A few weeks ago we noticed a small oil leak on the car. When I finally had a chance to look into it in detail I went in to the engine compartment and saw quite a bit of residual oil on the top of the engine and along the area of the engine block near the air filter. I could tell this would be more than a DIYer like myself could do. After doing some looking online for this issue I found that Kia had done a warranty extension on the oil pressure switch due to leaking. Since this was the symptom I was having I decided to take it over to the local Kia dealer to have the switch replaced under warranty. The whole transaction with the dealer was a pain and I won't go into the full details but needless to say they ended up coming to the conclusion that it was the head bolt issue and diagnosed the short block needed to be replaced and it would cost over $9k to do the work!!

They did tell me at the outset that the bolts could be an issue. So while they were still digging into the car I did some additional research and found this forum (Along with several others) discussing the exact issue. Fortunately for me there has been no performance issues or breakdowns, just the leaking oil.

I'm the second owner on the vehicle and bought the car with 45k miles on it for a good price 3 years ago. There was no leak or any other issues with the car when we bought it. I still have a few payments left on the car and that is more than I owe on the vehicle!! I tried calling Kia to see what could be done and all they would do was quote the original warranty and even pulled the "not the original owner" card to basically tell me I was out of luck. One thing the service manager of the dealership was surprised about was that they did not even open up a case and provide me with a case number so it would at least be on the record.

So right now I am carefully monitoring the oil (And coolant) as I can't afford a new engine while I figure a way to handle this. I see the comments about the inserts and am wondering how well this has worked for some folks? I am looking for a referral from friends on a local mechanic that might be able to handle this task if it makes sense. I'm also wondering what others' experience is with dealing with Kia. Should I call back and force them to open a case?

I really can't afford a major repair like this at the moment or a new car so whatever I can do to get this repaired and keep the car running reliably at a reasonable cost is what I have to get through. Any comments or suggestions are greatly appreciated.