My reliable '01 Kia Rio, has 114,000 miles. I have maintained it very
well since buying it with 15,000 miles in '02. In the past few months I
have had problems starting the car. Often this occurs after driving
great distances though sometimes it will occur just after I fill the
tank. Sometimes it will start right up then I will drive 100 yards and
it will die but it always starts up eventually. It might take a few
cranks or10-minutes of sporadic cranks but it has always started and I
won't have the problem again for a day, or a week, or if I am lucky, a
month. This problem comes and goes. I have had it looked at by two
reliable mechanics who are close friends of mine and neither could
figure it out. They gave it a tune-up, tried to reenact the problem in
the shop by running the car and trying to start it, etc. to no avail.
Since the car would always start I decided to just keep driving it. I
haven't had this problem for a month or so but today, it died about a
hundred yards from my house. I sat with the car trying to start it
every minute or so but after 20 minutes I realized it was a lost cause.
It was the first cold day of the season (30's F). The oil level was
fine and color was ok. I checked the coolant and it was empty! Could
this be a gasket/radiator issue? I also noticed some other people
having similar issues and a loose starter connection or timing belt
could be to blame. Is today's issue different from the other issue or
is this the culmination of the one underlying problem. I know very
little about cars besides turn the key and drive so forgive my
ignorance. I realize I run the car hard and have got a lot of use out
of the car, so if it is a loss I definitely got my money's worth but I
am hoping it is fixable. Any advice is greatly appreciated.