I have a 2003 Kia Sedona van that had the engine replaced four months ago. The new engine had a 12 months/12,000 warranty. Last week, the engine froze up and I had it towed to the dealer that installed the new engine. They told me that the timing belt tensioner bolt broke and got into the engine and did damage to the engine. Because the bolt’s warranty expired at 60k miles, the dealer is saying the damage to the engine is not covered. Am I being hosed or is this right?
What??? Either you have a 12/12 warranty or you don’t. This sounds like a load of double-talk.
And what about the original 10/100 warranty. Are you not the original owner (the vaunted Hyundai/Kia powertrain warranty isn’t transferable)?
Thanks for your reply. The original motor was replaced at 94k and I am the original owner. The 10/100 warranty expired as I now have 103,000 miles on the van. I think I am being hosed.
Why would a bolt in the replacement engine have a warranty that expired at 60K, which is long before it was installed in your van??? This is screwy to the highest degree or you have misunderstood the explanation.
But I still think they owe you an engine.
What a load of crap!!! I’d DEMAND they fix this…threaten them with a lawsuit. They don’t stand behind their work??? If they refuse to fix this UNDER WARRANTY…I’d get a lawyer fast.
Sounds like the dealer is playing you for dumb. What MikeInNH said.
All of the parts which came ON the engine you bought share the warranty. Other parts retain their OE warranty.
Ken, just to clarify, since the timing belt tensioner did not come on the engine, you believe that it voids the engine warranty? I am not arguing with you, just trying to clarify and understand your opinion.
My experience is with Ford so investigation would be needed. In my opinion, if the engine did not come with that bolt, the dealer techs disassembled and reassembled it…then it broke …hmmm, over-torqued ?,not supposed to re-use ?, maybe the warranty issue is with the dealer’s installation procedure and their in-house policy. Here at my Ford dealer it would be covered by the “we screwed up” account that covers the techs’ actions. This is gonna get tricky because it looks as if they’re already trying to get out of it. Also try KIA’s customer service line.
Wouldn’t a new engine already come with a timing belt and tensioner as part of the replacement engine? Did they only replace the short block and transfer the head and all the old parts over? Could the technician have over tighten the bolt causing the failure?
I would have thought so , but I’m just ford , and they do.
questions for jedwards525 , so we can all help answer your hosed question. What is the part number on your invoice ? was it a KIA engine or from a parts house like AutoZone ? Are we mis-naming the fan belt tensioner or is it actually the timing belt tensioner we’re talking about ? As we all seem to think, a rebuilt/new engine should be all set with timing in place and you are right to question this dealer’s motives.
What does the warranty that came with the new engine say? Your answer is probably there. And was the warranty for parts only, or was their labor warranted as well?
the more I think about it the more I have to type. The research I was thinking of is also something you can do. Once you learn the source of the engine , Kia or aftermarket, you could phone another dealer or brand source and ask what is included on an engine. they don’t need to know the basis for your research except that you’re shopping around. Ask about other important items such as water pump, oil pump, plugs, oil pan, valve cover gasket, flywheel, and the ever important timing belt and tensioner. Some of the items I mentioned don’t come on a long block but do on a drop-in assembly. just casually take not of the items at issue, the source of the info, and the person’s name to give you ammunition against “that dealer” once you know these answers.
Some more info would help as usual.
Generally a new engine will come as a long lock and all of the peripherals are changed over from the old engine to the new.
Did the bolt itself break or did the timing belt pulley seize up which could lead to the bolt breaking?
When a new engine is installed it should get a new timing belt set if the longblock does not come with it.
Do you know if your old timing belt parts were changed over?
If the dealer installed a new engine and reused timing belt tensioners, etc. then this should be on them because reusing old parts like this is foolish.
Here’s the sticky part. If the bolt itself broke, and this was a new from Kia engine with a timing set already in place, then Kia the parent company should stand behind this.
If the timing belt parts were swapped over, and IF the bolt broke, then this could point to someone at the dealer overtightening that bolt when they swapped parts over. In this case the dealer should pay for this.
If this was a new, NOT from Kia engine, then it’s going to be a lot stickier to resolve because the engine provider and the dealer may start pointing fingers at each other.
There is absolutely no reason why a bolt should fracture. They should last for the life of the car. If the dealer swapped old bolts onto the new installation he made a choice to do so. The entire installation should be warranted for the 12 months/12,000 miles. The dealer could have used new bolts, but just didn’t want to.
I agree with you but the tiny details are still missing and I have no idea what the dealer did or did not do, who provided the engine, etc. The bolt broke but did the bolt break because of metal fatigue, overtightening, etc. or did it break due to a seized pulley bearing which in turn snapped the bolt off?
Normally, many used items are changed over when installing a new long block so if one were down to the minutae like nuts and bolts then where would one stop? Does this mean a new engine also gets a new water pump, starter, alternator, clutch assembly, accessory belts, motor mounts, etc.
(JMHO, but some of those things should be replaced when a new engine is installed. And I hope there’s no misinterpretation of the word “new” here. Many, many people consider a reman engine or a salvage engine of unknown mileage to be a “new” one so I would also ask if this engine is indeed a “new” one.)