Kia Sportage 2010 2.0 CRDi

[chrisphoto]

I have just bought a 2010 Kia Sportage Titan 2.0 CRDi 4WD to tow our Bailey Unicorn 2 Valencia. Our last car was a Ford S-Max that towed the caravan effortlessly, but the Kia really struggles. The caravan is well within the Kia's towing ability, but going uphill the car nearly dies and pulling away on anything but a flat road is a nightmare of burning clutch smell.
Does anyone else use this combo and what are your experiences? It feels like there is a problem with the car but no garage seems to be able to pinpoint anything wrong. The car shouldn't be too underpowered for this caravan.
Thanks for any input.

 

[Mike]

Is this after the first tow, or a few? I am thinking maybe brakes binding/handbrake partially stuck on the caravan, unless you know its not that? The car shouldn't struggle to the extent you are saying. Something needs looking at before you burn the clutch out.

 

[otherclive]

Some Sportages had quiet low towing weights. What is your cars towing limit and it’s gross train weight? What is the cars bhp? Weight of caravan. Given the right specification the Sportage has a decent reputation as a tow car.
The burning smell seems an odd one. The obvious cause would be clutch slip but I’m sure that you and a garage would have spotted that as it’s so obvious. Could the clutch plates be worn down? I had a Sorento that went down on power one day and it was a split in the turbo hose that gave off a smell but different to the acrid smell of clutch burn. . But again a garage should spot that as even I did.

Looking at 2010 specs it should be 138 bhp and towing limit 1800 kg so based on that your outfit shouldn’t be having the problems that you describe.

 

[chrisphoto]

Thanks Mike. It was our first tow with the car. It’s definitely not the brakes - I always park it with the handbrake off and the mover has no trouble with it. It’s got ATC but I doubt that’s holding it back. I just wondered how others find the car with a 1,497kg van. The car is rated to 1,800kg.

 

[chrisphoto]

Thanks otherclive. The car is rated to 1,800kg and is the 148bhp engine. The clutch and flywheel were new 6 weeks ago. The van is 1,497kg fully laden. It’s going to Kia next week for a recall on the chassis (front and rear subframes need replacing) and they’re going to do a diagnostic on it at the same time, but it’s good to hear it should tow better than this. We were literally struggling up a hill at 5mph in 1st gear and unable to get any more speed up.

 

[Mike]

Obviously something badly wrong. A holed turbo hose, maybe? Or even the turbo itself. My sons turbo let go on his Navara, and it would barely pull itself down hill.

 

[Beachball2]

Keep us updated we would like to know what the problem
I also hope you get it sorted

 

[audiorob]

WEll that's an odd one...
What is the car like solo?
As it's a new car but an existing caravan and presents no problems to the mover, then we might assume there is not an underlying problem with the caravan, so are there any connection problems - for example is the linkage for the break-away cable snagging causing the handbrake to partially activate?
You are well within the limits for the car and the 2.0 diesel with 4wd should pull the van with ease!
Good luck getting it sorted!

 

[chrisphoto]

WEll that's an odd one...
What is the car like solo?
As it's a new car but an existing caravan and presents no problems to the mover, then we might assume there is not an underlying problem with the caravan, so are there any connection problems - for example is the linkage for the break-away cable snagging causing the handbrake to partially activate?
You are well within the limits for the car and the 2.0 diesel with 4wd should pull the van with ease!
Good luck getting it sorted!

Thank you for the reply. There is plenty of slack with the break away cable and everything else looks good. On the flat it tows ok, but as soon as there is any sort of hill it dies. The car should be a better match than the S-Max was, but the S-Max was way better towing. The car is off to Kia next week and I have a sneaky suspicion there will be a fault with the EGR valve or a related system. I will keep the thread updated.

 

[Grahamh]

I have same model as you but 2009 4WD. Used to tow an Elddis - a bit lighter than yours but can honestly say that I hardly new it was there. Didn't use 6th when towing as I thought that was a bit cruel as most of the time below 2500 revs in 5th. It will pull away from roundabouts with the van on faster than a lot of solo cars. When I bought it the fuel economy was awful so had it remapped for economy - that is It didn't boost the power much (already150HP) but brought the higher torque lower down the rev range so that I didn't change gear as much. The sportage rev range is quite high compared to some diesels - max revs 4500. Gets a bit raucous at the top end tho. Economy about 40-45 mpg solo on a long run and about 32 towing the van. It got rid of the slight stagger at low revs that Sportage suffers from as well. I dose the diesel with Millers every couple of tanks worth of diesel which keeps the EGR clean. The EGR is a b***er to remove and clean unlike my old ford which was easy so it pays to keep it clean. Other cons with the sportage - I changed the DMF and clutch at 90k miles which (with the 4wd) was a pig of a job but makes it feel like a different car.
hth's

 

[chrisphoto]

Sounds like you’ve got a completely different car to me Grahamh even though they’re identical ha ha. Solo on a long motorway run with economical driving I get 41 mpg and urban is 27 - might have a look at a tuning chip. Towing I was getting about 21mpg on my only trip away so far. The car had a new clutch and flywheel a few weeks ago and it did make it like a new car in comparison, but there is definitely something wrong somewhere.

 

[Hutch]

Slightly off thread, I had a 2008 Santa Fe , engine remapped, . It made a great difference to the car and the fuel economy.

 

[Thingy]

Injector issue perchance? Wouldnt explain the burning smell though. Struggling uphill, i have known fuel pumps cause that.

 

[chrisphoto]

Injector issue perchance? Wouldnt explain the burning smell though. Struggling uphill, i have known fuel pumps cause that.

Fuel pressure seems good with my OBD reader, but a leak off test might be a good idea for the injectors. I’m still thinking EGR valve not closing properly and letting too much exhaust into the combustion mix. I think the burning smell is from too little torque when pulling away meaning the clutch has to be slipped a bit or the engine stalls.

 

[littlebasher]

I had one of these (albeit an auto), plenty of power for towing (was a very accomplished towcar actually).

Going by what you've said, something clearly has a fault. Burning clutch smell from a nearly new clutch? sounds like there may be an issue with the install or the brakes on the caravan are binding.

 

[chrisphoto]

It’s been to Kia today and the diagnosis is a leaking EGR valve and an ECU update needed. They couldn’t find anything that they felt would cause such a loss of power when towing. I’ve checked the caravan brakes and the wheels rotate freely with a very slight scraping noise as the shoes touch the drums inside, which is as they should be.

 

[otherclive]

It’s been to Kia today and the diagnosis is a leaking EGR valve and an ECU update needed. They couldn’t find anything that they felt would cause such a loss of power when towing. I’ve checked the caravan brakes and the wheels rotate freely with a very slight scraping noise as the shoes touch the drums inside, which is as they should be.

Thanks for the update. Good news it’s only an EGR replacement. They can be a nuisance. I blocked mine off on my Disco 2 and Pajero when they misbehaved. But the generation 1 Sorento never gave any trouble over 70+k miles.

 

[Notmyvan]

Unfortunately many garages dont have mechanics who are very knowledgeable with diesel engines, yes they can strip them down and re build them but sometimes you have to go to a specialist for diagnostic.
Case in point I had a vehicle which was not running very well, the mechanic I use said it was the turbo, he fitted a turbo (parts & labour £500) and it was no different.
I rang a diesel specialist and as soon as I said what the engine was they immediately said that this engine had a known injector problem and recommended a replacement injector pump. Cost £350 and the engine ran perfectly.
So who you take it to can make a difference.
(I had a garage for 25 years and employed mechanics)

 

[Hutch]

Fully agree, with Not my Van, I had a Vectra with the 3.0 Isuzu V6 diesel engine, kept going into limp home mode. Took it to specialist for diagnostic read out. They suggested I needed new injectors. But I pointed out that they had missed, a fault code that said ignore fuel injectors, blocked filter in the fuel injector pump.