Our 2019 Kona is soon to be 5 years old and out of warranty. The car has been fantastic and generally trouble free during the 60K kms since taking ownership Feb 1/2019. I believe we’re up to date with recalls (water pump, BMS, high voltage battery) and Hyundai’s preemptive action with respect to our vehicle has been a positive experience albeit a minor inconvenience. The only problem we’ve had was a slow speed ‘clucking’ motor noise, first noticed at about 5K kms and most noticeable in parking garages. It seemed to be intermittent and at the time the mechanic in Victoria couldn’t duplicate it. An overall feeling of lack of EV experience at that dealership lead us to try the Duncan dealership for some minor maintenance at 15K kms. The motor noise was brought up but once again could not be verified by the mechanic. Finally a 24K servicing at the Nanaimo dealership noted the problem and it was successfully eliminated by turning the motor shaft 180 degrees. It’s been fine ever since. Quite frankly as this is our first EV, at the time I wasn’t sure which sounds were merely characteristic and which were something that should be corrected. This forum has been extremely helpful in my EV education! I have an appointment with the dealership in Nanaimo next month and I’ve asked that they take the car for a thorough test drive to make sure that everything is operating as it should. I’m also having the brake work done (last done at 24K), the gear reduction oil changed (done once at 35K) and the tires rotated. I’ve asked that they check a ‘nucklely’ steering noise that I’ve noticed at slow speed. I’m a little confused about the need to change the battery coolant as I believe this was renewed (it’s green) when the high voltage battery was replaced at 34K kms. I raised this question with the Hyundai staff when I attended the Fully Charged show in Vancouver and was told it should be replaced at 240K kms!!? Is there anything else I should ask the dealer to check for? Your advice and comments are very much appreciated as I timidly enter the off warranty period!
Mine is also old enough to originally have the conventional green coolant, updated to Hyundai's newer pink conventional coolant when the battery was replaced. The service life for either is much longer than the low-conductivity blue stuff. I keep a close eye on the level in case it ever leaks into the battery, although that's not been a reported problem so far. Only have 28,000 km on mine and I do the maintenance myself over the 2 years I've been out of warranty.
Thx for your reply KiwiME. Glad to hear that green coolant is good. You mention that your 2019 has been out of warranty for 2 years. Is the Hyundai warranty only 3yrs in New Zealand? Regarding maintenance, other than more frequent GRU oil changes, will you generally keep to the schedule in the owner’s manual?
Yes, 3 years as with many cars here including Tesla. Battery warranty is 10 years with unlimited distance. The other item is the brake fluid because the master cylinder is horribly expensive, costs about twice as much as the gear reducer. I've tried doing it myself and I can't recommend it, let the dealer do it with their machine and computer.
