Vibration at highway speed

Discussion in 'Hyundai Kona Electric' started by FrAllard, Aug 13, 2020.

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  1. Hi, it's my first message here, but not my first week with my 2019 Kona EV delivered in February 2019. Yes I got all the problems you can get, water pump changed because of check engine from coolant damage, I got the problem before it became a recall, reducer changed twice.

    Anyways, since the beginning I have a deep vibration that is not constant, I drive on cruise control and the vibration come and goes. The steering wheel doesn't shake like an unbalanced wheel. It's worse with winter tire. It seems to be related to the torque applied. Going on an over pass on the highway the vibration get worse and going down (regen) also create vibration. Going on a level road is 50-50.

    Last summer I strapped my car to a dyno (that I paid for) so we can look under the hood and the technician told me that a drive shaft was vibrating, got back to the dealer with this information and they changed the left drive shaft. After the change the problem was a little less apparent, probably because I wanted to believe that it worked. But this summer the problem is coming back.

    Did any of you guys experience that vibration, it's a deep vibration, my hanging part of my pants shake a little bit. My dealer tells me he sent my comment up the chain, but since I'm the only one at my dealer reporting that problem he basically told me that they (up the chain) won't do **** about this.

    A mechanic told me that it is usually drive shafts that do that kind of problem, when there is too much torque they degrade very fast and they vibrate, told me that even when removed from the car they look fine, but new drive shafts solve the problem. I don't want to request drive shafts replacement again if it isn't gonna solve the problem.

    Anyway I hope to find some fellow Kona EV owner with the same problem so we can have more weight when we place a call up the chain...

    Thanks for reading this long post up to this point

    FrAllard
     
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  3. Oh I thought you'd be interested in a dyno graph, we could not figure out how to get the torque out of the machine because it needed rpm reading somehow... and at 175$/h I didn't want to waste any time you know... So here is the power of the Kova EV in function of the speed...
     

    Attached Files:

  4. cmwade77

    cmwade77 Active Member

    Sounds like you got a lemon, I would check what the lemon laws are in your state and have them do a buy back and get another one instead.
     
  5. You say the gear reducer has been changed twice (to attempt to repair the vibration or noise related?) Also the other part of the drive train (motor) has been replaced on other cars to a new # 701, maybe this could be the issue?
    It can't hurt to eliminate the drive shafts either;)
     
    mho likes this.
  6. Wow, that's quite an entrance to the forum and I think you have us all beat, so welcome to the board.
    I haven't heard any other similar complaints and having the gear reducer changed seems to eliminate that as a source. Aside from driveshafts being the most obvious cause, the transaxle/motor mounts could be possibilities. The vibration frequency relative to road speed might lend further clues.
     
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  8. Thanks for you answers... The reducer was changed due to the very strange noise the day after I took delivery, it was -25C outside and since they found water inside the reducer it froze probably damaging it and making the now famous noise. The second time it was the howling noise and I know it would not solve the problem because that sound look like an electronic noise so probably coming from the inverter. Anyways they changed it and since then it never was cold enough to do it again so...

    The vibration tough never was addressed properly, only that one time when I made them change one drive shaft and it kind of helped but not completely. The vibration is barely noticeable at 100 km/h at 110 km/h it's there and higher speed than that it's more and more noticable, I didn't bring it to max speed to test though. I'm not even driving this car like a maniac, I could drive a lot harder and it wouldn't be considered hard driving yet.

    I thought that it might be the motor that would be out of balance, but when I saw in Torque Pro that it revs at like 10 000 rpm (don't know exactly how fast, but it was fast) at 100 km/h I ruled it out... The reducer out of balance, twice... I ruled that out too.

    How would the transaxle motor mounts create that vibration, they would be simply bad or misaligned, care to elaborate your theory KiwiME? I'm not a mechanic, I don't think I know for sure what you're talking about in fact :)

    I don't know if I said it, but the steering wheel don't shake, the whole car shake, it's coming from underneath the car it seams. I had the tires balanced on a Road Force High Definition balancer. I had the car aligned at a specialized place, they took 2 hours to align the car properly, the machine was saying it was aligned but it was still pulling to the right, they pulled a trick out of their hat and it was perfect. But you know it, it doesn't last the car is too heavy for the suspension and alignment goes bad fast. Apparently, also, there is too much torque and/or not enough damping (spring clutch or transfer case). My best theory right now is that the drive shafts bushing (if there's any lol) get damaged because there it too much torque. The guy that has a dyno and did my car he deal with performance cars all the time and he see that a lot, too much torque so the drive shaft wear in a bad way and it begin to vibrate.

    Funny story about the dyno, the guy told me I made him discover a new smell of his dyno, since there was no exhaust smell we could smell the dyno electric or magnetic brakes.

    Anyway I'm happy I found this forum, I had to quit Facebook and especially the Kona Groups where all newbies ask the same question... "What does the green light mean in the front grill?" The Answer is easy... "It means it's time for you to RTFM.", but some found it a little harsh... lol.
     
    KiwiME and electriceddy like this.
  9. Welcome to Inside EVS forum and thanks for posting, hopefully someone tunes in with any additional input. First I've heard of alignment issues on Kona electric due to over torque, but I guess that is a possibility. Look forward to follow up posts and if indeed mount replacements solves the issue.
     
  10. Judging by the speeds involved and your description it seems certain to be an imbalance or excess runout of axle speed components, meaning axles, hubs, disks, wheels and tires, not the motor or gearbox and not the mounts. The change relative to torque could be explained if the CV or inner joints were faulty and shifted their centerlines when under torque loading.
    Yeah, there's no damping components present. I would expect that the drive shafts are correctly sized by Hyundai for the stock torque levels.
    Four decades ago I worked as technical services engineer for a dyno manufacturer so encountered all sorts of field issues with power transmission. Most were engine type dynos rather than the chassis type, both automotive and industrial, to 80,000 hp.
    froude_big_dyno.jpg
     
  11. Thanks for expanding my theory, I now have to try and convince the dealer to work on this and find the problem. I think I'll have to get involved with Hyundai Canada to get an authorization to have the dealer change everything related to drivetrain maybe. SInce I'm the only one with the problem they should work on finding the source of the problem and fix it right.
    LOL the car come from a gas engine and they probably reused an off the shelf drive shafts from another model, I don't know for sure, but they had to cut down costs. So I doubt they worked very hard on sizing that to the instant torque the electric motor is producing. I really hope you're right for the sake of the longevity of our investments....

    I'm going in next Wednesday for the BMS update and I'll have them check the vibration again, just so it is documented in my file...
     
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  13. I called Hyundai Canada this morning to open a case and have them authorize extended work from my dealer to solve my problem.

    Here are the videos I took during the dyno runs...

    You can see in the first one a "smooth" run on a wide range of speed...


    Then you can see a little later a very rough run.
     
  14. Please update us on what is found, that is exceptionally rough in the last video.
     
  15. No matter where they came from the components must meet the design requirements.
     
  16. Just curious, what is your mileage and location, our delivery dates are similar- mine was Feb 25/19 also in Canada, but I have only 10,500 km so far.
    BTW you can also insert your location etc in the signature portion.
     
  17. Ed C

    Ed C Active Member

    Yep the car shakes. I am not sure why a Feb 2019 model is delivered to you when it is Aug 2020. Unless it is a pre-owned vehicle or factory re-furbished, it probably have something wrong with it in the first place. Under the Lemon Laws (not sure in Canada), you should return the vehicle and ask for a refund.
     
  18. He stated it was delivered Feb 2019.
     
  19. I got mine Feb 26/19, I'm Drummondville QC. I'm at 41 000 km at the moment. I have been suffering this vibration since the beginning...

    I'll keep you guys updated...
     
    electriceddy likes this.
  20. Thanks for that, posting location and mileage sometimes help when checking various issues as some things may vary depending on those criteria.
     
  21. jmars

    jmars New Member

    Your not alone! My car does the same thing.
     
  22. I'm not alone! Thank (insert your God name)! It drives me crazy! I called and place a formal complaint with Hyundai Canada, they told me I'd get a call back few days later. Meanwhile I already had a appointment for the BMS update at my dealer and he told me that he received an email from Hyundai Canada telling them to look into this problem. Which they already did, I complain about this since I have the car. But I was still expecting feedback from Hyundai Canada, nothing... So I called back and they basically told me that the ball was in the Dealer's hand and that they had to call for a senior technician to come and experience the problem. So that guy from Toronto has to come down and diagnose the problem and authorize the work. I don't give a what they do to my car as long as they solve the problem and it never comes back, I don't even mind them "lemmoning" the car, I'll buy another one, identical, maybe another color, undecided still...
     
  23. jmars

    jmars New Member

    I had the issue looked at by my dealer and they balanced tires and aligned the wheels with no resolution. At the end of the day we got in a different one they had on the lot and it did the same thing! Hyundai should not be playing stupid on this! They know there is a problem and need to fix it.
     

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