lost all power

[terry]

Hello everyone…my kia rio LX 2006 losses power while driving on interstate. I lost power steering, brakes and i have to slow down and stop at shoulder lane. all warning lights went on; engine warning, brake, oil pressure, battery. after a couple of minutes my car starts and a was able to go home then took it to an auto parts to test battery(2 year old) and alterator(stock) and it turns out ok. i cheked for loose connections but didnt find any .i drove the car again the following day in short distances only and didnt have any problem. what is wrong with my car?

Topic

[Lorrin Barth]

If the CEL came on there might be a code stored. I’d have this checked first.

[terry]

i already disconnected the negative battery for cleaning. auto parts store cant access computer due to incompatible plug. so take it to dealer?

[Lorrin Barth]

I thought the plugs had to all be the same. Doesn’t matter, disconnecting the battery has erased any code that was set. Good idea cleaning the battery connections

If you had lost all power the dash lights wouldn’t have come on. However, the engine quit.

I used to drive a V8 with an automatic but if I worked the accelerator just right I could kill it. So, even though this is kinda strange, since it has only happened once and you had it to the garage, maybe a fluke thing.

[Tim]

I think your engine just cut out. Did you brake hard before the incident happened? I had a 2000 Honda Civic and sometimes when I brake for a red light the engine cuts out and I have to throw it on park and start it again. Then one time on the highway when a car suddenly cut me off without checking blind spot, I braked and the engine cut off on me. I lost braking, power steering and like you, all the warning lights turned on. I wasn’t able to slow down enough even with the hand brake so I ended up pushing the car into the guard rail to slow down and a police came up right away to block traffic for me. That’s when I knew I need a new car.

[terry]

I was slowing down on the interstate beause it’s rush hour then suddenly engine quit. It is a manual tranny and yes kia somehow made their computer plug different. Non of you took it to the garage to find out the problem? i have a 5 yo girl so i may end up wasting the car. a 2006 car, damn kia.

[Lorrin Barth]

In my case it was something I could cause with any vehicle sold with this automatic transmission and there were millions. So, just the nature of the beast.

Probably the most common cause of the problem you encountered is a bad connection at the battery. You cleaned the battery terminals so you may have fixed it.

[terry]

you’re probably right. thanks for the time.

[terry]

alright, it happened again. car stalled but this time only battery and oil warning lights went on and able to restart again. warning lights cleared too after restart. i have the battery checked and recharged. i dismounted the alternater and checked. both are ok. what could be the problem? help please.

[Ingvar]

For starters, there is no way your on board diagnostic connector is made “different”.

It’s exactly same 16 pin connector. Car will not be sold here in the USA with some sort of rogue OBD2 port.

http://www.obdclearinghouse.com/OBD-CH/documents/newdocuments/kia/rio/2005_kia_rio.jpg

You are likely losing general ground to the engine. This results in cut off for alternator, overloads battery, and ECM shuts down the system.
Locate engine ground strap and clean all connectors, both on engine and body. It, also, can be cracked or partially torn. Happens.

[terry]

this is my 2006 kia rio computer diagnosis.

i am a beginner in auto DIY. i followed the negetive battery cable to body and clean it. can you please tell me where to look for the engine ground. thanks a lot. so far i havent had the third shut off while driving.

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[Russell Sawyer]

I’ve had that happen before also and the car threw a misfire code. I changed the spark plugs and that fixed the problem. You can also get a misfire by having a loose belt or a bad belt tensioner. The key is getting the code read to find out for sure what your particular problem is.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I believe what you have pictured is not the DLC. It should be located under the dash on the driver side as all vehicles sold must have this connection according to OBDII mandates. Once you find that plug and a scan tool, you can check for codes. By the sound of things, I’d be checking the operation of the ignition switch. An issue there could cause the issue you’re having. I’d start by pulling codes however.

[terry]

yes eric, you are right. i found the right OBD and have it cheked but with no result. how about bad crankshaft position sensor, does it show the same symptom? is it wise to change CKPS without confirmation since its not so expensive? thanks to all responders, i appreciate it a lot.

also, stalled me again for the 3rd time on the 6th of october. car starts right away again.

[EricTheCarGuy]

You really don’t want to guess here. The idea is to gather evidence and then come up with theories based on that evidence. Throwing parts at things just gets expensive. If you’re to that point however, your money might be better spent taking it to a professional. In the mean time you want to check the basics, many of which are covered here.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-no-start-problems

[terry]

Stalled again for the 4th time. This time i have to pump the gas pedal couple of times to start. I noticed that on 3 occassions it stalled me while slowing down. The other 1 was when taking off from a stop sign. The last 2 stalls happened 4 days apart. No engine warning lights came on.

Alternator, battery, PCV valve, gas mileage are all ok. New spark plug. Mixed gas with Seafoam injector cleaner.

[Author]

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