actually, how the radiator and the reserve tank is like this. When water gets hot, of course it expands. Thus the excess water will spill/flow into the reserve tank. When water cools down already, it'll get sucked back into the radiator and all the places surrounding the engine block. What happened to my kia carnival and Nissan AD Resort is, gasket gone, so the suction or the air tightness is gone and so water does not gets sucked back into the radiator.

for the burning smell, u know the place where u open to add more engine oil? open that and small the cover as in put your nose near it and smell. not the radiator cap.

In the case of my personal experience, let me slowly explain so that u guys can avoid this kinda problem in the future la. Actually i changed gasket not 3 but 4 times already.
Firstly, I'm sure if you read online and forums, Kia Carnival 1st gen is very prone or almost all will kena gasket burn wan. Apparently what happens is the top of the engine block shifts/moves a bit causing it to spoil. Some say if u strain your engines too hard and it's gone. Many cases happen to those going genting etc.
Anyway, 1st time, was on the way to Zoo Negara, nothing happened, just going like normal. After finish visiting, when i started the engine, can hear something different already. The sound is like some metal sound, something like those old lorries or smth like that. Totally different than the normal sound as normally, the kia carnival engine very silent. At that time, i didnt know what happen so just continue to drive back home like normal. When to the mechanic's place to check, he said gasket gone. So change la. I also change other related stuffs coz labour charges to open up the engine is quite high so might as well change la. I also skimmed the block. So after that, with wallets all empty everything was fine and all.

2nd time, went to Ipoh, everything still good. As i was returning from ipoh, almost reaching tapah rest area, noticed the temp was maxed up at RED level. Tried to slow down, once released the accelerator, engine died and will not start again. so just free gear till the rest area and thank god, found a nice parking to just glide in. After that, tried starting again, engine will not start. Took some newspaper to open the radiator cap, steam coming out. So i kept pouring loads of fresh water in. After a long time, engine still will not start n temp still HOT. i guess it must be way above the H level. so anyway, after abt an hour or 2, it manage to start. Sounded exactly the same as the first time. Called PLUS, he open my oil cap and smell a bit and said that it was same with all the cases with those going genting and all. So anyway, burnt my wallet again, tow the car back and all. Mechanic found out that some rubber connectors somewhere got old and broke so all the water flown out. So i was actually driving from Ipoh with and empty radiator. Drove around 140kmh and only realised it was hot after so long. So there again, 2nd time changing gasket for this car.

3rd time. Decided to go ipoh again, hometown mah. So anyway, on the way there somewhere near taiping. Suddenly saw some cops with cameras. U noe la...so panic a bit, suddenly brake a bit to slow down. I guess the sudden braking, sudden change in engine speed. Then after that can feel got lost of power. Release accelerator and RPM just drop dead. Cannot start anymore. So again, just glide to the side of the road. Open bonnet, saw timing belt torn until case also break open a bit already. So anyway, called plus and they tow it to their in house mechanic. So after spending a while thinking whether to tow back which will cost a bomb again or to let that mechanic fix. We decided to let him fix and he borrowed us an old honda to continue with whatever we needed. Nice guy.
After a few days back in KL, he called and say it was ready. The root of the problem, remember the 2nd time it got super hot, it was so hot that the timing belt case bent a bit already. So it was actually grinding the timing belt and after some time, it just decided to snap. So changed the timing belt and the case. Of course timing belt breaking at such speed, valves also all gone la. So no choice, have to open everything and change gasket also.
Do note that, kia carnival is a V6 engine so every time change, have to change both side.

4th time happened in a different car. Nissan AD Resort. My worker took the car for some work purposes, didnt realise it was overheat and continued driving. In the end gasket spoilt a bit but not as bad as the kia carnival cases. So change gasket and the usual stuffs la.

After all this cases, what i realise is, before gasket was changed, the water does not suck back from the reserve tank. Now it does coz i think the new gasket, good condition so it's still air tight.

phew!....what a long post. Suspect this is fake?, I'll post the link with pics here later.

ok....update with pics.

First time, didnt have any pics coz dunno anything yet.

2nd time - http://rfkw.blogspot.com/2009/01/chinese-new-year-trip.html

3rd time. The car that the mechanic borrowed us - http://basics-of-photography.blogspot.com/...ip-to-ipoh.html

and the broken timing belt can see here - http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=1046...35&l=f051f503cb

Yep I read its a very common fault in the early batches of the Kia Carnival.Even the batch of Carnival in Australia,US,Europe are not spared of this problem.

Once your gasket is dead,coolant will flow and drown your engine.Total cost of repair will kill you for sure.Kia refuse to take responsibility and admit the mistake.

This post has been edited by 779364: Nov 11 2009, 10:48 PM