Replacing standard antifreeze with safe antifreeze in Hyundai Kona Electro

The quality of Korean electric vehicles, as we have already mentioned, is steadily improving. But despite this, some mistakes sometimes occur during their production. It should be noted that the breakdowns associated with the miscalculations of vehicle designers from South Korea are not of a massive or catastrophic nature. In general, this kind of thing happens when manufacturing ordinary cars, diesel or petrol. The only important thing is to detect problems in time and fix them. And STS Electro will always help with this.

Fill the inverter refrigerant – how to deal with this inscription

If in previous times we struggled with the rumble in the engine and transmission of the Hyundai Kona Electro and similar cars, this time our «enemy» is liquid. Car owners will learn about the problem from a message on the dashboard that urges the driver to fill the inverter with antifreeze. Such a window can pop up at almost any mileage - both for 10 thousand km and for more than 100,000.

Everything seems to be clear, you need to raise the coolant level. However, when the owners open the bonnet, they see that there is nothing wrong with the antifreeze, at least with its amount. Connecting a diagnostic scanner also does nothing - there are no errors.

Since there are no noticeable malfunctions, the message on the display is orange, that is, warning, not prohibiting, most owners of Hyundai Kona cars in this case continue to use the car, not even thinking to seek help from a service station. And in vain: the problem exists, and it is quite serious.

So much so that Kia/Hyundai even conducted a recall campaign in 2023. However, it was not explicit and very random in terms of region. For example, judging by the feedback on the relevant forums of the model's owners, it was announced by dealers in the UK, Canada, and even Romania, but at the same time, they were very reluctant to do so in the US (where Kona was most actively sold), not to mention other regions.

What is the fault of antifreeze

The reason for the campaign was antifreeze, or rather, its composition. The situation, which the level sensors identified as a lack of coolant, was actually caused by clogging of the system with flakes of sediment formed from the chemical reaction of the standard factory antifreeze with parts of the cooling system. The problem occurred on many of the brand's vehicles, but was particularly relevant for Kona electric vehicles due to the large number of aluminium components.

The exact composition of the factory coolant is kept secret. All we know is that dealers mostly changed the standard blue antifreeze to pink. Therefore, they also filled the liquid with the same colour. They remembered that in electric vehicles, it must be deionised. Before replacing it, the system was rinsed with distilled water. In the container where the waste fluid was drained, we found the remains of flakes.

Despite the fact that the coolant change procedure looks quite simple, we want to warn electric car owners against doing it on their own. First of all, without knowing the nuances, it is very difficult to drain everything in the system. And this is necessary to fix the problem. To do this, you need to have a compressor and know how to properly blow out the nozzles.

Secondly, it has a three-way valve (an approximate analogue of a thermostat in cars with an internal combustion engine), which makes it impossible to add new antifreeze without creating an airlock. It is advisable to use a special vacuum system to fill the system and simultaneously monitor the process using a computer.

It is almost impossible to carry out such work even in a regular workshop, let alone in your own garage. And without the correct replacement of antifreeze, the engine and the car as a whole will not work correctly, and serious problems may arise. So, if your Hyundai Kona hasn't had its antifreeze replaced yet, we invite you to STS.Parts to fix this annoying defect. And also to carry out any other repair and maintenance work on electric cars, hybrid cars, and any other cars in general. The quality of our work and prices will pleasantly surprise you.