Kia severe maintenance intervals to maintain warranty?

[Jman26063]

Hey folks I found this interesting and thiught I would share and see your thoughts.

Was reading through my 2018 Kia Sedona owners manual today and was quite shocked ( I know I should do it right away! ) I have been on a 6k oci since purchase using Mobil 1 5w30. This is Kia recommended service interval and would appear normal in any modern car with a high quality oil.

The kicker and what I find kind of a scam is that if you read the maintenance schedule, If you live in an area which uses salt or other corrosive material on the roads, which is a very large percentage of the United States and all of Canada then they consider you Severe use and must follow a 3750 OCI.

I can just see it now. 80k miles and engine problems and kia saying ... hmm they salt your roads and you were using the incorrect Maintenance schedule sorry sir !!

What does salted roads have to do with OCI. I cannot find another manufacturer who does this based solely on salt use.

To me this seems like a way to avoid warranty work on 80 percent of vehicles in the US and Canada

Thats all!

 

[Cujet]

With Hyundai/Kia's rampant engine failures, it's a good idea to use a quality synthetic oil of sufficient viscosity and the severe service schedule.

 

[Jman26063]

I agree! But I am still amazed that they decided that most of America and All of Canada is severe use due to Salt !!!!

 

[Kira]

Do Hyundai/Kia engines fail at a high rate?

I believe my friend's 2008 Nissan Frontier and another friend's daughter's Versa Note both have 3,750 mile OCIs.

 

[Jman26063]

I think the Newer Lambada engines have greatly
improved, but again from 6k to 3750 because of road salt is my real gripe. I cannot see a logical reason but maybe I am wrong

 

[Trav]

I sounds to me like they chose a convoluted way of determining low temperature operating conditions. The rust belt for most drivers is definitely severe operating conditions.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by Cujet
With Hyundai/Kia's rampant engine failures, it's a good idea to use a quality synthetic oil of sufficient viscosity and the severe service schedule.

Rampant engine failures...

Did they encounter some engine failures yes, but it's not like every engine they make is dying early. They make a lot of engines and have done so for a while but like any OE will experience problems from time to time and these happen to be related to incorrect machining not some sort of design fault or lack of quality on their part. It's a case of %$#!@ happens sometimes and in this case it affected a large number of engines of a particular type.

No reason to live in fear.

 

[Jman26063]

Ok , but they salt the roads in Atlanta GA occasionally.

I can understand making it severe use for items such as brake lines and hoses and underbody components, But what does it have to do with your OCI. Way to broad and over reaching and can be easily used to screw someone who in my opinion took great care of their car out of warranty work

 

[69Torino]

Salt and sand on the roads creates dusty driving conditions when the salt dries out. Dusty conditions lead to more silica ingested through the intake tract, thus making it past your rings and into your oil, which could in turn load the oil filter up quicker than if the air were cleaner.

That is a long winded explanation, but for this and many other variables and reasons it is a safe practice to change your oil and filter based on the severe schedule if you are planning to keep the car until the body rots off.

I will add, as a former Kia Master Elite Technician, (5 years as Master) Kia isn't going to deny a warranty claim if you change your oil and filter every 7,500 miles at LEAST. That's the magic number for warranty claims over $1,000 for non self-authorizing dealers. Self-Authorizing dealers have a little more leeway in what they can repair without pre-authorization. They are the "shot callers" as it were. I worked for a self-authorizing dealer.

Moral of the story is not to worry. If your timing chain flies off the gears and you have receipts for Mobil 1 every 6k they will fix your vehicle with no argument. If they do give you grief find a different dealer.

 

[jeepman3071]

If your engine failed, and is clean inside from changing the oil every 6k with a good conventional, how do you think Kia would be able to determine you didn't follow severe service recommendations?

 

[Danno]

Canadian KIA and Hyundai owners are given a supplemental manual that specifies 3750 miles or 6 months for OCI.
No room for interpretation.

 

[WhizkidTN]

Originally Posted by Cujet
With Hyundai/Kia's rampant engine failures, it's a good idea to use a quality synthetic oil of sufficient viscosity and the severe service schedule.


FWIW: Having been a Kia owner (~7yrs) whose engine "gave up the ghost" at 76K miles (with impeccable maintenance I might add), I can tell you a few things about the situation.

The engine, like many GDI engines of other makes, is a real fuel diluter (>5% GC) into the oil which can breakdown the oil faster leading to possible lubrication problems with a long OCI particularly if you are turbocharged (more blow-by). For that reason, I ran full synthetic oil of a heaver weight (0W-40) and an OCI of 4K miles or so. I am tuned and the car runs great with gobs of power (more than the open differential FWD can really handle with all season tires)!

When my engine started the "rod knock of death" in Dec '18, I qualified for the free long-block replacement (and they even moved over all my performance bolt-on parts) with now an unlimited miles and unlimited years warranty. The rest of my power-train is still under the 10yr/100K mile warranty (and all is running great).

The issue that has caused the rod bearings to fail was reported by Kia (and Hyundai) initially as a "debris" issue at the USA engine plant due to ineffective cleaning out the block after machining it. They said they fixed that issue fairly early on but some "small" number of engine (under 2%) could be effected. That may have been true but apparently the real reason so many have failed is due to a design defect of the oil pump/balance shaft assembly that is located on the bottom of the engine. Over time, the oil pump fails in a way that oil starves the bearings (regardless of what oil is used or how "clean" it is) and causes this failure. They redesigned this assembly a few years ago (~2015?) and that issue should not causing this type of failure anymore. The replacement engines all have the various and latest engine tweaks that the last MY of engine production contained, so these problems should have been fixed going forward. I can tell you that at this point, I am a very happy camper about it and plan on keeping my car for a long time to come.

Take from my experience what you will.

 

[StevieC]

Originally Posted by Trav
I sounds to me like they chose a convoluted way of determining low temperature operating conditions. The rust belt for most drivers is definitely severe operating conditions.

^^^ I think this is the case. My Santa Fe would fuel dilute like crazy in the winter time. 2-3% was normal on a 10,000km (6K mile) OCI and the book called for 6,000km (3750 mile OCI's).

Also I just posted a used oil analysis of my Father In-laws Caravan and it had 2%+ fuel dilution as well over the same interval.

 

[69Torino]

Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by Cujet
With Hyundai/Kia's rampant engine failures, it's a good idea to use a quality synthetic oil of sufficient viscosity and the severe service schedule.

Rampant engine failures...

Did they encounter some engine failures yes, but it's not like every engine they make is exploding early. They make a lot of engines and have done so for a while but like any OE will experience problems from time to time and these happen to be related to incorrect machining not some sort of design fault or lack of quality on their part. It's a case of %$#!@ happens sometimes.


The "rampant engine failures" were the Theta II 2.4 GDI and the 2.0 T-GDI, this is not that engine. The Sedona has a Lambda V-6, which are very durable when taken care of properly.

 

[Jman26063]

69Torino, Thank you for such a great reply, about showing 3750 oil changes, they can ask for all documents and receipts for you to show your maintenance schedule.

 

[69Torino]

Originally Posted by Jman26063
69Torino, Thank you for such a great reply, about showing 3750 oil changes, they can ask for all documents and receipts for you to show your maintenance schedule.


They can and will want you to provide proof of maintenance, and whenever the district parts/service manager was involved they usually would take total mileage, divide by 7,500, and that's the number of receipts required to go forth with major internal engine repairs under warranty. Of course there were people that would try to fudge the system by going to Office Depot and buying receipt books, writing a bunch of receipts out with the same pen, same handwriting, every 7,500 on the nose, but those were denied because they were blatantly fake.

So if you have 99,999 miles and a rod goes out the side of the block, you would need at least 13 records of oil and filter changes.


And you are welcome, I don't want to see anyone get screwed over. Some of the wording in the warranty policy can be ambiguous.

 

[gregk24]

Salted roads means the area is cold enough to have a need for salted roads. Snow, freezing rain etc. Those temperatures would require shorter OCI's vs a car that is operated in a warmer climate. That is how I see it.

 

[dave1251]

Originally Posted by jeepman3071
If your engine failed, and is clean inside from changing the oil every 6k with a good conventional, how do you think Kia would be able to determine you didn't follow severe service recommendations?



Kia can not and will replace like they Kia has been doing.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted by Jman26063
Hey folks I found this interesting and thiught I would share and see your thoughts.

Was reading through my 2018 Kia Sedona owners manual today and was quite shocked ( I know I should do it right away! ) I have been on a 6k oci since purchase using Mobil 1 5w30. This is Kia recommended service interval and would appear normal in any modern car with a high quality oil.

The kicker and what I find kind of a scam is that if you read the maintenance schedule, If you live in an area which uses salt or other corrosive material on the roads, which is a very large percentage of the United States and all of Canada then they consider you Severe use and must follow a 3750 OCI.

I can just see it now. 80k miles and engine problems and kia saying ... hmm they salt your roads and you were using the incorrect Maintenance schedule sorry sir !!

What does salted roads have to do with OCI. I cannot find another manufacturer who does this based solely on salt use.

To me this seems like a way to avoid warranty work on 80 percent of vehicles in the US and Canada

Thats all!


What does Korean neighbor Hyundai say in their owners manual? You claim that you checked.

 

[Rand]

many do list salt, cold etc as severe operating conditions.

Subaru for example.