CRAZY Low Mileage Major EV fault & What happened to the 14 year old EV? Workshop update 👨🏻‍🔧🛠️

[@keithcheetham]

That bearing ball smacks of electrical current passing through the ball from 1 race to the other. I understand that in HV VFD driven motor in the pump industry that I worked in the outer race was insulated with something like a ceramic coating, or the motor shaft would have a earth brush running on it to earth stray currents.

[@bernardcharlesworth9860]

Had this problem on an industrial motor which failed early. The tradition for electric motors is the ball bearing design as you're shown . If the car is not used for a few weeks the spot load on the outrace will develop a micro dent which reduces the life of the bearing. This can be calculated. In the factory the motors in storage were rotated a quarter turn every six months. Service life can be reduced further if the vehicle is parked near a road. Car companies need to start developing bearings for road going motors with a larger contact path.

[@garycevrepairs]

Interesting insight, thank you.

[@gingernutpreacher]

Should they have rollers rather than ball?

[@fredfred2363]

Tapered roller bearings would fix that fault... But bearing stress is much higher when running than when stopped. Think about it- when stationary, the balls find their own resting spot and slide up or down the race (a fraction of a mm), so more of them spread the load. When running, the clearance (C3 I'd guess) means only a few of the entire race are in contact at any time to carry the entire load.

[@keithcheetham]

Think you are referring to brinelling of the bearings which happens when vibration from outside forces such as local machinery vibration on static machinery impacts the ball on the static spot of the race. This results in a clean "crater" in the race, where this damage is on the ball itself, and is not clean.

[@keithcheetham]

@@fredfred2363 I am unsure how a taper roller could be configured to accommodate thermal expansion in a horizontal configured motor as the bearing at the other end, or the shaft through that bearing, would need to float. This would result in the rollers riding down the race unless the element or opposite end bearing was loaded to force the rollers up the race through the temperature/expansion range - hope this makes sense.

[@teardowndan5364]

Pitting on metallic electric motor bearings can be caused by eddy currents going through the bearings to form a circuit around the whole housing. This can be mitigated by adding slip couplers on the rotor axle to divert current away from bearings or using ceramic bearings to stop that current altogether.

[@dougowt]

Looks like a good case for someone to make a better bearing. And great to hear Alex is delivering you way too. Alex has delivered a Kangoo ZE from BCA in Glasgow and a Zoe from the west coast of Scotland to Torquay for me, great guy.

[@garycevrepairs]

Oh nice. The bearings I fit are basically the best ones I can get without spending a fortune and as far as I can work out are better than the originals. Cheers

[@MrKOenigma]

You're doing an amazing job, and your work as well as your KZbin is so valuable! That's why people will bring cars 400 miles. ...I love that story... ❤❤❤

[@Hookeslaw]

Thats the truth

[@fredfred2363]

I agree. You're educating a LOT of people...👍🏻🇬🇧

[@TheBermudabob68]

I've got a 2012 c-zero (so basically an i-miev) as a 2nd car. Still does 60 miles range, very good condition and is a great runabout. I'm wondering, with battery costs dropping, whether it might be feasible in the future to replace the battery with a higher density one. Does this sound like a possibility?

[@garycevrepairs]

There is a 3rd party upgrade available but very expensive!

[@GoneKayaking]

Looks more like rust damage than wear. I see others mentioning erosion from current. Seems possible also but more likely to be evenly spread across all balls whereas rust could be limited to just a couple with a drop sitting in one place for a period. Just a thought...

[@CrownRider]

If I had a Zoë with that problem I would have you to fix it and I'm from the Netherlands.

[@garycevrepairs]

😁😳

[@fredfred2363]

And you're nearer too... maybe just 50 miles!

[@zedman442]

That’s crazy and part of the problem of infrastructure for EVs. Not just about charging facilities but the maintenance needs to catch up too. Government incentives needed for future development in this trade.

[@garycevrepairs]

Absolutely.

[@dennisharvey4499]

They call that a bearing! I have better bearings in the crank of my bicycle. Are you able to replace them with a better design of bearing?

[@garycevrepairs]

Haha yeah they are pretty small given they are around 110kw output. I fit better bearings.

[@dennisharvey4499]

@@garycevrepairs are they just greased?

[@garycevrepairs]

Yes they have grease around them with seals keeping it in.

[@markreed9853]

Am I going to get the same sort of issues on a 2020 GT in a few years? - or is the motor design different?

[@garycevrepairs]

It is the same design unfortunately.

[@markreed9853]

@@garycevrepairs It's only at 25k miles at 4 years and with me driving less than 5K a year is it something I need to worry about? - or are there any other issues which will be more of a problem, just considering selling at 5 years or maybe extending the warrentee? I am getting the reversing camera replaced under warranty soon and noticed some play/knocking in the steering sometimes (which the dealer cant find) and only had it since July.

[@garycevrepairs]

Hi, my wife’s Zoe has a little knock on the steering. I would hope the motor will last but extending the warranty before it runs out is definitely recommended.

[@martymar7465]

The pitting on bearing balls is caused by electrical charge cumulated in motor rotor and later discharge through beraing this issue is known on Hyundai ionic specially with users that's coasting a lot . Hyundai have permanent magnet motor so magnets always inducing electric current in stator winding and this during coasting is compensated by moving magnetic field with rotor and this process not 100% efective so residual charge stays in the rotor. This is my suggestion.

[@novicvrle]

Yes, I think you are wright. Damage look like electrical - spark issue from induction. But there is chicken-egg story, if balls are good quality and not worn, there will be good contact. So Renault, Renault ...

[@fredfred2363]

I dunno- the Lithium hydroxide salts in old/used grease would conduct away any high voltages instantly. And there'd not be much current to do "spark erosion". Else you'd have the same problems in cars in dry desert countries where static buildup is a problem.

[@StartledPancake]

Another interesting video Gary. Is there a company out there just fitting EV motor bearings on the motors that Renault replaces? It seems like relatively easy money and stops a perfectly decent motor going for scrap.

[@garycevrepairs]

I believe Renault recondition some old motors as they do sometimes offer recon motors.

[@fredfred2363]

Those bearings look like water damage... condensation? Show us the new bearings. are they "RS" or metal shell?

[@garycevrepairs]

Don’t think it’s condensation, they are shielded with grease around the bearings, had to clean them a lot to see the surface. Cheers

[@sp1es]

I had the reduction gear in my ioniq rebuilt at 50k miles, it always clicked under regen but I always thought that was just normal until I found out about the wheel of fortune issue with them Not the original owner don't know how it was treated, whether it was raced away at every opportunity I'm unsure, but at the same time I wonder how many ioniq owners are oblivious to the issue as I was

[@garycevrepairs]

There seem to be some issues with the ioniq motors/reduction gears but don’t think it’s as common on those as the Zoe motor issues.

[@itekani]

Got my motor changed on warranty after 45000 km.

[@deansh8506]

Such a same that it turns out these Renault motors aren't that durable after all. At least with the LEAF you can plug in Leafspy and see how bad the battery is and decide to purchase the car or not. This Zoe motor can fail anytime.

[@garycevrepairs]

To be fair I’ve seen plenty of Leaf battery issues. I think if reliability is highest on your list you wouldn’t be buying a Zoe or a Leaf 😃

[@armunro]

Not many balls in that bearing. Some company beginning with R is skimping on costs! Electric cars are garbage; law should be that cars last at least 100k miles and are designed to be easier to repair. Not stick all the electrics in the battery pack that can only be accessed by dropping the battery out from underneath. So they aren't exactly environmentally friendly if they don't last long and you need to buy another? btw my first career was electronics and I still do some electronic repairs and worked in IT most of my working life and am not keen on lots of computers in cars!

[@garycevrepairs]

I did 10 years in IT before I got into cars !

[@alanak3210]

What a load of rubbish these Renault bv's are.

[@garycevrepairs]

They are really nice cars, just unfortunately have a few issues.

[@stevenbarrett7648]

We've had 4, no issues at all, I take it you're a bit of an expert on these Zoe's ?