Dead screen, dead battery, why KIA WHY?

[Wabbitt]

Dear Stinger Community: After a few years of researching for my retirement car I settled on a Stinger GT2. It was the only vehicle I could see myself in. My dream came through in January 2020 when I leased, then purchased a 2019 Stinger GT2, Snow White Pearl. My CTO (hubby) performed the first test drive and said, "If you don't get it I WILL!" Fast forward to present day, post-COVID, post back surgery and all the other annoyances of aging and the Stinger is almost brand new with 16K miles. After all, it is driven a couple times a month by a little old lady to go shopping. There have been a couple of longer trips from home (Lookout Mountain, GA) to Asheville, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and Atlanta. A couple weeks ago I was driving down the mountain on the scenic, curvy road to the grocery store when Apple CarPlay started skipping like a stuck CD! I couldn't turn it off but after a few seconds it went bzzz and poof! - black screen. I went to the store and when I restarted I had no screen. (no music, nav, etc. Nada) We started it again at home and still no screen. The CTO (GA Tech Computer Science '83 - knows a thing or 2) got on the case, RTFM*, and inspected all the fuses. Next day Stinger is completely dead. The night before we turned everything to the off position (lights, park assist, anything that had an "off" setting, made sure there were no connected devices) and still something completely drained the battery. Time to RTFM* again to locate the battery (I know - haha) and took it to be tested and recharged at a local auto parts store. The next day it was completely drained again. Meanwhile, I had read some threads on this site about similar problems but no one seemed to have a solution or satisfactory fix from KIA. I called the local Chattanooga dealer and an appointment was scheduled for July 20, then moved back by KIA to August 2nd. I called the KIA dealer in North Atlanta to see if I could get it in sooner but they couldn't book an appointment until mid-September! Our plan is to document this major problem, e.g. this post, jump the Stinger on August 1st, drive it to the dealer hoping they will leave it parked overnight, and have them deal with a dead car the next morning. To say I am pissappointed is an understatement. One day I had a very immaculate, valuable car and now it is dead to me and worth ZERO. WTF KIA?! Thank you for reading this. It is my hope that we find a successful solution that I can share with you. I want my Sugar Boo back, purring along our beautiful roads and playing my tunes.
PS: Ever since I got the Stinger, it would always give a warning when I turned off the car with the audio on that something was draining the battery. Once I opened the door, everything seemed to shut off. I thought that like me, the Stinger was very sensitive and overreactive. But now I wonder...
*Read the f'n manual - but you knew that. JT

 

[Kia Stinger]

Dear Stinger Community: After a few years of researching for my retirement car I settled on a Stinger GT2. It was the only vehicle I could see myself in. My dream came through in January 2020 when I leased, then purchased a 2019 Stinger GT2, Snow White Pearl. My CTO (hubby) performed the first test drive and said, "If you don't get it I WILL!" Fast forward to present day, post-COVID, post back surgery and all the other annoyances of aging and the Stinger is almost brand new with 16K miles. After all, it is driven a couple times a month by a little old lady to go shopping. There have been a couple of longer trips from home (Lookout Mountain, GA) to Asheville, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and Atlanta. A couple weeks ago I was driving down the mountain on the scenic, curvy road to the grocery store when Apple CarPlay started skipping like a stuck CD! I couldn't turn it off but after a few seconds it went bzzz and poof! - black screen. I went to the store and when I restarted I had no screen. (no music, nav, etc. Nada) We started it again at home and still no screen. The CTO (GA Tech Computer Science '83 - knows a thing or 2) got on the case, RTFM*, and inspected all the fuses. Next day Stinger is completely dead. The night before we turned everything to the off position (lights, park assist, anything that had an "off" setting, made sure there were no connected devices) and still something completely drained the battery. Time to RTFM* again to locate the battery (I know - haha) and took it to be tested and recharged at a local auto parts store. The next day it was completely drained again. Meanwhile, I had read some threads on this site about similar problems but no one seemed to have a solution or satisfactory fix from KIA. I called the local Chattanooga dealer and an appointment was scheduled for July 20, then moved back by KIA to August 2nd. I called the KIA dealer in North Atlanta to see if I could get it in sooner but they couldn't book an appointment until mid-September! Our plan is to document this major problem, e.g. this post, jump the Stinger on August 1st, drive it to the dealer hoping they will leave it parked overnight, and have them deal with a dead car the next morning. To say I am pissappointed is an understatement. One day I had a very immaculate, valuable car and now it is dead to me and worth ZERO. WTF KIA?! Thank you for reading this. It is my hope that we find a successful solution that I can share with you. I want my Sugar Boo back, purring along our beautiful roads and playing my tunes.
PS: Ever since I got the Stinger, it would always give a warning when I turned off the car with the audio on that something was draining the battery. Once I opened the door, everything seemed to shut off. I thought that like me, the Stinger was very sensitive and overreactive. But now I wonder...
*Read the f'n manual - but you knew that. JT

Welcome aboard! And thank you for signing up. Just letting you know that I’m moving this topic out of the lounge and into the main Stinger section.

 

[JSolo]

tl;dr, WOT? WOT - Wall of Text

 

[G70LEbyAdoom]

Check ALL the fuse boxes this car has, not just the one under the hood. This car has 3 of them. The Hood, by your left knee on the drivers side, and in the rear of the car on the right side.
Next check everywhere you can think of, including under the car, for something that doesn't belong. A GPS locator from the dealer maybe? the cabin fuse box is a typical location for these, as well as near the exhaust tips under the car. Look for ANY wire that doesn't belong.

After that, you can take off the rear side cover on the left side in the trunk to get to the main amplifier for the car. 3 bolts and then the rest are clips. check that, make sure nothing is loose or off that could have caused a short. Next, take your vin and check for any open recalls. I think one of them had to do with the electronics in these cars. I cant remember.

 

[SanDiegoBlue]

Or maybe the battery is just fried and needs tobe replaced. I've had batteries in other cars fail suddenly. Not driving much may only accelerate this.

 

[Wabbitt]

The battery checked out. Dealer should check it again. We found all the fuses and there were no obvious issues there. No recalls on it as of today.

 

[Rodtheviking]

Check for rodent damage to wires, especially if it has been sitting. For some reason the wiring in the Stinger is very tasty.

 

[stoopid]

Wiring, alternator, fuse or battery. Issues with any of these things wouldn't be unique to Kia or the Stinger in particular, although I'm alarmed to hear mice like Korean sourced wiring.

Do any interior lights come on when you enter the 'dead' car? Does it try to turn over, gauge cluster power up, etc?

Have you recently connected any new (to you) electronics in the car? Anything that's connected, depending on where it's plugged in, could draw power even after the car's completely off.

If only driving short distances and with stop/start enabled by default, it could be a prematurely dead battery due to running in a low charge state for a period of time. Batteries need a bit of time/driving to top off (recharge), and multiple starts without being able to recharge enough will definitely shorten the battery's life. You didn't mention where you live, but very hot places like here in Vegas batteries don't last very long. Frequent extreme temps (hot or cold) ruin just about everything sooner than in more moderate climates.

If you have a proper battery charger at home, connect it on trickle and see if things stabilize. It could just need a good, deep charging.

 

[Devin]

How long would you have the stereo on before you got the battery draining warning?

 

[MerlintheMad]

Check for rodent damage to wires, especially if it has been sitting. For some reason the wiring in the Stinger is very tasty.

Insulation by Soy. Bleh! Greenies really are a plague on manufacturing.

 

[MerlintheMad]

OP, howdy and welcome. I agree with the above suggestion that it is likely a battery issue: even when fully charged a bad battery will test OK. That's because at that moment it is ok, the test doesn't always say the battery is going to hold a charge properly. You said that you do short drives, with a few longer drives: this makes me suspect the battery even more, because it sounds like it went for a long time only getting partially charged from running. Anyway, battery first, then report back on how that goes.

 

[Rodtheviking]

[Stingers] Has anyone had their wires chewed by rodents?

I have a brand new 2019 Kia Stinger GT with about 1300 miles on it, I bought it 2 months ago from KIA Koons Woodbridge. Everything has been fine until a few days ago, when I got a check engine light on with severe lack of acceleration and power. The local dealer (KIA Ourisman Chantilly) said...

stingerforum.org

 

[rpoffen]

I would say if the screen and audio went dead, that it blew and is keeping a constant drain on the battery.
It should all still be covered under warranty.

 

[777David]

It's normal for the Stinger to report on the infotainment screen the battery is draining shortly after shut-off with the audio still on. Mine has done that since the day I test drove while the salesman and I sat in the car playing with the electronics.

You must have a parasitic drain. They should be able to check for a battery health and rate of drain at the dealer if it's within spec.

 

[General_Vodka]

Sitting for too long means you car can become a mouse home. I recently found a mouse nest in my cabin air filter. Thankfully all electronics look intact, but man is that annoying. 5 cars in the driveway, and they decide to go for the nicest one. Guess who just became a fan of non humane mouse traps.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Guess who just became a fan of non humane mouse traps.

Kitty cats? That's my solution.

 

[Robilar]

I bought a Stinger that sat for over a year and the fancy 450 dollar gel filled battery was completely shot. The car jump started and ran but the battery wouldn't hold a charge at all. Ironic because a regular acid filled 75 dollar battery would have been easy to get going again.

 

[Devin]

I bought a Stinger that sat for over a year and the fancy 450 dollar gel filled battery was completely shot. The car jump started and ran but the battery wouldn't hold a charge at all. Ironic because a regular acid filled 75 dollar battery would have been easy to get going again.

Unless it sulfates. Still surprised the gel battery died though. I wonder if that is normal.

 

[JERisBRISK]

Dear Stinger Community: After a few years of researching for my retirement car I settled on a Stinger GT2. It was the only vehicle I could see myself in. My dream came through in January 2020 when I leased, then purchased a 2019 Stinger GT2, Snow White Pearl. My CTO (hubby) performed the first test drive and said, "If you don't get it I WILL!" Fast forward to present day, post-COVID, post back surgery and all the other annoyances of aging and the Stinger is almost brand new with 16K miles. After all, it is driven a couple times a month by a little old lady to go shopping. There have been a couple of longer trips from home (Lookout Mountain, GA) to Asheville, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville and Atlanta. A couple weeks ago I was driving down the mountain on the scenic, curvy road to the grocery store when Apple CarPlay started skipping like a stuck CD! I couldn't turn it off but after a few seconds it went bzzz and poof! - black screen. I went to the store and when I restarted I had no screen. (no music, nav, etc. Nada) We started it again at home and still no screen. The CTO (GA Tech Computer Science '83 - knows a thing or 2) got on the case, RTFM*, and inspected all the fuses. Next day Stinger is completely dead. The night before we turned everything to the off position (lights, park assist, anything that had an "off" setting, made sure there were no connected devices) and still something completely drained the battery. Time to RTFM* again to locate the battery (I know - haha) and took it to be tested and recharged at a local auto parts store. The next day it was completely drained again. Meanwhile, I had read some threads on this site about similar problems but no one seemed to have a solution or satisfactory fix from KIA. I called the local Chattanooga dealer and an appointment was scheduled for July 20, then moved back by KIA to August 2nd. I called the KIA dealer in North Atlanta to see if I could get it in sooner but they couldn't book an appointment until mid-September! Our plan is to document this major problem, e.g. this post, jump the Stinger on August 1st, drive it to the dealer hoping they will leave it parked overnight, and have them deal with a dead car the next morning. To say I am pissappointed is an understatement. One day I had a very immaculate, valuable car and now it is dead to me and worth ZERO. WTF KIA?! Thank you for reading this. It is my hope that we find a successful solution that I can share with you. I want my Sugar Boo back, purring along our beautiful roads and playing my tunes.
PS: Ever since I got the Stinger, it would always give a warning when I turned off the car with the audio on that something was draining the battery. Once I opened the door, everything seemed to shut off. I thought that like me, the Stinger was very sensitive and overreactive. But now I wonder...
*Read the f'n manual - but you knew that. JT

Welcome to the party!

Sorry to hear your Stinger is acting like a circa 1980s Jaguar.

I agree with the others that warranty should cover it. If not, brace yourself. Won't be long before someone rolls by and drops a "part out" comment. ;-)

 

[GenesisG70]

What did the stealer say?