Low Conductivity Coolant Change Procedure

  • Thread starter Thread starter apu
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 155
  • Views Views 61K
apu

apu

Well-Known Member
With nearly 60,000km on the clock my time for my first coolant changes is coming soon so I decided to start a coolant change thread as there seems to be very little web info on the topic for the Kona EV. As usual I am hoping we can collectively help each other with information shared. I am hoping we can keep this post on topic in this thread as much as possible.

This is what I know right now:
There are 2 types of coolants green which seems relatively conventional and blue which is claimed to have low conductivity properties. I have not been able to find a aftermarket equivalent that meets Hyundai requirements for low conductivity. The use of an alternate non conductive coolant wouldn't be the end of the world but likely would void your warranty if you had a related claim and open yourself up to theoretical battery fire if coolant would leak into the battery compartment.

My dealer's parts department here in Canada has quoted me $115 per 2 liter Hyundai EV coolant jug(presumably its concentrated, but I am not 100% certain) A complete coolant flush requires 13 liters for a Kona EV with heat pump. So we are talking about at least $350 + taxes for just the coolant. I was rather shocked at the price so I didn't bother to ask about the labor cost but I would figure around 1.5 hours as this what they charge Hyundai for warranty related coolant changes.

The flush process is not difficult but time intensive. The process calls for a drain and complete flush with water and subsequent refill with new coolant. You need a scan tool that supports bidirectional control of the 2 electric water pumps. Outside of Hyundai's dealer level GDS tool Autel makes some tools that may provide this function. There may be more I am not sure. You need to put the 12V battery on external 12V supply during the process as the pumps can run in excess of 30 minutes.

Does anyone know what the Hyundai part number is for the blue coolant?

We87IHg.png

BpP1qX5.png

hABg0Dg.png

KV8SClv.png

Gm8rW55.png
 
Too bad it's in poorly translated-from-korean. What do we think "after adding water in the water coolant" means?
If any dilution is intended, it would have to be distilled or deionized water, or we're right back to "conductive".

_H*
 
hobbit said:
Too bad it's in poorly translated-from-korean. What do we think "after adding water in the water coolant" means?
If any dilution is intended, it would have to be distilled or deionized water, or we're right back to "conductive".
Click to expand...

From the context of running the pump to purge the air, it seems pretty clear that the better wording would be something like "The function to activate the electric water pump is to purge trapped air after adding coolant to the coolant reservoir, so that the level reads correctly."

The procedure seems pretty straightforward. The only thing worth worrying about is making sure you're using the correct coolant at the correct concentration. I've seen some discussions about this (not sure if on this forum or not though) and IIRC the coolant isn't anything super exotic or proprietary, but you should still make sure what you're using is appropriate.
 
apu said:
A complete coolant flush requires 13 liters for a Kona EV with heat pump. So we are talking about at least $350 + taxes for just the coolant.
Click to expand...
Math correction... based on quoted $115 per 2 liter jug, 6.5 minimum jugs required to complete the 13 liter change (most likely charge for 7 jugs) the cost is 7*$115 =$805 CDN dollars plus labor, tax, closer to $1K total. :eek:
Some shopping research is in order to reduce that # - every 60K km.
https://www.hyundaipartsdeal.com/genuine/hyundai-electric-vehicle-battery-syste~00232-19091.html

Why 13 liters? Invoice from a pack change shows 3 jugs (perhaps the jug is larger than 2 liters, maybe 1 US gallon = 3.785 liters):
index.php

https://www.insideevsforum.com/comm...cements-are-starting.11390/page-4#post-139255
 
Last edited:
hobbit said:
Too bad it's in poorly translated-from-korean. What do we think "after adding water in the water coolant" means?
If any dilution is intended, it would have to be distilled or deionized water, or we're right back to "conductive".

_H*
Click to expand...
Obviously Hyundai never changed the wording in the manual from the early manufactured models using the conductive green coolant. Nothing new here.
If the car uses the blue coolant, it should not be diluted.
 
I can't find any vendor source for that blue coolant part number.

I located the owner's manual for the Ioniq 5 to see if it uses the same coolant. Well, surprise, it uses both types! Perhaps they're trying to minimise the quantity required for this absurdly-priced liquid. I can't find a replacement interval for the Ioniq 5 but for the EV6 all I could find was one reference at 210,000 km.

upload_2021-12-28_14-20-9.webp
 
hobbit said:
Too bad it's in poorly translated-from-korean. What do we think "after adding water in the water coolant" means?
If any dilution is intended, it would have to be distilled or deionized water, or we're right back to "conductive".

_H*
Click to expand...

My understanding is that the stuff is not to be diluted. Maybe that has changed and they now have a concentrate?
 
I would like to know more about this low conductivity coolant, what it is made of and similar stuff.
And from historical perspective would like to know it this was a result of panic mode inside Hyundai after first battery fires or is it really a valid choice from them.
Big corporations when in panic mode and not knowing what went wrong can make many weird decisions down the road.
What Tesla uses as a coolant?
 
electriceddy said:
Math correction... based on quoted $115 per 2 liter jug, 6.5 minimum jugs required to complete the 13 liter change (most likely charge for 7 jugs) the cost is 7*$115 =$805 CDN dollars plus labor, tax, closer to $1K total. :eek:
Some shopping research is in order to reduce that # - every 60K km.
https://www.hyundaipartsdeal.com/genuine/hyundai-electric-vehicle-battery-syste~00232-19091.html

Why 13 liters? Invoice from a pack change shows 3 jugs (perhaps the jug is larger than 2 liters, maybe 1 US gallon = 3.785 liters):
index.php

https://www.insideevsforum.com/comm...cements-are-starting.11390/page-4#post-139255
Click to expand...
I just assumed 2l concentrated diluted to 50% would equal approximately 4 liters. Again I don't know for sure if these jugs are concentrated. I am making assumptions that it can can be diluted to make a low conductivity concoction.
 
From my 2+ hours of research yesterday the issue of EV coolant normally being partly conductive kicked off some years ago when an EV caught fire in China some hours after a formal crash test. It was determined that coolant had leaked into the battery housing and caused a short and slow thermal runaway. From that there was concern that occupants of vehicles involved in a crash would have sufficient time to leave before a similar thing happened.

But there's very little info on the subject overall regarding EV applications and although I understand Hyundai specifying this special coolant in an abundance of caution I'm also wondering why it requires relatively frequent replacement on the 2020+ Kona but not the new Ioniq 5? One article on industrial coolants intended for general wet electrical usage said that the coolant draws ions from surrounding materials (metals and plastics) and slowly gets more conductive. I do notice that the Ioniq 5 cooling tubes are made up of a large panel and may have a lot less connections and perhaps a more optimal choice of materials than the Kona, which by our observations, has been updated to the blue coolant without any other related changes.

There's also a developing technology involving lithium-ion cells placed directly in the coolant to provide the minimum thermal resistance, allowing optimum cell performance. Clearly that's a far more complicated application than just the safety margin provided in the Kona's case.

There's also some information about the coolant used in high-power charging cables and plugs, again a more direct application and costly fluids are not unexpected.

https://www.breakinglatest.news/bus...nd-do-not-conduct-electricity-it-and-traffic/

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/coolant-likely-cause-of-volt-fires-says-ap-source/

https://www.electronics-cooling.com...vity-liquid-coolants-for-electronics-cooling/

https://chargedevs.com/newswire/liq...-vehicles-what-to-know-to-keep-evs-on-the-go/

https://www.electronics-cooling.com/2020/03/keeping-cool-as-the-electric-vehicle-market-heats-up/
 
Last edited:
KiwiME said:
From my 2+ hours of research yesterday the issue of EV coolant normally being partly conductive kicked off some years ago when an EV caught fire in China some hours after a formal crash test. It was determined that coolant had leaked into the battery housing and caused a short and slow thermal runaway. From that there was concern that occupants of vehicles involved in a crash would have sufficient time to leave before a similar thing happened.

But there's very little info on the subject overall regarding EV applications and although I understand Hyundai specifying this special coolant in an abundance of caution I'm also wondering why it requires relatively frequent replacement on the 2020+ Kona but not the new Ioniq 5? One article on industrial coolants intended for general wet electrical usage said that the coolant draws ions from surrounding materials (metals and plastics) and slowly gets more conductive. I do notice that the Ioniq 5 cooling tubes are made up of a large panel and may have a lot less connections and perhaps a more optimal choice of materials than the Kona, which by our observations, has been updated to the blue coolant without any other related changes.

There's also a developing technology involving lithium-ion cells placed directly in the coolant to provide the minimum thermal resistance, allowing optimum cell performance. Clearly that's a far more complicated application than just the safety margin provided in the Kona's case.

There's also some information about the coolant used in high-power charging cables and plugs, again a more direct application and costly fluids are not unexpected.

https://www.breakinglatest.news/bus...nd-do-not-conduct-electricity-it-and-traffic/

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/coolant-likely-cause-of-volt-fires-says-ap-source/

https://www.electronics-cooling.com...vity-liquid-coolants-for-electronics-cooling/

https://chargedevs.com/newswire/liq...-vehicles-what-to-know-to-keep-evs-on-the-go/

https://www.electronics-cooling.com/2020/03/keeping-cool-as-the-electric-vehicle-market-heats-up/
Click to expand...

Kiwime, I am not so sure that the Ioniq 5 is exempt. I just saw a 20,000 main service UK schedule for Ioniq 5 and it calls for a 40,000 mile interval for change of low conductive coolant. That seems like a fairly similar change interval to the Kona.
https://www.ioniqforum.com/threads/ioniq-5-interim-and-main-service-checksheets.37885/
 
I am and will continue to be a DIY. I've done many jobs and learned quite a few from just researching and doing. Many times my work is better than so called 'Professionals'. I had my 2019 Kona EV in for a recall (the battery cable one). I have paperwork that states it was done, yet the dealership said it wasn't performed! Very hard to trust such dealerships. Anyway, my thought on the coolant ... if it any way affects my battery warranty (which for the 2019 is 'lifetime'), I would not want to jeopardize voiding the warranty. So, as much as it would really bother me, I would probably have to 'submit' to having an authorized Hyundai dealership perform the work - UGH!
 
In my 2019 owner's manual, the maintenance schedule calls for coolant replacement at 192000km...
 

Attachments

  • 20211229_094231.webp
    20211229_094231.webp
    50.4 KB · Views: 30
herode10 said:
In my 2019 owner's manual, the maintenance schedule calls for coolant replacement at 192000km...
Click to expand...
That's good to hear! I hadn't looked at when it was due, in my 2019. So I've got lot's of time then before having to deal with it. Thanks for letting me know the requirement for coolant flush/change.
 
herode10 said:
In my 2019 owner's manual, the maintenance schedule calls for coolant replacement at 192000km...
Click to expand...
Herode10 I am not sure where you are located but just be sensitive to conditions that invoke the severe usage schedule. Here in Canada Hyundai fair or not considers the whole country as falling under the severe usage maintenance schedule. Its quite a bit more restrictive. Also keep in mind many of 2019 models have the more conventional green coolant that should be much cheaper and generally longer change intervals.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top