bearing is locked to the clutch fingers, it is pulled back to disengage the clutch. Also the clutch mechanism has no return spring, so all of the return power comes from the clutch fingers.

Dust as the clutch wears, got into the plastic bearings and increased the force needed to push the arm holding the release bearing back to its rest (clutch engaged) position.

The clutch fingers have to push both: the release bearing against this increased shaft resistance and the back pressure resistance in the hydraulic fluid in the system. This increase in force bent my clutch fingers inward.

To help stop this in the future, after replacing the clutch following a turned flywheel. I removed the slave cylinder fluid resistance by taking out a hydraulic orifice plate and spring, located right behind the fluid hose nut on the slave cylinder. Second, I determined where the clutch likes to rest when at rest (engaged). Welded an extension to the end of the slave cylinder clutch lever and attached a return spring to give assistance to the return of the clutch.

I then welded a nut to the other end of the slave cylinder clutch lever and put a bolt through it, with a lock nut, to rest against the flat part of the transmission. This keeps the arm from being pulled back too far by the new return spring and the clutch arm always moves back to its rest position.

As the clutch wears, a periodic adjustment will be necessary of this bolt to allow the clutch to fully engage since its zero point is now held by a bolt adjustment.

This design has been done on a few other models of cars I've owned so only time will tell if this Elantra will like it.

Note: This will slightly increase the pedal resistance of the clutch pedal during shifting. Spring pulls back about 5 lbs so it is hardly felt.