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Kia Sportage Maintenance and Repair

707 messages,  Last post on Dec 02, 2012 at 1:46 PM

You are in the Kia Sportage Forum.

What is this discussion about? Kia Sportage, SUV

    
 
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Messages Page 26 of 71

#248 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [ort102] by lmp4

Feb 03, 2008 (6:32 am)

Replying to: ort102 (Feb 02, 2008 9:18 pm)
Your problem with dash lights might be linked with the high temp indicator. IN fact try one thing: run the car, then run the heater blower at different speeds. Does the temp needle change position instantaneously when you switch the blower on? THis problem was reported several times and seems to be linked with ground problems. SO several have run new ground wires from the battery negative to engine block, firewall, and any visible ground wire. HOwever no one had the clever idea to come back and declare unambiguously if that solved their problem partly or completely or what else they might have done.
FOr diagrams, I can post some but better register yourself to www.kiatechinfo.com and grab everything you want first hand, diagrams, repair manuals, codes....
ANd I talked of compressed air as you use for tires but the more you say, the less I think you might have a gasket problem....and since you say heater works well, I have no doubts you do have water circulation which is rather difficult to observe from the radiator cap.
HOw does the fan behave, specially just after engine is started: normally it runs with a whooshing noise for a few seconds then slowly clutches down...
It might turn out all you have is a false temperature indication....and I wish this is the case....I'd try to use your kitchen candy thermometer in the radiator to have a 2nd temperature opinion....

#249 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [lmp4] by ort102

Feb 03, 2008 (12:57 pm)

Replying to: lmp4 (Feb 03, 2008 6:32 am)
Haha so i decided to just drive the car with the heat off until the temp guage went to the top (i also filled up the reseviour) and when i pulled in the drive way it was spewing out the over fill hose and what sounded like it was boiling.. I also added one wire from the negative battery terminal to the frame. and i noticed that both the pos and neg connectors where cracked. I also think whoever put the new battery in put in the wrong size as it was actually pretty tough getting the cables off of it.

#250 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [ort102] by lmp4

Feb 03, 2008 (6:54 pm)

Replying to: ort102 (Feb 03, 2008 12:57 pm)
Well that sounds more severe indeed.....you cannot fake boiling...ha!
I'd find an air compressor and test as I said. It is just so annoying the plugs are out of easy reach...but it is not such a tedious job anyway. You will have to remove the valve cover.
 
engine
 
THose complaining of fan clutch failure were mostly living in very warm environment and used A/C ; in cool temperatures, highway speed is sufficient even without a fan...
Was the water pump changed at same time as timing belt (I think you said the belt had been changed...right). BUt Water pumps fail for bearings generally and that makes noise and leaks, not boiling.....

#251 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [lmp4] by ort102

Feb 03, 2008 (7:03 pm)

Replying to: lmp4 (Feb 03, 2008 6:54 pm)
Yeah actually the only thing i have replaced was the thermostat. And i took another listen once i sent last post and there was a hissing noise and the water was just rushing back into the overfill tank.. Could the water pump be causing this problem possibly?
And do i have to take all that off just to give it a tune up??

#252 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [ort102] by lmp4

Feb 03, 2008 (7:44 pm)

Replying to: ort102 (Feb 03, 2008 7:03 pm)
I was questioning the pump , just trying to find a thread where I remember someone said the blades from the water pump had all broken out..but I don't thnk that was in a KIA forum...probably a GM 3.1 or 3.4....so I'd rather dowplay this option.
WHen you say "take all that off to give it a tune"...I suppose y0u mean the valve cover...hey?...well just to change the spark plugs, no. You would need to remove the intake tube and the plastic cover...and then you have the coils and the holes to the spark plugs..the plugs are hidden under down there and you grab them with a plug socket and an extension to your ratchet...
..and possibly, you could apply air to the plug holes .. it is a long reach....but possible...but you would have some problem seeing which piston is at top dead center without seeing the cam position....
THe first time I had to do the spark plugs, I thought it was hell to have to do all of that just to reach the plug...and I still think the same...but in fact, a plug change can be done in just a little more than an hour...and with 8 or 9 extra 10mm bolts, the valve cover is out..and then back in. ANnoying, but easy and straight forward.

#253 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [lmp4] by lmp4

Feb 03, 2008 (7:54 pm)

Replying to: lmp4 (Feb 03, 2008 7:44 pm)
...but you did not tell me about the fan....you are sure it has a belt driving it? My son had a similar problem with his NIVA..overheating and alternator failure........just to discover the fan belt was simply gone.....and with all those things around there, it needed to peek intentionally to notice something was missing....

#254 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [lmp4] by ort102

Feb 03, 2008 (7:59 pm)

Replying to: lmp4 (Feb 03, 2008 7:54 pm)
do you just mean the white fan behind the radiator? if so it starts when i turn the car on. so that would mean it would continue to run once the car was on correct?

#255 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [ort102] by lmp4

Feb 04, 2008 (6:15 am)

Replying to: ort102 (Feb 03, 2008 7:59 pm)
..yes, the fan between radiator and engine. Is it electrical or belt driven? factory is belt, but some owners replaced it with an electric fan. ANyway Ohio is not that warm at this time of the year, I suppose...

#256 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [lmp4] by ort102

Feb 04, 2008 (9:32 am)

Replying to: lmp4 (Feb 04, 2008 6:15 am)
It is belt driven. now i guess i have another question, is there anything else i would notice if the head gasket was blown. and i also noticed that when i tirned the blower motor on the guage did move up a little bit with thuring it on then dropped down a little once i shut it off.

#257 of 707 Re: 1999 kia sportage 4x4 overheating [ort102] by lmp4

Feb 04, 2008 (12:09 pm)

Replying to: ort102 (Feb 04, 2008 9:32 am)
i noticed that when i turned the blower motor on the guage did move up a little bit with thuring it on then dropped down a little once i shut it off
  That is almost "normal" as the return grounds for dash and blower are common and slight variation is expected. WHen the ground connection goes awry, the variation worsens.
 
 is there anything else i would notice if the head gasket was blown.
 
in SOME cases, coolant spills in a cylinder when the car is stopped and is ejected in the exhaust manifold at start-up and this produces a short duration heavy white cloud at startup ....THis is somewhat confusing in cold weather because it is difficult to make the difference with what we already experience. HOwever when it shows in warm weather, the difference is more conspicuous. But absence of such cloud is not a sign that the problem does not exist.
 
If the coolant spill invades the oil pan, the inside of oil cap will be covered with a disgusting white-brownish foamy sludge. But many times , specially when the leak is not severe, it happens only when the engine runs and exhaust goes from the cylinder to the cooling system.. However, when a car is run only for short treks in very cold temperatures, stray water vapour as a combustion product is not readily evaporated by high heat and accumulates and can generate some foamy goo...and that would stop showing in the summer.
 
draining the oil pan might show traces of coolant
 
The car will require topping the coolant tank almost daily
 
Irregular heat flow from heater and erratic temp needle are telltale signs....
 
-"intestinal" noises (borborygmi) in the heater system
 
GOing for a head gasket replacement is something one wants not to think of and this is why when I suspect such, I want a sure proof and the compressed air test is really a go-nogo clue. IF compressed air into a cylinder generates bubbles at the radiator cap, you have no choice. ...just starting the engine with the fuel pump relay disconnected might be able to pump air through a leak and bring bubbles at radiator because of the compression cycle in cylinders...but I do not like the noise and strain on starter and battery and the result is less conspicuous...so I prefer to use externally compressed air. My late Dodge Omni was a regular user of that test....but the spark plugs were an easy reach...
 
Several would prefer to try everything else and many go to large expenses to avoid this operation and a few in the forums changed radiators, water pump, thermostat of course, installed a larger electric fan.....sometimes this procures some extra cooling margin but if the head gasket was failed, all of this ended up as waisted expenses added to the replacement cost...so I would go no farther than low cost "tests" like checking the radiator hoses for internal peeling ...rare but just to be sure .. even try a radiator flushing agent... and as I said, running the car WITHOUT a thermostat because a totally free flow might make coolant circulation to radiator easier to be seen.
 
My first choice would be the unambiguous compressed air testing: if it proves positive...you will have some of the work already done. Somewhere I had written a "procedure" for spark plugs replacement...will look for....
yeah...here

Messages Page 26 of 71

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