[oldred]

I had a thread similar to this in the electrical section a while back and now by coincidence I have a very similar problem but this time it is not about what could happen but what has happened. What I have is a 2000 Kia Sportage that the gas gauge failed on and the low fuel level light came on and stayed on. When I removed the fuel pump/sender unit I found the wire inside the tank to the sender had melted, it had not burned in two but it had burned off the insulation completely. After the earlier thread I was left with the impression that the current is limited to the sender and would not be high enough to cause a problem like this but this was, as far as I can tell from what is left, a 16 GA wire and it got pretty danged hot! Is this a common occurrence? My concern here is that there is something wrong besides the sender and that if I just replace it then the same thing will happen again and next time they may not be so lucky and start a fire. Best I can tell, and I may be wrong, it looks as if the wire to the sender feeds into the computer instead of going directly to the gauge so I am a bit leery of checking for power and/or resistance until I find out a little more. ANY info on this, directly related the KIA or not, would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[pepi]

that is one of those china cars right? do'nt eat the paint.

[Henry Highrise]

Originally Posted by pepi

that is one of those china cars right? do'nt eat the paint.

Ha Ha Ha Actually I think its a Korean car.

[matt167]

Yea, Kia is a Korean car. they had electrical problems around that time period, I know someone with a '00 Rio, it had an electrical fire and got totaled. don't know much else

[oldred]

This is not my car it belongs to a friends daughter, I would not take this POS if they gave it to me! It is a 2000 model with 38000 mi and it is literally falling apart, the screws that hold the fuel pump/sender unit had rusted so badly along with the top of the tank that they just ripped out and left a real mess. I think I can turn the unit a few degrees and drill new holes and the gasket will seal the old ones but he just called to tell me that the unit is nearly $700.00 from the dealer! Not sure if he is going to even replace the sender now.

[matt167]

My brother has an '01 Sephia, it's decent. pops passanger side window motor fuses quite often tho. has over 150k on it. the Sportages are crap tho. the Auto's had a problem w/ shifting into reverse in cold weather, often they wouldn't/ won't... Vehicle might value in the $5k range now, consider that w/ the
repair cost's.

[pepi]

Originally Posted by Henry Highrise

Ha Ha Ha Actually I think its a Korean car.

oops!.... they all look the same to me, weird logos on upside down bathtubs with wheels and windows.

[MAUSS]

It's a problem that's not limited to Asian cars... mid 90's GM B-bodies (Caprice, Impala SS, Roadmaster) have the same issues with the in-tank fuel pump wiring.

[oldred]

It must be really common with the KIA because he called around to the salvage yards looking for one and was told they sell them as fast as they come in.

[65fish]

Sounds like a ground problem. That wire in the pump is probably the weakest link in the harness causing it to burn. I would clean all of the grounds. If that doesn't work drive it off a cliff.

[68RATVT]

The Ford Windstar had a big problem with meltdowns, even caused a couple of fires, funny they never did a recall though.The problem was corrosion/dirt/grime builds up on the connection on top of the tank, thus making the energy work harder,melt. Ford "Fixed" it by putting a boot on top.

[oldred]

Thanks, I am still waiting on him to decide what to do about this thing and still open to suggestions about what to do. I have done some google research on this and it is surprising that this is a problem but I am finding there are cases of fires occurring from this.