Kia oil grades

[Matt97]

Just replaced a timing chain on a Kia Rio 2013 model with 60 000km on the clock .No idea why it failed at that mileage. More puzzling is the fact that Kia uses 5w30 oils in all passenger models yet 5w40 in the koup .Why ? Surely the difference is negligible ?

 

[KGMtech]

The difference is small for 5w30 vs 5w40 but the Koup might have a smidgen more advertised power? I assume this was a warranty repair...was it the chain or the tensioner that failed?

 

[wymi516]

Kia/Hyundai TGDI motors can use 5w-40 oil.

 

[Alex_V]

Several of the 2013/14 Kia/Hyundai owners manuals I've consulted before changing say "5w20... or "5w30 preferred for general performance and fuel economy" (blah blah, more CAFE speak) but the temp. scale shows 10w30 from 0* F up.

 

[Matt97]

Car was a year out of warranty ,Kia not interested .Tensioner was on max adjustment and the inlet cam had jumped about 5 teeth due to the slack chain .

 

[Matt97]

Also thought these exotic grades are more to do with U.S and European emission levels than any technical need .South Africa dosent have any emissions testing after the car is sold ,nor do we have low temps below zero .Some winter evenings may drop to freezing but thats all.

 

[Matt97]

This was the 1400cc G4FA engine .Nice little engine .

 

[NibbanaBanana]

I have the exact same car. The owner's manual says 5w-20 for best fuel economy but 5w-30 or 10w-30 per the temperature chart. I think 10w-30 was okay to around 0 F. Used 5w-20 for the first 60K miles. Then switched to 5 or 10w-30 depending on season. Coming up on 105K miles and no problems yet.

 

[Matt97]

Think we are just following the overseas recomendation .Those temps are unheard of here .

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: Matt97

Just replaced a timing chain on a Kia Rio 2013 model with 60 000km on the clock .No idea why it failed at that mileage.?

Sounds like bad metallurgy ... or poor heat treating of the steel links

 

[Kamele0N]

As far as I know only 1.6 engine has timing chain problem (actually it is more tensioner problem).... 1.4 engines doesnt have that ptoblem! I have the same engine in Hy i30... Service put in 10w40 shell helix hx7 10w40.... I am putting in ultra 5w40 If you need manuals.... https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ab08ggf3fov1ur6/AAAJTZkFWJaavLEox8HDnxn3a?dl=0

 

[SR5]

Originally Posted By: Matt97

Car was a year out of warranty ,Kia not interested .Tensioner was on max adjustment and the inlet cam had jumped about 5 teeth due to the slack chain .

Some people here say "Always follow the owners manual .... Do you know more than the engineer who designed the vehicle ?" Then somebody like you has a cam chain that skip 5 teeth. Did the engineer design it to do that ? I don't think so. For me, three things protect cam chains - Regular oil changes - High viscosity to resist shear - High ZDDP zinc to coat and protect the chain metal I would consider: A mixed fleet HDEO 15W40 mineral like Delo, Delvac, Rimula / Rotella etc A Euro grade (A3/B4) 40 grade oil as either a synthetic (0W40, 5W40) or a semi-synthetic (10W40). These 40 grade Euro oils have about 1000 ppm Zinc, which is 200-300 ppm more than a typical ILSAC oil. Here is a VOA from the Russian Oil Club for Shell Helix HX7 10W40, it shows 1039 ppm zinc. It's a very common and affordable oil in both Europe and Australia, not sure about South Africa. (ROC HX7 VOA) BTW Ford like a lot of zinc to protect their cam chains too. The Ford 913-C/D oil spec is high zinc and it's the world spec for many Ford cars (eg the Mustang in Australia). But being the world spec, everybody uses it, except North America, since ( I assume) it has too zinc in it and so must be classified as an API SL oil, not SN, and they seem to have a problem with that. It's an A5/B5 oil, which is a higher standard and will do me fine. Anyway, probably more than half the cars in Australia, of all makes and models, run on 15W40 mineral or 10W40 semi-synthetic oil. It works fine. Something to consider.

 

[WhizkidTN]

I'm running an aggressive ECU tune with reasonable mods (intake/exhaust) on my 2.0L turbo with 0W-40 oil since new. No issues whatsoever. I started out (since new) running M1 (Euro) 0W-40 oil and have switched to Castrol Edge (Euro) 0W-40 oil. My OCI is ~5K miles.

 

[MParr]

Man, what a let down. Here in the USA the warranty would have covered the repair. KIA’s warranty in the USA is 5 years or 60,000 miles bumper to bumper and 10 years or 100,000 miles on the power train. Castrol Magnatec 5W40 or equivalents.

 

[wemay]

I don't think we do anyone any favors by blaming oil viscosity, metallurgy or anything else based on what little information we have here. Blanket statements based on anecdotes are dubious as well.

 

[zeng]

5W30 in use is API GFx non-ACEA ? Just curious.

 

[Matt97]

The car had 3 services at Kia using 5w30 oil .Why i think its a manufacturing defect that probably affected a batch of engines only. Shell 15w40 is extremely popular in S.A ,retails for R195 for 5litres

 

[Matt97]

Think its for fuel economy .

 

[Matt97]

Same in SA .By far the default choice ,Shell has the aftermarket covered ,closely followed by Castrol

 

[Matt97]

Clearly a part failure ,oil viscosity has been proved to be for emissions and economy only .The dealer washed their hands of the issue ,thats why it came to me to repair and investigate the cause of failure .