Engine burning excessive oil unbeknownst to me and seized just out of coverage. Still owe 8,600 on it, offered 500 from a dealership, single parent about to enter my final year of nursing school. Put all my chips in to get in a better place and I may have just run out of luck. Engine is not covered by class action lawsuit, only 4 cylinder. Bought this as a car to make it through school. If the plans had stuck to schedule, I wouldn't have this car, but I unfortunately had my mother pass away unexpectedly, and school is now taking an extra year. I felt that the KIA dealership sold me a car that was in an accident and they covered it up.
I brought my car into Kia to have a general service done and also to look at the fact that my fan was running more than is should and I did not have hot air coming into the cabin. They told me at that time there was nothing wrong.
A week later while driving, we could smell coolant in the cabin and then I lost power to the engine and coolant boiled out of the engine and smoke came out of my hood.
I had the car towed back to Kia where they told me I needed a new engine due to the head bolts stripping and this causes a failure in the head gaskets as well.
I had it brought to an independent shop for a 2nd opinion as the news of a new engine was hard to stomach. The independent shop ending up coming to the same conclusion, however they were confident they could resurface the heads and would rebore the head bolts and install time inserts as a fix. Still expensive, but much less so than a new engine.
So the problem is inherent in the engine because this engine is aluminum and is not playing nicely with the head bolts. The head bolt is stretching threads causing the head gaskets to not be true which then causes the engine to overheat. Over time, the coolant levels will also become acidic which eats away at the internal plastic of the radiator, evidenced by the fact that I also need a new radiator as the inner seal looked "chewed up".
This appears to be affecting owners around 100k-150k miles.
If you suddenly lose heat and notice a fan running long after you turn the car off in cold weather, consider that a warning and that Kia will most likely tell you you need a new engine.
This can be fixed and is still costly and I would like to know the longevity of the fix as it appears the issue is inherent in the construction of the engine.
This should be recalled and replaced. Save your receipts from everything.
We bought the car new in April of 2017. By 2020, I noticed that we were consuming oil between oil changes. I had the part replaced that would suck the vapors into the engine to burn. It was stated that sometimes that sucks oil as well as the vapors. The fix did nothing to fix the problem. Recently, I was burning about 4 quarts for every 1,000 miles. I talked to my local dealership and Kia customer care and really there was nothing they could do to be proactive in fixing the problem. Mechanics told me to allow the engine to go out and since there was a known issue and I was up-to-date on recalls, I would receive a new engine. That did not seem right and I continued to maintain the vehicle and continued to add oil all the time.
On 8/20/23, while driving north of Nashville, the engine started to lose power and then died. I did get it restarted and got off the interstate. The engine light came on. I had it towed to a local Kia dealership. After investigating the issue, it was determined that cylinder only had 21 psi when there should be 155 psi. It also had damage at the top of the piston. The fix, I was told is to replace the engine. I have been quoted $6800 plus tax, plus shop fees to get it replaced.
I asked about the recall and extended warranty and was told that the warranty only covers certain things and it does not cover low compression. Seems like a way for Kia to get out of not paying for their issues of poor products.
I am looking for legal advice on next steps on how to get this resolved.
Engine failed while driving on the highway and almost got us killed. We took it to the dealer and they acted like they never heard of this problem and denied knowing about the KSDS warranty and said they couldn't do anything about it!
This f*cking cars engine exploded after 5 months of me having it. It needs an entirely new engine and I do not have near enough funding for what I'm being quoted and have terrible credit. Any advice or suggestions would be appreciated
- Jessica P.,
Tacoma, US
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The vehicle has been at the dealership's (Moritz Kia in Ft. Worth, Texas) service department for 2 months, and the replacement engine still has not arrived. The latest estimate of the part arriving is 6/18/21, but numerous prior estimates for arrival have come and gone. I think that KIA has a serious problem with the engines, and can't supply the replacement fast enough. The engines are remanufactured in Korea and shipped to the United States.
I'm the (third and current) owner of 2017 Kia Sorento LX which was working absolutely fine, with no issues or any warning lights on.
On 1/14/23 (Saturday) while travelling with family on highway I-95 (in Florida), the engine suddenly failed with smoke and oil spurting out from underneath. The engine service lights and audio warning kicked in. Despite the confusion and nervousness, I was able to safely maneuver the vehicle to the shoulder within seconds and escaped crash or fire.
Immediately called my insurance and got the vehicle towed to the nearest Kia dealership. I had to drop the vehicle at the dealership and drove home 700 miles to Virginia using one way rental. Few days later the dealership confirmed that the engine is not good anymore and it needs a replacement. They told me that since the recall (PI1802 ECU UPGRADE (KSDS)) was not performed on the vehicle, Kia will NOT pay for any expenses and I have to pay out of pocket more than $8500.00 for the replacement.
It came as a big surprise and shock to me as I never heard or got any communication from either the dealer (3rd party) from whom I bought the vehicle or KIA regarding such recall or the fix needed, to prevent such a failure.
I would appreciate it if your legal team can help me to have Kia replace the engine at no cost to me. As I'm searching, I'm hearing a lot of news about Kia's and Hyundai's having the same engine issue and many have resulted in fires and even death. Youtube and other online forums, have many of these horror stories, also few highlighted by the media. Looking back, I feel lucky that we narrowly escaped!
This 2017 Kia Sorento was purchased in 2020 with a little over 40k miles on it. Everything I looked up at the time suggested this would be a great vehicle. There was no warning, just one day the air-conditioning stopped working. I did not think to look at whether the engine was overheating or not and at quick glance there was nothing strange. Thinking it might be the AC pump I figured we would take a look when we got back from our cabin. in route, the A/C stopped again, but this time the car was overheating. We limped it back home and attempted to change the thermostat, but to no avail.
Short story long, we took it into the dealer to discover that the head gasket was blown. Upon them taking it apart to fix, they discovered that the bolts for the engine were free and had the metal from the block melted into the screws. Being the second owner of the vehicle, this is not under warranty. If it wasn't for the fact that it was already paid off, we would be screwed. We have now come to understand there are many of these cases. The quote we got to fix it was 11,087 without having to change out the heads and $17,000 if the heads have to be replaced. We do not have that kind of money to dole out. That is the equivalent of 2.5 to 4.5 years of car payments.
I have never owned a car that died on me prior to 200,000 miles. What a joke!
The engine light is on, and the vehicle feels like the motor will drop out any second. The vehicle will not do more than 40 mph. I like the vehicle except the engine, I'm going to try a newer model, hopefully they have fixed their mistake.
I have a 2017 Kia Sorrento 2.4L engine. I started have issues in Sept 2022. After changed all spark plugs and coils and replacing pcv valve after driving on my car, it started losing power and I went to O'Reilly Auto Parts and they tested it and said it was a misfire in the 4th spark plug. Got it change and still the same issue. Engine is knocking, smoking, losing power etc... I only had the car two years.
I HAVE A 2017 SORENTO EX AWD THAT I HAD FALLEN IN LOVE WITH EVEN BEFORE TEST DRIVING IT. NEEDLESS TO SAY......THIS VEHICLE HAS BEEN NOTHING BUT TROUBLE STARTING AT 20K MILES. I HAVE MAINTAINED MY VEHICLE ACCORDING TO THE OWNERS MANUAL------WELL MY EX WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR GETTING THE OIL CHANGED. WHEN WE BROKE UP....HE TOOK ALL HIS PAPERWORK IN HIS OFFICE WHICH INCLUDED MY SORENTO OIL CHANGE RECEIPTS. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT SHOP HE USE TO TAKE OUR VEHICLES TO AND WE ARE NO LONGER ON SPEAKING TERMS AS THE RELATIONSHIP DISSOLVED BADLY! THE TURBO ON THIS THING FAILED AND WAS REPLACED AT 38K....59K....AND FAILED AGAIN RECENTLY AT 69K. OF COURSE THEIR WARRANTY ONLY COVERS THE VEHICLE FOR 70K....SO THEY DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR ANOTHER TURBO. THEY ARE TELLING ME I HAVE TO PAY 3K IF I WANT MY CAR FIXED SINCE I DO NOT HAVE MY OIL CHANGE RECEIPTS. DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE DEALER THAT DID THE REPAIR AT 59K HAD A 12K 12 MONTH WARRANTY ON THE REPAIR (PARTS/LABOR). THEY SAID IN ORDER TO REPLACE THE TURBO THEY JUST REPLACED LESS THAN 10,000 MILES AGO...DESPITE THE DEALER WARRANTY...THEY NEEDED ME TO PRODUCE THE OIL CHANGE RECEIPTS AND IF I DID NOT HAVE THEM I WOULD HAVE TO PAY FOR THE NEW TURBO. THEY SAID THAT THEY SAW SLUDGE IN THE TURBO LINE WHICH IS CAUSED BY LACK OF MAINTENANCE. BUNCH OF BS BY A COMPANY TRYING TO AVOID COVERING THE COST OF A PART THAT HAS FAILED 3 TIMES ALREADY!!
This is a 2017 Kia Sorento purchase in August of 2016. The engine completely seized and as a result I had to get my engine replaced. 10 months later My engine seized again. The first time my vehichle seized Kia wanted confirmation that I was getting regularly scheduled oil changes (I was- provided the evidence). The second engine failure I got two oil changes within three weeks of one another the first of the two oil changes was just a basic maintenance oil change... three weeks later my check oil light appeared immediately followed by the check engine light. I had the car towed back to Meineke (the last two oil changes were performed here) they said the nut and bolts on the engine was loose and they ended up performing a second oil change complete with replacement filters. Two hours after driving off the lot my car check engine and low oil light came on again. The second tow with two days...I had the car towed to the Kia dealership and its been confirmed that the engine seized.
Back on January 22nd, the check engine light on the Sorento came on. We took it to our local dealership who said it was a bad sensor but there was also a recall on the vehicle to update the firmware. On February 16th, the check engine light comes on again, this time it is flashing. The vehicle goes into what they called limp mode. We take it in and they tell us this is an issue with the engine and that it will need to be replaced. It is part of the Theta II issues that have been happening. They set us up with a rental from Enterprise. They don't have a timeline but we were fine with the solution at the time.
On March 6th we get a call from the dealership saying they talked to Kia and were told just to replace a NOX sensor. They did that, the check engine light went away, they rode it around for a while and gave it back to us. This morning it went back into limp mode and the check engine light was flashing again.
Not too happy at the moment. The dealership wouldn't confirm that the engine would be replaced at this time nor would they say what it would be replaced with. From what I saw, Kia has been under investigation for this engine since May of 2016. We bought the car on July of 2016. I can't help but feel that Kia sold us a car they knew would fail.
I leased a 2017 KIA Sorento EX V6 AWD on Feb. 23, 2017. Within two weeks, and less than 500 miles, there was a buzzing sound on start up that lasted for 5 minutes or so. It was very cold out so I thought it may be related to that. The problem continued so I called the dealer where I leased the vehicle (785 miles on it at this point). They said to bring it in. It is more than 50 miles from where I live to them. There is another dealer within two miles, they said I could take it there, March 20, 2017. I was at 1,005 miles at this point because I had to travel for business over the weekend. The dealer I took it to took two days to diagnose the problem. The oil pump failed and the engine was full of metal pieces. The fix, replace the engine. This is the fourth KIA I have owned and it may be the last. I have contacted KIA customer support and they were not much help. I suggested that because it has been less than 30 days and the problem started around 500 miles they should replace the vehicle. At trade in time having a remanufactured engine, whether it is good or not, will greatly affect the trade in value. I should not have to suffer financially because of their faulty product. Their response, "read your warranty". I contacted the selling dealer but there has not been a response yet.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
Engine burning excessive oil unbeknownst to me and seized just out of coverage. Still owe 8,600 on it, offered 500 from a dealership, single parent about to enter my final year of nursing school. Put all my chips in to get in a better place and I may have just run out of luck. Engine is not covered by class action lawsuit, only 4 cylinder. Bought this as a car to make it through school. If the plans had stuck to schedule, I wouldn't have this car, but I unfortunately had my mother pass away unexpectedly, and school is now taking an extra year. I felt that the KIA dealership sold me a car that was in an accident and they covered it up.
- Stephanie S., Morgantown, PA, US