What's this stink?

harv4eva · 01-17-2007, 02:35 PM

Hello people, I'm based in the UK.

Just got back from a journey in my Kia Sportage 2000 2.0 SX.

The other day I noticed a small pool of green liquid with browny bits in it on the passengers side floormat. Today, as I fired up the interior heater, there was an almighty sweet stink throughout the car, made me want to vomit. It passed after about 3 or 4 minutes.

Does anyone know what this is or if it is fixable at a dealership?

Raven1210 · 01-17-2007, 02:41 PM

sounds like a leaking heater core.

harv4eva · 01-17-2007, 03:54 PM

repairable??

Inky · 01-17-2007, 05:36 PM

I concur with Raven1210.

As far as it being repairable, not really. You can try a stop leak product in your cooling system but it may not work and can plug things up that ought not be plugged and do a lot of damage. (I'm not sure if that really happens or if it's just a theory.)

The best thing to do is replace the heater core. I just did this on my 1996 Plymouth Voyager. Access to the core on it was on the inside from the driver's side only so I had to remove the steering column, etc. If they had just turned it over, it could have been accessed from the passenger's side and what was a job of several hours could have been a job of 30 minutes.

mgbgt1972 · 01-17-2007, 08:18 PM

Changing the heater core on a sporty involves a good days work in the garage, the dealer says it is a 5 hour job for them, since you've never done it before I'd say start friday night, and you may be done in time for work on monday morning! It does involve removing the entire dash!

Have fun!

p.s. Might as well change out the blower motor while you are in there, murphys law says it will crap out the week after you do the heater core.

mre_powers · 01-18-2007, 02:30 AM

its an issue with all sportages. because they glued the heater core together. where most heater cores are either soldered or crimped together. when your heater core make sure they DON'T use a new glued ogether heater core. because there are heater cores out there for the sportage that are the soldered or crimped construction.

BobTucker · 01-18-2007, 02:55 AM

Your description suggests the heater core, and the advice you have received is correct. Replacing the heater core on a Sporty is a major undertaking. If you are not going to do this yourself, I would suggest that it would be well worth your time to locate a mechanic who knows the procedure and can get a good replacment heater core. Best of luck!

harv4eva · 01-20-2007, 11:39 AM

Thank you for the responses, very helpful.

I certainly won't be doing it myself if it involves removing the entire dash! I will have to take it to a Kia Dealership near where I live I think.

wasilm · 01-20-2007, 12:02 PM

If you can live without the heat in your car and want to save monay, there is other way. Just unplug the hoses supplying hot water to the heater core and splice them together with a piece of pipe. There will no heat, but how cold can it get in UK anyway, but you will save at least $500.00.

BobTucker · 01-22-2007, 01:16 AM

I live in Thailand. When the heater core on my Sporty began to leak, I disabled it just as waslim suggests you might want to do. I reasoned that the heater might not be needed. But I later found that I failed to consider the safety issues. Namely, without the heater core, there was no way to apply heat temporarily when the windows fogged up. So I replaced the heater core. I expect you may find this a relevant consideration in the U.K. Best of luck.