I have a 2002 Kia Sportster. It has Oil, Gas and the Radiator is full of Water. While Driving, I noticed steam coming in from the vents inside the cab. Then all at once it felt like someone "pulled the plug" on the car, Slowly decreased speed from 60mph to 0mph, coasting to a stop on the off ramp. Put it in park opened the hood, Steam was pouring from the crankshaft, and of course when I releqased the preasure from the oil cap, steam came out from there as well. Checked the oil is had 2 quarts, and The Radiator and resivor was filled. After the steam settled. I tried restarting the car, it wouldn't start, lights would dim with every crank. The car would whine. I did a check of the Belts, the Alternator and AC belts were on, matter of fact when I try to start the car the belts run. Only belt I can't see if the Timing Belt. Any Idea what could of happened??
Most likely you had a major malfunction internally. There shouldn't be any steam coming from the oil cap. It sounds like you had a head gasket fail or your block cracked, for it to happen as fast as it did I think you have something major wrong. Check your oil again and see if it has a milky color to it. If water has been introduced to it you will see it. Also if the oil is suddenly higher than the full mark then you can estimate how much water is in the oil. Any huge change will mean you probaby have the cracked block, if it's a head gasket you might not see much of a change in oil, but you will need to have it repaired before it will run.
No it wouldn't have had to make a sound if it cracked. I have seen a lot of cracked heads that had no audible problems. Though with the amount of steam you're talking about it's probably a pretty large leak. On the plus side it may only be a head gasket that let go if there's no increase in oil level. If it suddenly puts water into a hot cylinder it will create a lot of steam that can come back through the intake. It could also have leaked externally and sprayed water onto a hot exhaust. But my guess is internal if steam came out of the oil fill cap. I would start by checking compression in each of the cylinders. They sometimes rent pressure gauges that you screw into the spark plug holes. Then crank the engine and check the pressure in each cylinder. If one has a significant difference in pressure that's the cylinder with the issue, whether its a head or gasket is yet to be determined.
It sounds to me like the starter is trying to turn the vehicle over... but it can't and is making a high pitch whine. What you're telling me is that the engine won't even turn over. If that's the case there is some major internal damage to the engine. Possible seizing of the pistons or broken timing belt. This is going to require a teardown to diagnose. I would suggest removing the intake and heads first to see if you can see anything major. Is it still under warranty. I thought kia did a 10 year warranty, but I could be wrong. If you don't have any mechanical experience you may have to take it to a shop, and it won't be cheap if you have to pay for it.
That is a possibility, though with the symptoms you described I believe it's much more than that now. Anything that may be jamming the engine components internally is a possible suspect. A broken timing belt can result in broken pistons, bent valves, cracked heads, cracked blocks, all sorts of bad mayhem can come from this. Honestly at this point a teardown is needed. A broken timing belt would usually be encased in some sort of housing. The idea being that water, oil, dirt etc don't get in and cause undue damage to the belt. So you may not be able to see it, It's usually under a cover on the front of the engine.
It's possible that the steam has caused a short somewhere in the system. It's also possible that a fuse may have been blown during the same incident. Aside from that, without seeing it I really can't give you any better information.
If it's a heater core the fluid in your radiator would be really low and there would be coolant in the interior of the vehicle. This would not cause the vehicle to loose power and stop running. The reason the lights go dim is because the starter is drawing a lot of amps to try to turn the engine over. Almost all vehicles do this to some extent, they really do it in cold weather and will definitely do it when the engine doesn't turn over. If the engine isn't cranking over it's seized up, something is binding it. As to the radio My guess is that the starter is drawing so many amps trying to start the car that it's causing the stereo to loose memory. Does it still loose memory if you just turn the key to the on position without trying to start it?
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Currently having the car towed from the offramp to home. Just wished it would've started enough and allow me to drive it home to save some $$$
The Oil looked normal. Wouldn't I heard a loud noise of some sort of somthing cracked?
But here's the thing...The Engine won't start. Its Whines and the dash lights dim everytime I crank it
So A broken timing belt would cause the engine to not start. wouldn't I see pieces of the timing belt at all? or is it all inside a case?
one thing I noticed which was kinda weird. My radio stations have all been erased. So just for kicks I added 1 station, turned the key off, then tried starting the car, my 1 station was gone. But..my battery is fully charged.
Nope, no short. Battery has a full charge. My only thought, well ok. My girlfriend's though is it could also be the heater core and the alternator. Cause when I crank it, the lights grow dim, but brighten back up once I stop turning the key. She feels the heater core went. not sure why
Nope, no short. Battery has a full charge. My only thought, well ok. My girlfriend's though is it could also be the heater core and the alternator. Cause when I crank it, the lights grow dim, but brighten back up once I stop turning the key. She feels the heater core went. not sure why
Nope, no short. Battery has a full charge. My only thought, well ok. My girlfriend's though is it could also be the heater core and the alternator. Cause when I crank it, the lights grow dim, but brighten back up once I stop turning the key. She feels the heater core went. not sure why
Nope, no short. Battery has a full charge. My only thought, well ok. My girlfriend's though is it could also be the heater core and the alternator. Cause when I crank it, the lights grow dim, but brighten back up once I stop turning the key. She feels the heater core went. not sure why
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