I’ve had this car for the last 10 years, and I’m up to about 86,000 miles. I recently had to have the catalytic converter replaced, because it was completely blocked. The dealership wanted to charge me $4,300, but an independent mechanic got me up and running for less than $1,200 with non-OEM parts. Before the catalytic converter blockage, I had tried to clean out the engine with CRC intake cleaner as I’ve seen done online. I’m concerned that that cleaning may have led to the catalytic converter blockage, or at least exacerbated it.
Before that, I had to have my crank position sensor replaced.
I know I have the 2.0L 4 cylinder engine, which is generally considered better than the 1.6 that is more liable to failure, but everything I keep reading online keeps me constantly concerned that this vehicle is going to fail in a catastrophic way sometime soon. After the recent repairs, it’s running pretty well, and my gas mileage is going back up to levels that I expect from this car. However, I’m wondering if I shouldn’t get out of this vehicle while it still has some value, and maybe buy something that’s widely considered more reliable.
I’m especially concerned because of carbon buildup potentially accruing in this notorious GDI engine.
Thoughts?
I am a former Kia and Hyundai dealer tech, worked at a dealer for both for 6 years between 2012-2018.
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Cats failing on Souls was pretty common during the time I worked, most commonly failing with a P0420 code. In fact, this failure became so common that the warranty admin stopped asking us techs if we had checked the O2 sensor before replacing the cat because the O2 sensor was almost never the problem. So its not exactly uncommon for the cat to fail on a Soul, regardless of why or how. Theyre cheap cars.
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Intake cleaning is not really going to have any effect on the cat, and is only needed when you look at the throttle plate and it is dirty
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Carbon build up is only a problem if you drive only short city trips and don’t step on the throttle occasionally. Get on a highway and just throttle it up to merging speed quickly, do it a few times a month and carbon build up wont be a problem. If you are worried you can remove the spark plugs and put a camera into the cylinder, turn the engine over by hand via the crank bolt and you can usually peek the valve stems to see if there is carbon build up or not, otherwise if you remove the intake plenum you may need to replace the orange rubber seals
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2.0L and the 2.0T were the second most reliable engines of 2015, with the 3.3L V6 being the most reliable (in my 6 years of servicing Kias and Hyundais I only ever had to replace one due to no oil changes in 25k miles, with no major repairs on any) until all the 2.4Ls were replaced with the recall for free even 100k miles out of warranty, making them the most reliable by nature of being fresh engines
The thing about Kias and Hyundais I generally tell people is that they are great cars when they’re covered under warranty. Its better to lease new and trade in before the warranty expires so you keep it with a warranty, as long as you can afford it. Other than that, its a serious crapshoot because you have to consider if the previous owner actually took care of it or not, if you arent the original owner. These cars, being cheap and relatively new to market, are more sensitive to poor maintenance. As long as you take care of them they should be okay, but if you miss even just one step you will probably pay for it later on. Theyre not as forgiving as a brand like Toyota.
Would you keep it if it were you?
If you are actually taking care of it, and its not giving you problems, I don’t see why I wouldn’t keep it. I mean, except that I personally think theyre pretty ugly, but thats just my opinion.
I would keep an eye out on something else and definitely build up a backup fund, just in case. But again, if you are truly taking care of it (which is different from babying it or “driving it like a grandma”), at least the mechanical parts, then chances are pretty good that its not going to grenade on you randomly.
Personally, I would never own a Kia or Hyundai, not because they are bad (theyre only as bad as the maintenance put into them) but because I prefer old American cars instead. I find them easier to work on if something goes wrong and stupid cheap mechanical parts. Expensive on gas though. But its not for everyone, and I dont recommend it unless you have time and knowledge, and want to own one.
I was looking over it tonight and thinking, it’s not such a bad little car in a lot of ways. It’s lower mileage than any of its siblings I’ve seen for sale. I’m getting the oil changed every 5,000 miles or less. I just had this work done, and I just replaced the PCV valve myself and threw in a new air filter. I’m also seriously considering going to top tier gas–right now it’s cheap Murphy’s gas, and I worry about what that’ll do long term.
On the other hand, I know it should be time for the plugs and coil packs to be replaced soon, though. Also, I’m thinking it’s gotta be way past time to change the transmission fluid, if that’s even possible–not sure if it’s one of those sealed deals you see in modern cars or not. I’m not sure what else I ought to look at. I’ve looked for a Haynes or Chilton manual, but it looks like there isn’t one, at least not here in the States.
No, theyre not bad at all. Theyre just more temperamental than other brands. I obviously am not physically inspecting the car so I cannot say for certain, but it seems like it will probably be fine for a while.
Don’t cheap out on the plugs, definitely don’t cheap out on the ignition coils, just get OEM. Ironically, I think OEM can sometimes be bought cheaper than aftermarket. Also, be careful with the connectors on the harness, the plastic can sometimes get brittle depending on the local weather and if they break you are going to have to either replace the harness or repair the end, both probably ending up in a similar repair cost (IIRC those engines have a short harness for the coils that is removable from the main harness).
Transmission fluid is replaceable, its a simple drain and fill. Fill port is under the air folter box but be careful because it is also plastic. Its a 3/8 square drive. Don’t overtighten it, also it has a rubber o-ring, it only needs to be replaced if it is damaged or deteriorated. Crack open the service port on the front bottom of the plastic trans cover and fill until fluid begins to steadily flow out of the port then close it back up. Pretty easy but its kinda hard to get to since you gotta take stuff out of the way first.
All things considered, Kias and Hyundais are mostly easy to work on once you take the stuff that gets in the way, out of the way.
Thanks, I feel a lot better about this car now. I’m going to keep an eye out for a deal (unlikely as it is in the time of tariffs), but I’ll hold on for now. Another car payment is not what we need right now.
Btw, I kinda get that this community was probably intended for folks who are real gear heads into cooler cars than my Soul. As a mod, do you mind more content along the lines of daily driver type cars? There’s not really another option I can find for an active community around Lemmy.
I mean, any car can be a daily driver lol, mines 57 years old this year.
This community is just about cars. Anything about cars. Anyone can make a post about cars. It doesn’t need to be gear head only stuff, some people post about EVs and that’s not what most people think of when talking about gear head interests. I dont think anyone needs any technical knowledge to post here or anything. I don’t see why someone couldn’t post something about daily drivers, or any other type of cars really.
This community just has pretty low engagement despite being a default community, likely due to the average Lemmy user demographic having a pretty big overlap with the type of people that do not like cars. That’s just the way it is. I wouldn’t know other communities that might be more active. But more activity is not shunned, if you want to.post here more often about cars, feel free to.
Awesome! Thanks!
Is there an American car with good gas mileage that’s worth owning? I hear good things about the defunct Ford Fusion, but other than that, everything I hear good things about is old and gas-guzzling, like the Panther platform cars or the Buick LeSabre with GM 3800 series V6.
No. I mean, maybe but I don’t have much interest in American cars made after 1974 or without a V8. They can be tuned properly and driven to get about 20mpg, and an EFI conversion can make it better, but again I dont recommend it for most other people.
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Had to think on this one for a minute, hah. As a mechanic/car guy I do rather like Kia Souls. As far as cheap modern cars go they have always been pretty nice. However we can’t ignore that Hyundai/Kia are forever notorious for sudden catastrophic failures and machining mishaps. Plus GDIs are just not long life engines generally unless meticulously cared for. You got good life out of this car, and you probably have time to thoughtfully look for another. But don’t procrastinate, start the search now.
That’s my overall opinion. If you wanted to see how bad the GDI carbon buildup is you could pay a shop to remove the intake. I’d make sure they have a walnut blaster system; if it’s bad they could clean it properly. And a good indy shop could also possibly give you a better sense of how much life she’s got left, with a proper thorough evaluation. Though that’s money you’d have to spend, and a good mechanic to find. I’d still recommend starting the search for a new used vehicle. And check your oil.
I’ve done some light maintenance, and it’s been pretty easy going. Some of the stuff I’ve seen indicates they’re pretty easy to work on.
I’m concerned about the GDI issue, but it’s hard to find a car with good gas mileage that doesn’t have some version of it these days. I’ve heard Toyota solved a lot of the issues with a combination of direct and multi port injection, though.
Your thinking is kind of where I’m at. I want to plan on a replacement before too long, but I don’t want to jump into something worse.
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GDI engines are notorious for carbon buildup. I’ve seen recommendations to do a cleaning every forty thousand miles or so. Gas mileage was down and her engine just felt rough. That’s why I did it.
I do a lot of stop and go driving, and that’s not likely to change, and that’s supposed to be hard in these engines. That being said, I’ve had a tendency to have a heavy foot, so I don’t know if babying it is a problem.
I did rev the hell out of it when I got on the highway after the cleaning, and I had the biggest cloud white smoke come out of the exhaust I’ve ever seen. It was extreme.
Given that I was supposedly about 40,000 miles overdue, I’m worried I clogged my converter with this mess.
I’m kind of angry because I’ve never heard of anybody’s catalytic converter failing like this. The mechanic said it doesn’t appear there is any damage from driving it with this problem, and there’s no evidence of burning oil that we can see.
Ahh I deleted my comment because there was better advice, but you snuck in a response anyway.
My experience with carbon buildup was from a RX8 ages ago. Those were notorious and high RPM was one way of blowing out the gunk.
I also had to fix valve clearances on a Honda that caused carbon problems and pooched a O2 sensor.
Though “40,000 miles overdue” raises an eyebrow. Unrelated, I pooched an engine on a road trip once when a oil drain plug removed itself from service. Now that was a cloud. Ha!
Nothing specific for your car, although my wife’s ’17 Soul has been decent, warranty engine replacement notwithstanding. But with the car at ten years your powertrain warranty has expired or will very soon. I’m assuming you bought it new since it’s a 2015 you’ve had for 10 years. My inclination would be to say you’ve gotten your money’s worth out of it and it’s time to sell it while it still has some value. I would think it’s not necessarily great financially to take a car all the way from new to zero value. If you’re going to drive a car until it’s worth nothing I would think it’s better to buy the car when its value is already pretty low.
At the very least, try to figure out its current value and decide what value is where you want to sell it. Also keep in mind, if you’re going to buy new again and are in the U.S., this game of tariffs could make cars more expensive later this year. I’m not sure if there will be a knock-on effect raising prices outside the U.S. also.
In theory, CarMax might give me up to $6,000. I don’t want a new car payment, but everything I can get around that amount is much higher mileage and much older, though. I did see a 2013 Honda Fit with 50,000 miles for around $11,500, and I’ve heard good things about those.
I’m holding out hope for a good used Honda or Toyota to come along.
I’d really like a Prius. We have a CRV hybrid, and I dearly love getting above 40 miles/gallon. The only concern is the longevity of those hybrid batteries, though a lot of people say they last far longer than expected.
