Friday, August 7, 2026
RecallGazette

Vehicle problems, recalls & safety intelligence

2004 Kia Sorento engine and engine cooling problems

46 owner complaints filed with NHTSA name the engine and engine cooling on the 2004 Kia Sorento21% of all complaints for this model year.

46
Engine and Engine Cooling complaints
21%
share of all complaints
68,000 mi
median reported incident mileage
0 / 2
crash / fire reports

What owners report

  • Tl* the contact owns a 2004 kia sorento. The contact stated that the steering wheel seized and excessive forced was required. The failure occurred on several occasions. The dealer replaced the bolts. While driving at various speeds, the bolts fractured from the harmonic balancer. The vehicle was…

    filed Sep 2, 2014

  • We purchased our sorento used (approx 65k miles)about 3 years ago. Since then, we've had to replace the gas tank ($1500) among other things. This year has been absurd: had to replace the radiator, water pump, computer system (2 months, $4700), brakes ($750) and 2 batteries. 2-3 months ago, we…

    filed Aug 12, 2013

Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.

Related service bulletins

  • PITSTOP - ENGINE COMPONENT RE-USE GUIDELINES - In general, parts and components removed during engine repairs should be considered serviceable, and should be thoroughly cleaned and transferred to the new engine.

    PS539 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 2, 2018
All 2004 Kia Sorento TSBs →

Counts are unique NHTSA complaints naming this component group. Complaints are unverified owner reports; mileage is computed only from complaints that included a usable odometer reading.