Survey - Did your Crankshaft Bolt Break ?

[Eutychus]

Well, I've just had a third bolt replaced - this time as part of a service maintenance and not as a trauma replacement. Here in Australia they are not recalling 3.5L Sorentos but are replacing the crankshaft bolts each time a car comes in for service. Also they replaced a throttle position switch as part of the same maintenance program (don't know what that does). All under warranty and no charge. 105,000km service still cost AUD245 though (which at least was better than the 90,000 biggie which was about AUD900!)

[Neonentity]

Mine broke in my 03 EX at 60K miles after the local GM/Kia dealer replaced the engine due to the butterfly valve assembly dropping bits into the engine.
It was a gold bolt.
I had cautioned the service writer about the different bolt types to no avail.
Mr. Goodwrench spun it in with a chattergun and it came apart 400 miles from home on our Summer vacation. Kia Roadside towed it away.
Picture us, the kids, all our gear and our trailer dumped alongside the road as we waited for rescue. 100F in the shade, 140F inside my skull.

Kia towed it to the local yokels -NEVER trust a GM dealer with a Kia sideline- who "fixed" it. I came to pick it up, explained that the splash pan belonged under the car instead of in the back seat, and drove it another 50 miles before it failed again.
The mechanic had not installed the spacer.

Kia towed it 75 miles this time to a real Kia dealer in Spokane, Washington. They did a correct job and the car drove normally back home.

A few weeks later, I heard a hard hammering from under the hood. It was a familiar sound, the same I had heard when the butterflies were loose in my intake. I videod it and sent the movie file to the service manager at the local dealer, who ignored it.

It happened again and once again, Kia towed it in. The dealer replaced the purge valve, which is located on the opposite side of the engine from where the noise originated. They also replaced the pulley bolt AGAIN, because they could stiff Kia for the recall.

Now the Sorento has a rough idle and I am waiting for the sound to reappear.

I took Pistnbroke's advice and disabled the BV assembly by disconnecting the control valve. So far, no idiot light and no loss of driveability. Time will tell!

[ST-Bob]

1. Sorento Model: 2003
2. Type of Bolt (Gold/Gray) : Gold
3. Speedo in Km/Miles the Bolt Broke 1st Time : 107,000 mi
4. Schedule Maintenance before breakage: 60,000 km
5. Current Speedo Reading Km/Miles : 107,000

[Aref_Bilal]

Originally Posted by ST-Bob

1. Sorento Model: 2003
2. Type of Bolt (Gold/Gray) : Gold
3. Speedo in Km/Miles the Bolt Broke 1st Time : 107,000 mi
4. Schedule Maintenance before breakage: 60,000 km
5. Current Speedo Reading Km/Miles : 107,000

Im interested to know if you had the accessory belts changed or tightened recently or since the 60k maint?

[Dace]

I'm a Master tech with 31 years in the feild. I have never seen this before, there are no TSBs or recals according to AllData. It just happened to my nieghbor.

1. Sorento Model: 2003
2. Type of Bolt (Gold/Gray) : unknown
3. Speedo in Km/Miles the Bolt Broke 1st Time : n/a
4. Schedule Maintenance before breakage: n/a
5. Current Speedo Reading Km/Miles : n/a

Sorry I don't have the specific info. Her extended warranty won't cover it so I'm doing a little digging for her. This shows a problem with the crank bolt (a history of failure). By the way, nice forum.

[TEXKIATECH]

the crank shaft pulley bolt will not break off due to drive belt tension. the pulley does not even come off when you perform the recall. and no the problem did not inlude the 3.8L.

[kiatechLI]

ive done plenty of sc072 crank bolts on sorentos. I have never seen a sorento with a broken crank bolt, the most i have seen is the bolt backing out causeing the crank pulley to come off. I have seen this twice and all you need to do is replace the crank sprocket. I dont understand why this happens its a big KIA oops/

[Aref_Bilal]

Originally Posted by TEXKIATECH

the crank shaft pulley bolt will not break off due to drive belt tension. the pulley does not even come off when you perform the recall. and no the problem did not inlude the 3.8L.

WRONG: The bolt does break off due to belt tension and all you have to do is look at the design of the HUGE pulley, number of belts pulling on it and the DIAMETER part of the bolt that gets screwed into the crankshaft.

Otherwise why are there so many posts about the Sorento Bolts? or Why did Kia release a new version of that bolt that also breaks?

See that attached image from KIATech

[kiatechLI]

they should of just used the same exact setup as the sedona, no crank bolt breaking

[beyond_help]

Originally Posted by kiatechLI

they should of just used the same exact setup as the sedona, no crank bolt breaking

exactly !

but to make that mod on all existing sorentos effected would cost kia millions !

it would not even be considered and anybody within kia corporate to suggest that would most likely be "cutting his own gizzard" and would be looking for a new job shortly !