More customers call us looking for Kia engines than just about any brand of engine. Why? Well, in almost every case, the customer’s engine has been destroyed because of a broken timing belt or a locked up water pump stripping the timing belt. When this happens, the valve train in the Kia engine goes “out of time,” the valves bend, and the engine is destroyed. Complete engine replacement is recommended by most familiar with Kia engines, though it is possible to replace only the cylinder head (assuming a piston hasn’t been cracked by a stray valve).

This is not a problem with the engine, rather, it is a problem with consumer education. Kia doesn’t make their customes aware that they use timing belts which require changing at 40,000 or 60,000 miles. Honda engines, Toyota engines, etc., can often go 120,000 miles without needing a timing belt change because the quality of the timing belts used is so good. Honda, in fact, uses an interference engine just like Kia, meaning that if a timing belt breaks on a Honda, the engine is toast. This isn’t a problem with Honda’s, of course, because of the high quality timing belts that they use.

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If the timing belt on your Kia broke, you’re not alone. Kia is dead serious when they say to change your timing belt at 40,000 miles or 60,000 miles (this depends on the model – read your vehicle manual).  With a Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Pontiac Grand AM, Ford Crown Victoria, or other engine, you can normally get away with much, much longer between timing belt changes . We recommend you change every 5 years or 60,000 miles or whichever comes first regardless of your vehicle type. This is industry standard, but most manufacturers build a big buffer into that standard. For example, my sister got close to 200,000 miles out of her Camry before her water pump locked up – that broke her timing belt.  Even Hyundai, who owns Kia and has interchangeability with some engines, seems to not have the timing belt problems Kia does. Kia just used belts with less life as a cost saving measure. [Read more...]

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