Skip's 4x4
Kia Sorento: Review & Service History
Skips 4x4
KiaReviews and Service History pageKia

Ok, so I took delivery of my Kia Sorento in November 2008. It drove real nice. Fast, economical, handled well, prety sporty and quiet for a diesel. But, right from Day 1, I noticed that the vehicle had some characteristics that were not quite right.

Problems listed post-delivery in the 1000k service only a week or 2 after purchase.

The most immediate and obvious fault was the immobiliser. This was reported to Wangara Kia, and they investigated the problem, but it was not resolved. For a detailed description of fault, see the PDF document in the following paragraphs.


Problems listed for 1st service at 15000k on 24 Apr 2009.

Read my full detailed report of these issues. Click here for report in PDF format.

RESULT: Kia replaced a "component" of the imobiliser system, but the problem was not fixed (the unit that was ordered and subsequently replaced about a week later was called a "smartra" unit). They did grease the front tailshaft but it still seemed to have some play, although did not cause any problems in driving with 4wd engaged. They said that they checked for an "update" to the ECU unit, that controls all 3 of the major electronic systems (Engine, Auto trans, and cruise conrtol), but I did not notice any significant improvement. They said that the ECU did not report any error codes, but there had been a TSB (Technical Services Bulletin) released by Kia for the cruise control for this model, and that I would be informed of updates. Service cost $305


Problems listed for 2nd service at 30000k on 17 Sep 2009.

New problems since last service:

Warranty issues still requiring attention from previous service:

Read my full detailed report of these issues. Click here for report in PDF format.

RESULT: Kia replaced another "component" of the imobiliser system (this time, the antenna, again, on a subsequent visit about a week later), but the problem was not fixed. They did grease the front tailshaft (again) but it still seemed to have some play (according to a private independant mechanic), although still did not cause any problems in driving with 4wd engaged. They said that they applied an "update" to the ECU unit, that controls all 3 of the major electronic systems (Engine, Auto trans, and cruise conrtol), but I did not notice any significant improvement. The knocking in the rear tail gate was apparantly the stiker plate had gone out of allignment, which was fixed by re-aligning it. They claim that the right-front headlight globe was installed "upside down", which is really odd, given that it was fine before, and I cant see any reason why any other person who has worked on my car (auto electrician etc) would have removed or replaced it. Service cost $687


Car towed to Kia, with a dead starter motor ~Oct 2009.

Starter motor died a week or 2 after going off-road in some dusty and rainy conditions. At first it started "grinding" when trying to start it, getting worse over a week or so, till eventually it would not mesh at all... it would spin up, but not crank the engine. Kia tried to get out of warranty as I had been "of road", and I argued that I should not have to buy a new starter motor for $730, as the car is meant to be able to go off road. Finally, they gave in and replaced starter motor under warranty.


Problems listed for 3rd service at 45000k on 8 Apr 2010.

New problems since last service:

Warranty issues still requiring attention from previous service:

RESULT: Given up on the smaller problems like noisy windscreen wipers, and low pressure on left washer jet... these must just be characteristics (design faults) of this vehicle. Again, the engine ECU reported no faults, and Kia also said that there were no updates to ECU available. All the normal problems remained... intermittant immobiliser, flat spot in engine, sometimes erratic gear changes etc. The did do a front wheel allignment on the car, as mine (and others apparantly) do sometimes pull (steer) to the left. Mine did this from day 1, but was corrected by WA Suspensions when they fitted king springs to the car... apparantly the wheel allignment was out from the factory. Perhaps they have a tendancy to go out of allignment, as it require re-alligning within a year. I find the pull to the left to be minimul, easy to get used to, and not a problem. As for the oil leak, they washed the engine bay down with a pressure cleaner, then said "no leak found". Hmmm. Service cost $776
        .... and shortly afterwards...
The leak obviously resumed the next day, and the vehicle ended up going back a further 2 times, 1 to see the fresh oil and identify that it was the front crankshaft seal that was leaking, and then again once the new seal had arrived, and was fitted under warranty (not before Kia tried to get out of the warranty by saying that it was my fault for "taking the vehicle off road")


Car towed to Kia, with a dead starter motor (again) 13 July 2010.

Not much to say about this. Went off road (slushy conditions), starter motor died a week or 2 later. Kia tried to get out of warranty as I had been "of road", again, and again I argued that I should not have to buy a new starter motor for $730, as the car is meant to be able to go off road. Finally, they gave in and replaced starter motor under warranty. Mysteriously, on of my headlight globes blew on the same day, and so I bought a new globe from Kia for $18. ALso, if memory serves me well, and ECU update had become available, and was applied whilst Kia had the car. Not much improvement to 2 of the 3 ECU related problems, but the 3rd, the cruise control, was definitly improved, and is now quite usable (although not perfect)


Problems listed for 4th service at 60000k on 21 Sep 2010.

New problems since last service:

Warranty issues still requiring attention from previous service:

RESULT: Immobiliser transponder error is present (finally!). Requires a new smartra unit (again!). This was not in stock, so vehicle went back a week later to have it replaced, and whallah! Problem fixed. For the firt time since new, the car starts first time, every time. Engine oil leak was reported as "coming from the intercooler". Very odd since the intercooler is air-to-air... that is that none of its components and pipes have oil circulating in them! The intercooler was noted as being a little bent, due to an "impact", but I have checked it and it remains air tight, and so has no effect on the vehicle whatsoever. And for the record, the "Impact" is almost unavoidable when off-roading, as it (the intercooler) is mounted far too low under the front of the vehicle... if the car has to go up a steep incline, or slightly "bounces" over small lump, then the intercooler is the first item to hit the ground. And the flimsy bash plate provided is of no help at all. Kia have therefore refused to locate and fix this oil leak, and in fact have asked me to spend $630 on a new intercooler, which I can't afford, nor justify (especially since they wont guarantee that they will fix the oil leak even if I do buy the new intercooler). Re engine flatspots and sometimes erratic gear changes, there were no error codes reported, and further ECU upgrades available. I am begining to think that these problems in Kia's programming of the ECU are not going to be fixed, especially since the all new Sorento has been launched (and the new Sorento is certainly not aimed at off roading, with it's lack of chassis, no live rear axle, and no low range). Also in this service, I was told that I needed new front rotors. When asking if they can just be machined, I was told that machining them would take them below minimum size, and so they wont do it. So, let me get this right... Kia have designed a vehicle that has front rotors that are so thin, that they cant be machined even once? As time goes on, I am beginning to see why the Kia was less expensive than other vehicles in it's class. Anyway, I said NO to the new rotors, and took my car to a brake specialist, who said that my rotors were fine, and did not even need machining, so on with a new set of pads, and the brakes were fine.


Problems listed for 5th service at 75000k on 18 Apr 2011.

New problems since last service:

Warranty issues still requiring attention from previous service:
Read my full detailed report of these issues. Click here for report in PDF format.

RESULT: Kia said that they could not test drive the car at 100kph due to local speed limits, and therefore claimed that no fault found. A very unprofessional respons, as the car definitly has a fault, and it's getting worse. I am convinced that it's a wheel bearing, and that any decent mechanic could locate it, even if it meant a quick run down the freeway at 100kph! They ignored the oil leak. They unblocked the windscreen nozzles (again). They said that they could not reproduce the (anoying) dashboard rattle... they ovbiously did not try hard, as it happens when going oven even small ripples in the road (yes, at 60kph or less!). The engine management system did not have any error codes, so again they ignored the flat spot issue, and they completely disregarded the trim falling off, and tried to tell me that this was not a warranty issue.


Imobiliser goes faulty again, getting worse towards end of April.

All of a sudden, my car's imobiliser starts to play up again, oftern taking several minutes of attempts before the imobiliser is de-activated, allowing the car to start. I cant believe this most annoying problem is back! This time I filmed it, on this particular occasion, I attempted to start it repeatedly for more than 3 minutes, and it would not display the little "key" light on the dash, indicating that it was de-imobilised and ready to start. I ended up giving up, stopped filming, went and got the number for the tow truck, then gave it 1 last try and it started. It seams very random, sometimes, playing up every single time you try to start it, for days on end, and then will be fine for several days. It's most odd. Click here to view my video of it's starting problem.


Intercooler taken for 2nd opinion on 9 May 2011.

I took my car to Odin Radiators to get a 2nd opinion on the intercooler, as Kia have mentioned again about the bent Intercooler in the last service, and wanted to charge me $650 + gst + labour (not much change from $1000). They checked it and said that it is definitly not leaking, and will not effect performance of the vehicle at all. THey also agreed that it was nothing to do with the oil leak. They said that although they could not easily repaire (straighten out) the intercooler, they could supply a new genuine Kia intercooler for more then $100 less. I chose to not proceed as it is working correctly.


Car taken back to Kia for warranty work on 11 May 2011.

Read my full detailed report of the requested warranty issues. Click here for report in PDF format.

Totally frustrated by Kia's lack of action on the warranty issues reported at last service, I booked the car back to Wangara Kia specifically to have the warranty issues sorted. I also reported a new problem... the car's CD player now refused to play most CD's, reporting an "Error 5". They Kept the car until end of 17 May, so I was carless for 7 days, 4 of which were working days. After this period, they asked me to come and collect my car, as they were still waiting for permission to proceed on the warranty work... that's right, they did NOTHING over this period. I am starting to get the impression that they really just dont care, and perhaps they are just putting me out with the hope that I may give up.


Complaint lodged with Kia Australia on 18 May 2011.

Ok, enough is enough. I phones Kia and lodged an official complaint. They said all the right things and said they would get onto Wangara Kia to try to get things moving along. A week later, they called back, saying that they had not forgot. A week after that, still no contact.


Given up... 4 June 2011.

Ok, so I gave up. Owning a car is meant to be a pleasurable experience. It's meant to provide reliable transport, stress free, without the hassles. My Kia Sorento has done nothing but cause me grief, and Kia have showed little interest to repair defects in my car, some of which have been there since day 1. So on Saturday the 4th June, I decided to retire it. I got the All Terrain tyres removed and put back on the original street tryes. I removed my Phone's in-car kit, removed the wiring to the rear power socket, removed my TomTom GPS, my spotties, antenna, returning the car to it's original state, and advertised it for sale on a local website.


Update... 2 Nov 2011.

Well, I had been trying to sell the car on and off via Gumtree for the last few months, but no takers.  It seems that either $25k asking price is too high, or they get put off by the noisy wheel bearing (which is quite loud now), or the oil soaked underside of the engine bay. So, it looks like I have to push on and try to get Kia to fix it. So, I bit the bullet and last week on 26 Oct 2011, I got my mechanic to fit a new Genuine Kia Intercooler to the car, at a cost of $750. He confirmed 3 things. 1) the oil seems to be coming from the front main crank seal (how odd that the Kia mechanics could not pin point this). 2) The Noise is the right front wheel bearing (again, frustrating that Kia Mechanics just pretended they could not hear it and said no fault found. 3) there was oil inside the intercooler, and the only place upstream of the intercooler that this could be coming from is a faulty oil seal in the turbo, so it looks like another fault brewing. I still have not had any follow up from the official Kia complaints department, and so I have booking it in (again) to Wangara Kia on 7th Nov 2011, asking them to fix the wheel bearing and engine oil leaks (again)... let's hope they actually do something this time. Fingers crossed.


Update... 7 Nov 2011.

Ok, so it went to Wangara Kia today. I had a huge argument with them as they wanted to charge me to look at each issue. I took a punt and let them proceed. Luckily, they agreed that both the wheel bearing and oil leak were warranty items. They proceeded and replaced the right front wheel bearing, and wow, it drives beautiful now, very quite and smooth, just like it used to when new! Nice. The oil seal has been ordered, being the front main crank seal. They also said that there was oil inside the intercooler pipes, and explained that there was too much oil in the engine. This I dispute, as my regular mechanic is a senior, well experienced mechanic, and I was actually there when he changed the oil, and witnessed him start the engine, let it settle, then check the oil level several times. Kia went on to say that this is a common problem on the Kia Sorento, and their solution is to put a little less oil in the engine, saying around 3/4 on the dip-stick is good. They claim that any higher and the excess oil will be expelled through the turbo, ending up in the intercooler. Hmmm. So they said the turbo is fine.


Update... 8 Nov 2011.

I have had the car advertised on a free web site for a while, and today I had someone drive the car, and with it driving so well now, they loved it and decide to purchase it, at the full asking price of $25k. I have accepted a deposit and they will pick up in 1 week. Not sure if the oild seal will arrive before it's collected, but I guess if not the new owner can get Kia to fix it anyway.


Update... 18 Nov 2011.

The car sale was complete, and the new owner drove it away. I had not yet heard from Kia re the oil seal.


Update... 25 Nov 2011.

Wangara Kia called to say the oil seal had arrived, and I explained that I had sold the car.


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 This page was last updated on 18 Nov 2011