[volksplane]

The car:
2002 Kia Rio with 94,000 miles, A/T

The problem:
Went to go to work the car fired up and then cut out which is not normal. I started it back up and it was idling really rough. I held the RPMs at about 2000 for a minute and ran great. If I let off the gas and the RPMs dropped the engine cut out. I tried putting it in gear really quick an bringing the RPMs up fast but it just shuttered and died.

I assumed water might have got somewhere in the electrics. I let it sit for three days till I had time to work on it. It fired right up and had no problems on the test drive.

Next day, I head to work and travel over 10 miles with plenty of stops and speeds up to 60mph. While traveling at 55mph the motor cut out abruptly. I kept the accelerator depressed as the motor was occasionally firing and spiking up the RPMs then cutting out. I managed to get to work in the emergency lane with the motor stalling a few times but eventually limped in. It almost seemed as if I was taking the key and turning it on and off.

The car sat at work the whole day and I ran the OBD-ii the only thing that popped up was a pending code P0732: which appears to be (A/T Gear 2 Improper Ratio) I decided to risk it and drove it home (over 10 miles) and didn’t have a single issue. Code P0732 was still pending and the MIL was off.
During all of the times that the motor was creating issues if I put it in neutral or park and got the RPMs over 2000 the engine would run perfectly.

Anyone experience anything similar?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ronjohn]

Why do you think you have water in the electrical system somewhere? Any how did you recently fill up maybe some water in the tank that will do strange things. Try some chemicals in the tank first and see what happens. http://www.kiatechinfo.com/ for service materials that tranny code shouldn't be the issue with it. good luck with it and keep us posted what you find. Reguard's Ronjohn

 

[jcwit]

Water in the gas? Doubtful with todays gas with enthonol added. That takes the water with it.

How bout filling out your profile as to area you live in and model of vehicle.

Reason? Your location do you live in a cold area, wet area, dry area hot area? Slightly cold and damp, maybe condensation dripping onto the ignition wires from the engine cover? Happened to me.

Make & model, frankly I do not keep going back to the first post to see what year/model the OP is having trouble with.

 

[volksplane]

I had the tank up with fuel (E10) on Friday, drove home from work (~12miles) and it sat over the weekend which was very rainy.

I suspected bad fuel at first but considering I drove it home on that fuel I'm not certain, most bad fuel I've had in the past is a pretty sudden surprise after filling up.

The rational for water in something electrical was that it had been rained on over the weekend, and then when it sat two days the problem "vanished" or so I thought.

I will put some Seafoam in the fuel just for good measure.

 

[jcwit]

I'll guess it the water/condensation problem I was bringing up. Start the engine up and bring it up to temp, turn it off and remove the plastic engine cover and spray the ignition wires with spray silicone. This will seal the wires eliminating the cross firing and missing firing. Other option, replace the ignition wires.

 

[volksplane]

I seem to have fixed the problem, well at least it has gone without issue for a couple days.

I pulled the crankshaft position sensor because it appeared to have some cracking where the wires are molded into the sensor. There was some cracking there and I even sprayed water on it with the motor running to see if it would cut out; it didn't. Anyway upon pulling the sensor there were several large (1/16" dia. by .200 to .300 long) pieces of metal that were stripped off of somewhere.

I cleaned it up real nice and also pulled the camshaft position sensor. It also had some metal on it, but no worse than what you might find on a magnetic drain plug.

The main notice I have driving is that it doesn't kick down as hard when shifting from 2nd to 1st. I'll check tomorrow and see if the pending code P0732 has cleared.

I suspect the metal might be from the starter... which is a different problem so I'll post a new thread.

Thanks