I have a 2017 Kia Sportage AWD EX with all the bells. Heated steering, heating and cooling seats, massive sun roof. Last year I went through the whole engine failure thing (class action thing with their engines being defective). It now have a brand new engine (with about 7000 miles on it now but ODO reads 110000-ish). Also has new starter, alternator, battery and some electrical wiring by an auto electrician. Got it back, still had starting issues, took it back. Apparently the new starter was dropped somewhere in the process to where cogs were damaged, so new one replaced with another new one. now what’s happening is that it doesn’t start randomly. As in it happens once in 3 weeks. No particular pattern. Took it to AutoZone to have starter, alternator, battery tested and they said all good. Both Kia and mechanic say they don’t know. Also - transmission is acting up. The question is - would you give up and trade in? Or continue to fix it? It’s becoming a pain, but I love the bells so much! Heated steering is my fav! Thanks for helping with your thoughts.
This is a lousy time to be vehicle shopping but I would trade it off . At least the new one ( I say new because used vehicles are too expensive right now ) will have a warranty . As for bells and whistles’ dependability is more important.
Thx. You’re right. Sighhh. Breaks my heart, just love this car. I just can’t trust it. Was just wondering which would work better financially as well.
Did you buy it new? 110,000 miles and it’s 5yrs old? You drive a lot. You have no loan? Use the equity on a better car.
Before you trade it off, have you at least looked . . . or maybe even replaced . . . the crankshaft position sensor?
The professional mechanics on this website can confirm that very significant percentage of faulty crankshaft position sensors never result in fault code or check engine light
It is entirely possible that there is nothing wrong with the starter or transmission at this point, and the only problem is a mis-aligned shift linkage. I had a problem with my truck not being able to start, and having to pay for a tow home. Ultimately, the problem was found to be a stretched out shift cable, so the computer did not see that the transmission was in “P”.
You have not described what you mean by “doesn’t start”. Do you mean “nothing happens when I turn the key” or “I crank and crank and the engine will not catch and run”…OR, is it somewhere between those two symptoms. You may be talking about getting rid of a vehicle you like when its problem is quite easily diagnosed and cheap to fix. The next guy is not going to like you when he discovers this.
No, didn’t buy it new. Yes, I drive a lot. I live in the country so most of my destinations are at least an hour away. Plus my job, I do easy 200 miles a day!
Doesn’t start as in I turn and all electrics come in and you even hear a click, but no actual turn over. So I had oil changed yesterday, full synthetic. Now I went from once every 3 weeks to it happening twice today! No idea if related. I’ve noticed though, wait around 15 minutes and then magically it starts again! I’m so frustrated.
do you have an aftermarket alarm system or remote start? if so, it can be acting up. this was happening to a friend’s vehicle.
No on both.
when this happens, if you put it in neutral will it then start.
Wait a few days to see if this remains a frequent problem. If it does, it will be much easier to diagnose, and probably easy to fix. There are not very many parts involved in getting the starter to turn. You have not checked each one yet.
Honestly never tried that, never thought to, but will add it to my repertoire!
Someone removed and replaced your engine. Many things need to come out. Starter is one.could be 1 loose wire harness. Or a loose ground.
Any competent mechanic should be able to diagnose this
Keyword being “competent”
Sounds like a bad spot on the starting motor commutator or maybe a brush that can’t move freely in it’s holder for some reason.
please explain more about this electrical wiring. was it a repair? a replace? was this done along with the engine swap? or for another reason?
and for the record, I have received more than a couple of new starters that were bad right out of the box, or shortly thereafter. This is not unheard of.