11th Oct 2006, 17:36

I am also having a huge problem with my 99 Kia Sportage. I'm just glad it's not just me.

When I first bought the car, from a used car lot, it leaked just a teeny bit. I live in Florida and it now GUSHES water from underneath the passenger dash. If someone could please tell me a way to fix it, that would be awesome.

I've been having a few othe problems that were listed, but my car smelling like mold is a very big deal right now. I know it needs an oil change, but I don't know what other kind of money I want to put in this piece of junk.

21st Oct 2006, 10:49

I own a 2000 sportage... and for the past yr plus it has had the check engine light on too... i have done away with kia mechanics a long time ago... and have my own... my truck has 135,000 plus miles on it... and overall it runs great... i have some electrical issues... but I am taking it down today to the shop and passing along the issues that I have read on the site where I got your email address...

I know for a fact... that the hoses seem to crack fast... and the radiator sucks rocks... oh and my sensor for my breaks just went out... so that screws up my turn signals and my automatic gear shifter... i have to override the system... but I am looking for an after market one... all and all things are OK with my truck... and while I want to buy another one... and give that one as a trade in... i know it will not be worth anything... and I cannot afford a new truck right now... but soon...

Anyway...i will let you know of any changes that were made... that fixed my problems... and maybe..if you still have yours... which I doubt... i can pass the info onto you... talk to you soon april.

10th Nov 2006, 13:01

I wish I had found this site four years ago when I made the decision to buy a used 97 Sportage with low miles. Two months into ownership of it I now know why low miles.

It started with this loud grinding sound that caused all power to the car to halt and immediately the MIL check engine light came on. I took it to a mechanic and he performed a tune-up, all was fine for a week, then the check engine light comes back on. Replaced countless sensors and each time a new one would come up as the fault.

At the suggestion of the mechanic I take it to the dealer, worse mistake ever, as they were ill equipped on resolving anything. First we spent money at grounding the electrical issues, same error, then they claim its the tranny, we spent 1500.00 on a rebuilt one, two miles later the same thing, they send a tow truck to get us, now it’s the brakes that just suddenly locked into place, this while the car while was being driven and not depressed. Then came the transfer case, finally my neighbor tells me to stop spending money on this because after paying 7K for this lemon, we threw another 4K into it for unnecessary repairs.

I purchased the car at 40K miles and it currently has only has 56K miles on it, five years later.

Other issues, the windows stopped working the door locks freaked out turning on and off with the vehicle parked and the key out of the ignition, which I resolved by disconnecting the factory installed alarm.

This weekend I’m putting it on eBay to sell as a parts car. Oh and although the truck runs well now, the MIL lamp still comes on, so it can’t pass inspection in NYS.

Useless piece of engineering!

Gimayoral@yahoo.com.

2nd Dec 2006, 04:57

For ALL the questions I see posted here, read every word of this review/comments, as I think someone here has posted a “fix” that can help you.

The (electrical) grounding troubles I see here make perfect sense to me (now), some thing I’d of overlooked other wise.

Police cars are grounded out to the max, I saw one once that had not one, but, two grounding cables hooked to the trunk lid, that’s right the trunk lid, my grandfather has had many, second hand police cars, and says if you remove any of these ground cables (and run the spot lights or anything high amp/watt) BAD things happen.

So I’d say in light of all this, ground every thing you can (preferably to the frame)

And make sure the contact surfaces (where your connector meets (touches) the frame ect.) you ground to are CLEAN (no rust paint ect) even if the surfaces look clean/bare, and your connectors/terminals are band new, sand them bare (raw) any way, the better the contact the more current can flow.

I don’t know if all this (listed above) will stop me from buying a sportage, but knowledge is power none the less.

11th Jul 2007, 23:20

Hi, I own a 1996 purchased new, so I clearly can identify with most if not all your issues, problems and concerns. My truck started acting out barely 2 months after I drove it off the lot. First the driver power window went dead, then the rear ones, rattling passenger door glass, brakes faded out, noisy transmission, occasionally grinding starter, excessive steering wheel play, loss of power, etc. etc.

As usual, the dealer couldn't find, identify, or fix these problems properly. Until one day the transfer case just locked up on it's own and almost got my wife and I killed. After countless calls, dealer trips, hiring an attorney and the intervention of the local Consumer Affairs, the dealer was forced to put in a new transfer case, repaint my truck (they ruined the paint after 6 months in the shop waiting for parts), clean the interiors, put in new window regulators, put in new rotors and pads, replace the flywheel and install new steering column linkage.

After that it ran pretty well for a couple of years (the usual maintenance and some stuff breaking down which can be considered normal for Kia's), then the transmission recently gave away (it always had a grinding whine after the transfer case slammed it to a halt when it locked at 35mph) so I replaced that too. Then it started having serious loss of power, and being off warranty several years I took it on my own to fix it too.

Loss of power was traced to the darn ignition coil assemblies (DOHC 16V engines have 2, nested withing the valve cover and directly above the spark plugs). Found they HAD CRACKS along the shaft and would shoot sparks everywhere and short out every now and then, so I replaced them and fixed the power issue, this also fixed the CHECK ENGINE light. You must remove the air intake assembly to reach these coils, so either have a new gasket on hand or gasket paper to make a new one as I did.

I also replaced the spark cables, put in a new air intake gasket, and replaced several stretched/cracked hoses. Beware of Kia air and vacuum rubber hoses, they crack and leak air and cause all kinds of rough idling, hard starts, loss of power and sorts.

Another possibility to having rough idling and the car chokes and sputters when accelerating, could be a bad oxygen sensor or a vacuum sensor that's located in front of the valve cover, slightly to the left and near the battery (has a couple of thick hoses and an electrical connector plug attached). My brother has a Sportage too and when his truck goes bad, mine has the same problem 30 days later!!!

And NEVER buy the original brake pads, they seem to be made of muck, recycled chewing gum or God knows what, and fade out when they heat up after a couple of miles.

The A/C flooding the passenger side is due to the drain hose termination under the battery coming from the inside to the engine compartment thru the firewall, it's a narrow rectangular slit so I simply removed that termination (it separates easily), reverse flushed it and sucked it out with a shop-vac and I never got leaks again.

Good luck to you all, will tame this beast for a while longer... I just bought a cheap OBDII scanner off Ebay to check for codes and reset the check engine every now and then just for the fun of it.

Algarin@hotmail.com.