13th Mar 2007, 06:36
Changing the cam belt at 60,000 on a Sedona is a lot of work. I did this myself - It's not rocket science, but you need to know what you are doing and you absolutely must have a repair manual or a mechanics manual. Otherwise I think you'll be scratching your head for days. And you need to get the torque settings right. Remember that this belt is made of thin rubber and spins around with the engines rpm so be careful.
The part itself is not expensive. But with all this work it's no wonder why some dealers may quote prices in the 1000 dollar region. Another fundamental question is why they fit these engines with cam belts. A chain would be more durable, but I guess that's a cost issue. Better to postpone this problem until the 60,000 service and make the customer pay instead of investing the dollars into a better product, right? But I'll be fair, many other automakers are doing the same thing. It's just so irritating. It was better in the push rod days then you never had to worry about belts. OK they can't do the same rpms, but who needs a lot of rpms in everyday driving? Sometimes I feel the world is going backwards in many respects.
Besides most other manufacturers now provides 100,000 mile cam belts, but not Kia/Hyundai. Kia and Hyundai have the same engines as far as I can see. Some parts even came in wrapping labeled Hyundai.
12th Mar 2007, 08:12
What's the problem, maintenance is the owners responsibility and it's and as a consumer it's also your responsibility to comparison shop for equal services.
Does sound like various dealers are offering different levels of the 100km service.
Why not just not do the maintenance, have the timing belt destroy your engine and then you can complain about the quality of the kia engine.
If you have complaints about kia, atleast write about valid issues... stop whining.