Kia Optima

"Engine seized. Towed to dealer who received KIA approval to replace engine under warranty. They had a lot of cars with this issue I heard."

"Engine was burning oil at an excessive rate, needing oil changes every 2500 miles"

"This is a know problem with the engine in this year/model Kia Optima. I bought the car in Apr 2023. It had 121,000 miles. Shortly after buying I was driving g and my engine oil warning light started flickering. There was barely any oil showing on the lipstick. I put 2 quarts of oil in it and started checking my oil weekly. I was putting 1 to 2 quarts of oil in everything I checked it. I also watched closely under the car and it was not leaking. (After doing some research and realizing thos was a known problem. I brought it back to the dealership I bought it from and they basically shrugged their shoulders and would not help me. I took it to a Kia Dealership and they ran a diagnostic in the car. My car was not identifying the proper engine code under OBD2 diagnostics for Kia to replace it. Luckily I had an aftermarket AUL extended warranty. The Kia dealership comtacted AUL and they sent an adjuster out to determine if they would cover it. I was lucky and they determined the issue was covered by the warranty. The engine was sent to a Depot Kia had set up to complete the rebuild because they had so many models with this similar engine and problem. The rebuilt engine was returned to the dealership, imstalled it, and so far is running well and not burning any oil."

"(NOTE: CR does not list this model Optima in it's options. It is a model FE, which is not defined anywhere in the manual but may stand for Fuel Efficient or Fleet Edition.) It became obvious that it was burning oil at about 75000miles, in 2023. Oil level was down 3 qts at 5000 mile oil change at that time. Since then is using approx. 1 qt every 1200 miles. Kia dealer service rep.admits it is a common problem with this engine. Kia service rep. states that KIA requires it to burn 1 qt. every 500 miles before they will repair it. I expect the oil burning to cause problems with smog emissions control systems. I plan to trade this car in on a more reliable model soon."

"Vehicle is burning oil. In between oil changes, I have to add 2 quarts of oil."

"This Kia model is subject to a recall for excessive oil consumption. But it's close to impossible to take advantage of the recall. They jump you through time consuming hoops - many dealers won't even do the recall testing unless the owner pays for much of the cost. I found one rolling to do it, but because my car burned just under a quart during the test people I have to start the process all over again. It's infuriating. They are trying to run out the clock on the recall people, it seems to me. Can you help?"