3.3TT Engine overheating

[Vega312]

Maybe this is one of those engines that needs to be vacuum filled. Burping doesn't work¿?

No, I had a talk with Kia tech before where he told me that there is a mode on their scan tool that purges the system of air. A few revs and an extender on the radiator filler hole "should" purge it

 

[JSolo]

"Should"

In recent years (relatively speaking), I've done cooling system drain/fills on my G37 (vq37 engine), and honda accord (2.4L NA earthdreams (wet dreams?)). Both times I used the vacuum fill. Worked great as far as not having any air pockets or sitting there idling the car for excessive lengths of time.

http://www.kstinger.com/coolant-367.html

Wow... What a complicated procedure. Any professional shop should have a vacuum filler. This applies a vacuum on the entire system. By product of this is it draws any air out. System is now entirely at negative pressure (vacuum). New coolant drawn into all areas containing vacuum. Result, no air in system, no purging needed. Takes 5-10 minutes to complete or less.

 

[Avant]

To bleed it properly you will need a KDS tool. The thermostat has a "coolant fill" mode within the scan tool. Basically it opens the thermostat and allows you to bleed the system. Without doing it, the thermostat opens/closes at random. It takes FOREVER to try and bleed the system manually like we would on older cars.

 

[Vega312]

Looks like I also had small rubber hose leaking right above the passenger side turbo when under pressure. Replaced it myself as it was a drag dealing with a dealer.

 

[HoosierStinger]

Well I replaced my thermostat and went through the ridiculous burping procedure and it still overheats. DAMN IT. Checking the water pump next.

A year later, did you figure out why the coolant overflow bottle was filling up? I'm experiencing this problem right now.

 

[Mole]

I have 24k miles on my '22 GT1. Last month, I had CEL come on. Low power, high idle, rough idle, gurgling noise from passenger side, but not overheating. Take it to dealer they replace thermostat assembly. Drive for 3 days then car overheats with warnings. Pull over and find coolant all over passenger side. Back to dealer and they say the hose clamp was at fault and they've fixed it. Before I leave dealer, I check the coolant reservoir and it's basically empty. Make them fill it to between F and L. Get home from work 3 nights ago, steam coming out of hood and coolant every where again. Back to dealer...

 

[NS_Stinger]

I have 24k miles on my '22 GT1. Last month, I had CEL come on. Low power, high idle, rough idle, gurgling noise from passenger side, but not overheating. Take it to dealer they replace thermostat assembly. Drive for 3 days then car overheats with warnings. Pull over and find coolant all over passenger side. Back to dealer and they say the hose clamp was at fault and they've fixed it. Before I leave dealer, I check the coolant reservoir and it's basically empty. Make them fill it to between F and L. Get home from work 3 nights ago, stem coming out of hood and coolant ever where again. Back to dealer...

Jesus, thats some bad luck. I don't think what youre experiencing is very common other than the incompetent dealership experience.

 

[Mole]

Jesus, thats some bad luck. I don't think what youre experiencing is very common other than the incompetent dealership experience.

Pretty sure I have lemon and it's pissing me off. No mods.

 

[DrKronwall]

Any update on this? I'm experiencing the same crap, including idiotic techs that can't properly bleed the cooling system.

I have mine narrowed down to coolant slowly leaking into the downpipe, a bad thermostat, or something is wrong with the heater core.
Of course, kia refuses to do anything until it either:

1. Gives a engine code, which it hasn't yet.
2. Overheats, which it hasn't yet even with gurgling in the cooling system and a dry reservoir.
3. Something physically breaks in the engine.

Seems a little idiotic to me. Losing coolant until something catastrophic happens in the engine is going to be way more expensive for them to fix than to just figure out where the coolant is going.

I also have no mods and drive 90% of my mileage on the freeway cruising. I'm currently waiting for a response from Kia corporate on the issue, but I'm not very optimistic.

 

[D.J.]

I have mine narrowed down to coolant slowly leaking into the downpipe, a bad thermostat, or something is wrong with the heater core.
Of course, kia refuses to do anything until it either:

Leaking into the downpipe? You mean, leaking directly into the exhaust? Through the turbo? I don't think that is likely.

A bad thermostat wouldn't cause loss of coolant!

Something wrong with the heater core, also would not cause a loss of coolant "unless it's leaking into the passenger compartment"

 

[DrKronwall]

When I got back home from the dealership last time there was coolant coming out of the valve on top of the radiator (at least I think it's a valve). The foam piece next to the passenger side of the radiator was soaked with coolant. So if the thermostat isn't opening as it should couldn't it build up pressure and come out of the valve? Or the tech who was working on my car spilled a bunch of coolant and didn't clean it up. That being said it hasn't done that again since the day I got it back from the dealer.

There isn't a leak anywhere that anyone who's looked can find. The head gasket passed whatever test they do for that. It's still losing coolant somehow. Although the turbo issue isn't likely, at least it is something that is possible to have happen that hasn't been ruled out yet.

I know enough about this to look for the typical causes, but I'm definitely not anywhere close to an expert on it. I just know that losing coolant from the reservoir is not what should be happening, and the car is not operating as designed. Since I got it back from the dealer it has lost 1" from the reservoir, so 1" in a week. I always check this on a cold engine also. I look for leaks everytime I drive it and check the reservoir every morning.

Since the tech couldn't even bleed the system properly then I don't really trust anything they tell me anyways. The service department won't do anything else so I'm looking for possibilities to have them look at when I bring it back after talking with corporate.

Bottom line here is I'm not gonna drive it until it blows up. That's not an option here. It will get fixed, which is what should happen without any of this run-around happening in the first place. Just because it doesn't have a "typical" or "likely" issue doesn't change the fact that it is losing coolant somehow.

 

[D.J.]

When I got back home from the dealership last time there was coolant coming out of the valve on top of the radiator (at least I think it's a valve). The foam piece next to the passenger side of the radiator was soaked with coolant. So if the thermostat isn't opening as it should couldn't it build up pressure and come out of the valve? Or the tech who was working on my car spilled a bunch of coolant and didn't clean it up. That being said it hasn't done that again since the day I got it back from the dealer.

There isn't a leak anywhere that anyone who's looked can find. The head gasket passed whatever test they do for that. It's still losing coolant somehow. Although the turbo issue isn't likely, at least it is something that is possible to have happen that hasn't been ruled out yet.

I know enough about this to look for the typical causes, but I'm definitely not anywhere close to an expert on it. I just know that losing coolant from the reservoir is not what should be happening, and the car is not operating as designed. Since I got it back from the dealer it has lost 1" from the reservoir, so 1" in a week. I always check this on a cold engine also. I look for leaks everytime I drive it and check the reservoir every morning.

Since the tech couldn't even bleed the system properly then I don't really trust anything they tell me anyways. The service department won't do anything else so I'm looking for possibilities to have them look at when I bring it back after talking with corporate.

Bottom line here is I'm not gonna drive it until it blows up. That's not an option here. It will get fixed, which is what should happen without any of this run-around happening in the first place. Just because it doesn't have a "typical" or "likely" issue doesn't change the fact that it is losing coolant somehow.

Could it be.. hear me out.

Could it be, that the dealership tech (who is not an expert) poorly bled the air out of your system.

And over time (a week) the remaining air in the system made its way to the reservoir - resulting in approx 1.0" lower coolant volume in the reservoir.

If you monitor for another week, and your coolant drops by only 0.5"

And on week 3, perhaps drops by 0.25" or less.

The theory being, the trapped air within the cooling system (due to an incorrect or incomplete bleeding process) gradually makes its way out to the reservoir.

This is a "POSSIBLE" theory for why your overflow reservoir level may be changing - and hopefully the RATE at which it is changing is slowing, and should shortly stop.

My cooling system on my 2018 stinger seems to loose about ~500ml per year, which I think is an acceptable, normal amount of evaporation.

 

[DrKronwall]

Maybe, but that doesn't explain how the reservoir basically dry when I brought it in the first time with a bunch of air in the system?

There was less than a quarter of inch in there when I dropped it off the first time.

I'm going to continue to monitor it, but if it drops below the low mark again there is probably an issue somewhere.

If it is a bubble somewhere, then the service department should have done a vacuum fill of the system to get rid of the bubble. Either way it's not good service

 

[D.J.]

Maybe, but that doesn't explain how the reservoir basically dry when I brought it in the first time with a bunch of air in the system?

There was less than a quarter of inch in there when I dropped it off the first time.

I'm going to continue to monitor it, but if it drops below the low mark again there is probably an issue somewhere.

If it is a bubble somewhere, then the service department should have done a vacuum fill of the system to get rid of the bubble. Either way it's not good service

The "Official" refill method from Kia does not include a vacuum fill. A vacuum fill method would probably work.

Attached the official fill method for discussion purposes.

I have never visited a GOOD Kia service department. I am told they exist in some parts of the world.

 

[DrKronwall]

I would just assume that when someone drops the car off with basically no coolant in it, and they cant find the cause, that they would set it up in a way where having a bubble left over in the system after servicing the vehicle wouldn't be a possibility. Vacuum fill, and if air shows back up in the system there wouldn't be any question of if it's a bubble left over from a poor fill job.

I question that they do it on purpose to try to get out of warranty repairs. Unfortunately for them, I am not going to let it go.

If they can't give proper service to a vehicle, especially one that is as expensive as the GT2, then they should be allowing us to take them somewhere to get it fixed properly and get reimbursed without having to go to court over it.

I can't be the only stinger owner that thinks their service is absurdly poor for paying that much money. Pontiac, Nissan, and Honda which I have owned previously never did anything like this.

 

[D.J.]

Did this problem go away on its own after some drive/heat cycles?

 

[DrKronwall]

Not really, for now it seems to have stopped leaking at least. I have no clue what caused it to be so low in the first place, so whatever the issue was that intitally caused the problem is not fixed. I guess I'll see this winter when it gets down to negative temps. That's when the heater started having problems, and the rushing water sound started.

 

[D.J.]

Not really, for now it seems to have stopped leaking at least. I have no clue what caused it to be so low in the first place, so whatever the issue was that intitally caused the problem is not fixed. I guess I'll see this winter when it gets down to negative temps. That's when the heater started having problems, and the rushing water sound started.

I really think post #52 is exactly what happened.

Glad it's not leaking anymore.

 

[DrKronwall]

I really think post #52 is exactly what happened.

Glad it's not leaking anymore.

I agree it's probably what happened after they filled it at the dealership the second time I brought it in.

That is definitely not what caused the reservoir to be dry and air in the system to begin with. Which is why I brought it in the first time.