I have been a mechanic for over 40 years, and 20 of those years I was ASE Certified. I always thought Hyundai/Kia were good dependable lower cost vehicles. I would recommend them to my customers! Not any more. My daughter had Sonata which burned oil and had much engine noise and dealer refused to help until engine went bad. She traded car in because of the problem. A couple weeks after trade in dealer called her to pick up her car. They installed new engine under her name but it was for the dealership that now owned the car! I also bought 2013 Sonata which the engine did blow up even though changed oil with synthetic every 4000 miles. They did replace the engine for free under recall which I expected.
Now to my newly bought Kia Sorento with 71000 miles. I started to smell coolant and noticed coolant reservoir was low. No external coolant leaks! After several weeks noticed coolant was disappearing faster. I have come to conclusion that it is an internal problem. Looking up this problem on internet, I've come to find out they have problem with head bolts coming loose from stripped threads in block. Also have found out there are other internal problems with these engines. This vehicle has been serviced by Kia Dealership all its life by original owner with all maintenance that was due was completed. I am the second owner so the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty is void!
I called the Kia dealer in my area to talk to service manager. He was not in and hasn't returned my call. Being in the automotive field all my life I know the sad outcome of this story. I'm out 8000.00 dollars to have someone fix it or come out of retirement and fix myself still costing a lot of money. I will never buy another Kia or Hyundai again nor will I recommend one to others! They used to make reliable dependable cars, I do not understand what happened!!!!!
Update from Nov 2, 2022: Called Kia customer service. They gave me a case number and told me car had to be checked out at Kia dealership before they could tell me if they would extend any help. Kia dealership told me what i already knew, headbolts pulled out of block. They even knew it before pulling valvecover. Kia declined to offer any help saying it was out of warranty. Now they even got 265.00 more from me to check it out even when we both knew the problem! They gave me estimate of 7500.00 to put a remanufactured short block in it because Kia doesnt offer that engine anymore! I wonder why.... Wouldnt the reman engine have the same cheap aluminum and have same problem. Payed 20,000 for a vehicle i used for 4 months which only has 70,000 miles! The service writer at the dealer agreed that it was a shame and said he was sorry. They are well aware of this problem. I will do my best to inform everyone of this problem. Im in the process of what other recourse that i may take.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
I have been a mechanic for over 40 years, and 20 of those years I was ASE Certified. I always thought Hyundai/Kia were good dependable lower cost vehicles. I would recommend them to my customers! Not any more. My daughter had Sonata which burned oil and had much engine noise and dealer refused to help until engine went bad. She traded car in because of the problem. A couple weeks after trade in dealer called her to pick up her car. They installed new engine under her name but it was for the dealership that now owned the car! I also bought 2013 Sonata which the engine did blow up even though changed oil with synthetic every 4000 miles. They did replace the engine for free under recall which I expected.
Now to my newly bought Kia Sorento with 71000 miles. I started to smell coolant and noticed coolant reservoir was low. No external coolant leaks! After several weeks noticed coolant was disappearing faster. I have come to conclusion that it is an internal problem. Looking up this problem on internet, I've come to find out they have problem with head bolts coming loose from stripped threads in block. Also have found out there are other internal problems with these engines. This vehicle has been serviced by Kia Dealership all its life by original owner with all maintenance that was due was completed. I am the second owner so the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty is void!
I called the Kia dealer in my area to talk to service manager. He was not in and hasn't returned my call. Being in the automotive field all my life I know the sad outcome of this story. I'm out 8000.00 dollars to have someone fix it or come out of retirement and fix myself still costing a lot of money. I will never buy another Kia or Hyundai again nor will I recommend one to others! They used to make reliable dependable cars, I do not understand what happened!!!!!
Update from Nov 2, 2022: Called Kia customer service. They gave me a case number and told me car had to be checked out at Kia dealership before they could tell me if they would extend any help. Kia dealership told me what i already knew, headbolts pulled out of block. They even knew it before pulling valvecover. Kia declined to offer any help saying it was out of warranty. Now they even got 265.00 more from me to check it out even when we both knew the problem! They gave me estimate of 7500.00 to put a remanufactured short block in it because Kia doesnt offer that engine anymore! I wonder why.... Wouldnt the reman engine have the same cheap aluminum and have same problem. Payed 20,000 for a vehicle i used for 4 months which only has 70,000 miles! The service writer at the dealer agreed that it was a shame and said he was sorry. They are well aware of this problem. I will do my best to inform everyone of this problem. Im in the process of what other recourse that i may take.
- Timothy A., Berea, KY, US