OK, so what is my Kia trying to say?

2014 2nd-gen Rondo, the one you didn't get in the States.  2.0L GDI, 6-speed auto.  Currently 178,000 km/110,000 miles.

Last August the fuel gauge sender lost its mind, and was replaced, together with the fuel filter.  Ever since then, it has been increasingly, but randomly, hard to start... except when the dealer has it.  We just got it back from its latest vacation in the service dept., where (again) it started just fine whenever anybody asked it to.

The typical scenario we see (since we don't have the magic Kia sign over our door) is a bunch of attempts, with eventual success, on the first start of the day, then 70% fine/30% hard for the rest of the day, and you don't know which until you turn the key.  This is not the level of confidence we need to have in a DD. 

The current attempt at a diagnosis involves parking head first in my driveway for a while, instead of backing in; there's a slight incline up to the house, and we're wondering if changing the tilt will change the behaviour.  There is some talk about a possible confused/sticky/evil-minded float in the tank.

Anybody got any other ideas?

fuel pump or cold start injector?

Is the FPR integral with the filter? If so, there may be a pinhole that's allowing it to drop pressure.

If there's a fuel pump associated with the sender, it may not have been properly seated or reconnected.

Not sure it is related to the fuel pump at all.

It sounds very familiar to the 1st gen neon issue that most dealers/owners just didn't catch. The grounding pathways would fail on the car resulting in a weird no start or hard to start situation. It got so bad that Neon enthusiasts would look for "not running" neons for sale and check the known grounding failure points. If the signs were there "they" would buy the car for $500 bucks and have it fully functional by the end of the day. 

Maybe when they pulled all the electronics apart as needed to service the fuel system they didn't get all the electrical connections back to the right spots or the connections are damaged. 

Sounds like a loss of prime fuel pressure, eithe the check valve is leaking or maybe one of the fuel injectors is leaking down.

I should have come back before now to say this, but... Many thanks for the excellent ideas, everybody!  It's appreciated.  I'll let you all know how it turns out.

The gdi will have a lift pump in the tank and the high pressure on the head. My gut tells me they did something wrong and there is bleed down happeneing in the tank not keeping fuel to the high pressure pump. 

So it turns out that Bobzilla goes to the head of the class on this one.

Ten days ago the Rondo stranded us in a parking lot at 9:30 at night; it got towed to the dealer while we took a cab home.  We just got it back, after paying a-coffee-and-a-sandwich less than CDN$1000 for a new low-pressure fuel pump, installed.

Mrs. Stealth says it drove just fine on its way home.  I was picking up our new 2020 Odyssey.  We're going to try having two cars again for a while... one with a warranty.

In reply to Stealthtercel :

Korean cars, its what I do. 

Stealthtercel said:

 

Mrs. Stealth says it drove just fine on its way home.  I was picking up our new 2020 Odyssey.  We're going to try having two cars again for a while... one with a warranty.

Congrats on the Odyssey.

Thank you!  It all happened kinda fast; our granddaughter count recently increased to the point where a minivan was going to become appropriate soon, but the immediate need crystallized in a dark, cold, deserted parking lot with a dead Rondo.  As good Canadians, we tried a Grand Caravan, but it drove like a van and the Odyssey drove like a car.  I couldn't quite stretch to a Pacifica Hybrid, although it would be cool.  And the Kia Sedona sat this one out for non-rational, but real, reasons.

After a whole 54 km of use, we like the Honda a lot, although the electronic nannies are likely going to be turned off most of the time.  And I'll be consulting Daniel Stern shortly about the headlights: the lows are OK to the sides, but there's a black void exactly where I want to look down the road.  Not enough experience to say anything useful about the highs yet.  Luckily, the DRLs are separate, so the headlights don't have to do double duty.

I can't wait to see what #1 granddaughter thinks of the built-in DVD player, which allows her to finally match her much-envied cousins.

Oh, and our salesman (a very nice guy, with a Subaru-powered Vanagon at home) and I had lots of fun looking for the lever that opens the fuel filler door.  It doesn't exist.  You just push on the door to open it... but only when the engine is off.  Otherwise, you stand outside your new van repeatedly pounding on the filler door and looking like an idiot.  Ask us how we know.

My TSX Wagon has same fuel filler. It locks from inside, and you push to open lid. I have had a few other cars like that previously.

You will enjoy the Odyssey 2020 a lot. You did a smart thing staying away from the Caravan and the other marquee. 

Stealthtercel said:

So it turns out that Bobzilla goes to the head of the class on this one.

Ten days ago the Rondo stranded us in a parking lot at 9:30 at night; it got towed to the dealer while we took a cab home.  We just got it back, after paying a-coffee-and-a-sandwich less than CDN$1000 for a new low-pressure fuel pump, installed.

Mrs. Stealth says it drove just fine on its way home.  I was picking up our new 2020 Odyssey.  We're going to try having two cars again for a while... one with a warranty.

Funny I diagnosed this.... guess what the Wife's Forte started doing? hard starting after sitting for a couple days.