Dear prof. G

I quite agree this surprised me and the mechanics at KIA workshop aswell never seen such case before one said. He said they drilled hole at the timing gear cover to put in a scope like the doctors do nowdays in operations. After they had noticed change on the rpm when pushing the clutch down.I had also noticed similar as when the engine was running fine inside the garage but as soon as I drove over the treshold something happened but was not sure why therefore checked on wires around the clutch pedal but found nothing out of order.The KIA men said the endplay was 4-5 mm which is much.Is possible to change bearings without removing the eng.?? Br. IK

That's crazy; It's just another check added to the diagnostic arena. Sure, just loosen the main caps and use non metallic tools to R/R the bearings, it's just not as simple as it sounds, it takes work and caution to not cause other damage. Plenty of lube and proper torque.

I was thinking about the oil pan and the work space for the bearing change as in my mind was to change all not only the thrustbearings.I was also thinking as a solution to replace the crank sensor by putting some metalsheet in between it and the block enable it to have saver readings even with mouvment of ca 4 mm( based on how big the endplay really is) Is that crazy idea ?? Reg IK

Whatever you think that will allow it to have a wider range to read the ring. Doesn't hurt to try. All it can do is work or not work.

Thanks,I will sleep on it Keep you inf. about progress Br IK

OK I have to say something so you can respond here on this post. :-)

Last news are the prev. owner will take the car to garage on his cost and have it fixed acc.to KIA agent´s result. My mechanic´s experience tells me 4-5 mm play is strange ( if that is true) and if true tells me bad story of quality.I ask myself :What can course so much endplay? Could that be what I call"in town driving" frequent use of clutch stop and start? We will see what happens after the shop visit. Br IK

Well the crank bearings must be pretty cheep quality, and I bought and drive a 2011 Soul for fuel economy. I myself have to wonder more vehicles haven't had any problems. There are a lot of city drivers out there, and agree with the older KIA lines as they first came out with cheaply built, but they have come a long way in quality. Hope it works with the original owner.

To day was u-turn in my KIA problem .That problem began with code on cam sh. sensor I had that replaced but not much changed. Acc. to KIA specialists the reason for pendling idle speed and periodicly shut down was the crank shaft end play was too big and affecting the signal from the crank sh. sensor.Indipendent work shop changed the crank sensor and the car is running fine and no ups and downs on idle speed and no shuts down- in other words ok. This tells me at least the crank sensor can be faulty without showing any code and I would like to see better works from the Kia specialists at their agency workshop Regards IK