A recent article in (I believe) Consumer Reports mentioned the option of having the oil system flushed at the first oil change to get rid of the fine metal particles from break-in.
As others mentioned, an 'Engine Flush' is not only
completely unnecessary but also holds potential for severe engine damage. Hyundai and every other manufacturer in their right mind would strenuously instruct against it, especially with today's engineering and quality controls. It's pretty important to clear up the distinction between 'oil flush' and a simple 'early oil change' ahead of the first normally scheduled service.
As recommended, I went ahead and did a search online for 'Hyundai oil flush' and sure enough here was the first hit:
I recently had my Hyundai Tucson services with the Hyundai authorised dealer recommending an engine flush, even prior to inspecting the vehicle. An ‘engine flush’ clears the gunk out of your engine by pouring a chemical into the engine and idling. Due to the use of chemicals, it can possibly be...
thydzik.com
I'm retired, but even at my age this is the
first I've ever heard of replacing all the oil with some chemicals and then running the engine. It reminded me of 'the old days' when a common cheap remedy for freeing up sticking valves was to add a qt. of transmission fluid to the oil and idle the engine for a half hour in the driveway and then change the oil. But this was when an engine needed a valve job every 30,000 miles, but things have advanced quite a bit since.
But what's being called an engine flush seems about the most perfect means of giving any carmaker legitimate reason to voiding their warranty. And reading the snip above about a dealer actually pushing to do that to a brand new car is insane enough to be almost believable (by at least some dealers).
I will be changing the oil and filter in about 200 miles when the odo finally shows 500 miles. And that's really only a nod to the old wives tale from the old days of clearing out any vestige of the manufacturing and assembly process (for so-called 'metal shavings'). The cost of the oil at normal retail is minimal, and note that I found a tiny blurb somewhere in the new car literature that 'Hyundai Prefers Quaker State Products'. So, I'll use only that brand even though it's likely just a cross-branding relationship. I also bought a handful of 'Genuine Hyundai Brand' filter cartridges from the dealer when I took delivery ($12ea. online and $17 at the parts window
).
I'll also be doing all my own subsequent oil changes, and using a more frequent schedule than listed in the manual. But I do have to come up with a way to get the car in to the dealer occasionally to have them do the 'Inspect' portion of their service appointments in order to document that portion of service is being monitored for warranty purposes.
