2015 Kia Sedona Oil Consumption

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Sep 16, 2014
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Nebraska
We bought a used 2015 Kia Sedona back in May. The first oil change was 4k miles long with Motorcraft SB 5W-30. It used about half a quart in that time. The second oil change has about 5k miles on it with Motorcraft FS 5W-30 and no oil consumption. Could this me NOACK related loss on the first change? Any ideas? It looks like this engine needs FS to avoid oil consumption. I was planning to use the SB in it and call it a day. I always though Moly helped prevent oil consumption which was the main reason I picked the SB I did. What would you do from here? Motorcraft Synthetic is expensive so once I get home from my deployment I'll be switching. My wife likes the Ford Quick Lane oil service while I'm gone so probably will keep with that till I get back. Though I'm curious how PYB would do. Might try to get her to take it to a Dodge dealer next change.
 
We bought a used 2015 Kia Sedona back in May. The first oil change was 4k miles long with Motorcraft SB 5W-30. It used about half a quart in that time. The second oil change has about 5k miles on it with Motorcraft FS 5W-30 and no oil consumption. Could this me NOACK related loss on the first change? Any ideas? It looks like this engine needs FS to avoid oil consumption. I was planning to use the SB in it and call it a day. I always though Moly helped prevent oil consumption which was the main reason I picked the SB I did. What would you do from here? Motorcraft Synthetic is expensive so once I get home from my deployment I'll be switching. My wife likes the Ford Quick Lane oil service while I'm gone so probably will keep with that till I get back. Though I'm curious how PYB would do. Might try to get her to take it to a Dodge dealer next change.
What? If you want Pennzoil go to Jiffy lube or Firestone (I have more faith in Firestone, as I've had probably 50 problem free oil changes from them).

Me personally, if I thought evaporation was the cause for consumption I would just put thicker oil in it like a 15w-40. Korean engines will run on anything so long as it's oil. They aren't picky.
 
If there’s a local mechanic you trust, have your wife pick up (or order it online for her) some synthetic 5w30 and a filter at Walmart or wherever and have the shop use that. It will probably be cheaper than using synthetic from a dealer.

With your GDI engine, keep the oil change intervals to no more than 5k miles, and if your wife does a lot of short trips. Even less than that. A dealer would consider 1/2 quart per 4k miles “normal” (I don’t agree with that), but you don’t want it to get worse. Keep the OCI short.
 
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Because it's six years old and you probably don't have the maintenance history, I'd probably run a couple intervals of a HM oil for successive, Blend or you may wish to continue with the HM oil.

Thank you for your service.
 
@Mathew_Boss I will throw in my two cents because having owned a fair number of KIAs and Hyundais, I have a little bit of experience with them. One problem with these vehicles is that many owners don't take very good care of them. People tend to run extended OCIs on budget oils and use the cheapest filter available.

The Sedona is a very nice vehicle, however, if you don't have its maintenance history and you experience oil consumption, you can safely assume that oil changes were never a priority for the former owner or owners.

My opinion is that you have an oil consumption issue related to engine cleanliness. One way to clean up your engine is to run Red Line Oil 5W-30 for a couple of OCIs along with a FRAM Ultra XG10855 oil filter. It's the best oil filter for your engine. If that's not an option because of cost, then go with Mobil 1 FS 5W-40 and stay with it. Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 is also a very good option. Both oils are actually recommended by Mobil for the Lamba II 3.3L engine. Add for at least two OCIs a 15oz. bottle of Lubegard Bio-Tech to take advantage of its boosted cleaning abilities. That engine can take up to 6.5 quarts of oil without any issues, so add the Lubegard on top of the 6 quarts of oil. Keep an eye on the oil consumption, you should see it go down.

If you have a startup rattle, it's coming from your CVVT solenoids. That is related to the battery. I don't know how big the battery in the Sedona is, but in my wife's Santa Fe XL it's smaller than in the Sport, so I went with an AGM battery to get rid of the rattle. THe solenoids need a solid voltage boost on startup, and if they don't get it, they rattle.

I hope that this information is helpful to you, and if you have any other questions then please don't hesitate to ask.
 
@Mathew_Boss I will throw in my two cents because having owned a fair number of KIAs and Hyundais, I have a little bit of experience with them. One problem with these vehicles is that many owners don't take very good care of them. People tend to run extended OCIs on budget oils and use the cheapest filter available.

The Sedona is a very nice vehicle, however, if you don't have its maintenance history and you experience oil consumption, you can safely assume that oil changes were never a priority for the former owner or owners.

My opinion is that you have an oil consumption issue related to engine cleanliness. One way to clean up your engine is to run Red Line Oil 5W-30 for a couple of OCIs along with a FRAM Ultra XG10855 oil filter. It's the best oil filter for your engine. If that's not an option because of cost, then go with Mobil 1 FS 5W-40 and stay with it. Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 is also a very good option. Both oils are actually recommended by Mobil for the Lamba II 3.3L engine. Add for at least two OCIs a 15oz. bottle of Lubegard Bio-Tech to take advantage of its boosted cleaning abilities. That engine can take up to 6.5 quarts of oil without any issues, so add the Lubegard on top of the 6 quarts of oil. Keep an eye on the oil consumption, you should see it go down.

If you have a startup rattle, it's coming from your CVVT solenoids. That is related to the battery. I don't know how big the battery in the Sedona is, but in my wife's Santa Fe XL it's smaller than in the Sport, so I went with an AGM battery to get rid of the rattle. THe solenoids need a solid voltage boost on startup, and if they don't get it, they rattle.

I hope that this information is helpful to you, and if you have any other questions then please don't hesitate to ask.
This is the first time I have ever heard of this. Is there a TSB on this or is this just speculation?
 
This is the first time I have ever heard of this. Is there a TSB on this or is this just speculation?
The solenoids? There is no TSB, and Hyundai wanted to take my wife's entire engine apart to figure it out. I didn't let them because the workmanship quality at the dealership doesn't match that of the factory. After trying out a few different oils, I swapped the batter for an AGM unit, and the problem went away. Someone else in my family has the same vehicle, same model year, even the same color. I did the AGM battery swap on that one as well, but that family member is quick-tripping the car, so it's not charging enough throughout the day and the problem returned. The root cause is that the battery is too small to begin with to space constraints. I took that vehicle on a longer trip and the problem went away for a few days, until the battery was weak enough again.

So no, there is no TSB. Most mechanics will misdiagnose this issue as a tensioner that went bad, but it isn't. Hyundai Tech Net (or whatever their back end network is called) doesn't have a clue and they don't want to acknowledge the issue. The 3.3L Lambda II engine is out of production anyway, so all Hyundai needs to do is wait out the warranties to come to an end for those that are still out there.

These are my factual findings. I only posted them in an attempt to help whoever I can and may need my help.

No. Almost all engines use some oil and his isn't excessive.
I have experience with 3 of these Lamba II engines, one of them being from a 2013 Santa Fe. None of them consumed a drop of oil whether the OCI was 5000 miles or 8000 miles. That's been my experience with them, YMMW.
 
Im also on the "use no measurable amount" boat in my current Hyundais. Now that i think of it, i never had a Hyundai engine use oil going all the way back to a 2002 Elantra. Even the 05 XG350L with the 3.5L AND a K&N drop in oiled filter :oops::oops::oops:, never used oil and all were red lined, sometimes daily. Hyundai was never known for decent "power" until the last 10-12 or so years when they threw in turbo's, and in same cases larger displacment engines like the 3.3L/3.8L Lamba... The 3.5L in the 05 XG was under 200HP. and about 212TQ.
 
If there’s a local mechanic you trust, have your wife pick up (or order it online for her) some synthetic 5w30 and a filter at Walmart or wherever and have the shop use that. It will probably be cheaper than using synthetic from a dealer.

With your GDI engine, keep the oil change intervals to no more than 5k miles, and if your wife does a lot of short trips. Even less than that. A dealer would consider 1/2 quart per 4k miles “normal” (I don’t agree with that), but you don’t want it to get worse. Keep the OCI short.
When we bought it we pre bought 8 oil changes from the dealer so she wouldn't have to deal with it while I was gone. We bought the Motorcraft SB. That chain also owns a few dodge dealers so we could take it to dodge and have PYB put in at no extra cost. I would consider it a normal amount had we not used FS the next change and saw no consumption. Usually people claim FS causes consumption not the other way around. I found it confusing.
 
Because it's six years old and you probably don't have the maintenance history, I'd probably run a couple intervals of a HM oil for successive, Blend or you may wish to continue with the HM oil.

Thank you for your service.
Actually just about every oil change it ever had was on the car fax. They were from 3k to 6k mile intervals. We intend to do 5k with it. She went cross country so I had the dealer pit FS in it sin e the 4k was early this would let us do 6k and get back on schedule. It should only be about a one time thing for our 6k oic
 
A half quart in 4k miles is nothing to worry about. Even one quart in 4k miles is nothing top be concerned about.
I'm not concerned per say. More interested. Normally people see consumption when going to FS not the other way around. I'm excited to do some UOAs on it when I get home. There don't seem to be many here for that engine. I think it has 4 cam shafts so high anti wear is a priority for me. Probably compare Magnatec to QSFS and Napa FS to see what gets the best wear and consumes the least. Might try M1 but I have not liked that oil in the past.
 
@Mathew_Boss I will throw in my two cents because having owned a fair number of KIAs and Hyundais, I have a little bit of experience with them. One problem with these vehicles is that many owners don't take very good care of them. People tend to run extended OCIs on budget oils and use the cheapest filter available.

The Sedona is a very nice vehicle, however, if you don't have its maintenance history and you experience oil consumption, you can safely assume that oil changes were never a priority for the former owner or owners.

My opinion is that you have an oil consumption issue related to engine cleanliness. One way to clean up your engine is to run Red Line Oil 5W-30 for a couple of OCIs along with a FRAM Ultra XG10855 oil filter. It's the best oil filter for your engine. If that's not an option because of cost, then go with Mobil 1 FS 5W-40 and stay with it. Mobil 1 FS 0W-40 is also a very good option. Both oils are actually recommended by Mobil for the Lamba II 3.3L engine. Add for at least two OCIs a 15oz. bottle of Lubegard Bio-Tech to take advantage of its boosted cleaning abilities. That engine can take up to 6.5 quarts of oil without any issues, so add the Lubegard on top of the 6 quarts of oil. Keep an eye on the oil consumption, you should see it go down.

If you have a startup rattle, it's coming from your CVVT solenoids. That is related to the battery. I don't know how big the battery in the Sedona is, but in my wife's Santa Fe XL it's smaller than in the Sport, so I went with an AGM battery to get rid of the rattle. THe solenoids need a solid voltage boost on startup, and if they don't get it, they rattle.

I hope that this information is helpful to you, and if you have any other questions then please don't hesitate to ask.
We got the extended warranty that already paid for itself but I will use a recommended oil/interval until it hits 120k miles since that's when the bumper to bumper ends. We paid $2,800 for the warranty. The third row seat latches broke so it wouldn't lock down in place. They said it would have been $3,300 for them to fix so I'm already ahead on it.
 
We got the extended warranty that already paid for itself but I will use a recommended oil/interval until it hits 120k miles since that's when the bumper to bumper ends. We paid $2,800 for the warranty. The third row seat latches broke so it wouldn't lock down in place. They said it would have been $3,300 for them to fix so I'm already ahead on it.
Well, 5W-40 is a recommended viscosity for that engine. In fact, every 3.3L Lambda II engine shipped to Europe and other parts of the world had Shell Helix Ultra 5W-40 as the factory fill.

Take a look in the owner's manual, 5W-40 should be there. That motor loves a good 40wt.
 
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I’m going to add my .02¢ to this since I have experience with a Sedona.

My wife and I bought a 1 owner 2006 Sedona with 130,change 10 years ago.
I always used full synthetic engine oil and a quality oil filters.
Oil changes every 5,000 miles no matter the time, which averaged once a year.
Lots of short trips in Michigan winters, so short the battery would need to be thrown on the battery charger once a month to turn off the SRS warning light.
Mobil 1 5w30 and it used 1 qt between oil changes.
Castrol Syntec 5w-30 and zero oil consumption.
Mobil 1 5w-20 and it used 1.5-2 qts between oil changes.
Castrol Syntec 5w-20 and again, zero oil consumption.
The van now has over 200k on it, still no oil consumption and runs like a top.

If you’re using oil, change the oil you use.

Word to the wise though, until you get home, let your wife go where she wants to go. Accept the oil usage. She’s comfortable going to the Ford dealer, let her go to the Ford dealer. You do not need to be adding any stress to her life while you are over seas.
 
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