KIA parts secret ?

The owners manual for my 2009 KIA SPECTRA was full of the usual cautions and warnings.

But one thing missing was "part numbers"

When you buy an American car, the manual includes; bulb#s, oil filter numbers, air filter numbers, spark plug, etc.

KIA says; "Go to your KIA dealer for replacement part" The closest concession to identity is; recommended oil viscosity, and auto lamp wattages.

I picture a trip thru Boondock Montana when my tail light burns out. Do I get my replacement from the local general store, or "Look for a KIA dealer"....

Maybe the owner goes to KIA for all service in Korea, but this is a car distributed in the US, from a US dealer, with a manual printed in English....

KIA may think the practice is good for business, but it's lousy customer relations.

BTW; There was a delay on my first "dealer" oil change.... Seems they were out of oil filters. We had to wait for the NAPA truck to arrive with the part.

Reply to
Anonymous
Loading thread data ...

sounds familiar.

Reply to
jkairoff

Interesting! I looked at my 06 Spectra manual and found the same thing.

Reply to
Paul

I can understand your frustration with the owners manual. I work for a KIA dealer and the parts catalog is not much better in indicating the bulb types. But I can assure you that 95-99% of all the bulbs used on Kia's are standard trade number types I.E. 194, 2357, H7, etc. and all of which are available at parts stores. If in doubt about a particular bulb, just remove it, it "should" have the trade number stamped on the bulb.

Reply to
KIA Parts Dept

Who is this masked man (KIA Pasts Dept)? Whoever you are, you can be a HUGE asset to this group, and just maybe the person that gets this discussion group jump-started.

I am also a member of the Hyundai chat room. We have just lost a useful member who serviced Hyundais for a living. Once he left, the group has, by and large, died after being continuously active.

As for this bulb thing, I agree that I have had no problem finding which bulb it is that I need. And yes, most (though not all) are pretty common numbers.

But if I didn't know better, I'd say KIA is going almost out of their way to provide as little truly useful information as possible in their owner's manual. I can't think of many things less useful for finding a replacement bulb at Auto Zone (or wherever) than bulb wattage. A screw-in bulb for a floor lamp maybe, but not for a car.

This type of thing used to bother me big-time with GM as well. They would gladly make reference to an expensive service manual if you wanted more useful information. And you could tell they were almost gritting their teeth when they did have to give out tiny bits of information.

My favorite example was the oil filter on an '03 Olds Alero. They wouldn't give you instructions on how to change the oil, or tell you where anything is. They just made a quick reference along the lines of "If you [must] change your own oil, do not tighten the filter container tighter than 15 lb.-ft." That's it - no reference as to what or where it was or anything else.

Now, with my new 2010 Sedona minivan, they don't even say that much. I had to troll the internet to see where the filter even was. Once found, the tightening information is on the canister. And I do and will change my own oil, also on this vehicle. But no thanks to the KIA Owner's Manual.

Reply to
Rev. Tom Wenndt

nn

Reply to
hondack

This shoddy treatment is about half the reason that I'll never buy another KIA EVER. Then there is the Lucas-like electrical, the EXORBITANT price of parts, the 2.5 hours recommended to change 6 plugs, the $500 fuel pump, the welshing on the warranty, timing belt life and on and on. Any time I've been able to buy replacement parts elsewhere, the cost was from 1/2 to 1/4 of KIA's rippoff price.

No thank you, NEVER again. Big mistake. BEWARE!

Reply to
hondack

Frankly, this sounds more like a rogue dealer rather than a corporate culture. I have been treated with nothing but respect at my old KIA dealer & now the one in my new community. Yes, the dealer item only parts are a tad pricey, relatively speaking but not exorbitant. Again, sounds like a rogue, ne'er-do'well, ultra-gouging dealer.

Reply to
<z

I have had the opposite experience. My dealer has always been helpful. All dealer parts are expensive, however in my experience Kia dealer parts are on the cheap side as parts go. You often get what you pay for in after market parts.

2.5 hours for plugs and $500 for a fuel pump is on the low to middle of hours and price range compared to other mfgs.
Reply to
Paul

Yeah, I would have to say that my service experience with Kia dealers by and large has been good.

And while the dealer prices are a bit higher, I actually am impressed that they aren't higher than they are.

That said, Hyundai/Kia still finds ways to annoy. Despite the fact that there are more and more of them on the road, and until recently, all of them for the last almost nine years or so have used the same automatic trnasmission fluid, you STILL can't find that fluid (SP III or SP IV) anywhere but at a Mitsubishi, Hyundai or Kia dealer. And oh, BTW, this is one fluid I have learned that the after-market brands are NOT compatible, even the very few that list this fluid on their bottle (example - Castrol Import Multi-Vehicle ATF).

The good news is that it looks like more and more of these are going to be made in America, and using more and more American-made parts. Considering that more and more Chryslers and GMs are built in either Canada or Mexico, that is huge.

Reply to
Rev. Tom Wenndt

Wow! Thanks for the tip about the ATF. I did not know that.

Reply to
Paul

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