Just bought a '98 Tiburon!

[GTLee]

Hey guys,

I just bought a '98 Tiburon 5-speed and I was wondering what are the major problems that affect Tiburons of that year. My Tib only has 46,000 miles and seems to run great but is there anything I should look out for? One of my friends said he heard that those cars suffer from oil pan gasket leaks and weak trannies. Is this true? I'm more concerned about the weak tranny than the oil pan gasket. How much HP can the tranny hold anyways? Thanks for the replies in advance guys.

[The Joker]

I don't know about the others here but this is my PERSONAL experience....if I knew all this I would've never bought the car...

1. Tranny has gone out FOUR (possibly five right now) times with the STOCK engine and no hard driving.

2. With the A/C on the tranny locks up and gets stuck in gear (dealer can't even solve that one)

3. Not much of an aftermarket for the first gen tiburons...some more stuff has come lately but still not as much as honduhs

4. replacement parts are EXPENSIVE!!! Unless of course you can find a tib in the junkyard (0 out of 9 local junkyards have a tiburon let alone heard of one)

5. The small aftermarket there is the parts are pretty pricey for the most part. Although I have come across some good deals (I.E. - It's sometimes cheaper to buy a body kit than new bumpers from the dealer, least around my parts)

Like I said this is personal experience. The other thing that REALLY sucks is that if you're a second third, fourth, fifth, etc owner of the car, the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty no longer applies. It runs out at 60,000.....so if I were you Id get EVERYTHING checked out while you still can

However I still like the style of the car. Wish it could get more power! Alot of people here have some REALLY sweet rides!

[SpeedRacer]

Welcome GTLee! I've never heard anything about the oilpans. The trannies aren't "weak," but it's not uncommon to lose a synchro if you drive hard. Nothing changing the gear oil out for some Redline MT-90 won't prevent.

Check out http://www.hmaservice.com/webtech/ you can view all the recalls/Technical Service Bulletins for your year, as well as the entire shop manual. :devious:

As for what The Joker said...dude you have an auto tranny. He has a 5-speed. Why would he care what problems you have that are strictly in the auto tranny?

Also, replacement parts are no more expensive than any other late model car. Come on, we're not talking about some mid-80's GM car here. If you want to buy new parts, give www.stcharlesauto.com a call. They offer 15% off all OEM Hyundai parts and are extremely helpful. If you want to buy used, check out www.allhyundaiisuzuparts.com/ . They are a junkyard in Cali that specializes in Hyundai and Isuzu. If they don't have it, it doesn't exist.

The one thing I will agree with The Joker...the aftermarket IS more expensive when compared to Honda and the like. But now that major companies are getting involved, there's way more options and much cheaper prices. I don't think Joker was around back when the Tib first came out...all products were either custom built or imported from Korea. It was common to pay $300 for an intake and $500 for a header. Most other stuff was to expensive to even consider. So it's not as bad as it seems.

Hope that helps...any more questions let us know. :

[tiburondave]

I have had my 98 tib for a year now, and have not had to nothing but change oil. Got it at 50,000 now has 65,000. The only problem every one has is the famous engine stumble. Very rarely does it happen but when it does you will know. The engine cuts out, usualy going down the highway, but comes right back on.

[GTLee]

Thanks for the replies guys. The more I drive the Tib the more I like it. It recently had it checked out and found everything to be in good order. The only things I noticed that it needs are some new brake pads and resurfaced rotors. I personally think the car was a great buy at $4500. It even had an after market sound system, tinted windows and 17" rims.

[Shadohh]

Originally posted by The Joker
[body]
I don't know about the others here but this is my PERSONAL experience....if I knew all this I would've never bought the car...

1. Tranny has gone out FOUR (possibly five right now) times with the STOCK engine and no hard driving.

2. With the A/C on the tranny locks up and gets stuck in gear (dealer can't even solve that one)

3. Not much of an aftermarket for the first gen tiburons...some more stuff has come lately but still not as much as honduhs

4. replacement parts are EXPENSIVE!!! Unless of course you can find a tib in the junkyard (0 out of 9 local junkyards have a tiburon let alone heard of one)

5. The small aftermarket there is the parts are pretty pricey for the most part. Although I have come across some good deals (I.E. - It's sometimes cheaper to buy a body kit than new bumpers from the dealer, least around my parts)

Like I said this is personal experience. The other thing that REALLY sucks is that if you're a second third, fourth, fifth, etc owner of the car, the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty no longer applies. It runs out at 60,000.....so if I were you Id get EVERYTHING checked out while you still can

However I still like the style of the car. Wish it could get more power! Alot of people here have some REALLY sweet rides!
[/body]

Joker, sounds like you have an automatic.

Why would you buy an automatic ina sports coupe?

Automatics are known for being crap.

dont worry GTLee, the 5spd hardly ever breaks unless you cant drive.


Joker? replacement parts expensive?

excuse me but.

RSX type-s engine runs $5000

tiburon engine runs $500

BIG DIFFERENCE.

If you think Hyundai parts are expensive.

Maybe you should buy a Geo or a Kia. They are cheap compared to hyundai.

There IS and aftermarket there is PLENTY of parts to get a pretty modded car.

We may not have 50 different shades of color for the intake like ona honda, but we have 5 or 6.

And most of the real parts...most ppl cannot afford anyway.

Swaybars for tiburon run $300 bucks, swayabrs for say a honda civic say a set of spoon, tend to be TWICE THE PRICE.

I dont know what god Hates joker.

But the Hyundai is a great car. And we at Hyundai Performance will be happy to help you in you future mods to this car.

[FastPat]

My 98' Tiburon has been through 3 people some guy bought back in 98 my dad bought it in 2000 and Now I have it my First car, it has over 100,000 KM on it and it Run Fine, just keep it clean and change the oil when needed and get a K&N Filter

[AUTOBOT]

Yeah, the only weak tranies are automatics but why would anyone get one of those to begin with?

[EVIL_ANGELUS]

1) I can't drive stick :hmmm:
2) Live in an area with ALOT of stop and go traffic