3.3TT Sad day for my transmission and I.. potentially dead.

[Nockalous]

Hi All,

Posting this as my experience as usual - car is completely stock other than exhaust - I am currently away from home and planning on driving back 1000 km's home this Thursday.

Last Thursday was D-Day. While changing lanes from stand still and heavy acceleration I felt a thud (as pretense, the car had been driving for over an hour and was well warm) - at first I had music playing so thought someone hit me; however no one was behind me at all. I got a bit worried and turned the music off and for the final 10 minutes of the drive the car would do a slight thud when re-engaging when off throttle (off throttle, goto accelerate and would thud only once and lightly). It was noticeable - continued to listen for any issues. Got to my destination, put in reverse and the car did a loud thud when changing; oh no.. Thought it was because I didn't have my foot hard enough on break, nope.. going from drive/reverse was terrible and I cringed every time. For some reason, on next drive it was not so bad and kind of rejoiced a little but knew something was still wrong, so booked a service for 17th of December (only availability!).

Fast forward to today, the thud from setting off has been getting worse. While on any form of incline, the thud now noticeably jolts the car when setting off from 1st. Got really worried and drove into the local dealership near my hotel as to get my opinion if the car is safe or not. The service manager came out with me to chat and go for a quick drive as they are too busy to diagnose by putting the car up. As describing to him and driving, instantly says the transmission/torque convertor is on its way out/close to death but would need to get it up and perform proper diagnosis to give me final answer. Says car should be OK to drive home, but really got to baby it and do not accelerate hard/push the car from stand still.

So I will find out on the 17th if it is official and dead - overall very down

Thanks for reading.

 

[Coast GT]

Ouch, but on the upside that should be a warranty job. What year model is it and how many km have you got on it?

 

[Gilley]

Not a good initial diagnosis but good that it’s still under warranty. Hard to believe you can’t get into the dealer until 12/17.

 

[bearstinger]

Bummer

 

[STINGER]

Sad to hear, hope it turns out to be an easy fix. I am definitely surprised that you have to wait until mid dec to have them check the car, it is not drivable and the service manager realized that, they should at the very least take the car and give you a replacement. Waiting for regular service is normal, waiting for diagnosing and repairing a car that is not drivable and under warranty is not acceptable.

 

[Blue Bucket]

How hard do you normally drive the car?

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Hi All,

Posting this as my experience as usual - car is completely stock other than exhaust - I am currently away from home and planning on driving back 1000 km's home this Thursday.

Last Thursday was D-Day. While changing lanes from stand still and heavy acceleration I felt a thud (as pretense, the car had been driving for over an hour and was well warm) - at first I had music playing so thought someone hit me; however no one was behind me at all. I got a bit worried and turned the music off and for the final 10 minutes of the drive the car would do a slight thud when re-engaging when off throttle (off throttle, goto accelerate and would thud only once and lightly). It was noticeable - continued to listen for any issues. Got to my destination, put in reverse and the car did a loud thud when changing; oh no.. Thought it was because I didn't have my foot hard enough on break, nope.. going from drive/reverse was terrible and I cringed every time. For some reason, on next drive it was not so bad and kind of rejoiced a little but knew something was still wrong, so booked a service for 17th of December (only availability!).

Fast forward to today, the thud from setting off has been getting worse. While on any form of incline, the thud now noticeably jolts the car when setting off from 1st. Got really worried and drove into the local dealership near my hotel as to get my opinion if the car is safe or not. The service manager came out with me to chat and go for a quick drive as they are too busy to diagnose by putting the car up. As describing to him and driving, instantly says the transmission/torque convertor is on its way out/close to death but would need to get it up and perform proper diagnosis to give me final answer. Says car should be OK to drive home, but really got to baby it and do not accelerate hard/push the car from stand still.

So I will find out on the 17th if it is official and dead - overall very down

Thanks for reading.

Man that’s not good news, sorry to hear.
If the Manager said it’s on the way out why would he let you drive off to cause further potential damage, he should have taken the car & arranged for a loan car immediately until diagnosis & repairs are carried out.
I’d call them back & express your concerns & ask for a loan car immediately.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Away from home with a dying Stinger. Worst case scenario! So sorry for you! Hopefully you'll get back in one piece. Go easy and pray. :|

 

[General_Vodka]

It doesn't seem like you abuse the car at all, so no idea why it started acting like that. Dealer better make it right though, no way that this is normal trans behavior. Mine just shifts hard sometimes but that's probably because I drive like a monkey in sport mode.

 

[Stinger @ JSC]

Sounds like a transmission mount to me and that would be a lot quicker and easier fix.

 

[ShannonC]

Man that’s not good news, sorry to hear.
If the Manager said it’s on the way out why would he let you drive off to cause further potential damage, he should have taken the car & arranged for a loan car immediately until diagnosis & repairs are carried out.
I’d call them back & express your concerns & ask for a loan car immediately.

Hey Nock, I agree 100% as further damage is highly likely. A couple of other owners here have experienced rough downshifting and ended up having the entire transmission replaced.
I'm sure you will be ok with warranty but unfortunately it may take a while.

 

[Nockalous]

Ouch, but on the upside that should be a warranty job. What year model is it and how many km have you got on it?

Yes on plus side should be under warranty. It is 2018 MY19 with 31000 km's on the clock. Have had the car for just over a year.

Not a good initial diagnosis but good that it’s still under warranty. Hard to believe you can’t get into the dealer until 12/17.

Yeah, couldn't believe they were booked out for 3 weeks almost..

Bummer

Sad to hear, hope it turns out to be an easy fix. I am definitely surprised that you have to wait until mid dec to have them check the car, it is not drivable and the service manager realized that, they should at the very least take the car and give you a replacement. Waiting for regular service is normal, waiting for diagnosing and repairing a car that is not drivable and under warranty is not acceptable.

Yeah that is my thought as well - I might phone up again and talk with them. To local service managers credit, I was only asking for his opinion because I am down here for work (just over 1025kms from home or 640 miles~ roughly) so just wanted to know if I could drive home OK. Definitely going to be saying something to my local one however.

How hard do you normally drive the car?

To be honest with you, normal driving for my car is the highway. Don't get me wrong, I do take it on vigorous trips now and then, but the car has done just over 30,000 km's in 12 months. This part makes me more upset!

Man that’s not good news, sorry to hear.
If the Manager said it’s on the way out why would he let you drive off to cause further potential damage, he should have taken the car & arranged for a loan car immediately until diagnosis & repairs are carried out.
I’d call them back & express your concerns & ask for a loan car immediately.

Yep, going to call them back on Friday once I get home and try to arrange this. Good thing is it is over the holiday period now and can just drive the partners car (but wish it was the beast )

Away from home with a dying Stinger. Worst case scenario! So sorry for you! Hopefully you'll get back in one piece. Go easy and pray. :|

Thank you Merlin - I've got a relative driving back to home with me now just in case on Thursday, they are coming up sooner for holiday period. Definitely treating her like a baby!

It doesn't seem like you abuse the car at all, so no idea why it started acting like that. Dealer better make it right though, no way that this is normal trans behavior. Mine just shifts hard sometimes but that's probably because I drive like a monkey in sport mode.

That was literally my thought too - it was mainly highway driving. It is definitely noticeable, when setting off it feels like someone is hitting the front of the car the jolt can be that bad.

Sounds like a transmission mount to me and that would be a lot quicker and easier fix.

Funny you say that, as that is what my mechanic said! Obviously for any warranty work has to be done directly via Kia, but I called up to get his opinion and he said either bad engine mount or transmission mount. If it turns out to be this, I will count my lucky stars! The service manager down here near my hotel said it feels exactly like the other transmission replacement they are doing right now on a Cerato, but he couldn't let me know this is 100% this cause until a full diagnosis is done.

Hey Nock, I agree 100% as further damage is highly likely. A couple of other owners here have experienced rough downshifting and ended up having the entire transmission replaced.
I'm sure you will be ok with warranty but unfortunately it may take a while.

Thanks Shannon - it's going straight back to the Dealer once I get home and will await for them to look at it. The local one here said it would take between 3-4 weeks which is the whole of my work break during the holidays - unhappy but probably a good thing!

 

[SKStinger]

Sorry to hear this and hope you get it sorted quickly.

On a lighter note, I read your subject line and i'm happy it's the transmission and not you that is "potentially dead".

 

[Nasscar]

Bad news. Sorry to hear about your Stinger troubles. Be interesting to find out what the issue is though.

 

[Ozstung]

Sorry to hear that Nock , your ride has the best sounding exhaust and that was universal that night. Hope otherwise you enjoyed your stay in the Premier state lol.

 

[rkinhoutx]

Hi All,

Posting this as my experience as usual - car is completely stock other than exhaust - I am currently away from home and planning on driving back 1000 km's home this Thursday.

Last Thursday was D-Day. While changing lanes from stand still and heavy acceleration I felt a thud (as pretense, the car had been driving for over an hour and was well warm) - at first I had music playing so thought someone hit me; however no one was behind me at all. I got a bit worried and turned the music off and for the final 10 minutes of the drive the car would do a slight thud when re-engaging when off throttle (off throttle, goto accelerate and would thud only once and lightly). It was noticeable - continued to listen for any issues. Got to my destination, put in reverse and the car did a loud thud when changing; oh no.. Thought it was because I didn't have my foot hard enough on break, nope.. going from drive/reverse was terrible and I cringed every time. For some reason, on next drive it was not so bad and kind of rejoiced a little but knew something was still wrong, so booked a service for 17th of December (only availability!).

Fast forward to today, the thud from setting off has been getting worse. While on any form of incline, the thud now noticeably jolts the car when setting off from 1st. Got really worried and drove into the local dealership near my hotel as to get my opinion if the car is safe or not. The service manager came out with me to chat and go for a quick drive as they are too busy to diagnose by putting the car up. As describing to him and driving, instantly says the transmission/torque convertor is on its way out/close to death but would need to get it up and perform proper diagnosis to give me final answer. Says car should be OK to drive home, but really got to baby it and do not accelerate hard/push the car from stand still.

So I will find out on the 17th if it is official and dead - overall very down

Thanks for reading.

Sorry to hear that, in the future when you hear anything like that stop the car and call KIA roadside assistance. A 2019 drive train should be under full factory warranty whether you put cat backs on or not. Should affect your transmission. In most cases continuing to drive a car that is malfunctioning as you described will only lead to bigger problems. Hope this helps.

 

[5tinger]

What's your build date?

 

[Nockalous]

UPDATE:
Still no booking until 17th, but got home OK. As I drove it more with the issue, feeling more like transmission mounts (it has all the symptoms) and other dealer initial diagnosis was incorrect (no fault of theirs, they literally said they couldn't 100% know until they look). Will update on the 17th once I have the answer back.

Replies:

What's your build date?

Jan 19 I think? Not 100% sure - why is that?

Sorry to hear that, in the future when you hear anything like that stop the car and call KIA roadside assistance. A 2019 drive train should be under full factory warranty whether you put cat backs on or not. Should affect your transmission. In most cases continuing to drive a car that is malfunctioning as you described will only lead to bigger problems. Hope this helps.

Unfortunately - Kia roadside assistance here takes you to the closest available dealer. With being over 1000km from home (9 1/2 hour drive), the closest available dealer was too far from my home and in a town where there is no airport to freely fly back and pickup. Along with border closures in our country due to COVID, if they closed again (only opened 2 days ago after 4 months) - I would have to quarantine (spend 2800$ and stay in a hotel for 14 days) just to get my car back along with flying to pick up from an unknown dealer. There was physically no way I could leave the car there to potentially come back later - solid chance I would have no car literally for months! Of course if it was near home, would have definitely called.

Sorry to hear that Nock , your ride has the best sounding exhaust and that was universal that night. Hope otherwise you enjoyed your stay in the Premier state lol.

Thanks Oz! It was great catching up with you all - 02-NERV got the same setup as me now and it sounds amazing listening to it. Never knew it sounded that good!! hahah

 

[ShannonC]

UPDATE:
Still no booking until 17th, but got home OK. As I drove it more with the issue, feeling more like transmission mounts (it has all the symptoms) and other dealer initial diagnosis was incorrect (no fault of theirs, they literally said they couldn't 100% know until they look). Will update on the 17th once I have the answer back.

Replies:

Jan 19 I think? Not 100% sure - why is that?

Unfortunately - Kia roadside assistance here takes you to the closest available dealer. With being over 1000km from home (9 1/2 hour drive), the closest available dealer was too far from my home and in a town where there is no airport to freely fly back and pickup. Along with border closures in our country due to COVID, if they closed again (only opened 2 days ago after 4 months) - I would have to quarantine (spend 2800$ and stay in a hotel for 14 days) just to get my car back along with flying to pick up from an unknown dealer. There was physically no way I could leave the car there to potentially come back later - solid chance I would have no car literally for months! Of course if it was near home, would have definitely called.

Thanks Oz! It was great catching up with you all - 02-NERV got the same setup as me now and it sounds amazing listening to it. Never knew it sounded that good!! hahah

Glad you got home ok. Hopefully a quick fix if only a mount.