My Wife has a 95 Sportage, It has ben in a dozzen shops in the last two years. It over heats just sometimes and when it does I check the coolant and it is shy over a gallon. No steam in the exhaust. Now the top hose on the plastic radiator is an issue It pops off constantly so I glued it on with some ABS cement and will see how that goes. It runs like a dream even thoug it has overheated more times than I can count. I have never seen a engine not blow a gasket after the first overheat. I am new to KIA's Is the overheating issue a know problem. She even had the A/C serviced last summer because someone said that the Pump might be doing it. I guess it usualy will overheat when she is running the A/C.... you gurus have any ideas?

I'm not surprized it overheats. The total cooling system capacity is just over 2 gallons. 1 gallon low is half what it should be.

There's obviously a leak somewhere. One classic leak spot is the heater core. But I would think that you'd notice a wet area on the carpet either to the left or right of the center console. Or a constant coolant smell in the passenger compartment.

Have the cooling system professionally pressure tested. Have it done both on a cold engine (sitting overnight) as well as a hot engine. The leak should reveal itself.

Wow you have some strange issues. I have NEVER heard of the radiator hose popping off. You sure you didn't blow a head gasket already? Maybe exhaust gasses building up pressure causing the hose to pop off?

are you running a thermostat. if you are not, that is your problem, water flows too fast to cool when it goes through radiator. if you do have one, replace it ,its probably stuck closed.

weep hole in the water pump. need a new pump. make damn sure it's the DOHC pump. they put a SOHC pump on my DOHC once and it chewed my timing belt to poo.

check the cooling clutch fan ( not the A/C fan) see if the bi-metal spring is still there, I had this problem my spring was missing and it would over heat, replaced the clutch no problems anymore.

another thing- radiator cap... if the spring is wore out or loose, it can let too much hot, expanded water flow over into the overflow tank and steam out while on the road...

Ok after some work... First of all thank all of you for the tips and advice. After climbing under the hood I found some things wrong....

The popping off hose..... The nice plastic radiator top, something I have never seen before happen. The nipple for the top hose is like rotten and flexes like rubber.... And of course has a crack the size of the grand canyon in it. Hence the clamp never tightens and the hose pops off from normal pressure just far enough that the water and steam flow out the crack, of course on the underside of the nipple. My fix - Liberal amounts of ABS cement and a chunk of ABS pipe shoved inside the nipple and cemented in.

The overheatingà. I now attribute mostly to the leak. But after reading one of the responses about the heater core.... Well I am sure it has a leak too... There apparently was very little antifreeze in the coolant, prior. Because after giving it a good mixture and testing it down to -50 Degs. I got a nice Sticky-sweet Antifreeze smell in the cab... And no sign of a leak out side the cab. So I removed the hose from the firewall and straight back to the return. Drove for 2 hours.... NO SMELL.

Head Gasket.... This one mystifies me to no end. This car I have been told has overheated completely more than 30 times....... Now I am getting these stories from my wife(We got married 10 Months ago. Car has been parked for almost 2 years) this is actually the first time I have looked at it my self. But it has been into at least 4 shops for this overheat issue. I had a friend come over and run a full compression test. It was Normal for an engine with 80K or less on it. This one has 135K on it.... And runs smooth as glass I might add. Plugs are clean and no sign of deposits he said on the valves (We used a dental mirior into cylinder)

So In the endà.. 1: I am sold on KIA û Never have I heard of a car that could overheat that many times and yet live! 2: Block sealer seams to work well on heater cores. 3: ABS cement is really cool (And use in a well ventilated area I might add)à And is way cheaper than a mechanic shop replacing a rotten Radiator. 4: Never listen to what the last mechanic that work on the car has to say about it. Troubleshoot it for yourself. And then ask the 4x4wire gurus for help. Always cheaper and most of the time more professional.

KIAÆs Rockà But I still love my Yotas! Cant wait to hit the trail in this sawed off beast though.

Thanks again for all the help guys!

My 95 has always had the antifreeze smell when you first turn on the heater. It has been there new. I would not be concerned with it intill you find coolant on your carpet. The only time mine has overheated is when I had a leak and was low on coolant. Fix your leak, top it off and I bet your good ot go.
Dennis

mine also has the smell, nothing bad, and it does not fog up the windows (thats a SURE sign its leaking, in the winter time anyway. (as thats when you are actually using the heater).
But mine is not leaking either.