2020+ (classic) Ioniq: Low-conductivity coolant crystallizing + low-coolant level warning ...

So my original appointment was yesterday the 2nd, I took the car in nice and early, and they couldn't
find me in the system. Turned out that they had pushed the appointment by a day to the 3rd, and the
only indication was a different date in a SMS "reminder" that got sent a while later which I missed.
They could take the car in anyway, I had the e-scooter as transport and the weather's been gorgeous
here so I was okay with that.

Five hours later, just as my weekly hike outing had finished, I got a text that the car was *done*. ???

So I scooted back over there, gave things a look on-site and more when I got home, and couldn't
find any hint that they'd actually done anything to the car at all. Usually when coolant work is done
there's *some* evidence of wetness below certain fittings, but I could find none. Either they were
meticulous about wiping up, or they'd maybe only done the pump RPM check at most and called
it a day. Granted, I did give them the car with the plastic under-panels removed to speed their
process, but now I have no idea if the right coolant is in there or not. They also made no mention
of sending me off with some extra coolant to add if the tank level dropped on further "burping" of
air in the system.

I did talk to one of the techs, and he seemed to have kind of a sour attitude about the whole thing;
couldn't speak to my question about the attachment points seeming to bypass one of the water pumps...
said "that's what the engineers say to do, we just do it" and evidently thinks the whole bit about updating
the coolant is so much make-work BS. At least he agreed that the mysterious "javara hose" is any
random bit of tubing that can fit down the reservoir tank and is nothing special.

If I start getting coolant-flow problems down the road there will be hell to pay.

_H*

 

The service manager's email address is on my receipt [fortunately, for $0.00] so I sent off a plea to
find out exactly what was done. Warning that the simple pump RPM check is not a proactive measure.
It will probably piss him off, i.e. he'll want to accuse me of not trusting his staff, but seriously, in this
case it bears asking.

_H*

 

Had the first service carried out today and queried the service dept as to the ongoing cost of services, the coolant is changed at 60,000km by the schedule, the cost for the service $755 aud.

 

It figures that just 3 days after I scheduled the 25k mile (~40k km) pre-paid routine maintenance, I get the low inverter coolant message when turning on my '21. I do have the blue coolant and the level is just barely below MAX. I guess I better call the dealership to make sure they have the necessary equipment to perform the TSB. I figure they'll do the BMS update as well. Now, I have to change the appointment as I wasn't expecting the extra time. Haha.

As a side note, it's humorous that I've been getting all sorts of reminders that I've been overdue for service. Due to a change in my work schedule in March, I'm now able to use the company bus to get to-and-from work instead of driving the ~80 mile (~130 km) roundtrip 5 days a week, so my total driving has dropped from ~360 miles/week (~580 km) to ~40 miles/week (~65 km). That's screwed up all the projected service reminders. When I logged in to the dealership's service scheduler, it had my Kona's estimated mileage at 37.5k miles since it was based on my previous visits. LOL.

 

After 3 attempts to contact the dealership's service department, including leaving 1 voicemail which apparently didn't accomplish anything, I finally talked to someone before next week's appointment. Apparently, they do have the special pump and have performed the TSB previously, but they will need to confirm that my car has indeed thrown the warning messages before they can proceed with the TSB, so I'm assuming/hoping the diagnostic will show that the message has come up. It hasn't appeared in the last couple of weeks.

They should also be aware that I'm eligible for the BMS update (9A4 recall), but I don't know if they will be able to also do that. They make use of the online scheduler and if you select the BMS update, the soonest appointment is February. The next-closest dealership has a much sooner appointment window, but I'm opting for the closer one because I can actually walk home from there while the other one is outside their "free" Lyft service range.

 

If the car starts throwing the relevant warnings, it's already too late. Don't they understand what
preventive means?

_H*

 

Well, I took it in this morning and they said they're going to perform both the Coolant Change and the 9A4 DTC Inspec / BMS Update. We'll see if I get it back before EOB. Interestingly, I got a Bluelink notification for the panic alert a few minutes ago from the dealership address.

 

Not terribly surprising that I did not get the car back yesterday, but they did finish first-thing this morning and I have it back. No issues after driving around for ~10 miles. The notes for the coolant change (DEBRIS DISCHARGE AND COOLANT EXCHANGE) on the invoice were:

"performed recall T9E coolant system and coolant change, using s/w update performed air bleed and photos uploaded to stui."

Edit to add: Side note - about the panic alert I mentioned yesterday. I think I know why it popped up because it happened again when I was picking up the car. The dealership "porter" went to the lot to bring my car around and he pressed the panic button on the fob to get the horn to go off in order to find it which immediately brought up another bluelink notification on my phone. Haha.