timing belts or chains?

Pardon my ignorance, still in info gathering phase: 2 questions:

1.) do KIA engines have a timing belt or a chain? Is the belt teflon/ kevlar reinforced or the chain self-adjusting stainless steel?

2.) how often do KIAs require a tune-up?

Thanx,

Reply to
marx404
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=== Right now the V6s use belts and where you live depends on when they KIA says they require replacment. Mostly they say 60K Miles Tune up you should beable to over 30K miles before one is really needed if then. Just change the air filter at 15K normal conditions meaning not real dusty driving.

Reply to
Shines

thanx for the info. IM pretty sire that the 30K tune up can be upped to 100K if one changes to platinum plugs as I did on my 1st gen Saturn. The more I read on KIAs the more I like 'em!

marx404

Reply to
marx404

=== Good Luck :-)

Reply to
Shines

A friendly "warning" to all KIA owners and potential owners out there....

DO not follow the above advice regarding timing belts.

Nearly all of the engines in KIAs use a timing belt - true. But many of the engines are 'interference' designs. That means if the belt breaks, the pistons can and WILL slam up into the open valves and render the engine destroyed.

This is not a feature unique to KIAs. Many manufactuers have used, or are still actively using this design of a motor.

Therefore, replacement of the timing belt BEFORE it breaks is extremely important!

Also..... check your owner's manual. KIA has the timing belt marked as a 'REQUIRED' maintenance item at 60k miles for 'Severe Service' areas. Guess what? Nearly ALL 50 U.S. states are 'Severe Service' areas.

I have seen on the Internet people lamenting about KIA not honoring the

100K/10 year Drivetrain Warranty after their timing belt has broken at 63k miles, and their engine is trashed. That's KIA's legal right under the warranty agreement, and they appear to have no problem exercising it.

I had my dealership quote the preventative repair to me, and it was about $550 U.S. Yeah... that's expensive, but you know what's MORE expensive? Replacing your entire engine to the tune of several thousand $$$$. The old rule of thumb of replacing the water pump when replacing the timing belt is another good idea. The expensive tear down to get to it is already done when the timing belt's changed, so it's something to think about. I was told that the cost of the pump is another $230. Again, that's a little expensive, but a tear down to get to it is even more so. If nothing else, plan on changing the pump at 110-120k at the next timing belt change for sure!

ALSO.... don't neglect your automatic transmission fluid changes every

30k miles.... another "Severe Service" state requirement. If you *don't* change it every 30k miles (or slightly less for good measure), there's a good chance that KIA will negate the warranty for any transmission troubles you encounter up to the 100k warranty limit.

every 3k-4.5k miles, and KIA's warranty should hold up pretty well for you.

So far my 2004.5 Spectra's been treating me stellar, so I plan on doing this preventative maintenance to KEEP it that way! Or if nothing else, to close the loopholes KIA's used on some of its customers who neglect to read their owners manual.

-GG

Reply to
googlegrps

Thanx GG, yesterday I talked with a shop person and he showed me exactly what the top half and valves look like after the belt breaks on an interference engine. Not pretty. You are right about the maintenence and a mechanic also said what you told me. IMHO, too bad KIAs are such high maintenence, hopefully they will take the route of kevlar belts and non-interference engines at least to provide a more stealthy engine. I Googled and Wiki'ed for such info and found that many common manufacturers also have similar built engines.

marx404

Reply to
marx404

Thankfully, it looks like Kia is starting to go away from those kinds of engines. The next generation Sedona has an engine with a timing chain. Apparently, plans are for other engines to go to that as they are re-designed, brought in new or updated.

Tom Wenndt

Reply to
Rev. Tom Wenndt

great news Tom, where did you hear that from?

marx404

Reply to
marx404

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