2018 Kia Forte - low compression on 2 cyliners

[wemay]

Originally Posted by Deontologist
My buddy is a Hyundai Tech. Works at a Hyundai dealership. His Genesis has about 160k miles on it and is on motor 4, all but 1 under warranty. This is what happened:

Motor 1: seized. Replaced.

Motor 2: installed by Hyundai. The techs working on the car forgot to add oil before starting the car.

Motor 3: broke a connecting rod. Replaced by Hyundai.

Motor 4: still running...for now.


Our 2013 (GDi Turbo) Santa Fe Sport 2.0T was bought in 2012, has used (pre API SN Plus) conventional and synthetic oil, 87 and 93 octane fuel (admittedly always Chevron) and been idled for 60min lunch breaks for half the time owned. It now has north of 185k miles and runs like new with only oil and filter changes, brakes and spark plugs done once. Oh yeah, we've had to replace the battery once too. The thing doesn't even burn any noticable amount of oil and has been the most reliable vehicle either of us have ever owned.

Our neighbor's 2011 2.4 GDi KIA Optima has over 225k miles, has never seen anything but 87 octane and conventional oil changes from various quick change shops, and it too still runs and looks great without anything but standard maintenance.

 

[Deontologist]

The fact this thread exists speaks to Hyundai/Kia's relative lack of control over production processes. Everytime someone has a bad story about a car, and someone else chimes in with a "never happened to me" story, there can only be one conclusion: poor control of production methods. We're seeing everything from cars that break down in 30k to perfectly assembled cars that last 200k. That's not a vote of confidence. I prefer consistency, rather than sheer luck. I would rather purchase a car that consistently breaks down at 95k miles than a car that breaks down anywhere from 30k to 300k miles. One of these cars was assembled well. The other must have been slapped together.

I don't doubt that many H/K engines make it very far. I wouldn't have huge concerns about owning a high mileage H/K, because if it's made it that far, it was likely built well. I wouldn't really have any concerns about owning a newer H/K either, as long as it is under warranty.

 

[4WD]

Originally Posted by Deontologist
My buddy is a Hyundai Tech. Works at a Hyundai dealership. His Genesis has about 160k miles on it and is on motor 4, all but 1 under warranty. This is what happened:

Motor 1: seized. Replaced.
Motor 2: installed by Hyundai. The techs working on the car forgot to add oil before starting the car.
Motor 3: broke a connecting rod. Replaced by Hyundai.
Motor 4: still running...for now.


This could have been more difficult if the owner was not a tech at the dealership

 

[mrdctaylor]

Personally, I drove a 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe out to 230K miles with very few issues and on its original motor and trans. My daughter-in-law has more miles than that on her 2007 Kia Sportage. But I don't have any experience with newer models.

 

[Cujet]

25 years ago, I used to visit South Korea on a monthly basis. (corporate jet flight crew) . The company I worked for would visit various factories and have various high level engineers onboard. Every so often I'd get a glimpse of the local practices.

Hyundai was copying a major Japanese auto manufacturer, making some relatively complex internal engine components out of regular old mild steel! Including intake and exhaust valves, crankshaft, rods and piston rings. The copies were accurate in most ways, except with regard to metallurgy. Furthermore, they were unable to harden or properly heat treat the mild steel due to it's makup. The result was shorter engine life and a whole bunch of dropped valves.

Quality is still suspect, even after all this time. It's not that they can't make every component out of the right materials and engineer them properly. They can and do make most components properly. But some (too many, unfortunately) still fall short of the quality we've come to expect.

Initial quality may be excellent, but long term reliability fails to match the Japanese. Toyota and Honda still reign supreme with regard to longevity.

 

[mrdctaylor]

Originally Posted by Cujet


Initial quality may be excellent, but long term reliability fails to match the Japanese. Toyota and Honda still reign supreme with regard to longevity.


I agree about Toyota. I own two and they have been fantastic. I've heard iffy things about Honda transmissions though. As for Hyundai/Kia, my personal experience has been really good long term. As I said, we owned a 2003 Santa Fe from 2005-2018 and it was a great car with few problems. At least at that time period their longevity seemed fine. I don't know what's going on with newer ones.

 

[caprice_2nv]

2011 and up is when the major issues with engines started becoming more common.

Certain models dodged this for the first couple years (for example the Sorento used the older non GDI engine for the first couple of years if I remember correctly, plus I notice many sorentos have the v6. The 2.0t and 2.4 are the biggest problem engines but another one in the Elantra and forte seems to have some pretty common issues with piston slap.

The rest of the vehicle is usually fairly solid though.

 

[Leroybrown]

Which engine is it? You you said it's the 2.0 but there are 2 different versions. One is GDI and one is MPI. I'm curious because I just bought a 2017 Forte last week with the 2.0 MPI engine with 33k miles. None of the reports of failures I have seen online have been for the 2.0 MPI Nu engine.

 

[JC1]

You can't tell me that Kia doesn't know about problems and have a surplus of "spare" engines just sitting in a warehouse somewhere.

Maybe they keep running out of spare engines! I wonder if this car had signs of the issue before your daughter bought this car.

 

[electroken1]

Does anyone have any thoughts on one more thing: their car crapped out 3 hours from home, so they had to limp into a dealership quite a ways away, which is where it is now. Personally, I wonder if they should try to get it towed to their local Kia dealer instead of having the work done where they originally took it. I mean, if he gets 3 hours back home and has problems with the new engine install, will his local dealer still help him at that point under warranty? Or would he be forced to drive it back 3 hours to the shop where the work was done? Thanks!

I'd be looking for a different dealer and a second opinion. If the two low cylinders are adjacent (are they?) the problem screams head gasket.

We're on our fifth Hyundai/Kia since 1986. No major problems with any of them so far.

 

[PimTac]

This thread is old. Any suggestions on what to do are meaningless.

 

[Leroybrown]

Yeah when I replied I saw the original date was 8/25 which I thought was a few days ago. After I replied I noticed it was from last year.