Kia Sorento Crank Sensor

If you're reading this post, more than likely you're either a car nut like me, or you've searched the net to come upon my site to figure out why your Kia Sorento SUV is acting up.

My neighbors, have a 03 Sorento with 99K miles. It died on them mysteriously the other day, and they had it towed home. The car starts and runs but you rev it and the check engine light comes on and it dies.

Well, I scanned it and it comes up with a Crank Sensor Fault. Heres the problem, the crank sensor access requires timing cover removal....which requires FEAD removal. This project is not for the faint of mechanicals but can be done in around 5 hours if you have air tools. This would also be a good time to replace your FEAD belts (3 of them) and inspect your timing belt. My neighbors had the belt replaced at 60, so we wont touch them.

The sensor is a Borg Warner CSS1002, and is available at Pep Boys for around 130 bucks. Its a simple operation, take everything off, and put it all back together.

What about the 10 year, 100k warranty, you ask? Read the fine print. The warranty is a bare bones deal, covers the block, crank, and certain hard parts. Nothing like sensors and other stuff that tends to fail with heat soak. So, what happens if you end up not having a neighbor like me? Your first instant reaction would be "Oh I have a warranty", and have it towed in, and then letting the dealer tear it down, and then tell you its not under warranty. I asked my neighbor to call and ask what it costs to do the repair at the dealer. HE was quoted "Around 750 dollars" OUCH!

Time for another trip to the store!

Well once again, this single guy made his usual pilgrimage to the local grocery store to stock up on supplies. As usual, I challenge myself to save as much as I can, and this time, looks like I knock almost 20% off my bill with coupons.

Remember my trip last time?

Anyone else care to play? The lady behind me was getting impatient until she started looking at the screen. "Wow, almost 17 dollars off??? Thats really good!"

TVs GALORE

So now I have a 65" TV in the living room...which means the 42" will go into the Bedroom...then the 37" will go into the...um...guest room....Now...the 21" will go to the hmmm...where else should I have a TV....uhm Garage, on a wall mount....and the 13" will...sit in the dark corner of the closet!

Seriously, I never thouhgt I'd have too many TVs.

For those of you who were considering putting a plasma in your bedroom, they put out LOTS of heat. I'm going to attempt to mount it on the wall in the next few weekends before my dad and his wife arrive.

Used Oil Analysis....More Car fun...

Some people may think I take the car maintenance thing a little too far sometimes. Well perhaps I do.

On my diesel Mercedes, I run 12,000 miles between oil changes. Yes thats right, twelve thousand. I do change the filter and top the oil off every 3,000, and at 6,000 and when I change it, I send a sample in to Blackstone Labs for a UOA or "Used Oil Analysis". Theres two reasons I do this.

1. I want to know whats going on with my car. I'm approaching 280,000 miles quickly and its nice to know whats going on inside. Kind of like bloodwork.
2. I use Synthetic Oil, which is costlier but one of the key benefits I like is better protection and extended drain intervals (or so they claim)
3. Extended Drain intervals means less impact on the environment, even if you do recycle the oil.

I'm not a big environmentalist or anything dont get me wrong, but there's no reason to pollute more than I need to.

So the last UOA report I just got in, shows that wear materials are high, and potassium is high. I spoke with a guy at the lab and he explained that just changing the filter isn't going to remove the amount of wear materials (iron copper etc) from the oil, and most certainly not coolant. Now if I had a bypass filter on this car, then I would be fine for thousands of miles more, but how far are we going to take this on a car fast approaching 300,000 miles?

Anyway, heres a link to the report.

I think the plan here is to change the oil at 5,000 this time and send a sample in again to see whats going on. The odd thing is, I'm not losing any coolant. Go figure.

Daylight Saving Time!

Dont forget to "Spring Forward" before bed Saturday night.

Interesting tidbit I never knew. It's "Daylight Saving Time" not "Daylight Savings Time" Someone actually wrote a whole article about it.

Anyway, dont forget to change 'em before bed tonight!