So i bought a used car 2013 kia rio! With about 100,000 km. Sorry this might be a bit long.
The dealer offered a 1 month guarantee on the car after purchase.
So ive had the car for a couple weeks and the first thing i noticed was that when i am driving and im going a decent speed and i take my foot off the gas and also not on the brake my car sometimes does this thing where it is as if i pressed on the breaks for a couple seconds even tho i didnt. I know that the car will naturally slow down by itself but with all my cars i never felt this. I thought maybe i was just imagining it or something but while driving with my husband i asked if he felt it and he said i thought you just pressed on the breaks, even tho i didnt. I explained this to the car dealer and all of the mechanics there said they never heard of this happening and theres nothing wrong.
Another thing 2 days before my appointment for the breaks my check engine light came on. It never went off it stayed on the entire 2 days and when i gave them my car it was still on.
I wait one hour and the mechanic asks me to come back. He is very rude and says there is nothing wrong with the car and that i shouldnt waste his time with this. He tells me to get in the car and show him that the car breaks/slows down when i am not pressing the break, i tell him i cant make it do that it happens randomly when im driving on the road. ( we are in the garage with about 10 ft in front of us) he gets even more irritated.
I notice that the check engine light is off.
So i ask him what the problem was and what the code was. He said the check engine light wasnt on when they drove it into the garage. I really dont believe him because the check engine light has been on for 2 days straight and was on when i got there.
So he said hes gonna look at the codes stored in the computer. He comes back maybe 15mins later and says the code was for a leak in some type of valve, i ask him to tell me which one and he just plays it off and says its not important. So i asked well did you fix it?? And he said since the check engine light is off it means theres no problem anymore and that there is nothing to fix now.
Is he telling the truth? I really dont know what to do. I just got this car. What is your advice???
That 30 day warranty probably has wording as to what it really covers, so you should read it if you have a copy. Second they will try and stall until the 30 days are up and I doubt if there is anything wrong with your ( brakes ). I would suspect a transmission problem. Depending on where you live Auto Zone will read the codes if the check engine light returns.
Did you have the car checked out by your mechanic before you bought it? I imagine you now see the merit of doing so, that any promised guarantee that is offered in lieu of a full pre-purchase inspection by your mechanic is not equal to a complete inspection performed by a mechanic of your choice whom you are paying (to remove any conflict of interest).
My advice is to take your car to an independent mechanic, and have it checked out completely from end to end. Then, pay this mechanic for diagnosing your list of issues and take the list to the dealership where you bought the car. You can’t trust this dealership to properly diagnose your car since they have an obvious conflict of interest.
“It’s important to me. I’m going to speak with your supervisor so that I can find out what was wrong with my car, and while I’m at it I’ll ask your supervisor why you’re rude and dismissive of your customers. Or you can give me the printout of the code. Your choice.”
Do what @Whitey said. It’ll cost you a little money, but it’ll generate a list of problems that they will have a harder time wiggling out of if they can’t pretend it doesn’t exist.
I don’t believe him either.
If it comes on again, take a photo AND show the dealer’s mechanic when you bring it in. INSIST that he come out and see it… loudly, in the showroom where other potential customers can hear you… he’ll come.
Also, be sure all the details are written on every shop order and keep your copies on file. Then, if you still get no satisfaction, you can file a formal complaint with your state’s State Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Affairs.
I too believe you’re being “stalled” until the warranty runs out, but if you have the evidence that you’ve reported the problem before the warranty expires they are obligated to fix it.
Sorry but Brake, Brake, Brake. Not break as in coffee break. When you do that, people don’t take you seriously.
At any rate a lot of cars will use the engine to slow the car when you let up on the gas. In our Acura, I can slow considerably without ever braking. The code is probably related to the emissions for either a gas cap leak or the canister. Could be simple or more complex but go somewhere else for a reading of the code. It may still be covered by the emissions warranty regardless of your 30 warranty. Agree it might be wise to have someone do an inspection to uncover anything else before the 30 days is up.
I think your transmission is downshifting under certain conditions. Is the transmission a CVT. My Subaru with a CVT does this on occasion. I don’t think it is a problem.
It is possible that the CEL went out when the mechanic drove the car to the bay. Without seeing the code myself, this sounds like it might have been the purge valve for the charcoal canister (vapor recovery system). Did you just fill up the gas tank right before the light came on?
If you add additional fuel after the pump handle first clicks off, on a hot day, the gas might expand and get into the vent lines and into the charcoal canister. It restricts flow of the vapors so it appears that the purge valve isn’t working. After you use a little fuel and the canister dries out, it starts working again and three drive cycles later, the CEL goes out. Don’t overfill the gas tank in the future. Some cars are more prone to this than others, so you may not have had this issue with your previous vehicle.
Stay away from this mechanic. What you felt was a seizing brake caliper…not unusual at 100,000km. Feel each wheel after a 10 minute drive,one should feel extremely hot compare to the other 3.Look for unusual amount of brake dust on the hubcap or wheel area. Good luck!
OP said she didn’t apply the brakes, only let go off the gas. Kind of hard to stay away from that mechanic when warranty work needs to be done in that shop.
@Jenni101, what country do you live in? Most of the posters on this board live in the USA. Your Kia Rio might be different than the one we see here. I ask because you said the mileage is about 100,000 km, and we use miles here.
I know she didn’t apply the brakes! A seizing caliper will produce a lot of drag causing the car to want to stop on ts own even if you don’t press on the brakes.
I looked up the specs on this vehicle and I suspect that the issue is with the transmission, assuming that you have the 6 speed automatic w/OD. The problem may be with the lock up solenoid. At a “decent” speed, the torque converter is locked up, like a car with a manual transmission with the clutch engaged (clutch pedal not pressed down to the floor). When you let off the gas, you get a lot of engine braking, sometimes erroneously called compression braking, until the torque converter unlocks and reduces the engine braking.
This may be normal for the car, that is programmed. This would be so that in an emergency, you would get a little engine braking as you go to the brakes to stop suddenly. That little bit could make a difference in the severity of an accident. But when you don’t hit the brakes, then the torque converter unlocks to reduce engine braking and help the vehicle get a little better gas mileage.
Or it could be the beginnings of a solenoid that will become a problem with sticking. You may simply need an ATF change. Has anyone checked the ATF to see if it is still good or needs changing. BTW, most cars do not have a dipstick for this anymore so it usually needs to be checked by a mechanic. No DIY anymore.
Most guys here recommend an ATF change every 30k miles or 50k kms. This would not be done under warranty and yours has probably never been done.
…and therein lies one of the problems connected with buying a high odometer mileage used car that comes with no maintenance records, and that may not even have been vetted by the buyer’s own mechanic.
I took her seriously. She posted to a car forum, not an English forum. Everyone understood her perfectly. She’s already just bought a car with problems and is fighting a dealer that’s trying to “blow her off” instead of standing behind his warranty. I don’t think she really needs to have her English corrected too. I don’t think that’s why she asked our advice.
Sorry you are having these frustrations OP. My guess is you don’t have much to worry about there. First off all Kia Rio’s seems to get pretty good reports here. And yours is a newer one, so you should be good to go as long as you follow Kia’s recommended maintenance schedule. Be sure to keep that all up to date, drive carefully, and you’re set.
Since you were treated rudely by that shop, just don’t go there again. Instead ask your friends, co-workers, fellow church-goers, fellow bar-hoppers, anybody you know who they use. Then from that list choose a shop that specializes on Kias or at least Asian cars.
The sensation you are noticing when you take your foot off the gas and coast is probably just the way your Kia is designed to work. How it feels to the driver varies by the transmission design. I had a rental car one time – a Chevy Avio I think it was – that did that. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. Make sure the transmission fluid is at the right level, and take it to a shop if that sensation of the brakes coming on during coasting gets noticeably worse.
You made a good car purchase choice, and I expect you’ll have many years of enjoyment with your car. Used cars aren’t the same as new ones, there’s going to be some niggles and wiggles, so the key going forward is finding an inde shop that treats you well, and that you like to take your car.
I thought of that too, but then noticed that it was only happening intermittently… and then I got to the statements about the check engine light. Something appears to be wrong.
Whenever I see a late model car back up for sale at a used car dealership I suspect that something might be wrong with it. This just might be one of those cases that confirms my suspicions.
If I recall correctly, the shop told OP the check engine light was for a leaky valve, since they said it wasn’t serious, presumably that was some kind of evap leak code… It could be just that the gas cap wasn’t tightened quite enough. It’s a good suggestion imo to just ignore that since the cel went off on its own. If it comes back again, then OP can post the diagnostic code number here. In any event an evap leak isn’t usually a serious thing, and is a pretty common problem report here on lots of different makes and models. Hopefully the OP will be able to find a shop that is more respectful.