Hi y'all,

There's a Malay lady who owns a Hyundai Matrix. As of 21 Oct 2021, the odometer was close to 250,000 km. Six months ago, the gearbox had been changed. Then on the 25 Oct 2021, the mechanic who visually diagnosed the new Century Battery that was installed, said it was dead, when it actually wasn't. The fault was the alternator and the alternator was changed and everything worked ok.

Yesterday, she informed that her car was at different mechanic and the according to this mechanic, the Matrix has gearbox, alternator and battery issues. I know that the Century Battery was a good unit and now is being recharged back up to full capacity after it was intentionally drained to make it look like a dead battery. Now I understand how the 2nd hand battery market came about.

Since I do not know anything about Matrix and whether it has gearbox issues across the board, is the Matrix a good car to keep or sell away based on the limited information that I have above.

On behalf of this Malay lady, thank you so much in advance for your replies. Really appreciate it and your replies will be forwarded to her attention.

PS : If anyone wants to let go of their old car in Merlimau area, do let me know as well. If the verdict above is to sell, the Malay lady may want to view your vehicle in Merlimau area or perhaps around Melaka Town area. TQVM

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jan 11 2022, 06:28 AM

Hi bro.

Let me share my personal experience. I once test drove a Hyundai Matrix.
It is a good family car. Better than the 1st generation Myvi in terms of NVH.

What I wanna know is why is the alternator and gearbox at fault for the 2nd time? Something fishy here.

If the lady's budget is limited, she should keep the car. Find another mechanic.
I am aware that there are some would say - sell the car, buy a new car. But not forgetting one have to upkeep the car loan and not forgetting service the car "on time" .

Its about finding the right mechanic , with honesty. Especially for a Korean car.

Hyundai Matrix if 1.8L is a gem in market.
Design by the Italian company Pininfarina.
If you can get a good mechanic it is a good MPV.

Get a 2nd opinion first.

I agree with SleeplessEyes that many mechanics are not interested to diagnose deeper on older Korean cars including the Matrix due to their reputation no matter what model, and also the owner profile perception that are on a very small budget.

By the way assuming the battery has been recharged and looks good now, I would suggest that someone keep an eye on it. Some batteries (old and with manufacturing defect) loose charge very quickly.

I don't drive a Matrix but I'm surprised an Asian manual gearbox (like Matrix) needs to be changed before 250,000 km when a clutch replacement every 100-200k kms would suffice, generally.

Anyway, this second unit of manual gearbox (that costs $$$) should outlast engine life quite easily in coming days ahead imho.

Assuming her income is tight, I would suggest keeping this Matrix as long as possible until a repair cost say, > RM1500 occurs, which may mean when engine seizes up due to no oil.

Alternators, tyres etc are maintenance item as like spark plugs etc.

Besides, I believe Matrix has a rear IRS multilink suspension system which I would die die maintain it for nice driving experience compared to majority of Japanese/Korean cars.

This post has been edited by zeng: Jan 11 2022, 11:29 AM

family had a 2004 getz 1.6 auto, bought 2nd hand from direct owner and owned > 10 years, with low mileage ~120k km today. if the matrix is 1.6 then I think should be same engine gearbox.

alternator - changed it mid last year, recond unit - everything ok till now. suggest to check with reliable mechanic.

gearbox - mileage is not as high, hence really cant comment. but trusted mechanic that I had serviced my cars for 20 years mentioned that this 1.6 gearbox is reliable of all thing, and it is the other stuff that is slightly more prone to need maintenance. Perhaps may want to check if the ATF fluid is maintained properly if the Matrix is auto gearbox.

the plastics and rubber will be all gone. Be prepared for water leaking into windows. Engine rubber and plastic parts also will be gone too.

Matrix prone to suspension problem, also oil leaks

Thank you y'all for your answers. I will surely forward them to her. There's no doubt that she loves the Matrix, but yeah you guys are most probably right changing to a trustworthy mechanic, ought to resolve her Matrix's never ending issues.

Attached is a picture of the front of her Matrix that I have. You guys probably will know better which model, etc etc. I know nuts.

Initially I informed her to get an original alternator although the price quoted by Hyundai Authrized Service Center was rather high, but since her Matrix was stranded on the roadside, after running down the new Century Battery completely for 3 days with a failed alternator. Mostly probably the car was not driven for 2 days and when she droved it on the 3rd day after some distance, the battery was drained completely.

I informed her of the failing alternator after installing the new battery but she thought nothing of it. Since she was stranded, so she called a nearest mechanic available at that time.

I will retest her alternator in due course and if it is still not satisfactory, she will be introduced to my contact to have the problem in the alternator replaced.. Or she could decide to go with an original new unit from the Service Center, if she still wants to keep her beloved Matrix after reading y'all comments.

What I really like about this Malay lady was after installing a new battery, she claimed the car was like a different car altogether. It had more power, it could overtake etc etc without being sluggish etc. You guys probably wondering how come ? That's because previous installers were putting in an under spec battery.

Being a single and without car knowledge, I am sure the workshops are taking full advantage of her lack of knowledge. When I observed what was being done at the workshop, I too wasn't happy because they were painting my Principal Co. product in a very bad light due to their underhand tactics. That leads me to believe there are conflict of interest. Now which is more beneficial for a new battery replacement, from a distributor or from a workshop ? 😉

PS : I am really sorry for the upside down picture. Strange on my phone the picture was upright, post je terus terbalik !!! 😵

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jan 11 2022, 01:26 PM


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Can ask her to find some alternator repair shop, normally it's the carbon inside that requires replacement. If they can find OEM replacement parts, it can be repaired within RM300.

Yup that's one way. It could be the carbon or it could be anything else that's damaged inside. That's the thing with reconditioned alternators. This recond unit lasted only 82 days before the new Century Battery gave way.

The battery was able to be recharged back up and when fixed into the car by the mechanic, it was able to start up easily and I managed to complete the testing. Its confirmed that the problems lies with a very poor charging system.

She drove right into another workshop and who knows what is going to happen in another workshop. Cik battery dah mati dan alternator pun dah kong. Then I am going to get a call again. Seriously this shit is not going to end.

This reminds me of another case, I told him that there was a problem with his alternator as it was under charging and he went to his friend's workshop who said it was the battery's problem. This went on for 4 days fucking days until I couldn't control myself any longer. Bloody nuts. Now he acknowledges me saying that Century Battery is good.

Its funny that there are only 2 types of clients, those without any alternator problems whatsoever and those always with alternator problems.

Back to her case, I think she only needs to change another 2 times reconditioned alternator it would be equivalent to changing to an original new alternator at the Service Center already.

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jan 13 2022, 04:14 AM

Weak or no charge alternators used to be repaired by parts replacement such as defective voltage regulator (in your case) and as 'overhaul' replacing carbon brush and/or bearing as well.

But alas, modern battery shops don't like to repair but recommending alternator assembly replacement.

If one comes into contact with a shop that replaces carbon brushes and/or regulators for a car, please stick to this one shop for the needs of all other cars within the family.

This post has been edited by zeng: Jan 13 2022, 09:36 AM

That's why when it comes to such repair, it's better to replace the faulty parts inside the alternator with a new part, instead of swapping for a recond alternator. As the recond alternator might have other issue other than just the original faulty part of your own unit.

I don't think that Under-charging issues is related to a defective voltage regulator. When such regulator fails to regulate the amount of voltages being produce by the alternator, over-charging becomes an issue. It is impossible to recharge an over-charged battery or in other words pointless, since it is already good as dead.

Without any doubt, maintaining the contact of such specialized shop is crucial however in my limited perspective, I do try to maintain all my favourite clients alternators especially those who listens.

Not modern battery shops, modern workshops to be exact. They are the ones making a killing with underhand tactics. Maybe I should open a modern day workshop specializing in selling cheap low quality alternator and low quality batteries while scamming clients of their brand new battery and reselling those traded-in used batteries as good 2nd quality batteries. Ini untung, itu untung, semua pun mahu untung. Mahu cari makan bos.

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jan 13 2022, 11:44 AM

Correct. I really hate recond alternators but clients loves them. Cheap mah. Even my sister-in-law likes it. KNN kejap kejap sure got problem. Tada kirja, kasi bikin kirja. LOL

Hi bro, I understand the frustration you go through, but think of this.
If you do this, would you have return customers? If you meet someone like me, I wont be your return customer. Worse still, with the power of social media, your workshop will be famous for the wrong reasons.

Those who wanna make a fast untung are only interested in a fast kill, but short term relationship.

And not to be racist, the vultures or scammers , are usually (but not all) - Chinese workshops.

No la bro., I was being sarcastic la, it's the way I write when I put on different hats it offers many perspectives and only if you know me well, reading will be much fun as writing. I definately won't go down that route. What you wrote is correct, just that I wasn't aware that it until I saw that happening to this Malay lady's Matrix 82 days ago at a workshop in town. Gila sial, no doubt the new battery had been drained because of an alternator problem, so I replaced it with my spare battery. So what the mechanic did was not draining the lady's battery but my battery, in an effort to force another sale. That is not right irregardless of whose battery it was.

Recently there was an over-charging issue. Another client called and I was in shocked because I teach all my clients to be aware of such things and yet it managed to happen. Within 10 minutes I was on site and documented what I saw. Although this fault is not due to the battery and my Principal Co. cannot be held liable for the damages that had happened because it was a failure of the regulator which damaged the battery etc etc, I contacted my Principal Co. over this. Once I get what want, I will be calling all who listens so that I can do the necessary.

If I go down that scamming route, removing my Principal Co. good battery from service and substituiting it with a competitor brand to ini untung, itu untung, it is my ass that will be on the line. I would be the dumbest person to do that.

Besides I am extremely grateful to my Principal Co for teaching me stuff that I never knew about. So yeah no worries.

What I am really grateful is that such exceptional customers are extremely rare and far between. Most customers are willing to listen and learn at that helps a lot.

When I think over, actually these problems with exceptional customers are good learning experiences for me because from there I could actually see what was actually going on. If I did not experience it, I wouldn't be able to find the answer where the 2nd hand batteries supplies are coming from. Now that I know, I am duty bound to collect back trade-in of my Principal Co. batteries on repeat orders and do the necessary. Other battery brands I am not concern, it is my Principal Co batteries that matters to me even if they are dead.

The tragic tragedy on Elite Highway that claimed 10 lives, I wish I was the I.O. There are so many questions unanswered, not just a dead battery. Was it a 2nd hand battery ? If it wasn't, was it due to a failed electrical charging system ? Was battery test conducted ? Why didn't the deceased mechanic advised his client & deceased clients early about the dangers ?

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Jan 13 2022, 04:11 PM

Thank you for the correction.

Correction ? You are too humble, I thought you were testing me only. No worries la, we are all here to learn, that's why we are here.