Died while driving on I35

While travelling north on I-35 Sat my wife's Sportage 2wd began to loose power and died. It made a small clattering noise for about 1/2 second and coasted to the shoulder.

When trying to start it it sounded as if it wasnt getting compression. I had it towed to the dealer. They couldn't get to it right away.

Has 97000 miles on original timing belt. I was hoping that that was all that was wrong.
Does anyone know if there is sufficient valve clearance in the event of timing belt failure, or do they become toast once the overhead cam leaves valves open and pistons slap?

Thanks in advance.

Got it back today, +$600 for belt, thermostate gasket and fan belts.
Little high but the boss lady is happy, cant put a price on that! :screwy: :lol2: :smokin:

It is common knowledge amongst SPortage owners that 70,000 miles is time to change timing belt. However, this is a non interference engine, so beside the towing, there is no other colateral damage.

Oh My God! Somebody shoot me!
I came across this forum while looking for a Kia Repair manual and now I am confused? My 2001 Sportage also lost power and died! I called AAA. They sent a tow truck driver who tried to start it and determined it wasn't getting compression. (Fuel OK, Battery OK, has Spark etc...) So he towed it to a reliable??? Repair shop. The mechanic told me that my Sportage was an "interference" engine, meaning that “when the belt went, the pistons took out all the valves!” He then spent a week calling around to find someone to machine the head and replace the valves once he removed the head, anyway he couldn’t find anybody so he called me and told me to come pick up my KIA before he had it towed to a junk yard.
So I was going to by a used engine and try to R & R it my self but now I’m reading that KIA engines are non interference engines so there should not be any other damage.
(The upper part of the belt cover is undone and the belt is sticking out.) So if any one has any suggestions as to what I should do know They would be greatly appreciated.

Instructions for Changing belt are here:
www.geocities.com/lmp4203/kiasport/TimingBelt.zip

By the way, after this discussion on this thread and on JLKA's "Hwy99", just to get to the bottom of it, I have started another thread HERE (www.4x4wire.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=898199) that brought an interesting exchange and put the final nail on the subject....

I am in the middle of changing the timing belt on my KIA Sportage and since this is the first time I have done open hart surgery on a car I have some questions before I close her up. The following are STEPS 5 – 9 of the instructions that I have for installing the timing belt on my Sportage.
Install new belt but leave tensioner free.
Turn engine in direction of rotation twice to insure everything remains lined up.:banghead:
Loosen tensioner lock bolt so tensioner goes against the belt
Turn engine so the 'S' mark on the exhaust cam aligns with the mark on the top of the head and then tighten the tensioner lock bolt.
It's done, except to put everything back together.In step six, when I tried to turn the engine (by hand) I could not keep all the gears lined up, the belt is loose-fitting and gears move out of place, so I have undone the tensioner lock bolt at this time (before step 6) allowing the tensioner to hold the belt in place on the sprockets, and then I rotated the engine twice by hand, Is this OK?
If so then what is the reason for step eight? Am I screwing anything up by undoing the tensioner lock bolt so tensioner goes against the belt before step 8?


Once again thank you all for the Help!!!

my 1997 kia sportage ticks over no problem but after driving a while the engine cuts out , then starts again then stops again the different lights on the dash also come on then go out dont understand why can you help