Coolant Change, 2020 Niro EV

I don't recall seeing this being "required" in the maintenance schedule. Do you have a reference for this requirement?

 

Thanks so much for posting this! I can absolutely see right up top where it needs to be replaced every 37.5k miles, and the brake fluid. You did well to have all this done for $170. The Kia dealers in my area are all on a quest to find out how to extract every dollar out of unsuspecting EV owners by offering all sorts of extra "important," but not Kia endorsed services.

 

You did well.

 

This is for 2022

 

I have a 2022- and I know there is also reduction gearbox oil that has to be replaced at I think 80,000 miles- not sure why they left that off of the list above? Could there be anything else missing?

 

No need to reduction change gear oil, just inspect:

 

Ah, thanks for that clarification.

On another thread, I have seen discussion of the gearbox oil getting very dirty- full of small metal fragments- even after just a few thousand miles, and some mechanics are recommending changing this ASAP- within the first year, as the theory is that this first change will get those initial "break-in" fragments removed, and the car will be good going forward.... the issue seems to be the lack of a good magnet in there to catch these fragments, so they just end up circulating around in the oil.

I am debating asking to go ahead and change that on my first appointment here next month (I'm at 5,600 miles on mine).

 

Ah, sorry to hear that. Will you be bringing yours in to check out that whirring sound before warranty expires?

 

What other issues have you been encountering?
And any thought then, since it sounds like you aren't thrilled with the Niro, on what your next car might be?

Mine is only a year old, and I have been debating trading it for a Tesla Model 3 (now that the price has dropped so much and they qualify for the US tax credit) while my Kia is still worth quite a bit on trade-in.... but I know that could be a whole host of other issues, given the spotty fit and finish issues those have....

 

If you do this and the oil is dirty, we will have another data point not to trust KIA maintenance schedule. Will you be able to get this information from the mechanic?

 

Yeah, I will try to ask for results when I do this.
I have no idea what this service costs, and it's scheduled to be done at like 80,000 miles- so it's disappointing that this is seemingly necessary so early on, and potentially even again in a year or so after- depending on how dirty the oil was the first time around.

I wonder if this was solved in the redesign for the 2023 model?

 

Yeah, that would be the hope- that as they sell more of these, they are working on more of them as well, and getting better at that.

And knock on wood, that you won't have any other issues- given that Kia overall at this point has a pretty strong record for reliability.

 

Coolant alert and dirty gearbox oil are my concerns for KIA reliability. We own a '22 Niro EV. Flushing the coolant will trigger alert that can not be fixed? Hilarious.