Kia Stinger seems to be no match for a bush....

[Snicklefritz]

In all your surgery you might have gotten some fluid on the outside of the engine/trans, and it is burning off? Just a guess.

 

[HScorpion]

In all your surgery you might have gotten some fluid on the outside of the engine/trans, and it is burning off? Just a guess.

This was my second guess since I did leak some coolant while trying to fill up the radiator and while replacing the bleeder hose. I just wasnt sure if coolant burned and created smoke like that. Then again thats me assuming coolant acts like water and would just "sizzle" off when hot

 

[HScorpion]

just a quick update for anyone who cares LOL, i chalked it up to some coolant being burnt off as the smell and smoke went away. My next "issue" is my cars shifting. I believe there is still room for transmission fluid since my car seems to be shifting weird sometimes during the first few minuets of driving. Anyone have any tips for topping of the fluid? I doubt i need to flush the whole system..... right?

 

[Snicklefritz]

Good to know that you don't have a bad fluid leak causing smoke.

What does shifting "weird" mean? I almost always use the paddles. Sometimes the shift feels like a "bump" rather than just a smooth shift. This is a lately thing, as in this has only been noticeable for a few months. It doesn't seem to be getting more pronounced, so, Ima not too concerned at this point.

I believe there is still room for transmission fluid since my car seems to be shifting weird sometimes during the first few minuets of driving.

 

[HScorpion]

Good to know that you don't have a bad fluid leak causing smoke.

What does shifting "weird" mean? I almost always use the paddles. Sometimes the shift feels like a "bump" rather than just a smooth shift. This is a lately thing, as in this has only been noticeable for a few months. It doesn't seem to be getting more pronounced, so, Ima not too concerned at this point.

Unfortunately I rarely use my paddles although i would like to learn how to properly use them and when to accurately shift up/down. As far as the weird shifts go, the best way i can describe it is with that "bump" or the car sometimes holds a gear longer than it should. I first experienced this as a "bump" when i was driving and the car sort of jerked forward as it went from 1st to 2nd gear or 2nd to 3rd gear, I actually looked in my rear view mirror at first thinking i had ran over something and lost traction.
I have now experienced the car holding a gear longer than it should as well, I was driving and gave the car a little gas and it seemed to wait a little longer before shifting into the next gear. Its not redlining but its definitely longer than usual especially since the Stinger shifts pretty quickly between gears in "automatic" mode. It basically feels like I'm driving with my paddles even though I'm in automatic mode.
However I will say that this is NOT an issue every time i turn on the car. This seems to occur only once a day or if i begin driving before the trans fluid is warm (needle in the middle of the gauge).
That being said on an 'unrelated' issue I have also noticed that my trans fluid takes longer (than usual) to warm up, not sure if this is actually a thing or if I'm just being paranoid and trying to relate all of this to the same issue, that being the lack of fluid. I usually remote start my car and let it warm up before i start driving but I have noticed that the trans fluid temp gauge does not reach the halfway point as fast as it used to... at least that's what i think. After 10minutes of idle it seems like the gauge needle is at 1/4 which seems to be slow and unusual but again this might just be me being paranoid. Eventually after driving the temp sets at the halfway point and it never goes past that. For a bit of context, I am on the East Coast so it is starting to get a bit colder now but it just seems strange to me. I feel like I used to remote start my car and after 10minutes I would hop in and all my temp gauges would be a the half way point and I would be good to go. Then again this is something that I never fully paid attention to until after the trans fluid flush so I might be overthinking it. Can anyone chime in on this?
That being said I KNOW that i need more fluid because after doing some research and reading that a lack of fluid can cause shift slippage or sluggish driving, I realized that I only filled the transmission with 5.5 quarts instead of the expected 7 quarts . I blame the fact that I was so surprised and proud of myself for being able to replace the trans pan, fluid and verifying that the car was shifting afterwards, that I didn't notice that the car needed another 1.5 quarts in it.
To summarize, I will start the diagnosis by filling the car to the correct amount of fluid. I will check to see how the car shifts afterwards and will continue from there.

 

[Snicklefritz]

Unfortunately I rarely use my paddles although i would like to learn how to properly use them and when to accurately shift up/down.

You don't have to shift down. Just let the car do that part. Shifting down a couple of gears to pass quickly is a nice option though.

The thing I like about using the paddles is a feeling of engagement, coming from years of half my vehicles having manual transmissions. My first car, a Bug, was of course a stick on the floor. Loved that about it. If the Stinger had a stick option I would have insisted on it.

"Accurately" shifting is any time before you pass 5000 RPM, because if you wait that long the car will upshift for you. So, if you engage the turbos be ready to pull the paddle or the car will call you an idiot by upshifting on its own.

The other thing I like about using the paddles to hold onto a gear is that the trans is shifting less often, which has to help prolong the life of the trans, but this is only a thing if you plan on hanging onto the car, which I do.

Low transmission fluid will explain everything that you've noticed. I know that you feel bad already. I doubt that you've damaged anything.

As far as temperature goes, the auxiliary gauge is for engine oil temperature, not trans fluid temperature. Do you have an aftermarket transmission temperature sensor?

Anyway, as far as the oil warming up goes, mine definitely takes longer than ten minutes in colder temperatures to get up to c. 200F. This is for the GT1. The Premium does not have a "Gauges" screen, and only has the coolant temperature gauge. Interestingly, this sole gauge takes at least twice as long to move as the same gauge in the GT1. I don't know this, but assume that the difference is tied to the lack of an oil temperature gauge, so that the only gauge the Premium has functions as an indicator of both oil and coolant coming up to operating temp. But it could just be a difference is individual gauges and have nothing whatsoever to do with oil.

 

[HScorpion]

You don't have to shift down. Just let the car do that part. Shifting down a couple of gears to pass quickly is a nice option though.

The thing I like about using the paddles is a feeling of engagement, coming from years of half my vehicles having manual transmissions. My first car, a Bug, was of course a stick on the floor. Loved that about it. If the Stinger had a stick option I would have insisted on it.

"Accurately" shifting is any time before you pass 5000 RPM, because if you wait that long the car will upshift for you. So, if you engage the turbos be ready to pull the paddle or the car will call you an idiot by upshifting on its own.

The other thing I like about using the paddles to hold onto a gear is that the trans is shifting less often, which has to help prolong the life of the trans, but this is only a thing if you plan on hanging onto the car, which I do.

Low transmission fluid will explain everything that you've noticed. I know that you feel bad already. I doubt that you've damaged anything.

As far as temperature goes, the auxiliary gauge is for engine oil temperature, not trans fluid temperature. Do you have an aftermarket transmission temperature sensor?

Anyway, as far as the oil warming up goes, mine definitely takes longer than ten minutes in colder temperatures to get up to c. 200F. This is for the GT1. The Premium does not have a "Gauges" screen, and only has the coolant temperature gauge. Interestingly, this sole gauge takes at least twice as long to move as the same gauge in the GT1. I don't know this, but assume that the difference is tied to the lack of an oil temperature gauge, so that the only gauge the Premium has functions as an indicator of both oil and coolant coming up to operating temp. But it could just be a difference is individual gauges and have nothing whatsoever to do with oil.

Thanks for helpful insight on using the paddles! I will definitely take all of this into consideration and will look into using them more often if it means keeping a bit more like in the transmission in the long run.

Yeah I really hope I didnt mess anything with the transmission. I havent been pushing my car as much as I normally would after the fluid swap.

I do not have an aftermarket sensor for the trans temp. For some reason I assumed that one of the three gauges kept tabs on the trans fluid but it makes more sense for it to be monitoring the engine oil.

That is interesting, feels like I learn something new about the stinger everyday recently

 

[Snicklefritz]

That is interesting, feels like I learn something new about the stinger everyday recently

Not every day for me at over seven and a half years in.

But just this morning I made yet another discovery - that if the fob is not within five feet of the door handle, another person gets no response when they push the black button to LOCK the car. I always just assumed that the fob was required to unlock. It never occurred to me that the reverse is also true. Ha hah.

This is likely another case of "no duh", to everybody else with newer cars and fobs and such. The Stinger is the only vehicle I have ever owned that uses a fob to lock and unlock.