16th May 2010, 06:42

I have a 2004 Kia Carnival for work that's now done 124000kms, and the main problems we are having now are the air-con leaks, the aerial is clunking when it goes up and down, and the gearbox when cold trues to take off in a high gear, and the engine splutters when this happens, but this car has done extremely well for the past 6 years.

29th Jul 2010, 05:22

I have a Kia Carnival LS. I bought it in 2004 and have only 58,000 kms on the clock.

I have had to replace the clutch, the fan belt, the gear box, the gear stick (because it snapped with the first year of owning the car) and now I've been told the motor will need to be replaced. It has a loud roaring noise in the engine, it now has a knocking noise also and it's very sluggish when I drive it. The plastic on the bottom of the front passenger seat has snapped and replaced a number of times. The seats don't all ways lock in properly and have often slid forward whilst the car is moving.

I will never buy a Carnival again, or Kia for that matter.

12th Sep 2010, 21:34

My Kia Carnival is just coming up to 6 years old and I can honestly say I have never had any problems with it.

It's now done 105000 kms and been serviced regularly. I have just changed the battery for the first time.

Great family car, and I love the fact, after removing one of the middle row seats, our Great Dane can fit in comfortably.

17th Sep 2010, 01:39

KIA MOTOR COMPANY’s own words.

“The goal of Kia Motors Corporation is to be one the top five automakers in global production. To get there, KMA has developed the following corporate priorities:

Profitable Growth;

Brand Development;

Customer Satisfaction and Quality,

Retailer Satisfaction and Development.

In summary, the business challenges for Kia are to increase customer satisfaction with sales, parts and service at the retail level.

Kia’s focus is on business results, such as customer satisfaction, service retention and reduced unnecessary warranty repair costs.”

KIA MOTOR COMPANY; focus on your own goals and fix your relationship with KV6 Carnival owners; recall these cars, reclaim your responsibility for their failure and refund your unfortunate customers; only then, can you hope to achieve your ambition.

Kia advised in March 2006 that 7,800 pre March 2002 Kia Carnivals had been sold. Of these 5,200 vehicles had suffered engine failure with 580 multiple failures.

Failures have continued on a regular basis since that time with estimates now of 90% or higher failure.

17th Jan 2011, 01:35

We have had our Carnival for 3 years. We have never had any problem other than those considered as normal; that is tyres and such. We took the initiative to replace all belts associated with the engine. This should be treated as a normal attraction for any car, check it out on the web for models and recommendations.

I will say that our Carnival has done 130,000 kms with no real problems, except for what I have mentioned.

I will also say take any car, and you will have problems; why the Kia stands out is a mystery to me. Dealers fall on the supposed problem for a Carnival as a broad brush approach, and offer nothing as a trade in price. They can jump in the lake, my thoughts is it's a cop out to our a low trade value.

One other point, a week after we purchased the vehicle, we did a 1,000 klms in 12 hours, and the vehicle didn't miss a beat.

25th Jul 2011, 16:47

Hi, yes I have a 2003 Kia Carnival. The car door wasn't shut properly or an interior light was left on. I've recharged the battery. I have no power in the windows and no dash board lights or central locking. Want to avoid a massive bill. Checked fuses, battery's fine, what do I do?

21st Jul 2012, 02:27

Hi, I can see this is an old post, but you have a dead ETACS unit. I think every one of them has this fault. A new unit is $550...

26th Dec 2012, 00:47

I have a 2004 Carnival LS, which we purchased new. We have had a few problems with injector problems and fuel line problems, mostly due to dirty fuel. I have found the battery will fully discharge if not used for a week or 2, and this has caused us to replace the battery twice now. I will put a kill switch in the engine bay to allow us to kill all power to the car when not being used.

Other than this, we have had a good run out of ours, several trips to Queensland from Victoria, towing up to a ton of weight.

ODO is at almost 160,000, and we do an oil and filter change every 10,000 as well as put the front tyres on the back to maximise tyre life.

The 2.4 is a bit gutless, but we manage.

Overall I have been happy with this people mover.

Regards, Phillip.

12th Feb 2013, 03:51

I bought a 2004 Kia Carnival LS brand new, and in all honesty I do not have any complaints.

The radio and the fuel pump failed (both under warranty) and they were replaced free of charge (that was in the first 2/3 years of life of the car).

Since then, I have not experienced issues and the car still runs like new.

I had it checked by Kia recently, and was advised that it is in very good shape.

The engine idles just under 1000 RPM, and the needle is as still as it was when the car was new (most cars after almost 10 years do not have a very stable idle needle).

All in all, and for the price tags at the time, I will probably give it a 10 out of 10. And I am still driving it...

Cheers.

15th Jun 2013, 23:04

I am working on a 2004 Kia Carnival with a 2.5ltr engine. I had done the timing belts 1300kms ago, and owner was driving it from Kalgoolie when "it just stopped dead" as he said. I checked the spark and checked to see if it was getting fuel, and it seems OK. I have just checked all the timing of the belts and they seem OK. When turning the engine over, I can feel compression, but it still won't run. Are there any common electrical faults that can cause the fuel and spark timing to be out?