Need some advice, please...

What is the name of your state? Georgia

Since our old car was about to die, my husband and I bought a 1999 Kia Sportage ($1200 down) on January 26, 2006. My father is the only mechanic I've ever used but he was in the hospital at the time and could not inspect it. We had my brother, who works at AutoZone, hook up the diagnostic checker on it and it came back with a code that said something about the O2 Sensor.

So we mentioned this to the dealer and he replaced the O2 sensor for us and assured us that it would take care of any problem. He said he had been driving the vehicle back and forth for about a month and had had no troubles with it.

Three days later, my battery started dying in the most random times and places. And no, I wasn't leaving any lights on or anything of that nature.

Today, it wouldn't shift back into first gear at the drive-thru window. It took a few minutes to get the stick back up into first gear. (It's a 5-speed.) Later, as I was leaving the hospital, when I cranked it up, it started shuddering and shaking badly and didn't seem to be getting enough fuel to go anywhere. I made it to the car dealership and asked the dealer if he was willing to help me figure out what was going on. He drove it around the lot and of course nothing happened. He acted as though he didn't believe that anything was wrong with it. He did tell me to bring it back on Monday and he'd replace the O2 sensor again.

Our other car died the day after we bought the new one, so we have no other means of transportation if this one goes.

Do I have any options as far as getting the dealer to repair the car, or possibly switch it for something else he has on the lot? I don't know the laws regarding automobiles, so I'd be grateful if anyone could shed some light on the subject. Thanks in advance for your time.

While the O2 sensor can fail on its own, it is common for that failure to be caused by other ignition/emissions problems. The sensor is reacting to what gasses pass over it as they have already been through the engine. You should have one on either side of the cat. You didn't say which sensor it was, but if it's "downside" of the cat it means the cat is probably bad. That will wreak all kinds of havoc on other parts of the emissions system, and can cause stalling or other strange symptoms. The code reader should show far more than just a bad O2 sensor, though. Often, the readers used by Autozone only identify the category of potential problems/failures. You need to have the car checked at a shop with full scanning capability. If the cat is bad that can be expensive.

Just replaced a O2 sensor on a Kia Sophia yesterday at the shop. Spendy little sucker from Kia... almost $200!!

Make sure the person that says he replaced the O2 sensor used a new part from the dealership, and not a used part from another Kia or an aftermarket part.

Seems Kia has a problem with the heaters shorting in the forward O2 sensors, because this is the 3rd one we replaced this year already.

One of the things that must be done when replacing an O2 sensor on a Kia, or any other OBDII systemed car is to clear the "adaptive memory" of the computer. This can be done easily by disconnecting the battery for 15-20 minutes. Re-connect it, and the memory will be cleared.

What happens sometimes is..... the system will learn a fuel curve based on the old defective O2 sensors information. And when you install a new O2, now the computer has a ton of old "drive-cycle" information from the intrusive tests that are always continuously running on the car.

As far as your legal rights.....
Is this an automotive maker dealership (i.e. Kia, GM, Ford, etc)? Or is this just a used car lot? The car is no longer covered by the Federal Emissions warranty act (7yrs/70K miles on certain items, which ever comes 1st). So it seems you'll have to rely on any contract you may have signed with either a new or used car dealer. You could always try to sue in small claims, but then again... if you have a contract that spells (no warranty... sold "as is"), then it may be difficult to win in court. Unless there were deceptive practices used.