[Lxptm]

Hi!

I have a Kia Soul 2014. About 54,000 miles in and the engine began stalling at idle with no check engine light to warn me theres something super wrong. All the electricals work but engine just shuts off and I can start the car again like nothing happened at all. It does it randomly and it also was starting to have issues with long cranking times but they went back to normal. I took it to a kia certified shop and they did the carbon cleaning service, changed both filters and they found nothing wrong. Of course when they tested the car it behaved and did nothing ) I ran it again after a day and engine stalled again. Theres literally nothing else wrong with it. Could it be a clogged fuel filter or crankshaft position sensor? Ive been reading similar situations and Im hoping its just that. I have cancer treatment I need to pay for and I just cant have my car giving up on me now when I need it the most.

(Also, in 2019 the check engine came on for the first time and it said an ignition coil was bad so they changed it and the check engine light went away and car ran smoothly until October last year when it started acting like this. It also went without being used for a week or two every month during the pandemic.)

 

[SoNic67]

If it dies at idle I would suspect IAC valve.
If dies when the car is actually moving, with 1000 rpm or more... it's something else. Fuel pump, fuel filter maybe, because those won't set a CEL.

I wish you good health and success with the treatment!

 

[westslope]

If it dies at idle I would suspect IAC valve.
.....

Does the 2014 Soul have an Idle Air Control valve? I ask because I cannot find it in the factory service manual (FSM).

There was an Idle Air Control valve in the 2009-2011 Souls.

As I went looking through the FSM, I came across the PCV valve as a possible cause of rough idling and stalling.

The PCV valve is easy to either clean or replace.

Also mentioned as a possible cause: vapor hose damaged or disconnected. But the shop should have caught that.

Ignition wiring and the ignition coil are also mentioned as possible causes. I would think that if another ignition coil had failed that it would manifest itself in more than just a rough idle.

 

[bwdz75]

There is no IAC. These engines use an Electronic Throttle Body that is duty cycle pulsed through the ECM. The symptoms sure sound like a crank position sensor going out but it could be a multitude of other things. One easy test is to see if your tachometer bounces at around 200rpm when you are cranking it and it is not starting. If the CPS is the culprit you usually see the tach not move when cranking or do something erratic.
When you took it in what did the fuel trims look like when you took it in? Why did they do the carbon cleaning besides the obvious answer that maybe you were overdue for one but how would that fix a stalling issue as it has nothing to do with it.

 

[Lxptm]

The shop suggested the carbon cleansing because it was LONG overdue and the air filter was super clogged. They cant fetch any codes so they started with the carbon cleansing. I did notice that the RPM struggles to stay at 1k and it bounces between like 600 -1k rpm when its in idle at a red light before the engine just shuts off randomly without warning. It flat out goes out, its not even a rough idle, it just stops. Sometimes is a little shaky but its very subtle and I think Ive felt some misfires. The last filter that needs to be checked is the fuel filter.

 

[bwdz75]

You don't need to check the fuel filter, it won't cause this problem and I have never replaced one on a Kia and I am a tech at a Kia dealer. it's inside the tank and it will not be a problem. So it starts shaking with misfires, it should have had some kind of pending code. If you have a scanner you can watch the data and look at the misfire data when it starts to shake. If you get it to crank for an extended time and not fire just watch the tach to make sure it is bouncing around before it starts. If the tach is not moving go right to the crank sensor.
As for codes the factory Kia scanner can go into global OBD II but most dealer techs do not realize that it will provide them with all kinds of info that using KDS will not including recording misfires and potentially having freeze frame data from the event. Try a good technician who will look beyond the obvious.

 

[fam.pina2000]

You don't need to check the fuel filter, it won't cause this problem and I have never replaced one on a Kia and I am a tech at a Kia dealer. it's inside the tank and it will not be a problem. So it starts shaking with misfires, it should have had some kind of pending code. If you have a scanner you can watch the data and look at the misfire data when it starts to shake. If you get it to crank for an extended time and not fire just watch the tach to make sure it is bouncing around before it starts. If the tach is not moving go right to the crank sensor. As for codes the factory Kia scanner can go into global OBD II but most dealer techs do not realize that it will provide them with all kinds of info that using KDS will not including recording misfires and potentially having freeze frame data from the event. Try a good technician who will look beyond the obvious.

Hey bwdz75, since you are a tech at Kia I will make a short inquiry, basically my 2017 Forte 130k miles, began stalling at low RPM's first at stop lights/signs, then in the middle of the freeway. Since I was not driving the car daily I had not checked the oil and by the time I did, I realize it was 2 qts low. I read at a post that that could throw it out of time so, putting together the low oil, the stalling, and the rough iddle. I assume it was a timing problem and had the chain replaced. I saw the chain before it was removed and it was definitely out of wack, but even after replacing it the problem persisted with accompanying codes P0017, P0014, and P0106. I saw another post here that suggested taking the ECU fuses out for about 10-30 secs (ECU 15A and ECU 10A) to fix the problem, and lo and behold the car improved, almost no stalling, but still sporadically dying when going under 500 RPM'S. Therefore my questions is, if resetting those fuses actually causes a difference, then shouldn't that point to a problem with the fuse box itself? I hope you can come up with a sensor within the ignition/idle speed system that could be failing, I am willing to renew all the sensors if necessary.

 

[bwdz75]

Anytime you change the timing chain or had timing related codes they need to reset the adaptive values, pulling fuses is not enough. I am assuming you have the 2.0 GDI (sad but the MPIs are never low on oil so I am making the GDI assumption) P0106 is a map sensor code, it could be potentially set because when your idle bounces around the vacuum would be bouncing all over the place. It could also be the cause of your stalling. Considering it is a cheap part (only get genuine Kia part) and it takes 1 bolt to replace it I would just get a new one and pop it in as it is cheaper than paying an hour to diagnose it.

 

[davidjohn]

Hi!

I have a Kia Soul 2014. About 54,000 miles in and the engine began stalling at idle with no check engine light to warn me theres something super wrong. All the electricals work but engine just shuts off and I can start the car again like nothing happened at all. It does it randomly and it also was starting to have issues with long cranking times but they went back to normal. I took it to a kia certified shop and they did the carbon cleaning service, changed both filters and they found nothing wrong. Of course when they tested the car it behaved and did nothing ) I ran it again after a day and engine stalled again. Theres literally nothing else wrong with it. Could it be a clogged fuel filter or crankshaft position sensor? Ive been reading similar situations and Im hoping its just that. I have cancer treatment I need to pay for and I just cant have my car giving up on me now when I need it the most.

(Also, in 2019 the check engine came on for the first time and it said an ignition coil was bad so they changed it and the check engine light went away and car ran smoothly until October last year when it started acting like this. It also went without being used for a week or two every month during the pandemic.)

If there's not enough fuel pressure from the fuel pump or from a blocked fuel filter, your car might stall at idle. Usually it won't run very well at higher RPMs either

 

[westslope]

Out of curiosity @davidjohn, did you read the thread before posting?

 

[Minniemouse14]

Hi!

I have a Kia Soul 2014. About 54,000 miles in and the engine began stalling at idle with no check engine light to warn me theres something super wrong. All the electricals work but engine just shuts off and I can start the car again like nothing happened at all. It does it randomly and it also was starting to have issues with long cranking times but they went back to normal. I took it to a kia certified shop and they did the carbon cleaning service, changed both filters and they found nothing wrong. Of course when they tested the car it behaved and did nothing ) I ran it again after a day and engine stalled again. Theres literally nothing else wrong with it. Could it be a clogged fuel filter or crankshaft position sensor? Ive been reading similar situations and Im hoping its just that. I have cancer treatment I need to pay for and I just cant have my car giving up on me now when I need it the most.

(Also, in 2019 the check engine came on for the first time and it said an ignition coil was bad so they changed it and the check engine light went away and car ran smoothly until October last year when it started acting like this. It also went without being used for a week or two every month during the pandemic.)

Did you ever solve the issue? I’m having same problem and I’m at wits end.