Kia Problems

The 2.5 litres you’ve drained is the oil that’s in the sump, the rest of the oil is in the torque converter and valve body and other parts of the transmission. The only way to remove all the oil is to flush the transmission through the cooler system. When auto trans specialists service a transmission they normally drain it as you have done and replace it with fresh oil, in so doing they freshen it up rather than completely replace it.

Kia informed us that you often drive on unmade roads, which perhaps explains why you have broken the windscreens in your cars. A company spokesman told us that they have only sold one Optima windscreen in the time it has been on sale, and that they have windscreens in stock.

As for the Sorento, they say there are two windscreens used in that model, they have one in stock, the other they don't, but they can get one very quickly if it were needed. Further, they say they have had their customer assistance people contact you to invite you to take your car to your dealer and have it checked for any possible quality issues it might have.

Back to Kia and ask them to provide you with a seal that is suitable for use on sand, one that will keep the sand out. Should you prefer not to go that way, which could take some time to resolve and ultimately prove fruitless in any case, I would go to an offroad specialist and explain your problem and ask them to come up with a seal that does the trick.

I know of one company that has certified a kit for your car, that’s Impco, but it’s not clear if they have actually manufactured a kit yet. That’s because of the very low demand for conversions on the Magentis. Contact Impco for more information.

Check the battery, it might not have enough grunt to crank the engine and start it. Batteries are under enormous pressure at this time of the year and if they’re a bit down it will show up.

The transmission is designed to adapt its shifting pattern to your driving style, which I assume is slow and steady given that you have only done 34,000 km in six years of owning the car, and that's probably what you're feeling, as Kia has suggested. Having the gearbox serviced and the fluid changed would be a good idea, but I suspect it wouldn't fix your problem.

Fuel companies have warranties that provide cover in situations where poor fuel causes problems, but before you can even think about approaching the fuel company you need to establish that your problems are a result of poor fuel. You need to be able to identify the outlet you bought the fuel from, produce a receipt of some sort that verifies the purchase and then some evidence that proves the fuel was the culprit. I would certainly get another opinion.

If the problem has been caused by bad fuel the repairs won’t be covered by the new-car warranty. While the fuel companies do have a warranty that would cover a problem caused by their dirty fuel it would be very difficult to prove it was the fuel in the first place, and it was a particular fuel company’s diesel that was the cause of the problem. I dare say you don’t have a sample of fuel you could have tested, or I’m guessing a receipt for the fuel you bought. It’s all too difficult. I would get another opinion before you spend the money on cleaning the fuel system.