Amanti Acceleration Problems - Page 2

dupedbykia · 03-30-2006, 11:36 AM

OK - After a LONG health absence I am back. I currently have my SECOND 2005 Amanti. The first was in shop for 27 days with the acceleration problems. The Kia service personnel and my salesman all experienced the PROBLEMS and were attempting to solve it. That car was stolen from within THEIR shop! Story gets too convoluted here but suffice it to say I have a second 2005 Amanti. IT too has the same acceleration problems. It also as lurched on initial placement into drive on several occasions. One time I had a passenger with me and it threw him back into the seat and if I hadn't had the steering wheel turned enough I would have hit the car parked in front of me. THAT ISN"T NORMAL acceleration! On many occasions I have been unable to get the car to accelerate to more than 10 to 20 mph after initial starting out even though the tach revs beyond 3000 rpm. Yes it GENERALLY happens after the car is either cold or has sat for awhile BUT not always. I could go ON and ON and ON with the ACCELERATION PROBLEMS these 2 vehicles have shown me. Otherwise the car is great.
PS - While the first Amanti was in shop and STOLEN they gave me an Enterprise rental Amanti. It had the same acceleration problems but not as severe. It is NOT normal for a car to lurch when placed in Drive and / or not respond to depressing the accelerator.
PSS - The 2004 Amanti has a totally different type acceleration system so you can't compare the 2004s to the 2005s.
I would love to hear from OTHERS.
And YES I do believe I was DUPED by Kia.

dupedbykia · 03-30-2006, 11:38 AM

Duped is the operative word and you don't know the details and I don't want to post them here. The acceleration problem is real and serious. Read below.

RDNK4RE · 03-30-2006, 12:47 PM

Its a software problem not a mechanical problem. The transmission is controlled by the ecm so its software.

On a side note I have an early 04 that has the xg350's throttle tip in, you just soft shoe it and its fine, but I did notice while I was in Georgia for 2 weeks (just got back last Friday 24th of Mar) that the transmission even in my early 04 will get lost on hills looking for the correct gear. I came down a hill in 3rd gear, needed to make a right onto the next street which was up hill again, and came to a rolling stop while the transmission looked for the right gear, basicly it went into neutral and the since the rpm's where because my foot was on the gas trying to go up hill it banged into 1st, not good.

I am going to stop by the dealership tomorrow and ask if they have any updates to the software for the throttle and especially the transmission.

owenh10 · 03-31-2006, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dupedbykia@Mar 30 2006, 12:36 PM
OK - After a LONG health absence I am back. I currently have my SECOND 2005 Amanti. The first was in shop for 27 days with the acceleration problems. The Kia service personnel and my salesman all experienced the PROBLEMS and were attempting to solve it. That car was stolen from within THEIR shop! Story gets too convoluted here but suffice it to say I have a second 2005 Amanti. IT too has the same acceleration problems. It also as lurched on initial placement into drive on several occasions. One time I had a passenger with me and it threw him back into the seat and if I hadn't had the steering wheel turned enough I would have hit the car parked in front of me. THAT ISN"T NORMAL acceleration! On many occasions I have been unable to get the car to accelerate to more than 10 to 20 mph after initial starting out even though the tach revs beyond 3000 rpm. Yes it GENERALLY happens after the car is either cold or has sat for awhile BUT not always. I could go ON and ON and ON with the ACCELERATION PROBLEMS these 2 vehicles have shown me. Otherwise the car is great.
PS - While the first Amanti was in shop and STOLEN they gave me an Enterprise rental Amanti. It had the same acceleration problems but not as severe. It is NOT normal for a car to lurch when placed in Drive and / or not respond to depressing the accelerator.
PSS - The 2004 Amanti has a totally different type acceleration system so you can't compare the 2004s to the 2005s.
I would love to hear from OTHERS.
And YES I do believe I was DUPED by Kia.

Quoted post

Yes, my problems are precisely the same, though not as severe as yours. It has only done the "failure to accelerate" stunt once, which is the time I took it in. The lurching problem is more common, and usually when car has been exposed to rain, wind, or cold, but not always.

It does "feel" like a software based problem. The engine/transmission is reacting in the way it thinks it should react, but it's not reacting to the correct environment. It seems like after a while the computer resets itself, or somehow realizes that the conditions aren't how it thinks it is, and sets things correctly.

My manifestations are: 1) very "touchy" accelerator. a slight tap will lurch the car as if it's floored 2) [rare] unable to get the speed past 30 mph or so even with the tach up to 3K revs. Condition 1 usually cures up quickly, within a block or so. Condition 2 lasted for about 15 miles, not until I let the car idle for a while.

-Owen

04Amanti · 03-31-2006, 07:12 PM

Sorry to hear about your troubles, and what are the odds of getting a second Amanti with the same problem??? Sheesh, talk about bad luck.

My '04 built in April '04 has none of these issues (no throttle tip-in thing, gear hunting, slamming into gear either)

What exactly was changed for later '04s and then for '05?

WEP · 03-31-2006, 11:01 PM

I did not have a problem with my fist engine and am not having a problem with this second in the 2005. While I am not a meck by any means, it really could be a software prob. as we have had problems with other vehicles and one was a major software whcih destroyed the 4x4 tranny completely with 2000 miles on it. GM was not a happy camper.

dupedbykia · 04-16-2006, 08:38 PM

I stopped an Amanti driver going into a convience store yesterday and asked about his Amanti experience. He stated he loved the car and didn't have any acceleration issues. After discussing my situation with him he then noted that indeed he had experienced similiar non-responsive acceleration twice and that occasionally he noticed that it "lurched" when initally placing it into Drive. SAME problems but ignored. How many others are there. He thought it was his foot possiblily making the "lurch" acceleration situations. I got mine back the other day and had the non-responsive acceleration occur 4 times in 5 days. Once it had the "lurch" acceleration. I truly love the car except for these problems. The person that stated that it was a software problem is probably correct. But FIX it! I have been told by the dealership that they believe it is somehow related to the fly-by-wire system and that a "field modification" would be forth-coming. WHEN?

owenh10 · 04-17-2006, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by dupedbykia@Apr 16 2006, 08:38 PM
I stopped an Amanti driver going into a convience store yesterday and asked about his Amanti experience. He stated he loved the car and didn't have any acceleration issues. After discussing my situation with him he then noted that indeed he had experienced similiar non-responsive acceleration twice and that occasionally he noticed that it "lurched" when initally placing it into Drive. SAME problems but ignored. How many others are there. He thought it was his foot possiblily making the "lurch" acceleration situations. I got mine back the other day and had the non-responsive acceleration occur 4 times in 5 days. Once it had the "lurch" acceleration. I truly love the car except for these problems. The person that stated that it was a software problem is probably correct. But FIX it! I have been told by the dealership that they believe it is somehow related to the fly-by-wire system and that a "field modification" would be forth-coming. WHEN?

Quoted post

I've been trying to observe when it happens to me and what the conditions are. It happened yesterday after parking for Easter Sunday dinner. Temperature was in the 60's but it was very, very windy. In fact, I'm suspecting that wind exposure may be a significant factor, as it's the only thing that has been reasonbly constant through all the occasions that I've encountered this.

Is there anything in the engine compartment that could possibly be affected by wind? A valve which might get forced open by a strong breeze that should normally be closed at cold startup? A vacuum seal which gets opened? It sounds ridiculous that wind alone could cause this (after all, there's plenty of wind effect when the car is at highway speeds), but I don't rule anything out. Even some kind of exterior vent that might get closed by the wind that should be open?

-Owen, obviously, grasping at (windy) straws.

janthony2d · 05-06-2006, 04:08 PM

We purchased a 2005 Amanti in late December. We have had both the lurch problem and the lag problem. The lag problem seems to have been corrected by the techs but the lurch is still occuring.

The dealership was told by Kia that no one was experiencing any problems similar to the ones we have been experiencing. Our vehicle just turned the 3000 mark and we've had it in the garage four times..and they have found nothing according to them.

Since it's intermittant, they tell me that they can't fix what they can't find. Obviously there are others with this problem and I too would like it fixed.

This is the second KIA we've owned and the first was a small Sephia that we never had any problem with. What a disappointment this one is turning out to be. I don't feel safe driving it when it lurches both forward and backward.

skidoofast · 05-06-2006, 06:14 PM

you might want try to initialize the ETS (Electronic Throttle System)
Initializing Procedure
(1)
Turn ignition switch OFF for 10 seconds to turn OFF the Control Relay.
(2)
Turn ignition switch ON for 1 seconds and turn OFF (Don't start the engine)
(3)
Turn ignition switch OFF for 10 seconds to turn OFF the Control Relay.
(4)
Turn ignition switch ON for 1 second. At that time EPROM remembers the value of the rotor position.
1) Check the operation of throttle valve.
2) To check whether the initialization procedure for ETS Motor is done or not, verify that the throttle valve operates proportional to the accelerator position when engine is running or ignition switch is ON.
3) After ETS Motor has been initialized, it need not perform again even though battery line is disconnected because ETS Control Module uses the value recorded in EPROM.

this information is taken directly from the service manual

hope this helps