2019 Kia stinger GTS losing power on the freeway after reaching a certain speed

[Snowwhite]

This is great progress. I’ll give this a try as well. Thank you for sharing this information as well! I don’t know much about this kind of stuff but patience is key.

Something I noticed while driving today is that the TC would turn on when driving in a curve. I’m assuming it puts more weight on one side of the car and the car thinks there is wheel spinning. I dug a little deeper and started doing some semi harsh-ish lane turns (in an empty freeway of course) and sure enough, TC kicked in. Give this a try next time you are driving.

Also, do you have a picture of where to find the abs sensor contacts?

If you find that it turns on sooner when You turn in one particular direction, the fault is probably with a wheel on the outside of the side where it turns on faster. So if it turns on faster when you turn left, check the right side first.

 

[D.J.]

The cheap $5 Bluetooth modules usually can not

I upgraded my $5 OBDII reader to a $10 version, and it has WAY MORE sensors available.


Live data :
Wheel speed
TPMS temperature
Transfer case clutch pressure
ATF temperature
Oil temperature
100's more.

Here is a quick page I out together showing all 4 wheels speed sensors and all 4 wheel temperatures. At the beginning of the video you can see the Delta between my left and right wheels, that is because I am turning in a parking lot

Nifty.

App = Car Scanner.
Actual dongle I am using = this one BT 25k80

https://imgur.com/a/JeSn6qW

 

[7Andrei7]

Wow, this is great news! I was wondering if the speed sensors can be read with non OEM readers. You've just answered my question.

About 1h ago I received my new (supposedly) professional OBD reader. It was 45€ from Amazon. Looks pretty well but I don't have time to try it until Saturday. Will hopefully read every sensor on the car.

 

[juan.s.03]

Ok, I cleaned the ABS sensor contacts. It was fairly complicated, not gonna lie. The left side is very hard to reach. Also, the plastic clip that holds the 2 connectors snug is a nightmare to open. Took me over an hour to unclip both of them and spray some contact cleaner on them.

I then took to the highway to try and force TC to step in. I did about 10 hard accelerations from 90/100kph to 150kph. The TC stepped in only once, while I was making a lane change under full acceleration. I suspect it was because the dotted line is a little slippery at -1 Celsius. I could not get it to step in before or after that moment.

I hope this is it. I'll keep it under observation in normal driving conditions.

I upgraded my $5 OBDII reader to a $10 version, and it has WAY MORE sensors available.


Live data :
Wheel speed
TPMS temperature
Transfer case clutch pressure
ATF temperature
Oil temperature
100's more.

Here is a quick page I out together showing all 4 wheels speed sensors and all 4 wheel temperatures. At the beginning of the video you can see the Delta between my left and right wheels, that is because I am turning in a parking lot

Nifty.

App = Car Scanner.
Actual dongle I am using = this one BT 25k80

https://imgur.com/a/JeSn6qW

I finally had time to clean the ABS sensor contacts. Unfortunately the same issue still happened. I only did the front sensors cause I had some mechanical work done on the front of the car (so my assumption was it must be a problem with the front sensors). Quick question, when you had your issue and TC kicked in, did the ABS light turn on as well?

My next step is to clean the back sensors but I don’t have much hope. I’ll give OBDII reader a shot as well.

One thing I did notice is that if I turn of traction control obviously the TC light won’t turn on and I won’t lose power on the road, meaning I can continue to drive without any issues. Are there any problems with keeping TC off? I commute a lot so it’s very frustrating when the car keeps losing power on the freeway and I have to use sport mode instead of of Eco.

 

[Snicklefritz]

You can turn TSC off anytime in all drive modes and leave it off during the drive. That's part of the design options.

 

[7Andrei7]

Quick question, when you had your issue and TC kicked in, did the ABS light turn on as well?

No ABS, just the TC light flashing.

 

[juan.s.03]

No ABS, just the TC light flashing.

Do you have the link of the reader you purchased?

 

[7Andrei7]

Do you have the link of the reader you purchased?

Let me first see if it works
Maybe check @D.J. 's one.

 

[juan.s.03]

Let me first see if it works
Maybe check @D.J. 's one.

I ordered it but it doesn’t arrive until February
Lmk what you find!

 

[7Andrei7]

I ordered it but it doesn’t arrive until February
Lmk what you find!

Ok, I can confirm that my new OBD reader does indeed read the speed sensors. I could not do extensive testing but the speed is being shown now in the same app Car Scanner.
This is what I bought: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0C53GMRXL?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[juan.s.03]

@7Andrei7 @D.J.

Ok so my scanner arrived, I did some testing and I couldn’t find much of a difference between wheel speeds when the TC activated. Most of the time, FL sensor would be a bit different than FR sensor but it would immediately go back to the same speeds. Vise versa. It wasn’t anything too noticeable to be a reason why TC was kicking in. Also, front and rear sensors show two very different speeds. As you can see in this picture:
I was going at 80 mph in cruise control when I took this screenshot
Is there any other modes or setups you would recommend trying?

 

[GT Elite]

I think you have your answer as to what is happening. You need to figure out why the front and rear axles are showing different speeds. To me, it looks like the rolling diameter of the rear tires is less than what the car “thinks” they are.

 

[D.J.]

I think you have your answer as to what is happening. You need to figure out why the front and rear axles are showing different speeds. To me, it looks like the rolling diameter of the rear tires is less than what the car “thinks” they are.

He seems to be running the correct OEM sizes...

225/40×19 front and 255/35×19 rear

RWD.

 

[Snowwhite]

I think you have your answer as to what is happening. You need to figure out why the front and rear axles are showing different speeds. To me, it looks like the rolling diameter of the rear tires is less than what the car “thinks” they are.

I still agree with this. Please confirm rear tires are 255/35/19. That is the stock size. It would be unlikely for both rear sensors to be busted at the same time.

and the fronts need to be 225/40/19, because that could be the problem too.

are the tires the same brand and model? One manufacturer’s 255/35/19 is not necessarily the same as another’s. I learned that the hard way On a different car.

 

[GT Elite]

I still agree with this. Please confirm rear tires are 255/35/19. That is the stock size. It would be unlikely for both rear sensors to be busted at the same time.

and the fronts need to be 225/40/19, because that could be the problem too.

are the tires the same brand and model? One manufacturer’s 255/35/19 is not necessarily the same as another’s. I learned that the hard way On a different car.

It would also be nice to confirm tire pressures for both front and rear. Over/under inflation can affect rolling diameter and hence apparent speed.

 

[Snowwhite]

It would also be nice to confirm tire pressures for both front and rear. Over/under inflation can affect rolling diameter and hence apparent speed.

Possible, but it’d have to be a huge difference in pressure for it to have that much of an effect. I suspect he’s actually got 225/45s up front or 255/30s in the back, or he changed wheel diameters on one of the axles and thinks 225/40/19=225/40/20 (for example.)

 

[7Andrei7]

Ok, I had the chance to do some more tests and sadly the problem is still present.
This time I recorded the readings and I have a similar situation to @juan.s.03.

In the first video, I'm just driving normally and there is a speed difference front to rear of about 1-2 kph.
In the second and third videos I'm flooring it and you can see the difference go up to 4-5 kph under hard acceleration. When cruising, even at higher speeds, it's 2-3 kph.

In both of the trials the power was cut by the TC and the light came up in the dash. The car was in comfort.
I have the 19" OEM wheels on the car with Continental TS 860S winter tires. Both front and rear have similar thread wear (about 6mm left) and they are the OEM spec 225/40 front and 255/35 rear. The car is RWD. The tire pressure was 2.6 bar front and 2.7 bar rear. They all have 2.5 bar when cold.

I am truly puzzled. I can see @D.J.'s readings being very similar (almost identical) front to rear. What is wrong with my car?!

Later edit: I went to my garage to check again that I'm not a total moron. I'm not. The tire sizes are correct.
The problems coincided with me putting a new set of tires on the rear. But they are exactly the same as I had before, only produced 2 years later. The previous rear set was close to the 4mm mark which is illegal in some EU countries. That is why I changed them. The fronts were still well over 6mm so I left them on. This is even weirder because the rears, having an extra 1-2mm thread should be larger and therefore have a smaller speed. Not a larger one.
Could the new rear set be smaller or defective?
Or is it more likely that both ABS sensors are bad. They were also taken out and reinstalled just before I changed the tires. I happened because I changed my rear diff.

It's so annoying when you change 2 things on a car and then have a problem. Fffffff.

Cruising

First try

Second try

 

[GT Elite]

The pulse signal from the wheel speed sensors is converted to a digital signal that is then fed to the various computers in the car. I do not know if this is a separate module or done by the BCM. If this process/module Is corrupted/acting up than the wheel speeds are being inaccurately reported.

 

[juan.s.03]

Ok, I had the chance to do some more tests and sadly the problem is still present.
This time I recorded the readings and I have a similar situation to @juan.s.03.

In the first video, I'm just driving normally and there is a speed difference front to rear of about 1-2 kph.
In the second and third videos I'm flooring it and you can see the difference go up to 4-5 kph under hard acceleration. When cruising, even at higher speeds, it's 2-3 kph.

In both of the trials the power was cut by the TC and the light came up in the dash. The car was in comfort.
I have the 19" OEM wheels on the car with Continental TS 860S winter tires. Both front and rear have similar thread wear (about 6mm left) and they are the OEM spec 225/40 front and 255/35 rear. The car is RWD. The tire pressure was 2.6 bar front and 2.7 bar rear. They all have 2.5 bar when cold.

I am truly puzzled. I can see @D.J.'s readings being very similar (almost identical) front to rear. What is wrong with my car?!

Later edit: I went to my garage to check again that I'm not a total moron. I'm not. The tire sizes are correct.
The problems coincided with me putting a new set of tires on the rear. But they are exactly the same as I had before, only produced 2 years later. The previous rear set was close to the 4mm mark which is illegal in some EU countries. That is why I changed them. The fronts were still well over 6mm so I left them on. This is even weirder because the rears, having an extra 1-2mm thread should be larger and therefore have a smaller speed. Not a larger one.
Could the new rear set be smaller or defective?
Or is it more likely that both ABS sensors are bad. They were also taken out and reinstalled just before I changed the tires. I happened because I changed my rear diff.

It's so annoying when you change 2 things on a car and then have a problem. Fffffff.

Cruising

First try

Second try

It might just have to be the faulty ABS wheel speed sensors. I’m thinking of buying new ones to replace but they’re a little bit expensive so I’m going to have to hold back on it for now.

 

[D.J.]

It might just have to be the faulty ABS wheel speed sensors. I’m thinking of buying new ones to replace but they’re a little bit expensive so I’m going to have to hold back on it for now.

For what it's worth, it's UNLIKELY that it's 2 wheel sensors...

If you have access to an oscilloscope and a multimeter, you can test the sensor, see the last page here.