[ecanderson]

Yes, I did call Kia and I have a Case #. If I can get a Kia service dept. to attest it is a defect then Kia can work with them to repair. These are speculatives at this point as to if Kia will take ownership of the problem.

At 131K, not even the original owner would have had powertrain coverage under normal circumstances. I wish you well, but haven't seen anything yet where they acknowledge this to be frequent enough to deal with it the way they did the disaster of the 2.4L.

 

[tom4416]

Second owner, way out of warranty for even a first owner, don't hold your breath. Kia has no legal obligation to fix it and while they might offer some loyalty consideration to an original owner (maybe half the labor or something), they aren't going to for a second owner.

What I'm curious about is what changed from 2016 to 2017? Not one reported 2017 failure on here so they either changed the torque spec or some treatment of the block. I suspect it was a torque change made either mid year or while switching tooling over to 2017. Perhaps you could get some engineer at Kia to at least share this information with you.

If it was a torque spec change, then you could have the one side fixed with inserts like helicoil and the other side fitted with new head bolts and have them torqued to the proper spec. Then I think you'd be good to go.

If you cannot locate the reason (i.e. no one at Kia will share), then you could always have the independent shop drill out the other side to accept the inserts and proactively have them installed - they are not pulling out as they are often stronger than the original setup. Would cost more money but really not that much more since they'd still have to remove the head bolts and replace them under any retorque scenario. I would think a highly competent shop could do all this for $3,000-$3,500, assuming no other heat related damage like a warped head. A dealership is highly unlikely to even give it a try.

Or you could try and source a 2017+ V6 from a boneyard where the vehicle was totaled from the rear. I have no idea what a used engine for one of these would cost but if it was low mileage and verified that there was no damage, I wouldn't be surprised at a $4,500 price tag and another $2,500 to swap motors but then you have a fresh(er) engine.

There are very few cars I would buy second hand and Kia and Hyundai are not in that group. I want the whole 10/100 powertrain warranty on cars that are deliberately built to appeal to a price conscious market. Doesn't mean they are bad, just not as good as something I would own second hand like a Toyota or Honda.

 

[Tripplec]

Well in Canada 5 years is the longest of any name brands for warranty to 100k Km in which both factors are much less than the USA even for these same Kia/Hyundai brands. All others are pretty much 3 years with 60k km warranty. Paying that much for any new vehicle for 60k is a joke. Pretty much anything poorly maintained would last that long. The last two Sorento's I bought had approx 2 years left on the warranty. For that comfort buying early in life at higher prices is the only way. Even Toyoto is out of warranty although they offer very cheap extended warranty, which I bought with my previous Highlander 4WD. For Sorento the extended is 3 times their price. Absurd pricing I find.

 

[wlobo]

I did not know that toyata offered very cheap extended warranty . How much are we talking for a new highlander.

 

[Tripplec]

I did not know that toyata offered very cheap extended warranty . How much are we talking for a new highlander.

I bought a 2012 Highlander 4WD out of warranty and it was around $1400 CND, FWD was $200 less. Something like that for their best coverage of 3 years 60,000km. Kia Sorento's all north of $5000. Outrages!!

 

[wlobo]

I had a new 2007 rav4 limited and extended warranty was not cheap. don't remember cost but I'll bet they are much more expensive nowadays. Cheap anything is pretty much long gone. Hope for reasonable.

 

[RNW]

Second owner, way out of warranty for even a first owner, don't hold your breath. Kia has no legal obligation to fix it and while they might offer some loyalty consideration to an original owner (maybe half the labor or something), they aren't going to for a second owner.

What I'm curious about is what changed from 2016 to 2017? Not one reported 2017 failure on here so they either changed the torque spec or some treatment of the block. I suspect it was a torque change made either mid year or while switching tooling over to 2017. Perhaps you could get some engineer at Kia to at least share this information with you.

If it was a torque spec change, then you could have the one side fixed with inserts like helicoil and the other side fitted with new head bolts and have them torqued to the proper spec. Then I think you'd be good to go.

If you cannot locate the reason (i.e. no one at Kia will share), then you could always have the independent shop drill out the other side to accept the inserts and proactively have them installed - they are not pulling out as they are often stronger than the original setup. Would cost more money but really not that much more since they'd still have to remove the head bolts and replace them under any retorque scenario. I would think a highly competent shop could do all this for $3,000-$3,500, assuming no other heat related damage like a warped head. A dealership is highly unlikely to even give it a try.

Or you could try and source a 2017+ V6 from a boneyard where the vehicle was totaled from the rear. I have no idea what a used engine for one of these would cost but if it was low mileage and verified that there was no damage, I wouldn't be surprised at a $4,500 price tag and another $2,500 to swap motors but then you have a fresh(er) engine.

There are very few cars I would buy second hand and Kia and Hyundai are not in that group. I want the whole 10/100 powertrain warranty on cars that are deliberately built to appeal to a price conscious market. Doesn't mean they are bad, just not as good as something I would own second hand like a Toyota or Honda.

That all makes perfect sense to me and perhaps someone knows about the torque spec. But will Kia consider that a defect and be willing to help? Does seem like a far shot. At this point I'm debating the cost to fix (agree prob 3-4k for gasket work) vs. trading it out for what I can get for it (hopefully 7k) and moving into something else.

 

[bobdec]

This is from my 2015 3.3 SM in US format (ft lb. and degrees) .....Cylinder head bolts (LH/RH) 16 bolts [27.5~30.4] + [118~122°]+ [88~92°]

procedure.
1- torque (in correct sequence) to 27.5-30.4 ft lbs. , 2- then re-torque in sequence 118-122 degrees, 3- finally re-torque 88-92 degrees. So basically they are torqued to 30 ft lbs. then re-torqued twice 120 degrees then 90 degrees or a little over 1/2 turn.
If someone has a 2017-2020 manual we could compare the torque info... Since it's the aluminum block threads stripping, they could of changed the bolt length, thread pattern or similar for a better bite. I have not researched the bolt part numbers to see if that happened. Seems it would also be possible to alter the block hardness, but that's a pretty drastic change.

 

[octavian_kia]

I bought a 2012 out of warranty and it was around $1400 CND, FWD was $200 less. Something like that for their best coverage of 3 years 60,000km. Kia Sorento's all north of $5000. Outrages!!

I paid about $2100 for the Kia 5 star 10-year, 200,000kms warranty when I got my Sorento...but I got it at cost because my 2014 Rondo's engine was one of the ones that was failing.

 

[RNW]

Thanks All for your help and insight - I'm not going to bang my head against the wall anymore... Have bought a Toyota Highlander, hybrid.
FYI talked to my mechanic and his wife had a 2016 Sorento. Same engine, same issue, and it went to shit really quickly. They tried to no avail to get help from Kia.

 

[Tripplec]

HL are good power train. Their ergonomics and interior features are way out dated. I had a 2012 and got rid of it. My son snagged it before I could sell it as I bought a 2019 Sorento.

The hybrid engine in the HL has a timing belt. Hence it'll need swapping depending on mileage.

 

[RNW]

Looks to me like the newer HL Hybrids with V4's are timing chain. I'll confirm.
Agreed though that Toyota needs to tweak ergonomics and features. Meh.
Already miss that about the 3rd Gen Sorento. Extremely well thought out interior space.
I drove a 4th Gen (2023) Sorento and not as impressed with the inside ergonomics.

 

[DWB1959]

This is the first I have heard of the 3.3 striped thread issue being addressed by Kia. I doubt a recall as it would mean replacing/repairing blocks on all 3.3 vehicles. Maybe an extended warranty on failing vehicles.. I have been unable to find any data on line. Seeing numerous failures on different forums this would make me feel a lot better if verifiable..

As of two months ago there was no recall for v6 blown head gasket. My dealer check for me when I discovered mine was blown.

 

[mightyschwa]

I'll chime in here. My 2016 3.3 had the head bolts fail this past January at 87.5k miles. I am the 2nd owner. I bought the vehicle in December of 2019 at just under 60k miles. I purchased the vehicle from a Chrysler dealership and purchased an extended warranty through MOPAR. This warranty got me an additional 4 years or additional 50k miles of powertrain coverage.

My initial symptoms were intermittent lack of warm air from the climate system during the winter, and ultimately overheating. I also had bubbles coming from the radiator into the coolant overflow reservoir. I would also have random jumps of the temp gauge. I took it to my dealership in early January. They did a pressure test, topped the coolant off and said everything was ok. Fast forward 3 weeks and I was back in the same boat. I took it back to the dealership and they found the bolts had pulled away from the block. Exhaust gasses were getting past the head gasket into the cooling system. Dealer said they had previously seen issues where chunks of aluminum would come out from the threads when removing the bolts for replacement. This is exactly what happened. The only fix was to replace the short block.

I waited just under 3 months for the dealer to receive the new short block from Korea. Dealer had my car for 99 days. The total cost of repair was $8,300. I paid $100 which was my deductible for the extended warranty. I saw that ecanderson has started a thread asking for the date codes to hopefully track this and see if it's a persistent issue. I'll be sharing my code there when I get a chance.

 

[mightyschwa]

A quick check of the Sedona forums indicates this issue is limited to the Sorento...

 

[ecanderson]

A quick check of the Sedona forums indicates this issue is limited to the Sorento...

The Sedona has never been manufactured in the Georgia plant as was the Sorento. Engines possibly sourced out of two different Asian factories, a different one being used to supply the Georgia plant.