Tuesday I became theproud owner of a new 2008Santa FeLimited.This is my 3rd Santa Fe - my first was a 2002, and the second a 2005. I do alot of highway driving and change my own oil. I've been using Quaker State 5W-30 in my previous Santa Fe's with a purolator or Pro-line oil filter from Pep Boys at 4000 miles. I haven't had any engine issues but I was thinking of using Mobil 1 with my 2008 to get a little more miles between oil changes. I was wondering about the oil filter. Does Mobil 1 make a filter for the 2008 V6 3.3 ltr Santa Fe; can/should I stick with the purolator filter or do members have other suggestions? Thanks.

Ken

 

Personally, I would use the OEM one. Hyundai makes a very good filter and it's inexpensive.

 

Got this list of oil filter cross references from the Kia forum:
Carquest #84061
Champ #P972
Hyundai & Kia # 26320-3C100
Luber-Finer #P672
Napa #7061
Performax #PO-164
Purolator #L35610
Securty 1 #CH=9999
Wix #57061
Fram # CH9999

These filters are suppose to fit the 2008 Santa Fe V6 3.3 ltr. My other car is a 2004 Honda S2000 and the guys who race them sware by the Honda (WIX) filter. Looking at both Honda and Hyundai filters, it appears the filters are identical so I would have bought a Hyundai filter for my 05 Santa Fe. As a side note the Honda guys don't have good things to say about Fram though .... so you be the judge and make up your own mind ... Ken -Northern VA

 

You can add the Baldwin P7400 and Hastings LP615 to your list. I've used the Baldwin and the NAPA (which like the Carquest filter, is the Wix filter) filters. A lot of commercial fleets use Baldwin, so you's think is was superior. It was uniformly pleated but didn't have as many pleats as the Hyundai OEM filter and I paid over $3 more for it. The Baldwin also uses what look like urethane foam seals on the ends instead of the o-rings found on the NAPA and Hyundai filters. No big deal, but different. The one NAPA filter I used on the Sonata wasn't as uniformly pleated around the circumfirence, and again, didn't appear to have as many pleats as the Hyundai filter. I pay $7 for the Hyundai OEM, which is about what I paid for the NAPA and my dealer tossed in the aluminum crush washer for free.

I'll have to go check out the Fram CH9999 filter next time I'm at Walmart. A lot of the complaints with Fram are usually related to the canister and bypass valve construction in the spin-on types, components that don't exist on the cartridge. I am guessing the CH9999 likely still has a lot less filter media than most others filters.

Oh yes, I was rooting around on the various cross-applications chart and did not notice any Honda application listed for the various Hyundai 26320-3C100 clones. In fact, the charts indicate a spin-on type for the S2000 rather than a cartridge type.

 

I just switch my 2007 Santa Fe from regular oil to synthetic oil and I have to say the engine start up are smoother.

 

Which synthetic oil and which filter are you using? I've been a Quaker State conventional oilman since the early 70's. I was quite baffled yesterday looking at ALL of the synthetic oil at Wal-Mart - Mobil 1, Castro, Valvoline, Quaker State, etc. Gee even the Santa Fe Owner's Book recommends Quaker Stateoil as their logo is listed right next to the oil standard page.

 

I used the OEM filter and the Syntec 5W20. I have used Mobil before and was satisfied with it also.

 

I won't take any vehicle I own to a dealer or (worse yet) one of those oil change places unless I absolutely have to (I subscribe to the "if you want it done right, do it yourself" philosophy). I have changed the oil in my 08 SF Limited 3.3 twice so far myself and if you have a place you can work on it at, it is very easy.

You can get the 26320-3C100 Hyundai oil filter from the dealer. It includes two rubber O-rings you should replace when you replace the filter. My dealer is very expensive for the filter ($13), so I recently ordered 5 online for Savage Hyunai in Pennsylvania. ( http://tinyurl.com/8l64z7 ). They are about $6 each there, but shipping added another $10, but $8 each still beats $13. They sell the crush washers also. Note that if you go to their site, they list the wrong filter for the Santa Fe (it may be the one for the 2.7L engine). You can go under Sonata instead to see the correct one.

Replacing the oil and filter is easy because you get to the filter from on top of the engine. Just take off the 6 bolts that hold the plastic engine cover off and unscrew the plastic top off the oil filter canister (when you take the it off, watch because it will have oil up in it and when you tilt it, it will spill on the engine). Get a tiny screwdriver or pick and get under the big O-ring at the top of the plastic top and the small one at the bottom. Then replace them with the new ones. The filter itself just sits in the canister and you simply screw the cap back on.

The drain plug takes a 17mm wrench and I put my car on those drive-on ramps to get to it. However, if you are small, you might be able to get to the drain plug without raising the car at all. I did not have new crush washers when I changed mine and just used the old one (twice now). It does not leak, but I did order them when I ordered the fiters for future use.

Hyundai recommends 5w-20 oil and that is what I used, but I think in the manual it shows 5w-30 as okay also. The only bad thing is it takes 5 1/2 quarts, so you will have half a quart left over until you change it a second time.

IF you can't or don't want to change the oil yourself, I would take it to a Hyundai dealer and have it done rather than one of the oil change places. The reason is that I think you want to have a Hyundai filter put in it rather than some other brand. If you go to Hyundai's tech site ( http://hmaservice.com ) I recall a TSB 05-20-002 that describes potential engine knock problems with aftermarket oil filters. It may just be Hyundai trying to scare everyone into using their filters, but I would not want to use a non-Hyundai filter then have something unrelated happen to the engine and have to fight Hyunai about it. It is cheap peace of mind to use their filters until the warranty runs out. [/align]

 

I don't think I would have been able to locate the oil filter without yourwrite-up (thanks) ...... It was a goodone pauln ..... what brand of oil are you using? Ken

 

Ken,

I used Castrol 5w-20 only because it was on sale at Advance Auto Parts. I imagine any oil will work fine - dino or synthetic. I have always used name brands oil in my vehicles, but never had a preference for a brand -whatever was on sale would do. Never have had any engine problems and I have owned several cars and trucks.

By the way, if you are not familiar with it, the complete shop reference and TSBs for all of Hyundai's cars is available at http://hmaservice.com You have to have an account to use it, but you can make one for free. It has the oil change procedure in the shop section. I wanted it offline for my reference, so I made it into a pdf (I posted it at http://www.box.net/shared/xvxu2c6khv).