1. Home
  2. Cars by Kia
  3. 2001 Kia Rio, R.I.P.

2001 Kia Rio, R.I.P.

I confess I never tried to work on this car. I did change plugs and wires, and did an oil change once. Once was enough for me. Took it to a real mechanic after that.

Last week, I was near town, doing only about 40 miles an hour. The car quit. Just would not run anymore. I tried several times to restart it. Clunk. That's all I got from it. Had it towed to a mechanic. He called me about 2 hours later and said it dropped 3 rods and totally shattered the spark plugs. Would cost more to repair than it's worth.

Got it hauled home, first thing I do is pop the hood. The plug wires had been removed, and the plugs were just sittin in their little homes. I pulled them out. They were not shattered. Two of them looked ok, two of them were burnt and had absolutely no gap. The engine was still dusty (we live in the country) so I can tell that's all they did was take the plugs out. What should I do? Drop the oil pan? I guess that would tell me for sure. I just want to know for certain that it's a total loss before I call Kia and tell them what a piece of crap their car is. I just hit 110,000 miles, have kept the oil changed every 3,000 miles. But, I found out that since I changed my own oil once, that voided the warranty anyhow. Something they didn't tell me when I bought it.

Reply to
greaseangel
Loading thread data ...

You're going to have to get a second opinion before you declare it DOA, but I couldn't tell you what to look for myself, although two completely fried plugs would be a good start. Any mechanic would have more of an interest in fixing your car than telling you it's a write-off, so if what your guy told you is false then he just talked himself out of a major payday. Doesn't seem quite right to me, so I'm guessing your mechanic most likely told you the truth.

If you change your own oil you do not void your waranty (prior claims and case law supports this), unless of course you changed it at 50,000 miles, had the mechanic do it at 80,000 miles, then your motor goes south at

110,000 miles before you get around to changing it again. You still have to follow the recommended service intervals and keep records, but if you still have the factory oil filter on the car after 110,000 miles I wouldn't expect any company would be willing to give you a break. Whomever told you performing your own service voided your waranty is feeding you a line.

And before you go crying to Kia and telling them what a POS car they sold you, let's look at the numbers: This was a 4-year-old car with 110,000 miles on it = 27,500 miles per year (twice the national average of

12,500-15,000), plus at the time it was the absolutely cheapest bottom of the line car you could buy on the market. For the work you got out of it, it appears that you got your money's worth. I hope you weren't expecting it to last 10 years with that kind of usage. I also hope that after you took your car to your mechanic for routine maintenance that you checked your guy's work (like pulling the dipstick to make sure the oil wasn't still black after he charged you for an oil change, looking at the air filter, etc.).

Good luck and let us know what happens - Jonathan

Reply to
Jonathan Race

When was the last time you changed your timing belt?

greaseangel wrote:

called me

110,000
Reply to
newspo2

It sounds to me like you lost the timing belt. Was the engine exhibiting any signs of distress prior to shutting down? Abnormal noises, high temp, oil light on? How many miles on the car?

I doubt you could throw three rods without putting a hole in the block somewhere. Since you have the plugs out the next step would be to remove the oil filler cap and see if you can look in there and see the camshaft. If so, put a wrench on the end of the crankshaft and give it a turn and see if the cam moves with it. If not, you can assume you lost the timing belt. Since you have an interference engine you will probably need to remove the cylinder head next and see what is damaged.

Chris

Reply to
halatos2000

Thanks, I am having it haued out of the Kia Dealership to my house and I will remove the head. First I will see if the engine will hand=crank backward direction. Then remove the head and inspect the valves, and such to see what specifically is broken. The spark plugs in three of four cylinders were flattened. and the belt indeed was broken... hope I can get away with new valves/seats...

Ron

Reply to
news

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.