Cracked Engine Block

[moosmom]

Talk about timing!

The day I drove to Findlay Park, I noticed my temperature gauge in my 2001 Kia Sephia was running hot. I took it to the dealer because I was told by the oil lube place it had a small oil leak.

I got a call from the Service Department. The bad news is that it's a cracked engine block. It was nothing that I did. VERY expensive to fix, both labor and parts wise. The GOOD news is my car is still under warranty which means it's costing me nothing to have it fixed. There was only one minor snafu. LaFontaine Kia has no loaner program. They estimate it'll take a week or more before it's completely fixed. Which means I'd be stuck in my apartment for a week or more. I was slightly pissed.

Well, it pays to scream. I called Kia Corporation. They told me to talk to the service manager at the dealership. I called and mentioned the word "lawyer". It took him all of 15 minutes to get the okay to give me a rental car (they're picking up the tab). :D I'm driving a 2003 Toyota Corolla. Great little car. Don't care if I ever get mine back :D

Dean, the service manager, told me that they are concerned as to "why" the engine block cracked (it was caused by the engine overheating but they don't know the reason).

Stay tuned.

[Soledad]

My dad HATES Kia. Says they're very unreliable. Perhaps you should look for a Toyota? Sooooo dependable!!

[Karen]

We looooove our Corolla, it has over 180,000 miles on it, and is still a good car. A cracked engine block is serious!!! It's not even summer yet - what if it happened when you were on the highway somewhere this summer? I would be very demanding as to why it happened and how they can prevent it from happening again. ACT confident, even if you aren't, and demand accountabilty.

[CathyBogart]

*chuckles* you guys are lucky! My car is a 1976 Corvette. Talk about High Maintenance!! It's so expensive...I've desperately been trying to sell it but to no avail...

[DoggiesAreTheBest]

Glad you were able to get things settled and your car getting fixed at no charge to you. When I had my wreck back in February, I had a rental for 3 weeks. Drove 5 different cars. Loved it!

[moosmom]

The Corolla they gave me to drive is beautiful! It's got a CD player and everything. My SIL said I should ask them if they want to do an even trade (if I did that I'd look REAL stupid). But you're right Karen, they need to answer WHY it happened and be held accountable. The one guy I talked to at Kia said that they sold me a defective car, plain and simple.

Soledad,

I've already replaced the fuel pump (again, under warranty $475.00) and the car is only 2 years old :(. If I wasn't unemployed, I'd look into trading the car in. Thank God for the warranty.

[lizbud]

Moosmom,

The dealership should just replace the car. A 2001 model,
still under warrenty, should not be having major problems.
The car qualifies as a lemon. It can happen with almost any
make of car. Does your state have a "lemon law"? I agree about
the Corolla. I have one & love it.

[ramanth]

You know I was on the phone with Donna and she says, "I'm having a problem with Kia..." and I'm thinking... "Now what did my dog do.... ;) " and oh wait! Donna DRIVES a Kia. I kept thinking it was a Saturn.

I adore my Grand Am. Mom and Dad got me hooked on them. Dad works for GM and the Grand Am is made here in Lansing. :D

The family car that was passed down to me when I first got my license was a 1984 98' Oldsmobile. Dad drove it off the assembly line in 84, they gave it to me in 93, and I sold it in 2001. It had over 300,000 miles on it when I sold it and it still ran. :)

Great car. I miss that tank. :(

Hope they find out what happened Donna.

[Logan]

Donna, warranties are great, aren't they?? But when you are left without a car, they aren't so great! I have the same issues when something goes wrong with my car! I have a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee....so far, I have had to have it in 5 times for safety recalls, one causing the whole gas tank to be replaced (that happened with my brand new Ford once too). It has also had to have all rotors and brakes replaced and the warranty paid for that as well, and most recently, a new transmission which caused it to be in the shop for 4 days!! Yikes!!! :eek: I had to rent a car that time, at my own expense, but what a pain!!

My understanding of Lemon Laws is that if you have the same problem, 3 times, then you can demand a new car. That is "layman's" interpretation, from me. As long as they fix it, you should be ok.

My only KIA experience was in Massachusetts, a couple of years ago. I ended up in a rental.......no problem with the car (I had great tour guides and didn't have to drive much), but I did get towed away, right before we left!!! LOL!!! NO fault of the KIA, just the parking directions I accepted!!! :o

[lizbud]

Moosmom,

For what it's worth, I saw a site on Car Talk.com that lists
options available to you, state by state.It's written in laypersons
language & you might find it helpful.

http://cartalk.cars.com/Got-A-Car/Lemon/

Lots of helpful info on warrenties,extended warrenties,implied
warrenties, secret warrenties, etc, etc.

[moosmom]

I looked up the "lemon law" for Michigan. The car has to have been brought in for the same repair 4 times before they consider it a lemon.

Logan,

Thanks for the link. I'm going to look into it a little bit more.

[NoahsMommy]

Gosh! I'm from the thinking that cars should run and all you need to do is add gas....can you tell I'm a GIRL!?!??!! ;)

I'm so glad you have that warranty!

[Miss Meow]

It's a bit scary that they didn't find a hire car of their own make for you to drive around, but gave you a competitor's car to try out!!!

I hope you can either get it fixed or get a new car - an unreliable car is the worst. My first car was a Suzuki Sierra (not sure what it's called in the USA, but those little soft top 4WDs). In the five years I had it, everything had to be replaced at least once, including the head gasket, pistons, bearings, the whole fuel assembly etc etc. One of the funniest problems was when oil was leaking into the air filter and the hot air churned it into margarine!!! Not so funny when I had to grab handfuls of the stuff out of the air cleaner to remove it - I've never eaten margarine since!

[Soledad]

I'm a total Toyota girl. They've never given me problems. Honda come a close second, right with Subarus.

What does Ford stand for?

Found
On
Road
Dead

[moosmom]

Here's another one...

F = Fix
O = Or
R = Repair
D = Daily

[Cataholic]

I am a Honda fan myself...but, I would suppose anything that got you around securely would work. I don't do any lemon law..but, maybe if you look around, you can find a consumer group in your area that can help?? I am glad they have you in a rental...and that your car is still under warranty. Wouldn't want to miss you next month!

[Dakota's Mommy]

I Love my Toyota! I've got a '96 Toyota Camery and I've loved it ever since I got it about 1 1/2 ago. I like Honda, but these days it seems like everybodies got one so I'm losing interest really quick. We also like Chevy's in our house as my husband drives a GMC Sierra (just like Chevy).

As for your car trouble, I'm sorry to hear that. I never did like Kia vehicles but that's just my opinion. Like I said before, I'm into Toyotas and Nissans and Chevy's and Pontiacs! I just went about 1 1/2 without my Toyota though because it was in the body shop for damage repairs from a flying tire (okay so a truck kicked it up into my hood). That stunk. We didn't get a rental until the weekend after it went in (on a Monday) and that was the day before I flew back to Ohio. The rental was a Ford so Brian refused to drive it except to take me up to Dallas to the airport. So, 2 of us went on 1 vehicle for a full week, and with our crazy schedules at that time, it was a disaster. I'm so glad to have it back, new hood and headlight fixture and all! So, enjoy your rental for now!

[moosmom]

I got a call from the service department today saying my car will be ready either tomorrow ("in a perfect world" he said) or by Monday at the latest.

I told him I was thinking about trading my car in. He said (off the record) he never liked Kias. He also said that was the reason for the 10 year/100,000 mile warranty.

It is not feasible at this time to trade it in because I'm out of work and because they'd have to tack on $9,000 left to pay on the Kia loan to the new car loan. As long as it's fixed and runs, I'll be happy.

[smokey the elder]

If the Kia has a cracked engine block, that should be reported to the NTSB. Cracked engine blocks in "young" cars are almost always due to bad heat treating/metallurgy and a whole bunch are made at once at a shop.

I have a 2003 Toyota Matrix, that I bought with 11 miles on it. I usually would not buy a brand new model/body type, but this car has a Celica engine and Toyotas are amazing. We had a 1986 minivan that we rolled in 2000 with 175K on it, and my 1991 Corolla had 191K when I sold it.

We also have a rocket: a 1995 Mitsubishi 3000 GT, red, of course!

[moosmom]

Smokey,

I never thought about reporting it to the NTSB. I'm going to check and see if they have a website. I never did ask the service mgr. how much the total bill was (just out of curiosity). I'm sure it was WAY expensive.

[anna_66]

Sorry to hear about your car Donna, but glad it is all being taken care of under the waranty!