[Eboneezer]

Hello,

Wondering if anyone else has seen this Hybrid System warning before?

"Check Hybrid System - Turn off engine"
This occurs consistantly in HEV mode after 30- 60 mins of HEV operation.
(Have not seen this occur in EV mode)
The error will always clear once engine is restarted,

In addtion - the following lights come on and will clear fine on Engine restart
EPB (Electric Parking Brake) Malfunction Indicator
"Auto Hold"
ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) Indicator
Parking Brake & Brake Fluid Warning Light

See below.

I have car booked in to look at it - but wondering if anyones had this issue before.

Closest I've found on the web was an issue with the Temp Sensor on Hybrid Engine.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kia/comments/6x9gqc

 

[caspinall]

I had the same thing on My 2017 PHEV but this was due to a faulty charging station It took me 4 attempts to clear by just switching off and on again. However, once it had cleared it never came back

 

[Alfieraison]

Hello,

Wondering if anyone else has seen this Hybrid System warning before?

"Check Hybrid System - Turn off engine"
This occurs consistantly in HEV mode after 30- 60 mins of HEV operation.
(Have not seen this occur in EV mode)
The error will always clear once engine is restarted,

In addtion - the following lights come on and will clear fine on Engine restart
EPB (Electric Parking Brake) Malfunction Indicator
"Auto Hold"
ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) Indicator
Parking Brake & Brake Fluid Warning Light

See below.
View attachment 7218

I have car booked in to look at it - but wondering if anyones had this issue before.

Closest I've found on the web was an issue with the Temp Sensor on Hybrid Engine.
https://www.reddit.com/r/kia/comments/6x9gqc

My wife and I have a 2017 Optima PHEV as our main car that we bought at one year old and 3000 miles from a main dealer. The ‘Check Hybrid System – Turn off Engine’ lit up on the Guildford bypass during our journey home from buying it! A bit of a worry, I stopped as soon as I could, switched off, switched on and it was fine for a year.

This happened once or twice more until about a year ago, it did it again but this time the traction control and the Auto Hold lights were definitely on as well and it was in the workshop for a week. It had a large part of the hybrid wiring changed and a part that I was told included the ABS pump and more.

All was fine for almost exactly a year until it did it again 2 weeks ago on the M25, twice in about a mile, which really was a worry. The first time just before a junction so it was easy to stop. The second time it was just as we got back on the M25 Smart Motorway with no hard shoulder and this time it seriously lost power so we dribbled along and stopped in the first yellow Refuge Area and waited 20 mins to let it cool down, not that it was particularly hot. In reality it never goes over the speed limit but I drove the last 35 miles home at about 60mph. I should have taken a picture of the dash because I’m sure there were other lights on but I was only concentrating on the big one and the insistent alarm sound.

Breaking the petrified silence to discuss it on the way home, we realised that this only ever happens on a Motorway in HEV mode.

We have just picked it up from the Kia dealer. It’s been there 2.5 days and they couldn’t find anything wrong with it but a slightly discharged 12v battery and no faults stored.

I might take it for a blast this weekend and try to get it to do it again and force Kia to sort it out. I don’t feel so confident in it anymore.

 

[Alfieraison]

Eboneezer,
I'm interested to know if yours has been sorted out now and what was found/repaired.
Cheers
Alfieraison

 

[Eboneezer]

Eboneezer,
I'm interested to know if yours has been sorted out now and what was found/repaired.
Cheers
Alfieraison

Hi Alfieraison,

Apologies for delay in reply - Your issue sounds very similar to mine.

The "Check Hybrid System – Turn off Engine " warning comes on for me after approx 45-60 minutes of driving in HEV mode.
It's fairly regular.
Note - I don't have to wait any time however as a "cool-down" period- "a turn engine button off and ON again" will clear the errors.
Sometimes an engine warning light will persist - but this will also clear after a day or so.

I've brought it into a Kia Main Dealer to be checked out. No error codes are being stored for this condition.
They kept it for 5 days and drove it but were not able to trigger the fault.

2 weeks ago - I had a couple of days off work so drove it off out the motorway and back to try to get the error to manifest.

1st Day - no luck - the error did occur - but I lost power 20 miles out and was not able to limp it into the garage. On re-start, as usual - everything was fine.
On 2nd day - I got the failure to occur closer to the garage and was able to limp it into the garage.

The Diagnostics machine read back the error codes and a support ticket was opened with Kia.
Thats where it is currently - I haven't heard back from garage, so will have to start pestering them.

The saga continues.....Will keep you posted how I get on.

 

[Alfieraison]

Thanks for letting me know that and well done for persisting with it enough to finally get the codes read. The dealership and Kia can't leave you to suffer it now.

Regarding the cooling down period when this last happened to me, it may have been unnecessary, it was my history of working with cars making me feel that something had overheated to cause this condition because the fault had immediately returned after the previous re-start. I may well have been wrong but I didn't want to lose power on the M25 with no hard shoulder.

Today I have to book mine in again. Last night, after driving in HEV mode for about an hour, the engine management light came on and it felt like it was running on 3 cylinders. Probably nothing to do with the above.

I hope you get a response from Kia very soon.

 

[balazga]

Hello, anyone could share a resolution for the problems. My car seems to have similar problem and the dealers are really struggling to get it fixed. Thanks, Gábor

 

[Eboneezer]

Hello, anyone could share a resolution for the problems. My car seems to have similar problem and the dealers are really struggling to get it fixed. Thanks, Gábor

Hey balazga, this issue persisted for some time for me. I had unrelated 12v battery problems, Eg, if I left the boot open for an extended period while packing the car for example, the car would fail to start so needed a jump. Interestingly, a lot of the same warning lights lit up when battery was near dead as light up when I get this ' check hybrid system' error. I've Changed battery last month, and I haven't seen the 'check hybrid system' error since, and the car has gone on four 100 mile + journeys which would have sparked this error in the past. Might be worth trying changing the battery?

 

[Ikorodu]

Hey balazga, this issue persisted for some time for me. I had unrelated 12v battery problems, Eg, if I left the boot open for an extended period while packing the car for example, the car would fail to start so needed a jump. Interestingly, a lot of the same warning lights lit up when battery was near dead as light up when I get this ' check hybrid system' error. I've Changed battery last month, and I haven't seen the 'check hybrid system' error since, and the car has gone on four 100 mile + journeys which would have sparked this error in the past. Might be worth trying changing the battery?

Hi Eboneezer,

did you ever get any feedback from Kia on this? I have the same problem. Yesterday on two 70 mile journeys the error came up around 45 mins into drive on HEV mode. Happened twice on way home too. Car resets ok after power off and back on.

 

[iooi]

Hi & Welcome.

Time to visit dealer.

 

[Ikorodu]

Hi & Welcome.

Time to visit dealer.

Unfortunately I have visited a dealer, but have not got anywhere. I get the impression that they do not want to deal with any problems!

My last visit was two days before the most recent occurrences of the problem. Hence hoping to learn from others experience of the same issue.

 

[Eboneezer]

Unfortunately I have visited a dealer, but have not got anywhere. I get the impression that they do not want to deal with any problems!

My last visit was two days before the most recent occurrences of the problem. Hence hoping to learn from others experience of the same issue.

Hello Ikorodu, 2 visits to a Kia dealer failed to diagnose the issue. My car has not failed with this issue since I've replaced the 12V battery in the boot.

 

[iooi]

Unfortunately I have visited a dealer, but have not got anywhere. I get the impression that they do not want to deal with any problems!

My last visit was two days before the most recent occurrences of the problem. Hence hoping to learn from others experience of the same issue.

Is that a Kia dealer?

 

[Ikorodu]

Hello Ikorodu, 2 visits to a Kia dealer failed to diagnose the issue. My car has not failed with this issue since I've replaced the 12V battery in the boot.

Thanks. I’ll look into getting the battery changed. If I recall correctly the battery is a bit of a special due to the orientaction of the terminals. I looked into getting one last year when I thought it had failed and had a bit of a run around try to get one from the local motor factors. Would you mind telling me where you got yours?

 

[Ikorodu]

Is that a Kia dealer?

Yes. Kia stoneacre in Lincoln. They serviced it last week. I completed their form explaining the problems and also spoke to the person on the checking in desk. Was told as there were no codes stored that it wasn’t possible for them to investigate. 10 mins of my investigation on Google appears to have been more helpful!

Its certainly a strange problem. I don’t do a lot of miles in my optima, indeed I bought it as the ev battery will just get me to work and back, 14 miles each way. So I don’t take many longer trips. As others have said this problem only seems to happen after around 40mins when driving in HEV mode.

 

[Eboneezer]

Thanks. I’ll look into getting the battery changed. If I recall correctly the battery is a bit of a special due to the orientaction of the terminals. I looked into getting one last year when I thought it had failed and had a bit of a run around try to get one from the local motor factors. Would you mind telling me where you got yours?

Yep, terminals are on the 'opposite 'side. Do a search for YUASA YBX3086 Battery, there's also a Bosch equivalent. I'm based in Ireland, so my source wouldn't be good for UK. Kia dealer reported the exact same for me - "codes not stored" nothing we can do.

 

[Entsu]

I found this while googling on the internet. I have same fault at 2019 optima phev. Today i Limped to local kia service and the fault in my case is fault with water pump. I have been told that it is the combustion engine water pump and it os electric powered. When it fails, the engine refuses to start(for protection) and the check hybrid system alert is displayed. In my case this happens every other day and seems to be getting worse. Part is to replaced next week. My personal analysis was the 12v battery. But the service does not agree with me. So we will replace pump and see then…

 

[DeepBlue777]

I found this while googling on the internet. I have same fault at 2019 optima phev. Today i Limped to local kia service and the fault in my case is fault with water pump. I have been told that it is the combustion engine water pump and it os electric powered. When it fails, the engine refuses to start(for protection) and the check hybrid system alert is displayed. In my case this happens every other day and seems to be getting worse. Part is to replaced next week. My personal analysis was the 12v battery. But the service does not agree with me. So we will replace pump and see then…

I see you are from Finland also. Today I had this same problem for the first time. I did not get a photo of the dash so Im not sure about those other lights but I think the car swiched the ice off by it self. As well as in these other cases after turning the power off and on again the warnings were gone. Lets see if this will come again…
It would be very nice to hear how your Optima is running after the change of the water pump and also from all the others.

 

[Entsu]

Water pump replaced. After testing about 50km today it seems to work. I need more kilometers before i can call it ok, but seems good. Thanks god for the guarantee. The repair costs were at least 1600€. I saw glimpse to some internal invoices at the shop.

 

[Entsu]

Oh.. and if you want this error diagnosed, the problem should be ”on”. It is not enough that the check engine light is on, but you need to have the ”check hybrid system” ”stop the engine” (or similar) text at the screen. When you get this, do not stop the engine (or turn the power off). Drive it to service and leave it on and ask them to check codes while car is running. This might be strange advice to drive the car while it says to shut it down. However these were instructions from service.. Naturally I dont take responsibility if your car blows up while driving it with warning lights on. In my case the ICE shut down anyway and it only used electric power in restricted level of power. So in this case the engine was not going to overheat anyway.

here are also my warning light combo