[Kiwi]

I found Redline 75W80 API GL-4 at Amazon, so it will be a little heavier.

Don't use that! Redline MT-LV is good or buy the DCT 70W from the dealer.

There may be others but the 2 specs to look for are the viscosity at 100°C must be around 5.4 and the EP rating must be GL-4. That 75W-80 is 10.4, might be OK for Hawaii.

How cold is it in your winter?

Another alternative Liqui Moly MTF 5300 70W-75

 

[Zes]

I went to the Redline website and input 2021 Kona EV. It suggested:

MT-LV 70W/75W GL-4 Gear Oil.

I ordered 4 quarts for $30.75. I plan to replace this every 10,000 miles, so that should be good for 3 changes.

Kiwi, That should be OK, right?

 

[Kiwi]

Yes, MT-LV is correct. Capacity is 1.05 litre, plus whatever you spill!

 

[Zes]

OK thank you. The dealer claims that the gearbox needs to be filled until oil comes out of the 'weep hole' and that this requires 3.5 liters. The dealer claims these are the manufacturers instructions to them and this needs 3.5 liters. Do you know where the weep hole is? I have difficulty believing this because of all the experience by you all changing the oil.

 

[08crd]

OK thank you. The dealer claims that the gearbox needs to be filled until oil comes out of the 'weep hole' and that this requires 3.5 liters. The dealer claims these are the manufacturers instructions to them and this needs 3.5 liters. Do you know where the weep hole is? I have difficulty believing this because of all the experience by you all changing the oil.

A couple of pages back @Kiwi posted up a photo of the fill and drain plugs #103, the weep hole is the fill hole, the car must be level and the gear box is full when oil starts to pour out of the fill hole.

 

[Zes]

Thank you. I am copy pasting the dealers response:

The problem is that those vehicle by not following procedure where you fill til the fluid come out of the weep hole are potentially under lubricated and could cause issues later on down the road. Any repair that we complete here is done by the procedure manual for the vehicle to its exact specs to ensure that we are completing the repair in a manner that is in accordance with the manufacturer.

 

[Zes]

We will find out soon. I ordered the oil from Reline today. When I do the change myself I will measure how much oil comes out. If it is about a liter I will make sure that the dealer sees it!

 

[Kiwi]

... The dealer claims that the gearbox ... requires 3.5 liters. The dealer claims these are the manufacturers instructions to them and this needs 3.5 liters. ...

Well, the dealer is incorrect, as disappointing as that is. Some Hyundai ICE automatics take exactly that much oil according to a quick search.
The capacity is clearly stated in the owner's manual 1.0 to 1.1 L.
We had another owner somewhere who was billed for 3.5 L and was trying to fight that with little success.

There's no "weep" hole. The oil is filled while the car is level until it drips out the filler opening. Since I know the capacity and don't have a lift, I raise the car so that the filler opening is higher than level and then add exactly 1.05 L. I suspect that even 0.95 L (1 qt) would be just fine because some oil remains in the housing.

I'll add that I know 1 L comes out because I measure it. The last change I simply filtered the existing oil through an N95 face mask and put it straight back in, with a small top-off.

I think Shiggy said it best:

But I have a greater concern about the car. Every time I have been to the dealership I feel like I just pulled up in an alien spaceship. Do they really have any experience with these cars? One has to wonder. ...

 

[Zes]

Kiwi, if you used your wife's cookware to filter the oil I am sure she was not too happy with you

 

[Kiwi]

Lol ... lucky I'm not married so the entire kitchen is at my disposal. The containers will clean up easily but I think the mask is done for!

 

[Clonbur]

...We had another owner somewhere who was billed for 3.5 L and was trying to fight that with little success.

... The last change I simply filtered the existing oil through an N95 face mask and put it straight back in, with a small top-off.

I think I will stay away from dealers as long as I can. I have no warranty to worry about voiding so...

Kiwi, did the filtered drain oil look much lighter colored after pouring through the N95? I still have my first drain oil change. I am trying to let the impurities settle out for a while before I try filtering and saving for top off or future changes (only 750 miles on it but probably full of break-in stuff).

 

[Kiwi]

Filtering didn't change the colour. I think once the oil is "dyed" there's little chance of restoring the colour but that shouldn't affect its usefulness as a safe top-up oil.

Since you have some time to do this, I'd suggest just letting the particles settle out over some weeks or months then filter the upper half of what's left and discard the rest. 1 L takes about 1 hour to get through a mask if you keep it filled up.

The only thing is that the Redline used in subsequent fills is quite clear looking compared to other oils and topping it up with blackened oil may be misleading as to how things are progressing.

If you happen to have other remnants of clean gear or motor oil lying around you can use almost anything to top-off the 0.05 L.

 

[08crd]

Well the five 20mmx5mm neodymium magnets arrived and I picked up a Repco(RSP1010) 18mm X12mm sump plug, the head is a bit large but only $9 so should suffice for some basic testing.
With some basic tests already the field size and strength on the neodymium magnets appears to be greater, that is only using a compass app on a tablet and a magnetic field app on an android phone, however when the votex and the repco are attached to a steel plate the votex feels to have stronger holding power.
Only started trying things to day as the wife and I are down with covid and it is bloody cold in the shed, what I want to do is mount them in the side of a plastic container then see the strength at attracting metal filings through an oil medium, so I will try and do more during the week, already broke one magnet because of cold fingers.

 

[Kiwi]

One quick way to evaluate these options is to use a ferromagnetic item with the smallest frontal area you can find, as a small particle would have as it passes by. I've used the tip of a jeweler's screwdriver but the end of an unraveled paperclip or fine piece of steel wire would work similarly. The magnetic field is attempting to bridge the north and south poles with the least resistance and steel has massively less resistance than air. By placing a magnet on the outer end of a steel plug the majority of the flux is also around the outside end of the plug but some is also present around the inside end. With the stainless Votex there is effectively no steel at all and the field is fully left to its own devices as it would be in air, not a whole lot better. Placing large items near these plugs gives misleading results because they significantly reduce flux resistance, being of a similar girth.

I have a jug of slightly-used oil (the Penrite 70W-75) that I had installed in my Suzuki ICE manual gearbox for three days as a low-viscosity experiment. I've dropped the DeeFill and Toyota plugs in that for a few days (primarily for chemical testing) and am amazed that they can pull out remaining particles that the Suzuki gearbox magnet had failed to catch. What I'm learning though is that any magnet is infinitely better than none at all.

I'm warming up a lot to the idea of recommending the magnet attached to the outside of the plug because I think it's more palatable to the average Kona EV owner and their perception of what their dealer would accept, something I don't always consider when I personally understand how critical this modification is for gearbox health. My recommendations usually go down like a lead balloon on forums where owners have a 10 year warranty and so have far less skin in the game than we do.

Sorry to hear yourself and your wife are suffering from Covid and hope you both get better soon!

 

[AusKona]

This is a duplicate of my post on this subject over at insideevs.

As per my previous posts in this thread, I flushed and changed the reduction gear fluid at 3700km. The fluid used was Penrite Pro Gear 70W-75. As planned, I changed the fluid again at 10,000km, so this fluid has been in use for 6300km. I sent a sample of the used fluid plus a sample of fresh fluid for comparison to be analysed and have just received the results, attached below.
I think they use boilerplate text for their comments as I've explained three times now that there is no auto transmission or engine heat in a Kona EV, both of which were mentioned in the comments. Nevertheless the aluminium content reported doesn't auger particularly well for my Kona, IMO.

 

[Zes]

Well, no magnet is going to collect aluminum so you are seeing it all. It can only be coming from the casing. The gears and bearing materials are all steel.

 

[AusKona]

Well, no magnet is going to collect aluminum so you are seeing it all. It can only be coming from the casing. The gears and bearing materials are all steel.

Yes, I'm aware of that. It's the point of my post and it worries me.

 

[08crd]

Well I carried out some tests with the magnets today, it would appear the external magnets may be as effective, if not more so than the Votex.
I tested the Votex against 2,3 &4 external mounted magnets, from observation the sump plug with the external 20mmx5mm magnets had larger field effect and more load (iron filings) carrying capacity.
Measuring actual microteslas, background reading was 261uT, the Votex measured 276uT, the sump plug with 2magnets measured 288uT, three magnets 312uT, four magnets 343uT.
I then laid a trail of fine metal filings in a thin line and observed how far the magnetic field was having an effect, with 4 magnets the effect could be seen for approx 50mm, with the votex it was approx half that.
Then I placed some 30w engine oil in a plastic container and sprinkled iron filings into the oil, while observing the Votex and the magnets at opposite ends, due to the physical size of the whole sump plug being magnetised, it captured much more metal. Having said that the attractive force of the Votex was extremely good when filings went past in close proximity.
I have attached some photo's to give an idea of the tests, there is one more test I would like to do, which is use a sump plug with a thinner head more like the Hyundai original, I have one ordered but can't pick it up until I have a negative RAT test.

 

[Zes]

Where can we buy these magnets from?

 

[Kiwi]

Well I carried out some tests with the magnets today ...

That's an impressive test in the oil and does illustrate the competitive abilities of the external magnet(s) along with the similar field strength numbers as the Votex. I'm wondering how tenaciously the particles are held in place when the oil is under a high level of turbulence? It appears that the magnet stack presents a large field while the Votex seems confined to a much smaller area. But the Votex may have a higher gradient at the surface and perhaps that might help particles stay attached?