Over the last week my ac had been struggling a bit. Then all the sudden it went out on me and started blowing hot air after a quick rest stop. Thankfully I was only 30 minutes from the dealer I purchased it from and they squeezed me in right away to diagnose. They warned me that it could be a rock hit the condenser and that wouldn’t be covered by warranty… This made me suspicious as there are several issues with the car they have yet to fix including trim that’s falling off, rusted disc brake rotors, a horn that intermittently stops working, dysfunctional Android auto that constantly disconnects and a consistently weak AC. It’s stressing to feel like I’ve got a lemon and I’m considering selling before the warranty expires.
They call me back a few hours later saying there’s a pinhole leak in the condenser unit and a piece of road debris must have hit it. I asked for a picture of the damage and they provided the following picture. Their advice is that I claim insurance but I don’t want to pay anything or risk my rates going up. I shouldn’t be having these issues at just 40k miles. I feel this is just a convenient scapegoat and am not confident this is actually the cause. The entire condenser is beat up from the giant gaps in the grill of the Seltos. If this is the true cause, it seems a condenser should be a bit more resilient if placed in such a vulnerable manner.
Should I take it to a different dealer or shop? Should I call Kia corporate?
That’s quite clearly external and not covered under bumper to bumper. Also much cheaper to repair or replace than a condenser with standard insurance coverage.
You have two main warranties on that car;
A 3 year 36000 mile bumper to bumper warranty and a 10 year, 100000 mile powertrain warranty. This would have been covered by the bumper to bumper warranty, but you’re past the 36,000 limit on that. It’s clearly not a powertrain issue. This one is on you.
Damage from a rock impact would not have been covered by that warranty.
As to…
…i f you feel that the dealership has been uncooperative/unresponsive regarding other issues, then you need to “kick it up a notch” by contacting Kia at the corporate level. Contact info can be found in your Owner’s Manual.
How could they ever prove or know it was a rock impact? That condenser has dents and dings elsewhere. It seems to me that this was a guess job since they took forever trying to find a leak… Couldn’t find the cause for over two hours so just blame it on the worst looking part of the condenser and move on…?
A pic of the condenser–if provided to the Kia Corporate folks–would almost surely result in denial of a warranty claim if the bumper-to-bumper warranty was still in effect. But, this is now beside the point because that warranty has expired.
Most vehicles don’t have bumper-to-bumper coverage for more than 3 years/36k miles. If you are confident that the A/C problem would be covered by that warranty, then you need to request an appointment–at the dealership–with Kia’s Regional Repair Supervisor (terminology varies from one company to another). In the meantime, take several pics and forward them to Kia at the corporate level.
Fair enough. I’m saying that it’s not entirely apparent to me that the culprit is road debris. There was no impact, there was no gravel truck that lost it’s haul, no road event to speak of whatsoever.
Let’s just assume it were a rock or some kind of debris. How is it that this thing is so exposed? I’ve never heard of this happening to anyone. Seems to me that Kia designed this grill so poorly that it’s a design deficiency they’re trying to CYA on. If that’s the case and this “just happens”, how can I be sure to prevent it in the future? Is there some kind of bumper guard attachment I could install? A high air flow mesh in back of the grill?
All the bent fins got that way from impacts. This one was enough of an impact to puncture the associated bent tube. It’s not that unusual to have a tube punctured, the condenser is the first thing fresh air (and road debris) hit at the front of the engine.
I’m not confident, that’s why I’m coming here first haha. Thanks for the advice.
Is it really that different from the other bent fins? Seems like these condensers take lots of damage and that circled area is their attempt to circumvent a warranty claim by highlighting the worst looking part of it and blaming that because I needed the car back at the end of the day to travel back home 4 hours away.
I have an appointment at a different dealer. Will they be able to see the diagnosis and work up by the first one? Is it worth having them diagnose it while they’re replacing the horn and looking into other issues I mentioned?
The damage to the condenser is no different than damage to a tire from running over a nail or damage to the paint from parking under a tree that’s dripping sap. It’s a road hazard and is the responsibility of the driver, not the manufacturer.
After 30+ years as a mechanic I can tell you that impact damage is the most common cause of condenser failure.
