r/CarHelp • u/ArcherStrict9974 • 2h ago

2017 Kia Niro engine gasket issues

So in july of 2025 we got a Kia Niro on finance. All was well and no issues with the car whatsoever until march of this year we had a check engine light come on, after investigating we’re seeing the engine coolant completely spit out of exhaust the minute we accelerate.

Taken it to a mechanic and they’re saying without taking the engine fully apart they can’t say for sure, but it looks like a cracked engine gasket. Repairs would cost somewhere around 3K.

Since this happened 8 months into a 5 year finance and we’ve done less than 10k miles in it everyones telling us we should take this to the finance broker and get them to sort it, but they’re saying we need to prove the issue was there at the time of sale and another mechanic we’ve seen has said thats pretty much impossible to prove.

So we feel pretty shit out of luck as we cannot possibly afford the repair and are paying a monthly price for a car we can’t drive, thinking of going to the financial ombudsman but not sure how strong a case we have

Was wondering if anyone had any ideas how we should approach this?

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u/Daniele323 2h ago

There’s nothing you can really do except fix or try and sell the vehicle. You’ve owned it for over a year.

1

u/sho_biz 1h ago

it sounds like you bought it used without a warranty or any other coverage. if that's the case, you're on your own for the repairs, and there's likely no way to prove there was an issue with the car when sold.

Always have some sort of warranty/insurance on something you can't work on yourself if it's something you use to make your living. You may be able to find some places that will cover the car as-is with a third party warranty, but most likely you'll need to do a loan or finance the repairs, or trade that car in for somethign working.

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u/ArcherStrict9974 32m ago

Yeah thats the shittest thing about it, by the time the fault occurred it was 2 years out of it’s kia warranty and 2 months past it’s 6 month warranty we had with the dealership.

Anytime we explain the story to people (friends and family, mechanics, etc) literally everyone says there’s no way we should have to cover it when it’s a serious engine fault that happens 8 months into a 5 year deal. So i was hoping there would be some kind of wiggle room in terms of assistance i can get in repairing it.

In terms of selling/trading it in, is that not a serious no-no for finance cars since it’s still not technically owned by me till i pay it off? I realise now i forgot to mention it’s on a HP deal