Clunking Vibration type sound

Sorry to hear that ...

 

No kidding, this is not good at all.

 

Sorry to hear but just as I predicted. Ridiculous that after 1 year+ of this ongoing issue, Hyundai and Kia are still wasting everyone's time on these gearbox repairs when they know the motors are bad and should be replaced with the new revision. Hopefully your wait for a new motor won't be 6 weeks like it was on my Niro.

Do you have new car lemon laws in Canada? If so, I suggest getting a loaner and letting Hyundai keep the car until they complete repairs. This protects you if/when it comes to a lemon-law claim because those claims are usually based on amount of time car has been out of service. Couple Kona owners with bad motors on this forum already had their cars refunded as a result. Good luck!

 

There was some interest in seeing the "business side" of the gearbox. Here are some salvage photos I found online. Unlike the motor, there is only a single part revision available.

 

Here are photos of salvaged Niro motor (original 710 revision).

 

I guess... Haven't talked to the dealer again yet. But probably will the next few days. It is still fairly intermittent, and want to be sure when I take it in, they will hear it again.

Has anyone else with a motor replacement found the problem resolved. And how many kms since?

 

Yeah, sure would like to know if this a design or defect (incl assembly) problem. This is not the first electric car for Hyundai/Kia. And motors and reduction drives should be the least of the technological challenges (compared to the complexities of ICE ones). They have been around forever. It's the batteries with their BMS and TMS that I would not be surprised to see issues.

 

Hi RP, a friend of mine has just had his motor replaced. a few months a go I think. So far he says its noise free. I'll keep you posted if that changes.

 

Thanks ... seems to match the sectional view, at least in the areas that count. We certainly know a lot more about this now than we did 2 months ago. I'm becoming more convinced that this is a design v.s. production tolerances issue between the alignment of the motor shaft with the gearbox pinion shaft. The randomness of both a certain vehicle having an issue and the "fixes" applied not always working point to an occasionally unfavorable tolerance stackup between the two assemblies.
There are at least one too many bearings. Between the motor and pinion areas the Bolt has two and the Tesla Model 3 has three. Our Kona/eNiros have four.

If you check out Sandy Monroe's latest video on the Model Y teardown he pokes around in that area, although does not focus on these details. You can see that the pinion sits on the end of the motor shaft and the mating spline between them is inside the actual gear itself. Between the three bearings along those two shafts, the pinion shaft only cares about its tail bearing and the locating diameter next to the spline. The motor shaft only cares about its two bearings. Each shaft should only be held by two restraints, and Tesla have done this. You'll also note that part of the motor housing is combined with the gearbox so alignment of the bearings either side of the gear shaft is more ascertained.

I made a couple of sketches to illustrate the point. Both splined couplings have a locating diameter nearby which centers the two halves radially but can withstand a tiny amount of angular misalignment.

 

I think his was an early 2019 build. Over 15K from memory. He know has the gen 2 motor.

 

I would like to know more about this gen 2 motor. If they were to replace mine, how would I know which motor I got?

 

Gen1 part number ends in 700 on Kona, 710 on Niro. Gen2 part number ends in 701 on Kona, 711 on Niro. You can see the part number label through an opening in the wheel well using a camera. If dealer replaces your motor, you should also see the part number on the invoice.

Most likely they don't have parts in stock and want to reduce amount of time the car spends in service (see my comments earlier about lemon laws).

 

For sure they don't have the parts but its not lemon law driven in Canada. Generally speaking we don't have nearly the same legal protection as in the US. At best its an arbitration process funded by the manufacturer's, so you can imagine how that's going to end up.

 

Looked at my car, and could not find the opening you referenced. Is it on the driver or pax side? Do you have to take the wheel off to see it?

And which motor are 2020 models getting? Any 2019s that have the 701 number? Mine was manufactured in Dec/2018.

 

All cars (Niro or Kona) manufactured so far come with the older motor. Even model year 2020 cars that were delivered just a few weeks ago. The revised motor is only being used for repairs at this time.

The opening is on the right side of the car when sitting in the car - passenger side on USA cars. You don't need to take off the wheel but it helps if the wheels are turned. You have to slide a phone behind the wheel and take a few flash photos. If you're lucky you'll catch the motor label in one of the photos.

 

Turn your steering wheel all the way to the left and look in the passenger wheel well. This is a picture of my 2020 Kona built Oct 2019, it has a 700 motor.