2016 Kia Sedona

My car started over heating, took it to dealer, they said I had a blown head gasket. Since it isn't covered under warranty, they said I had to pre-approve a $2700 motor teardown in order to see if there were any other problems. Thank goodness there were, the head bolts separated. The engine was covered under dealership extended warranty since I bought it used from a Hyundai dealer.

In February 2024, while driving on the highway, the van overheated causing us to pull over. Upon opening the hood, it was found that coolant was boiling in the reservoir. After letting the vehicle cool down, I began driving it again. Once back on the highway I heard a loud pop followed by smoke. I immediately pulled over. Coolant had sprayed all over the exterior of the van. When trying to tow the vehicle, it was found that it wouldn’t start. The vehicle was towed home and sat until we received the recall from Kia at the end of May/beginning of June. Once the recall was received and we noticed the symptoms of the recall matched those of our van, we scheduled a diagnostic appointment with MidWest Kia in Wichita, KS. We received news from the dealership that Kia declined the request for repair due to hoses being broken and according to them, they are not covered by this warranty extension in the recall. We started researching and found that faulty head gaskets(the reason for the recall) can cause hoses to deteriorate and even break. We contacted Kia Motors and talked with them about this. They still denied the claim. The cost of the repair would be over $10,000. Ki has records of the phone calls made to appeal.

My van has 126k miles and regularly gets an oil change. We are the original owners and haven't had any issues with it either. As I was driving up hill, I realized I was losing acceleration power. Where i should be going faster than 65 mph, I was barely going 40. The outside weather was around 100 degrees and I'd already been driving for an hour. I glanced at the other things on my dash. My coolant meter was straight up, so that didn't flag an issue either. I started to switch lanes to get to the shoulder. As I did, my check engine and oil light flashed on for my van to then turn off. When I tried to start it, it clicked with no ignition. I don't know if there was smoke behind my car or if it was me turning up dirt when I pulled over, but there was a pop sound. It wasnt like a backfire. When i got out, I could smell a burned smell outside my van. There wasn't anything dripping from the bottom of my van either. A person who stopped to help checked my battery and it was fine. When it got towed to my house ($400), another person was surprised with a gummy residue in my oil tank. There are holes punched all over the bottom of my engine, but there is no oil anywhere. They said the engine should be covered with it or there should be oil splatter somewhere. Talking with the KIA dealership, they said it 75% doesn't sound like a recall, and I would have to tow it there at my expense for them to check, too. How can there be no warning of any issue if this isn't tied to the recall? We are now debating on if we want to spend another $400+ to tow it and then again to bring it back if they aren't going to cover the cost of the engine.

My family was driving 45 minutes away to a wedding rehearsal when I started to hear a clicking in the engine, like it was running rough. There was no warning lights on the dash but it sounded like it might be out of oil. We were far from home and no service centers nearby so we went directly home after. The sound progressed into a loud knocking noise and sounded really rough. Once we arrived home, I was able to check the oil and found out it was completely empty. I added 5 quarts of oil to the engine, but it was still making an extremely loud noise. I had it towed to a mechanic the next morning and they told me the engine was shot and beyond repair. They said this is a known problem with Kia engines and that the 4 cylinder engines were recalled but not the 6 cylinder engines. I had no choice but to spend almost $6,000 getting the engine replaced and it seems there is a premium on these engines due to the demand for them. I never thought it would run out of oil considering my last oil change was 3 months ago. There was no warning lights or anything to tell me there was a major problem. The mechanic said if I drove it for a few more minutes, the engine would have completely seized and we would have been stranded. Its frustrating to hear that this issue is known by so many but nothing has been done to correct the issue or reimburse those who were affected by this major issue.

Purchased used minivan and several months after purchase was driving on highway and engine power dramatically decreased, check engine light flashed. Pulled over and engine oil had completely drained. Took to mechanic who said engine failed. Kia will not do anything. This seems to be a common issue. I am stuck with a car with blown engine and no recourse. Kia has recalled lots of engines but even though this one is a known problem they are not taking responsibility.

Had van since new oil changed on time check engine light came on for cam shaft sensor crank sensor replaced all sensors and van still runs like crap ive been told by many shops to take to dealer and tell them… there are many other cars with same motor getting recalls but this van doesnt get any??? Can you help us out… the van well taken care of and taken to dealers for oil and tires and etc they never state nothing wrong

KIA SEDONAS HAVE KNOWN HEADGASKET ENGINE COOLANT LEAK ISSUE THAT CAN RESULT IN ENGINE FAILURE AND IS DANGEROUS. ENGINE COOLANT LEAK HAD BEEN CONFIRMED BY SMELL INITIALLY, AS WELL AS WHITE SMOKE, LOW COOLANT IN RESERVOIR. THEN TOOK TO 2 SEPARATE MECHANICS WHO BOTH VERIFIED ENGINE COOLANT LEAK. FIRST SAID DID NOT FIX THESE. THE 2ND MECHANIC REFUSED TO FIX DUE TO DIFFICULTY REMOVING THIS PARTICULAR ENGINE TO REPAIR, WOULD NOT TOUCH IT. GOT LETTER IN THE MAIL FROM KIA DIRECTLY SAYING "WARRANTY EXTENSION ON 2015-2016 KIA SEDONAS WITH ENGINE COOLANT LEAK" "TAKE TO DEALER IF ABOVE SYMPTOMS, AND WILL BE DIAGNOSED AT NO COST, FIXED AT NO COST ETC"... KIA OF ASHEVILLE, NC DEALER, WANTED MONEY TO DIAGNOSE DESPITE SHOWING LETTER. PAID THEM. THEY VERIFIED ENGINE COOLANT LEAK W RELATIONSHIP TO HEADGASKETS. NOW WANTS APPROX $1000 TO "LOOK INTO IT MORE" AND KIA CUSTOMER SERVICE IS NOT SUPPORTING DEALER TO FIX THIS KNOWN ISSUE WITH 2015-2016 KIA SEDONAS REGARDING COOLANT LEAK. MY ENGINE COULD HAVE CAUGHT FIRE OR SEIZED IF I HAD NOT BEEN SO CAREFUL WITH IT AND IMMEDIATELY STOPPED DRIVING. I HAVE EVIDENCE VERIFYING THIS FROM INDEPENDENT MECHANICS AS WELL AS KIA. THERE IS A SERIOUS RISK OF DEATH OF DRIVING THESE VEHICLES, WHERE A MAJOR RECALL NEEDS TO HAPPEN IMMEDIATELY. WITHOUT COOLANT, LOOSE HEADGASKETS, ENGINES OVERHEAT AND GET DESTROYED AND MINE HAPPENED SUDDENLY, AND LUCKILY I WAS NOT ON THE INTERSTATE. WELCH AUTOMOTIVE FRANKLIN NC WAS THE FIRST MECHANIC TO DIAGNOSE, THEN STAMEY PERFROMANCE FRANKLIN NC WAS THE SECOND ONE TO CONFIRM, PARAMOUNT KIA ASHEVILLE NC WAS THE MOST RECENT ONE WHO STILL HAS IT AND NOW IS TRYING TO GIVE IT BACK WITHOUT FIXING..... ODDLY ENOUGH THEY RECALLED THE 2015-2016 SORENTOS WITH THE SAME MOTOR AND ISSUES, BUT NOT SEDONAS...... I CAN ADD DIAGNOSIS FROM WELCH AND STAMEY PERFORMANCE AS WELL IF NEEDED, BUT THIS IS KIA SAYING THE HEADGASKET COOLANT LEAK FROM THEIR OWN MECHANIC. ALSO HAVE MORE EVIDENCE. PLEASE INVESTIGATE THIS. THANK YOU!!