[Superfat_dad]

Hello everyone

Ever since Covid most of my trips have been under 5 miles, which as per he user manual is classified as "Severe Driving Condition". That being said, I decided to take advantage of my day off by pulling the Sorento into the garage and performed the full recommended service as detailed below in the photos. I figured I would share in case someone was thinking about doing the same service themselves but needed a little motivation to get them going

I started by ordering the following from Amazon:

• 10 Qts of Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic motor oil (was on sale for $21 per 5)
• K&N Oil Filter (HP-7035)
• Kia/Hyundai OEM Air Filter (Received the Hyundai variant, but they are identical)
• Techron Concentrate Plus - Complete Fuel System Cleaner

As soon as I dropped the undercarriage cover I was surprised to find a nest of some sort, not being driven as much due to covid have made it a target for something to nest inside, I will keep a close eye on this going forward to make sure it doesn't happen again!

Drained the oil and collected some to send out to Blackstone labs for testing, would be interesting to see if all that idling made a difference, will share the report as soon as I get it back.

I felt K&N was a better choice than the factory filter so I decided to give it a try, and for $14 on Amazon it was a no brainer

Swapped the air filter, factory filter was a bit dirty but could have certainly served another 5k miles without an issue, but hey I had the new filter at hand so there was no reason for me not to change it

Finally, the car had a gallon or less left in the tank with the low-fuel light on, took it to the Wawa station down the street for some Ethanol Free gas and some Techron additive, the Techron bottle states it will treat up to 15 gallons, knowing I had some gas left in the tank I pumped exactly 10 gallons to make sure the juice had more than enough concentration to do its job

 

[wbw]

Holy crap. What a nest! ☹
Nice write-up and pictures Tim. Look forward to your lab results.
Wish our gas was that cheap. I'm paying $2.55 for 87. Is the E-free still working for you?

 

[Superfat_dad]

Holy crap. What a nest! ☹
Nice write-up and pictures Tim. Look forward to your lab results.
Wish our gas was that cheap. I'm paying $2.55 for 87. Is the E-free still working for you?

Hi good morning Wheels,

Yes sir, gave me a little scare to be honest as soon as I saw the nest I proceeded with caution not knowing what to expect

I have only used E-Free so far since I mentioned it a month or 2 ago, so far so good, although the Wawa station is nowhere near Top-Tier I figure I can alleviate this issue by treating the tank every 3000 miles or so with a bottle of Techron.

I've been wanting to do CRC intake valve cleaning and @rejesterd was kind enough to actually walk us through the process on a dedicated post, but I still don't feel knowledgeable enough on all the steps to feel comfortable to take it on, at least just not yet 😅. Another issue I have is not having someone else available to maintain the throttle at the necessary RPM to perform the cleaning, knowing my wife she will probably slam the gas to 6000 RPM or not step at all and make it stall. I will eventually get it done, my goal was to get the CRC treatment done perhaps every 7500 miles going forward as a preventive rather than a cure.

I will be sending out the oil to Blackstone the first thing Monday morning, not sure how long it will take but will be sharing with the group as soon as I get it back

I hope you and the family are safe and well my friend. Great to hear from you as always

Cheers

 

[ecanderson]

SFD:
I think you came to the forum long after I posted the following pictures, but your nest experience was another reminder of what can happen, and sometimes happen quickly. My surprise came over the course of only 2 days idle in the garage.

Car wouldn't run for crap. Wide open throttle was about as much fun as an old 1300cc Volkswagon bug.
Went to pull the air filter to see if it was somehow plugged, and couldn't budge it. Had to take a pair of ViseGrips to yank the thing out.

Here's the kicker -- no MIL and no codes. I have a bone to pick with the firmware designer since the condition SHOULD have been detected - all of the requisite sensor information is available when this occurs. Poor thing was gasping for air. Thank heaven I found it before taking it to a shop. I'd have never heard the end of it. Here's the photos:

 

[Ricksza]

SFD:
I think you came to the forum long after I posted the following pictures, but your nest experience was another reminder of what can happen, and sometimes happen quickly. My surprise came over the course of only 2 days idle in the garage.

Car wouldn't run for crap. Wide open throttle was about as much fun as an old 1300cc Volkswagon bug.
Went to pull the air filter to see if it was somehow plugged, and couldn't budge it. Had to take a pair of ViseGrips to yank the thing out.

Here's the kicker -- no MIL and no codes. I have a bone to pick with the firmware designer since the condition SHOULD have been detected - all of the requisite sensor information is available when this occurs. Poor thing was gasping for air. Thank heaven I found it before taking it to a shop. I'd have never heard the end of it. Here's the photos:

I think it might be time to put a screen on your air box intake to keep the elephant out.

 

[Superfat_dad]

SFD:
I think you came to the forum long after I posted the following pictures, but your nest experience was another reminder of what can happen, and sometimes happen quickly. My surprise came over the course of only 2 days idle in the garage.

Car wouldn't run for crap. Wide open throttle was about as much fun as an old 1300cc Volkswagon bug.
Went to pull the air filter to see if it was somehow plugged, and couldn't budge it. Had to take a pair of ViseGrips to yank the thing out.

Here's the kicker -- no MIL and no codes. I have a bone to pick with the firmware designer since the condition SHOULD have been detected - all of the requisite sensor information is available when this occurs. Poor thing was gasping for air. Thank heaven I found it before taking it to a shop. I'd have never heard the end of it. Here's the photos:

















View attachment 116055

View attachment 116056

View attachment 116057

Oh my God, This is unbelievable!!

I thought I had it bad, these guys had it made inside your air box. holy crap!

Almost makes me think with this massive undercarriage shield on and almost no gaps behind the wheels where the heck are they going in from?

Absolutely mind-boggling.

I am glad you had this caught before causing further damage

Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[Superfat_dad]

I think it might be time to put a screen on your air box intake to keep the elephant out.

No kidding!!

 

[wbw]

ecanderson: Wow! Could a mouse do that? Looks like something a squirrel would do but they're kind of large to be crawling around in those tight spaces under the hood. Squirrels seem to hide their stuff all over the place and probably forget where most of it is. Whoever did that wasn't forgetting where they were hiding the peanuts. Someone nearby is putting those out for the squirrels, that's why I'm thinking squirrel. But they still seem too big to be fooling around in those tight spaces. Any sign of nesting, or just food?

 

[rejesterd]

Notice any difference in hesitation since removing that nest? To me, that definitely looks like a squirrel got in there.

And for the low milage on your car, the air filter looks dirtier than I would've expected. Previously, I think I said "forget the air filter", but seeing it in a pic makes me wonder if that was contributing to the issue.

 

[joemsj51]

Do you know how / where the squirrels are recovering all those shelled peanuts?
Who's feeding them? Should be easy to find out.

SFD:
I think you came to the forum long after I posted the following pictures, but your nest experience was another reminder of what can happen, and sometimes happen quickly. My surprise came over the course of only 2 days idle in the garage.

Car wouldn't run for crap. Wide open throttle was about as much fun as an old 1300cc Volkswagon bug.
Went to pull the air filter to see if it was somehow plugged, and couldn't budge it. Had to take a pair of ViseGrips to yank the thing out.

Here's the kicker -- no MIL and no codes. I have a bone to pick with the firmware designer since the condition SHOULD have been detected - all of the requisite sensor information is available when this occurs. Poor thing was gasping for air. Thank heaven I found it before taking it to a shop. I'd have never heard the end of it. Here's the photos:

View attachment 116055

View attachment 116056

View attachment 116057

 

[ecanderson]

The peanuts had been stored in the same area as the vehicle for a short time.
Not squirrels -- no ability to squeeze in through the front intake. Had to have been one or more VERY industrious mice.
Peanuts, when stored, are now secured in sealed containers, not just laying about in their 40# bags.
Yes, a bit of 'hardware cloth' now across the intake opening clear up at the front, preventing entry of any sort into the intake system for this reason or any other!

My complaint with Kia is that the local barometric pressure is available information, so at WOT, it should therefore have known that the incoming sensed air flow was inappropriately low for the RPM and altitude, and assumed an extreme intake restriction (e.g., a REALLY crappy looking air filter). I'm sure the end result was that the vehicle was operating as though it was getting air at about 18,000 feet. The engine ran horribly when I put my foot down, creating demand for additional air. Can't believe the fuel trim tables hadn't totally maxed out on the lean side.

 

[Superfat_dad]

Notice any difference in hesitation since removing that nest? To me, that definitely looks like a squirrel got in there.

And for the low milage on your car, the air filter looks dirtier than I would've expected. Previously, I think I said "forget the air filter", but seeing it in a pic makes me wonder if that was contributing to the issue.

Hard to say to be honest. I've noticed nicer smoother rider after the techron additive but the air filter was also changed by then so im not sure who came first the chicken or the egg 🤣

I do agree the filter is dirty for 4k miles, glad it's changed

Will keep an eye on the hesitation and let you know

 

[Superfat_dad]

Hello everyone

As promised, Lab report can be found below

Apparently, they found some metal and silicon but they feel it is normal for a new engine

Let me know what your thoughts are

 

[rejesterd]

I sent one sample to Blackstone a few years ago, and it didn't really tell me anything at the end of the day. For these reports to be really meaningful, you have to collect about 5 of them in a row before you have enough solid data. It's just too much money to spend on top of what you're already spending on maintenance (which kinda defeats the point of DIYing it). The one piece of info I liked was the TBN, but you have to pay extra for that.

 

[miscrap]

The peanuts had been stored in the same area as the vehicle for a short time.
Not squirrels -- no ability to squeeze in through the front intake. Had to have been one or more VERY industrious mice.
Peanuts, when stored, are now secured in sealed containers, not just laying about in their 40# bags.
Yes, a bit of 'hardware cloth' now across the intake opening clear up at the front, preventing entry of any sort into the intake system for this reason or any other!

My complaint with Kia is that the local barometric pressure is available information, so at WOT, it should therefore have known that the incoming sensed air flow was inappropriately low for the altitude, and assumed an extreme intake restriction (e.g., a REALLY crappy looking air filter). I'm sure the end result was that the vehicle was operating as though it was getting air at about 18,000 feet. The engine ran horribly when I put my foot down, creating demand for additional air. Can't believe the fuel trim tables hadn't totally maxed out on the lean side.

Have chipmunks in the area? They’re more mouse-sized than a squirrel, and would fit up in there easier. My neighbor feeds the chippies - they climb up on her lap and take the peanuts from her hand - then run with several whole peanuts in their mouth and stash them under my deck. I regularly find huge piles of whole peanuts under there. Guess I better start keeping an eye under the hood.

 

[Superfat_dad]

I sent one sample to Blackstone a few years ago, and it didn't really tell me anything at the end of the day. For these reports to be really meaningful, you have to collect about 5 of them in a row before you have enough solid data. It's just too much money to spend on top of what you're already spending on maintenance (which kinda defeats the point of DIYing it). The one piece of info I liked was the TBN, but you have to pay extra for that.

You're absolutely correct
One test means nothing
Having the labs done the first couple of changes then every 10k-20k miles after would make perfect sense considering the cost. I paid $30 or $35 i don't remember but like you said it ads up quick.

Ill be honest with you i don't do it DIY to save money, i do it because im OCD and dont want someone doing half-assed job on my vehicle. Talk about putting less oil than necessary, leaving or skipping undercarriage screws, etc. No one will treat your car better than you would. Half of these guys are so sick of their job they just clock in and out for the paycheck, no passion in what they do, i certainly don't want that.

 

[wbw]

I agree 💯%

 

[chuckwalla]

Is there a legend that explains where those elements originate from and how and why they may be harmful at certain levels?

 

[Superfat_dad]

Is there a legend that explains where those elements originate from and how and why they may be harmful at certain levels?

Not with the report. This was the 1 page report i received

 

[rejesterd]

Is there a legend that explains where those elements originate from and how and why they may be harmful at certain levels?

It doesn't work like that. It's not like a toxicity level. The point of the report is to see how your numbers compare to hundreds/thousands of Sorentos they've analyzed over the years. All it tells you is if your engine is wearing faster than average, given the number of miles driven since the last oil change.