I have 2008 Sonata LTD 3.3 V6. The book says 6 qts of oil with filter change. My dealer said that it took only 5 qts. Who is right, Owners Manual or the dealer?

 

Crankcase + oil filter = total

I'd go with the owners manual.

 

People get easily confused because Hyundai publishes capacities in liters, US quarts and Imperial quarts and they don't bother to read the footnotes. This table is from the Hyundai service site. The footnote shows that the first number is in liters and those in parentheses are US and Imperial quarts, respectively. So daveagre's Sonata has a pan capacity of 5.81 US quarts plus a filter capacity of 0.42 quarts for a total of 6.23 US quarts. What I cannot figure out is the "drain and refill" capacity, maybe someone else knows.

So what do I do with my 08 Sonata V6? The first time I checked the dip stick after I had drained and refilled the oil with 5 quarts, changed the filter and started the engine to load up the filter. I then added a 6th quart. I now just pour in 6 quarts and call it good since that is very close to the top mark on the stick.

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My owners manual says 6.01 quarts all inclusive with the filter. The dealer charged me for 5 quarts and says thats what the car needs. Who's right?

 

Re-read your owners manual. It says 5.49 quarts; not 6 quarts (see page 9-4):



5.49 quarts is correct. Not 6 and not 5. Check the dipstick and make sure it's up to the full line.

 

Dealers use that 55 gal drum which feeds into the system and the tech fills it with a pressure or gravity feed hose. They use that REALLY crappy oil too. So it's anybodys guess if the tech really knows how much oil it really is. And if the service writer told that, well you can bet they never changed the oil on a 3.3L Sonata anyway.

I've found in my '99 Elantra that it takes like 4.3 US quarts to fill to the line with a stock size oil filter, so I figured it was liters.

If you owner's manual says 6 quarts, then by God, use 6 quarts. I'm willing to bet it's probably 6.5 quarts US, and adding 7 wouldn't hurt it.

Here's what I would do:

Put in 6, run the motor, check it. If it's not all the way up to the line, then put in oil until it is.

 

According to my owners manual the drain and refill capacity is 5.49 US Quarts. If I use 5 1/2 quarts, the oil level on the dipstick is spot on the Full Mark. When 6 quarts are used, it reads over the full mark.

 

I been changing oil in the 3.3/3.8 for some 4+yr now.. I seem to avg 6qt +/- a couple ounce .. depends on long I leave it sit to bleed.

I fill with 5 to 5 1/2qt, start engine and run for 15 seconds, shut off. I then walk slowly the long way around car, check oil level, and last of oil to put it on the full dot on the stick..

I dont need my customer not finding his oil level on the full dot... we bill 6qt on ours, customers never said a thing, we dont sell 1/2qts