2000 Sportage Problems with Heat/Starting

[Bizquick98]

Okay I'm new to this thread. I've used the Windstar fourms here for great advice. so I figured I'll try here for KIA help as well.

Anyway I've got a strange problem. My car is hard to start sometimes. But it looks like that could be the crank sensor or that other one I was reading about. I don't have any Check Engine lights on when the car is idle. Now I do have a Heat gage that just started to go up a little bit then back down when I would shift gears and it would stay down if I stayed at a steady speed. then rise again when I would come to a stop then quickly go back down. the check engine light seams to flash for a few sec's when I'm making a turn or shifting strong from 1st to second gear all other gears no problems. I don't want to think this but I'm hoping its not a Blown head gasket but I'm just having trouble figuring this out. the miles is 83,000 I hqve changed the Timing belt yet. Could all this be related?

[LMP]

THe gauges are highly voltage sensitive. What you describe is you have a different temp reading at idle than when engine revs: at idle, voltage is lower specially if you have the heater blower running. Try to see if the needle changes position when you switch between fan speeds....this is a commonly reported incident and it traces to poor/corroded/loose ground connection between engine/body firewall/battery. Investigate that option first.

[Bizquick98]

This is kind of strange but I suspect your talking about somthign correct. because my starting problems I'm having happened all the time and would not start until I moved the negitive wire on my battery. I would just move it a little bit go back to the car and wam started right up. not even like more then 2 engine turn overs. So when that was goign on I thought maybe I should replace the end of the neg cable. and this helped it a bit. I don't hve to get out and move the cable to start the car but I do have to crankit a bit more than maybe like 4 or 5 cranks. So maybe I shouldhave mesured it out and just replaced the whole neg cable. But this helps alot I had no Idea that there was issues that others had with the ground.

[Bizquick98]

Okay you are correct. I found if I turned my heater on at any speeds it would make the gage go up higher and then go back down after turning it off. If I only go up to level 1 or 2 the heat needle doesn't go up nearly as far. SO yes I'll start looking there. but now I do have a new problem. the check engine light is on. and the car does start to heat up while driving. any Ideas?

[LMP]

OK...what signs do you have? Needle only or steam escapes the radiator? Does your heater loose heat and starts to blow only cold air? I guess Washington state is not that warm at this time so problem with the fan clutch - which are often mentioned in warmer climates - is not the probable cause here. Does it happen only in city driving or on the open road?
I hate to think of blown head gasket...it is very very rarely mentioned in Kia forums...do you have a disgusting white foam deposited on the bottom of the oil fill cap?

[Bizquick98]

Originally Posted by LMP

OK...what signs do you have? Needle only or steam escapes the radiator? Does your heater loose heat and starts to blow only cold air? I ?

Its just needle right now. No white foam or any fluds leaking out that I can see. the air that was coming out was a little colder this time. The Lights seam to Dim a little bit more when I'm driving or running the heater. They didn't do that before. Do you think I could have 2 issues here. like mabye the ground is not getting enough contact. and something else causing any of the other problems?

I got it parked in a parking lot right now because I was not sure I should drive it home with the check engine light on and the heat gage just doing all these weird things. I reall want the error code off th e engine to see what is wrong. part of me is suspecting timing belt.

[LMP]

YOu can have a false high temp reading if these ground misses induce an error into the computer. The check engine light rarely means a no-go situation. ON the other hand, a slipped timing belt would show as poor power output...and hard starting. But the engine is non interference so no damage can result from slipped or even broken timing belt. In same situation, I'd attempt taking car back home to have it on hand for further analysis.

[Bizquick98]

Allright I got the car home now. and I took it to shucks and got the error code off the computer.
It says P560 Which the little print out they gave me says System Voltage Malfuntion.
So he is what has been done. I replace the battery this week. I also replaced the ends off my batery cables because they just were not getting a good fit on the battery post. on friday I had them test the alternator and everything said it was fine. so he suggested maybe just repalcing the batter cables with new ones. so I bought thoes. do you think I should do that or something else?

[LMP]

I think all of it - including P0560 - is consistent with the symptoms....does the battery have problems starting the car? Again, if cables/connectors do not deliver, the battery is not the culprit...if cranking speed seems to be low, measure voltage directly on the very battery poles....then on car system itself. I use to say that if car fails to crank, there are three possibilities: battery poles, battery poles and battery poles. I have seen too many change battery and say that was it...while in fact performing the change just allowed for better contacts with the battery connectors...so in the first place, scrape those contacts on battery side and connector side....

[Bizquick98]

Well I did find my negitive was not really getting the best contact. so I made sure its all good. and my check engine did go away. but my heat problems are still there. I was thinking alittle bit more and I decided to try and hear what the timming belt area sounded like. and I hear somthing flaping around in there. its 83,000 miles and I have replace the timing belt. its really possible I had 2 problems. I think I'm going to change the timing belt and water pump at the same time and see how it goes. I just wish I was totaly sure. It did Die on me at a stop light. and if I take the revs ver far part 3,000 the heat does start to go up a bit. not really fast but it does go up. So driving it home was a really diffcult. I don't know if any of ya know Western Washington but getting around most of the Eastside requires the freeway. not many off side roads unless you live in certian places.

[Bizquick98]

Okay I give up. I have tryed 3 times to time this car. I have installed the new timming belt and tensor. I also did the water pump sense I was in that area. Now I have timed it 3 times according to all the directions. and everytime the timing must be off because the car does not run right. it will try to die while driving under 2500 rpm's sometimes and the heat gage is going up while driving. when the car idels it seams to be doing fine but just a tiny bit rough not very much just a little bit. but it still idels at about 700-750 rmps. I'm just lost on this I can't afford the deal repair rates here. they want 4.1 hrs min to time the car. and I can get all the items off and back on in under 2 hours. my check engine light came on this morning and I did the code reader when I got here it says P326. So any Special Ideas to tips to fixxing these problems?

[LMP]

About the timing belt, I suppose you had this information
http://www.geocities.com/lmp4203/kia...TimingBelt.zip
in which case I think you cannot be wrong with what you have done: WHen you say you did it three times, I suppose each time was just to confirm it was right the time before....this is not "at random..."

Did you clean the Idle Air COntrol valve?
www.geocities.com/lmp4203/kiasport/IAC.jpg
THis is a 0$ operation but sticky idle valve is a common problem with unstable idle: remove and clean .
THe knock sensor error may be incidental and could be the result from a lean mixture because of stray air intake due to IAC valve.

[Bizquick98]

I'll try cleanning that when. I get home and see if that helps. But the 3 times is me taking it apart 3 times total and put it all back together. accoding to the documents you have post links to in many of these threads. So I really have no Idea why its not working correctly. Ik now the first time I did time it. I did it wrong and payed the deal 103.00 to tell me I got my timming off by 1 tooth on the Exhast Cam. So I really wonder if I can even trust these marks to time the car correctly. all I know is after I did all this work 3 times I can't afford to take it to the dealler everyt time to find out if my timing is off or on. Is there a way I can test the timming? like do they make a timming light that works off these distrubortless motors? I think that might answer my questions better that way I would know its not me screwing that up.

[Bizquick98]

After I was ready to give up today on my car. I came up with an Idea. I checked the error code with the one at shucks to just be 100% sure that the one I was using didnt have some old data in it ( I used the code reader we have at our truck shop at work) anyway it must have has something in it. and the code I got at shucks was a P560 which mean electrical malfunction or something to that extent. Anyway I decided to try one last thing. When I did my ground wire. part of the ground wire was grounded to the bottom trey of the battery holder. and that goes and connects to the fendor . Anyway I decide I would run a wire to the neg post on the battery to that trey because when I did my new cable it didn't have the thing I needed to ground that to the battery try. So after doing this. I drove about 300 yards and my Check engine light went out and my care runs perfect. I don't have that crazy crap going on with my heat gage and the blower works are full speed and my wires run at full speed. and my blinkers won't make my heat gage go up and down anymore. so its quite strage but the ground needs to be quite good on this car or you will have some very strange problems. so now after changed the timing belt and water pump and running battery cables I finaly got a good working car. I just now wonder what else do I need to change sense I'm at 83,000 miles. I think I did the spark plugs and fule filter at 73,000 or 72,000. so whats next to replace so I know how much money to save up for.