4WD trouble...AGAIN

I read the post on the vacuum problem. I had a "sucky" noise, then a klunk noise weeks before the 4WD went out. The front tires won't spin at all.

The problem is, I'm not a car person. I have to return this POS to the lease auction people. They want to charge me "open charges" on the 4WD not working. I'm not signing anything, but I'd like to know could this is the vacuum problem again and what a repair of this nature would cost so I don't get ripped off.
The auction guy seemed to think that it was plastic gears that were stripped??? He said 9 out of 10 KIA Sportages come in with the 4WD broken. I don't know what kinds of problems these have, but mine has had its share.
Thank you

Your problem is "normal" wear on that model. A lot of KIA owners here in Canada had these hubs changed at KIA's expense . Warn automechanical (ACTIVATED BY SHAFT ROTATION) were used in lieu of the originals and they perform well. A lots of owners out of warranty also changed for Warn manual hubs in Canada, and in the USA. IN both cases, this can be done quite easily. The automechanical involve 4 parts on each side, but really not overly complicated . The manuals are a simple bolt out-bolt in process. The plastic hubcaps must be trimmed because both replacements are longer than the vacuum originals.

Replacement with vacuum factory original is not an option that I know of, so in any case, either by you or the dealer, Warn automechs or manuals are worth between 100 and 170$. They are available on line .

Check this out: www.geocities.com/lmp4203/kiasport/hubinstall.pdf

When I got mine, the solenoid valve was sticky and for a while, I had the vacuum solenoid back to work after training an air hose through the ports. Anyway, all of it did not work for long, specially in winter, but could this bring some life to yours just enough to get rid of it?

....mmmm???!!...plastic gears??????

Another option used by many including KIA service is to invert the spring position in the vacuum hub,(this locks the hubs in the ON position, but you keep 2 or 4 WD option with the T-case) but you have to disassemble each hub which I understand is not your piece of cake...but if you want I'"ll provide mode details.

THX FOR THE REPLY...
problem is... This is a Canada car and I live in the states. The VIN# doesn't come up in the dealer's computers. Do you know how I can find out if the problem was in fact recalled in Canada?

I have only had this car in 4-wheel drive less than a dozen times in 5 years. We don't get much snow here in OHIO. Do you mean "Normal" for that year because they were faulty?

I don't want to be billed for it when I turn in my lease and would like to know what the repair would cost should they bill me for it.

Thanks...

I say NORMAL because the vacuums (1997-2002) have a failure history all across the board, including mine that I did want to keep (cause when they were operational, they had advantages over the other types) , but had to let go because of total failure (mostly due to vacuum leakage in hubs). I think 5 year is past the warranty and they considered either 70,000 or 100,000 km as the limit depending on their state of mind.
IN terms of price, I know YoU can change for the WARN for price mentioned in previous post, but I know the KIA dealer charged about 500C$ including labour to KIA headquarters to do the job (WARN automechanical).
I did not see the official recall ...just knew about the fact they would change them for free...depending of their state of mind. I bought mine as used from KIA and they almost immediately recognised the defect after I pointed that they had locked the vacuum hubs in the "always on" state (spring switched sides) , which they indicated as one of their way of solving the problem, but they finally agreed to install the WARN replacement ( and they did it here in great numbers) for 0$.
www.geocities.com/lmp4203/kiasport/dscn1696.jpg as seen on car
www.geocities.com/lmp4203/kiasport/dscn1698.jpg from inside showing tapered trim
I trimmed the cap myself cause I wanted it to look as natural and unaltered as possible.

I'm turning in the lease Monday & now I have some info should they decide to charge me for the repair.

I am glad to be rid of this thing... you wouldn't BELIEVE the money I've put into this thing in 5 years!!! And, besides that, it is the most unstable vehicle I've ever driven. Even when I was in full working 4-wheel drive, this car would STILL get stuck in the snow. I had to carry around 80 lbs of salt in the back just to get any traction on wet roads alone.
Thanks to you miracle guy... you're gonna need one if you hang on to that car! ;-) and thanks for all the good advice.