Bad Did the dealership just screw me over and/or possibly even break my engine?

[Buzzrush]

Geeeez...horror stories here! I befriended the service manager when I bought the car and asked him what mods they'd be ok with. He said catback no problem, intakes no problem ( just stay away from K&N...not sure why he said that ) then he said "Whatever you do, don't tune the car because we will ABSOLUTELY know".

 

[Nocostinger]

Heres where this seems off: How the hell would an OCC cause your engine to burn 5 liters of oil in two weeks? They have to prove that the part caused engine failure, not just hypothesize about it. I would appeal this with the dealership service manager and his general manager. I could understand if you swapped turbos or something else incredibly invasive but, its an OCC, it shouldn't cause failure. How bad was the hose kink exactly?

 

[SKStinger]

Heres where this seems off: How the hell would an OCC cause your engine to burn 5 liters of oil in two weeks? They have to prove that the part caused engine failure, not just hypothesize about it. I would appeal this with the dealership service manager and his general manager. I could understand if you swapped turbos or something else incredibly invasive but, its an OCC, it shouldn't cause failure. How bad was the hose kink exactly?

Agreed. It's a very bold claim they're making. I wouldn't pay a cent for a new engine until they've opened up your current one and found the cause of the knock. And the low oil thing is sketchy. How would they have missed that it was 5 liters low in their inspection video when they said the car was fine? Wouldn't that be the first thing to check? If they ran it out of oil when the car was towed in then that's on them.

 

[Nocostinger]

Agreed. It's a very bold claim they're making. I wouldn't pay a cent for a new engine until they've opened up your current one and found the cause of the knock. And the low oil thing is sketchy. How would they have missed that it was 5 liters low in their inspection video when they said the car was fine? Wouldn't that be the first thing to check? If they ran it out of oil when the car was towed in then that's on them.

I can't think of any scenario where a kinked catch can hose would cause your car to lose that much oil. Also, if it wasn't pooled under the car, it would've been ALOT of smoke...which you would have noticed. If it was leaking, they would have caught a 5quart leak on visual inspection, especially if its that much in two weeks time.
Dispute it. If Kia doesn't listen, flame them on facebook for a couple weeks on every post. they'll contact you pretty quick.

 

[87and66]

man, I'm sorry to hear this. you should contact kia corporate and plead your case. Take it to a higher level than the dealership. An OCC causing this issue sounds a little far fetched to me.

Stories like these are the reason I'll never put a JB4 or any thing similar on my car. I've seem way too many stories of things breaking and issues being caused on here. Maybe it was the cause, maybe not, but problems seem too frequent for me to risk it. I'm having my transmission replaced this week due to a leak. Covered under warranty. I have plenty of mods, but nothing they could blame for that. I sincerely hope you can get all this worked out and covered.

Also, I'm laughing at the guy with the burner account . Guy acts like he's telling us where he hid a body

 

[CeramicGT001]

man, I'm sorry to hear this. you should contact kia corporate and plead your case. Take it to a higher level than the dealership. An OCC causing this issue sounds a little far fetched to me.

Stories like these are the reason I'll never put a JB4 or any thing similar on my car. I've seem way too many stories of things breaking and issues being caused on here. Maybe it was the cause, maybe not, but problems seem too frequent for me to risk it. I'm having my transmission replaced this week due to a leak. Covered under warranty. I have plenty of mods, but nothing they could blame for that. I sincerely hope you can get all this worked out and covered.

Also, I'm laughing at the guy with the burner account . Guy acts like he's telling us where he hid a body

You never know Kia corporate might have double agents on here and they’re going to show up to his house and repossess the new engine they put in lol

 

[ecko04]

The amount of fear mongering about aftermarket performance parts in this thread is palpable.

There was even a guest appearance by a fake account that actually went through the steps of creating a fake account to post.

Oh yeah, the OCC is not the culprit.

 

[MerlintheMad]

The amount of fear mongering about aftermarket performance parts in this thread is palpable.

There was even a guest appearance by a fake account that actually went through the steps of creating a fake account to post.

Oh yeah, the OCC is not the culprit.

The ghost account was getting a cathartic reward out of sharing. And so are you.

 

[orbsa]

I've contacted the Kia Concierge line and am awaiting them to investigate on their side.
In the mean time, they said they found an engine with 6k miles and are quoting me 12K for parts & labor. I've done some research and found engines used with close or lower mileage than my 20k miles for ~4-6K. Engine swap is up to 26 hours for this model. Engine, shipping, and labor should come in at under 8K if they are honest.
The shop tech texted me just yesterday saying "THE ENGINE IS LOW MILEAGE AND YOU SHOULD GET ON IT NOW OR IT WILL BE GONE."

 

[SKStinger]

I've contacted the Kia Concierge line and am awaiting them to investigate on their side.
In the mean time, they said they found an engine with 6k miles and are quoting me 12K for parts & labor. I've done some research and found engines used with close or lower mileage than my 20k miles for ~4-6K. Engine swap is up to 26 hours for this model. Engine, shipping, and labor should come in at under 8K if they are honest.
The shop tech texted me just yesterday saying "THE ENGINE IS LOW MILEAGE AND YOU SHOULD GET ON IT NOW OR IT WILL BE GONE."

Don't do anything until you hear back. Are they still saying this was caused by your catch can?

 

[ecko04]

The Tech is texting you in all caps to drop $12K.

My car would no longer be at that dealership.

 

[orbsa]

Don't do anything until you hear back. Are they still saying this was caused by your catch can?

I told them that it was a ridiculous claim in the first place, but they didn't back down. Still waiting to hear back from Kia Consumer Affairs.

 

[87and66]

This is a bad look on Kia's part. The typical American consumer might look at this and be turned off of a Kia completely.

 

[narsnail]

I've contacted the Kia Concierge line and am awaiting them to investigate on their side.
In the mean time, they said they found an engine with 6k miles and are quoting me 12K for parts & labor. I've done some research and found engines used with close or lower mileage than my 20k miles for ~4-6K. Engine swap is up to 26 hours for this model. Engine, shipping, and labor should come in at under 8K if they are honest.
The shop tech texted me just yesterday saying "THE ENGINE IS LOW MILEAGE AND YOU SHOULD GET ON IT NOW OR IT WILL BE GONE."

How convenient they found an engine! This sounds so slimy.

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

This is a bad look on Kia's part. The typical American consumer might look at this and be turned off of a Kia completely.

After my experience with how Kia Corporate handled my brake issues on a brand new 3000 mile stock 2020 vehicle I will never purchase another Kia product again nor recommend the brand to anyone. If I didn't get this car for such an incredibly low OTD price I would have requested a lemon-law buyback and went to something CPO based and probably German.

I think it's fantastic that Kia/Hyundai/Genesis are making cars to punch up into higher weight classes but between the terrible dealership experiences (at least for me) and this "taste" of basic economy service (since most Korean brands outside of Genesis are for people on a budget) I have mixed feelings. It feels odd driving a car that is $40k+ MSRP to be serviced in an area where 95% of the vehicles they work on are less than half the MSRP. Please know, this isn't me being arrogant. I came from a WRX and understood that "it was just a Subaru" and my family has owned multiple very old 2nd or 3rd hand Toyota products.

Kia needs to step up their game with their customer service and dealership communication/experience for those who have come from higher brand names to pick up a Stinger.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Kia needs to step up their game with their customer service and dealership communication/experience for those who have come from higher brand names to pick up a Stinger.

A "stand alone" (older?) Kia dealership seems to be the problem. When "Kia" is added to a high class outfit, already selling multiple brands, it gets held to the same standards as the already existing umbrella of showrooms/service centers. That's probably why Jerry Seiner's Kia showroom, service center and lot look upper end.

 

[Spaceme17]

I can't think of any scenario where a kinked catch can hose would cause your car to lose that much oil. Also, if it wasn't pooled under the car, it would've been ALOT of smoke...which you would have noticed. If it was leaking, they would have caught a 5quart leak on visual inspection, especially if its that much in two weeks time.
Dispute it. If Kia doesn't listen, flame them on facebook for a couple weeks on every post. they'll contact you pretty quick.

Actually, it is possible the kink could have caused oil loss. If it was enough to block the PCV system, it could cause increased crankcase pressure. Oil could be pushed past valve seals, turbo seals, piston rings, etc. leading to oil loss through the engine. Not definitive but is possible.

As for dealing with the dealership, it may be time to consult a lawyer.

In regards to mods, mods won't hurt your engine if installed correctly. And some dealerships are mod friendly, you just need to talk to the dealership you bring your car to before you mod.

In regards to something like the JB4, I might be wrong, but I see no way that once removed there would be any record of that in the ECM as there are no modification of the ECM or software inside. The JB4 just modifies the sensor inputs and outputs before it ever gets to the ECM.

Sorry, situation just plain sucks all around.

I had a nightmare situation with a 2011 Chevy Cruise. At 30K miles, it needed a new engine due to 3 cracked pistons. My car was moded, even had a reprogramming of the ECM. But before I took it in to the dealership, I removed everything (tune, exhaust, intake, etc.). With dealerships and warranty work, you cannot give them ANY reason (no matter how BS it is) to deny a warranty claim. With my Cruise, they replaced the engine under warranty but it took 6 months of back and forth to the dealership to get the car sorted out.

I hope things work out.

 

[SKStinger]

After my experience with how Kia Corporate handled my brake issues on a brand new 3000 mile stock 2020 vehicle I will never purchase another Kia product again nor recommend the brand to anyone. If I didn't get this car for such an incredibly low OTD price I would have requested a lemon-law buyback and went to something CPO based and probably German.

I think it's fantastic that Kia/Hyundai/Genesis are making cars to punch up into higher weight classes but between the terrible dealership experiences (at least for me) and this "taste" of basic economy service (since most Korean brands outside of Genesis are for people on a budget) I have mixed feelings. It feels odd driving a car that is $40k+ MSRP to be serviced in an area where 95% of the vehicles they work on are less than half the MSRP. Please know, this isn't me being arrogant. I came from a WRX and understood that "it was just a Subaru" and my family has owned multiple very old 2nd or 3rd hand Toyota products.

Kia needs to step up their game with their customer service and dealership communication/experience for those who have come from higher brand names to pick up a Stinger.

Your mistake there was taking the car to the dealer to fix a common issue that is resolved with aftermarket brake pads or alleviated by bedding the brakes.

Completely agree that Kia needs to improve their dealer network but I knew going in I wasn’t going to get an espresso on a leather sofa experience like I did at Audi. I also didn’t want to spend $30,000 more for a new S5 sportback for that treatment. If you can avoid the dealer and do your own maintenance, this is a great car to own. It has issues but all cars do. A little research goes a long way to help improve your ownership experience.

 

[WRXtoStingerGT]

Your mistake there was taking the car to the dealer to fix a common issue that is resolved with aftermarket brake pads or alleviated by bedding the brakes.

Completely agree that Kia needs to improve their dealer network but I knew going in I wasn’t going to get an espresso on a leather sofa experience like I did at Audi. I also didn’t want to spend $30,000 more for a new S5 sportback for that treatment. If you can avoid the dealer and do your own maintenance, this is a great car to own. It has issues but all cars do. A little research goes a long way to help improve your ownership experience.

You are 100% correct and I absolutely should have done more research on how dealerships handle issues or common Stinger problems. That was definitely my fault completely. Not gonna deny any of that for a moment.

With that said though...

The reason I went to the dealership instead of fixing everything on my own was that the repairs were under warranty and that I wanted to make sure everything was completed correctly and properly documented. Also, and perhaps it's my fault, but I am unable to work on my own car due to my location of living. My vehicle is parked on the street in a pretty tight parking spot. Thankfully though I have a mechanic I do trust that services all of our vehicles. I only go to dealerships for recalls listed or warranty work required. I admit that when I took my mom's RX350 (older one) to Lexus for a recall I was very impressed by the free drinks, snacks, and haircut I received.

I won't buy a vehicle for the treatment and experience at a dealership, but, I can understand why someone would by a Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Acura, Lexus, Infiniti, etc to get pampered when their car is serviced. I also wont buy a car just for how it looks or whether it is flashy or expensive. I buy a vehicle for comfort and performance plus a solid warranty to back it up. That's the only reason I went with the Kia over the CPO Audi, BMW, Mercedes, or Lexus that I was comparing it to. The superior warranty was what sold the car to me since I plan to keep this vehicle for at least a decade.

 

[stoopid]

I'd rather Kia spend the money on R&D and pay for their service dept techs. That said, they need people with money to buy their higher end cars (like the upper trim SUVs and Stinger), so they still need a decent 'dealership experience' to attract and retain those buyers.

Anyway... dealers typically suck.