Kia Spectra Engine Issues

127 messages,  Last post on Aug 04, 2011 at 4:11 PM

You are in the Kia Spectra/Spectra5 Forum.

What is this discussion about? Kia Spectra, Engine, Sedan, Wagon

#20 of 127 KIA Dealers too Shady by froverdrive

Jun 25, 2007 (7:50 am)

I have a 2003 Kia Spectra GS. I have had multiple problems with the car that are covered under warranty. The first problem is that the car eats tires, meaning that the tread wears unevenly and quickly. I thought that maybe it was the tires, but I have been through 3 brands. According to my dealer I have a lead tire issue, which I think is an excuse for not knowing what the problem is. The other issues I have had are the breaking system. When I lock my breaks, the engine shuts off. This is not good, because I drive the base model, no extras, so the car is impossible to drive when it is off. I believe this is a vaccuum problem, but the dealer cannot "replicate" the incident. Also, the heat sheild became loose after almost every oil change, and I know the heat shield is not even close to the oil pan. After my last oil change I looked underneath my car, and realized that they are removing the one heat sheild bolt. I confronted them, and they charged me $75 to remove the heat shield altogether. Next, my engine almost seized this weekend due to lack of oil. I do not know how this could have happened, but my car lost about 3 quarts.
 
The dealership is very SHADY. Dorschel KIA in Rochester, NY likes to schedule your appointments, and then do absolutely no work on the car. This has happened to me twice. If I have an appointment, I expect work to be done on my car, especially a simple oil change. The other problems with Dorschel are the heat sheild issue. According to my maintenence record, the heat sheild has been removed 3 times, not replaced. They have been charging me money each time and will not own up to their mistakes.
 
Does anyone else run into these issues?

#21 of 127 Re: KIA Dealers too Shady [froverdrive] by hatchielover

Jun 26, 2007 (11:28 am)

Replying to: froverdrive (Jun 25, 2007 7:50 am)
hey froverdrive: I have a 2006 Kia Rio 5 with just over 10,000 miles on it. I noticed my front tires were wearing excessively down the center treads, nearly down to the indicators. They are Kumho Solus HP4+ tires. The back tires seem to be wearing fine. The service department was totally unhelpful at Auffenburg KIA in Belleville IL. They said it was either overinflation or because I didn't rotate them. I've been to them for all my oil changes and they are supposed to inspect the tires as part of that service. Obviously, they didn't because they would have seen the wear sooner and if they would have told me to have them rotated, I would have. I know we have never inflated them over the recommended psi on the car door label because they always look low to me and when we check the pressure its never been over. They also told me that it could be because they are low profile tires. They said it was not alignment or camber before they ever looked at the car. I think there is something wrong with my car that they won't or can't fix. I hoped KIA would be different, but all car dealers service departments are the same. I'm going to replace the two worn tires on my own. What other tires have you tried? Please write if you find out what the problem is. Good luck.

#22 of 127 RE: Tire by froverdrive

Jun 26, 2007 (1:09 pm)

Dorschel Kia test drove my car, aligned my car, checked my frame, my suspension, my rims, and concluded that my car pulls to the right because I have a bad lead tire, which is BS for, "We really don't know!"

#23 of 127 Hard Starting? by caaz

Jul 02, 2007 (7:47 pm)

Sounds like all of you with starting issues need to put in NGK Irridium plugs....you'll be very happy you did....(hint hint)

#24 of 127 Question by ayden_boi

Jul 17, 2007 (2:31 pm)

A few months ago i took my car to the kia dearlership to get fixed since it was making a funny noise and also it was still under warenty. they fixed it and said it was my radiator but it still made the funny noise so i took it back. this time they said my transmission was bad and they cant do it under warrenty. so i had someone else look at it and they said the transmission was fine that they just wanted my money.
 
Another problem im having is that when i go up hills i lose horsepower example i will be going 50mph as soon as i start up the hill i drop down to 20mph and i cant get speed built back up til i go down the hill then my gas goes down alot.

#25 of 127 Re: Question [ayden_boi] by acm563

Jul 17, 2007 (3:45 pm)

Replying to: ayden_boi (Jul 17, 2007 2:31 pm)
This is interesting as this is the same symptoms my sons car had after we put the new transmission in it so I have to question and ask if the transmission in your car needs reprogrammed for some reason...and that may also be why the dealership in their infinite ignorance thought you actually needed a new transmission...
IMO KIA's just suck, noone knows how to work on them and as I stated before they give you every excuse not to honor the warranty.
Since the reprogramming of the transmission my sons KIA is running fine although check engine light now stays on....

#26 of 127 Re: Question [acm563] by ayden_boi

Jul 18, 2007 (10:04 am)

Replying to: acm563 (Jul 17, 2007 3:45 pm)
how much did it cost and does he get horsepower going up hills after this was done?

#27 of 127 Re: Question [ayden_boi] by acm563

Jul 18, 2007 (10:32 am)

Replying to: ayden_boi (Jul 18, 2007 10:04 am)
yes, he had nopower even on straight rds with no inclines. it cost him $134..i would ask them if they think the the reprogramming would help

#28 of 127 Re: Engine and tire issues by axel_rose

Jul 22, 2007 (7:09 pm)

Replying to: chevman792001 (Jun 07, 2007 2:44 pm)
I bought my Spectra 5 new in May of 2005 and I now have 80,000 miles on it with no problems. All I've done is oil changes and the timing belt change at 68k. I got almost 52,000 miles out of my first set of tires by rotating them with every other oil change.
 
So far the car has been a solid performer for me and I put almost 900 miles a week on it.

#29 of 127 Re: KIA Dealers too Shady [froverdrive] by cav_rider666

Aug 12, 2007 (1:15 pm)

Replying to: froverdrive (Jun 25, 2007 7:50 am)
Mabye if you did'nt drive so hard and checked your tires for proper inflation and pressure you would not have this problem with your tires. No car "eats tires" if you drive sensibly and maintain your tires. I do agree that some of there practices are shady but by the looks of this post it seems as if you drive this car a litle to hard.
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