have you experimented with changing brands of fuel ?

 

What is the normal idle rpm for your car at cold start?
What is nomal idle rpm after fully warmed up?
What is the normal idle rpm for you car after a hot start?

I will first guess that the temperature of the block (and fluids in it) are much warmer than the temperature of the radiator water after the 1…2 hours. There could even be a temperature difference between the block, the rad and where the thermostat is located. This may cause the ECU to initially adjust the rpm idle for the temperature that the thermostat is providing, then adjust to the temperature of the coolent at first pass prior to it mixing with the temperature of the block and radiator. Keep in mind that the block will take quite a while to cool off and any coolent in there will follow.

Put your hand just under the surface of some cold water in a pail. Then pour couple cups of very hot water into the pail right where your hand is. You will feel the hot water right away. A moment or two later once the water mixes you would hardly know that any hot water was added at all.

I'm guessing.

 

i had a very similar problem on a fiat diesel....it was a faulty rev sensor......it eventually developed so that if the car engine was stopped it would restart for the next couple of minutes, then after that time period it wouldnt start for the next 20 mins.....then would restart fine!!!!......it was a cheap simple replacement repair. I have the Soul Diesel and have no such problem to yours with mine.

 

hello,
i have a 1.6 crdi soul (italy) and i have a similar issue.
after 5-10 seconds after ignition the engine has something like a "void" for a couple of seconds than runs smoothly and regular. this happened randomly in the past but now it seems to happen every time i start the engine and it is cold. no problem with warm engine.
i have read here in the forum someone had a similar problem and it was a sensor. i will try to search the post and will link it.
the dealer told that if there is no "check engine" light the diagnostics can see nothing, and they didn't try neither.... will try again tomorrow.
please keep us updated.
marco

 

here is the thread i talked about before
http://www.kiasoulforums.com/showthread.php?t=1654

the second or third post reports a problem similar to our, but don't know if and eventually how it was fixed. should the users who wrote help us this willbe welcome.
thanks

 

Hi Katik

My Soul does EXACTLY the same thing and has always done it.

The car is now well over a year old and was one of the first into the UK.

It doesnt do it all the time though so I have not reported it further and have basically 'given up worrying about it'

Basically, you think the engine is going to die but it never does. Once it picks up its fine..

I suspect its an electronic/software thing. My fuel system was checked for a different issue and the injectors were all performing well.

Oh PS in your PM U said "Could you please let us know what the sensor it was?"

It was a different issue... My seatbelt sensor (under the seat) was faulty and the buzzer was going off all the time! Can U imagine how much fun that was!!!! LOL

 

yesterday i took a trip to the dealer.
they ran a diagnostic and there was no errors. i wasn't able to reproduce the issue in front of them since we all know this comes only from cold engine...
they think there is no problem and suggested to try changing fuel brand.
i could leave the car at the dealer overnight and let them try but i guess that if the ecu doen't report any problem they can do pretty nothing.
anyway, keep in touch
marco

 

Just ask them to replace whatever sensor controls the tickover speed.....you are a customer.....they should value your need to be happy with the car.

 

Many Thanks to All…

Once (about 1 month ago) my car was checked by dealer - no error codes were found then and was also confirmed that last software (available here in Finland) is installed,
but also this issue was not reproduced then because engine was warm.

After that I recorded the video from this situation and finally dealer delivered it to Kia factory.
But as was sad - could take a very long time (months) before they responds...

Finally I reserved the service time again and it is next Thursday. I guess that I will reproduce this issue then.
Now I am almost sure that it is some sensor - revolution, idle speed or something like that, thanks tempest and not software "feature" because our problematic cars were produced in the different times.

Oh, today it happened for the first time when car was fully cold.

praseodimio (marco), when your car was produced?

 

hi katik,
i am not sure about the production year, but i am 99,9% confident it was 2009. i purchased the car last month but it was in stock.

please let me know how your service will manage the question because here they are quite reluctant if the computer doesn't see the problem
it's really irritating to leave the car there overnight only because they seem to not trust what i am saying...

my issue develops preferentially when the engine is cold, sometimes when it is half-cold but the problem is very similar to what you describe except my rpm doesn't go down to 500 but keeps a little higher.

 

You could be having same issues i had with crd diesel

Fuel fuel fuel, the fuel heater plug would melt then allow air into the system thus air in fuel. Maybe changing fuel filter would help but I would look over at lostkjs.com or vwtdiclub.com ask them

 

thanks for the input corolla, but if the problem is what you wrote should we experience the issue also with warm engine?
here we all have the problem with cold or half-cold engine only.... at least till now...

if you have any links please let we know because i wasn't able to find anything.
thanks

 

katik,
is there any news about the problem?
what did the service told you?
thanks

 

Well, yesterday I was in Kia service.
I fully warmed the engine before and after one hour it was started by serviceman with test computer connected,
my problem was reproduced and all available data was logged and stored within 10 minutes from the moment of engine start.
Unfortunately I haven’t seen all this process… After 1.5 hours all investigations were done.
Here shortly what serviceman sad me after that: According to data all sensors and others parts works correctly.
Latest available software downloaded to car computer. There is nothing to do at this moment.
Engine’s data will be forwarded to Kia factory and need just wait for repair instructions from there or from Kia main service in Finland…
One Kia Ceed diesel has same issue but on overnight cold engine (all the time, driven already 80000 km) and it is not resolved yet.
Another one Ceed diesel had similar issue on certain RPM while driving and it was resolved by computer’s software update…
Finally serviceman said that he made some kind of Soul computer resets…
I am not sure now, but after that I have started half-cold engine 3-4 times and looks that this problem is gone.
I will follow up the situation during this weekend and if it is so I will ask from service more information about these computer resets.

 

hello katik,
i still didn't have time to go again to the service but last time they said me too have the last software and didn't find any errors.
please let me know if the reset resolved the problem and if possible also the "kind" of reset so that i can force them to try on my soul too.
many thanks from italy
marco

 

finally i took the car to the service.
the good news is that they recognized the problem and the fact that this is not normal... the bad news is that they are still guessing the cause.
in the meanwhile i have noticed that when the missing happens and rpm go to 500 there is some white smoke from the exhaust.
this fact led the service thinking there is a problem of combustion. they guess there is an injector leaking and that during stop time some drops of fuel fall in one of the cylinders causing the problem during the following startup.
indeed it makes sense to me that could be a problem of "time" between a stop and the following startup instead of a "temperature" issue.

they ordered a new injector and will try to find if there is one leaking. will let you know news.
please let me have your thoughts.
marco

 

since the weather has warmed up, my diesel has started doing something a bit strange. I start up from cold fine......drive a couple of hundred yards.......and then the engine suddenly loses power, fades away- then comes back and its all normal. Seems as tho the car is taking a 1 or 2 second gulp before accelerating....wonder if this is the beginnings of what you have?

 

i think our is a different issue, at least my car do not have this and runs well. the only problem is the little missing 10 seconds after cold start up.

 

Hello
I drive 1,6 CRDI too. And I am troubled by exactly the same issue (loss of rpm on cold start for a few seconds). I know from the Polish Kia Soul forum that I'm not the only one. For now problem seems to be totally random. I haven't talked to my dealership yet. (but I really doubt they can do something about it, so i decided to wait and see).
Anyone with the same problem, keep us posted please.
P.S. year of production 2009, model year 2010, Odometer: 9000 km

 

mine is doing exactly the same as yours now. Start it up....runs fine for a few seconds....hunts and revs drop for a few seconds.....then all is ok. Will mention it at the first service and let you know next month. Seems to be a common issue with the diesel.

 

well, the group is coming bigger...
i had a trip in northern italy where the temperature are a lot colder than here (no more than 21°C vs 32°C) and the car didn't had the problem in three days...
could it be related to outside temperatures?

i am curious to see what this winter will happen...

 

Or the fuel in Northern Italy??

 

i dont live in northern Italy....im English....its happening to the English Souls too.

 

seems like an initial fuel starvation issue when the injection switches from starting up ...to then running.

 

when i took the car to the service last time they told could be an injector problem and ordered a spare to try but till then i didn't had time to take the car to them.
i guess they have the same think as tempest.
marco

 

Wish we could get diesel here. What kind of fuel economy do you get.

 

averaging 50-52mpg now after 11,000 miles......should improve a touch more with more miles on the clock.

 

and as a comparison to Tempest's, mine has nearly 700 miles on the clock,(yeah, very new and only filled up once), and I got about 420 miles on the first tank, due to the engine being tight, but it will get up to the 500 miles per tank as it loosens up with age. I traded in a 1.2 litre petrol Nissan Micra for my Soul, and get the same mileage as that, so I am very happy with the economy and it will get even better.

Tony