There are many people around the country patiently waiting to get their Chevrolet Volt. Some of us are lucky enough to have built cars with VIN numbers, some such as as I am are really lucky and are driving test cars, others are unfortunately far from launch markets and have to wait a year or more to get their Volts.
A few years back GM let us get our hands on die cast model of the concept car to bide time while waiting.
Now they have just released the entire owner’s manual online for you to peruse and study, free of charge.
You can see it here:
http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/owners/manuals/2011/2011_chevrolet_volt_owners.pdf
Or you could also right click the link above and save the file to your computer. It is in PDF format.
An interesting exercise for today’s comments might be to find a section in the manual of interest to you and bring it up for discussion. There are 13 sections to choose from.
Thanks to poster Raymondjram who seems to have discovered it first.
+9
Dec 10th, 2010 (7:12 am)This is a VERY worthwhile download, even if you never buy a Volt! Its 516 pages are easily searchable and easier to read than in book form, which is why I think GM should offer it on a USB thumb drive/memory stick for easy reference sitting in Park in the car. I have virtually every manual, quick start quide, spec sheet, etc offered for all the PCs, printers, external HDDs, cameras, mp3 players, GPS devices, etc, etc for this reason.
And as if easy searching & great readability weren’t enough, these pdf files are all FREE!
.
Dec 10th, 2010 (7:21 am)Well, I guess the paper one I bought can go on eBay now. Web 2.0 is making some of the old ways obsolete very quickly!
PDF is way better. Searchable and all.
Hey Lyle. I don’t remember seeing it anywhere. Is the full manual available on the screens in the car?
+5
Dec 10th, 2010 (7:25 am)Revenge of the Electric Car trailer. http://www.facebook.com/revengeoftheelectriccar
Dec 10th, 2010 (7:25 am)And to put that price into perspective, the paper manual that I ordered was $25.00 +$15s&h. And I’m not complaining. The manual is probably the next best thing to sitting in a Volt.
+12
Dec 10th, 2010 (7:38 am)I like page 475…
+3
Dec 10th, 2010 (7:47 am)The search function is cool and all, but sometimes it is still nice to have the good old fashioned paper manual in your hands. Like when the hood is up and you are trying to find that fuse panel….
Unlike JohnK, I guess I am trying to justify the $39,00 I spent!!!!!
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:08 am)And for those of you who refuse to be a twit or facebooked:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkRIu5a6Sb0&feature=player_embedded
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:14 am)Trailer may be OT, but I have to admit it was exciting.
Interesting that to spotlight the future, producer went back centuries in time to bring us music from the middle ages.
I guess some things are timeless–sort of like electricity–a primal form of energy coming into its own again with electric cars.
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:18 am)I was really hoping the Volt would have no belt, since that’s one more maintenance item to worry about.
The water pump is the only thing on the belt. Air conditioning is electric. Power steering is electric. The generator is connected to the crankshaft.
But for some reason, GM used two water pumps on the gas engine’s cooling system, one electric, and one belt driven. GM already released some details about the electric water pump here:
http://gm-volt.com/2008/10/20/contract-awarded-for-the-chevy-volts-water-pump-system/
I wish they’d just used electric water pumps all around, and left off the belt, pulleys, tensioner, and bracket. Less complex. Less maintenance. Hopefully they’ll do this in future models.
.
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:19 am)Great to have this information! I downloaded my copy, and find this bit interesting:
If the vehicle is in a crash, the
sensing system may shut down
the high voltage system. When this
occurs, the high voltage battery is
disconnected and the vehicle will
not start. The SERVICE VEHICLE
SOON message in the Driver
Information Center (DIC) will be
displayed. Before the vehicle can
be operated again, it must be
serviced at your dealer.
For myself, I like to understand all the working components, and if possible, work on them myself. This doesn’t sound workable to me. We are at the mercy of the authorized dealer. Some of the posts yesterday touched on this topic as well.
Then again, if you are in a crash in the Volt, I suppose it would need to be towed (assuming a hard crash). I hate the thought of a crash in a Volt, but it is better to know GM is taking precautions with the battery.
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:26 am)LOL, After yesterday’s masterpiece of engineering and the resulting technical discussion, manual downloads and movie trailer viewings – this post is refreshingly calming and unique. It’s nice to know that no matter how complex the Volt is, there is simplicity to be found. Thanks Eco_Turbo for a nice way to start the day!
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:28 am)Do you really collect PDF’s? Very interesting!
NPNS!
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:32 am)Dave G,
Two thoughts:
Redundancy
Variable output (with engine speed)
+6
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:36 am)It’s not a big deal, but I disagree, Dave. Why? Because I believe the shaft, water pump & associated parts were components that already existed as part of this engine. Second (as we all know) one of the relatively few failures that can both disable and, if ignored, permanently damage an ICE is over heating due to a failed water pump or a broken belt. Third, here was an opportunity to employ what’s called “dissimilar redundancy” (the best kind) to essentially eliminate this possible single-point failure (SPF) mode. Fourth, it had to be pretty inexpensive to add an electric water pump to back up the existing mechanical pump, hence elimination of engine overheating as a SPF is quite cost effective.
So, while I understand the belt & mechanical pump may not seem esthetically appealing, they are well worth retaining IMO.
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:38 am)My favorite is section 7: 94 pages of Infotainment System with seven pages on Voice Recognition along (take *that*, Ford Sync).
The evening I ordered my Pontiac Vibe, the dealer let me read a copy of the owner’s manual from cover to cover before I left. There were all sorts of cool audio system capabilities described. RDS, digital info feeds, search on genre, including finding traffic reports. In the end, I spend 90 percent of the time listening to either one particular news station or NPR, and ten percent playing CDs from end to end without shuffle or any other cool feature. Sic transit gloria mundi.
PS: That owner’s manual was also downloadable as a PDF, eight years ago, and that kept me content over the ten weeks waiting for my Vibe to arrive at the dealership.
+10
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:42 am)Page 11-4:
“The engine oil and filter must be changed at least once every 24 months.”
2 years!
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:45 am)Sorry to be piling onto Dave G, but I don’t see any tensioner nor bracket.
I’ve never had a “fanbelt” break, but on only my first car were the belts accessible enough to allow me to replace them. I did have the overhead camshaft drive belt break on my Vega-engined Monza, twice in 125K miles, but at least the valve clearance precluded contact with the pistons and no damage resulted. I presume that the Volt’s engine uses a chain for the camshaft.
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:52 am)LOL. I do the same thing. I have a folder on my lap top called “Electronic Owner’s Manuals”…it’s a great resource.
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:07 am)I’ve never had had a belt break either, but I usually replace them at 5-7 years.
I have had problems with pulley bearings and tensioner springs. They sometimes make noise as they age. I’ve had to replace these on a couple of cars.
And I’ve also had to replace the water-pump itself on a few cars.
I suspect electric water pumps would last longer, so I would prefer redundant electric water pumps to the current belt/electric hybrid water pump system. I also suspect GM may have erred on the side of caution here, and may change this design as they gain more confidence in the electric pumps.
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:08 am)OT Wow! Woke up this morning to $3.99 for Premium gas!
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:18 am)Page 502:
The EDR in this vehicle is designed
to record such data as:
. Whether or not the driver and
passenger safety belts were
buckled/fastened.
I would love to see legislation allowing insurance companies to deny coverage to persons not wearing safety belts.
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:24 am)Was there ever any doubt?
NPNS
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:25 am)I have a car with an ECU able to take advantage of premium gas, and I notice a roughly 10% increase in mpg with premium, and significantly increased performance. Regular gas also gives noticeably rougher idle. Hopefully E-85 will do away with fuel grades.
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:27 am)I have electronic versions of most owners manuals as well.
In fact, I often download the manual for a product before I buy it. Sometimes a product says it will do something, but the details of how that works may make it unusable for me, so I often spot check critical features in the manual before I decide to buy, which helps avoid unpleasant surprises.
On the other hand, I don’t usually carry a laptop around with me, so the paper manual often comes in handy, especially for a car.
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:28 am)So now I don’t have to baby it on my way back to Chicagoland from NY
.
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:38 am)page 360…
Some gasolines contain an
octane-enhancing additive called
methylcyclopentadienyl manganese
tricarbonyl (MMT).
I remember my Uncle saying, “fill-er up with ethyl, please”, at gas stations.
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:45 am)Note that gas prices seem to be tracking employment figures.
That’s what we would expect with peak oil, and the charts show that pretty clearly as well (see below). I really doubt world oil ouput will ever exceed 90 million barrels per day. We’ve already hit peak.
+4
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:47 am)One word on page 5-61 will thrill many drivers of the Volt, especially if they have been disappointed with recent GM models. Here is the text:
“For questions or help programming the Universal Remote system, call 1‐800‐355‐3515 or go to http://www.homelink.com.”
Yes, HomeLink is back and not a minute too soon. Johnson Controls engineered a universal remote that reads factory coded remotes that are used for many gate operators. When GM switched to the Lear Car2U system a few years back, the frustration was immediate. What made matters worse was that Lear wanted communities to add their electronic equipment to the gate openers. Thankfully GM has returned to the Rolls Royce of universal car remotes. THANK YOU GM!
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:54 am)I remember reading something in the manual about the engine starting when you open the hood. On looking it up again, that only happens if the power is on. So remember to turn it off before you open the hood. On first read the complexity of the car is somewhat intimidating. Lyle, have you had any issues with malfunctions so far?
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (9:55 am)Be even cooler if they had it on their built in HDD, and searchable from the center stack.
join thE REVolution
Dec 10th, 2010 (10:01 am)Tetraethyl LEAD. Not nice stuff.
(CH3CH2)4Pb
/trivial pursuit: Chocolate contains lead because of leaded gasoline used where it is grown. There was a ‘House’ episode about it.
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (10:03 am)Peak oil is upon us. I am getting my electric car just in time.
Take Care,
TED
+3
Dec 10th, 2010 (10:07 am)Page 7-23
Playing an MP3 CD and DVD
. Maximum of 1,024 files on
a disc.
Page 7-26
Hard Drive Device (HDD)
With a Hard Drive Device (HDD),
songs can be recorded.
The types of formats supported by
the HDD are:
. MP3
. MP3-Pro
. WMA
. Audible.com
. M4A
Songs can be recorded from
a CD player or a mass media
storage device connected by a
USB connector. The hard drive has
30 GB memory capacity for storage
of media files.
I love my music!
NPNS!
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (10:13 am)I think the same as you, keeping the documentation for every technical device and tool. But most are in hardcopy format, because I cannot acess my computer every time (and some come only in paper format). I bought the Volt Owner manual through Helm Inc first, and now we have the PDF copy. Sometimes we can read ahead what we need to know before doing some service task, and the PDF copy is the better format. But sometimes I need to refer to a step or diagram as I am working, and if I am under the vehicle (or on a ladder) with a tool in my right hand, it is easier to use my left to hold open a hardcopy page. If I soil it, I can print another later (I can’t do that with a computer or any electronic device!).
I posted previously that I buy and keep all the GM Service Manuals for my vehicles, and I plan to buy the Volt Service Manual Set in April. I bet that most of the members here would be interested in seeing and reading that set, and some will buy it. But due to its size and cost, I don’t believe that GM will release it in PDF medium, unless Helm Inc offers it in a CDROM later.
Thanks, Lyle, for the recognition. I was watching Chevy’s manual page for many days until the Volt manual appeared, then I posted the link here for everyone.
Raymond
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (10:21 am)I agree with you. See my previous post.
Raymond
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (10:40 am)Section 3 which describes the eight airbags, two more than you find on most cars, were interesting to me. The extra knee airbags are designed to deploy in conjunction with the other front airbags to ensure the driver and front passenger stay in a desired position during the crash (not sliding forward etc.).
Not sure if this has been mentioned but the warranty information is also online: http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/owners/manuals/2011/2011_chevrolet_volt_warranty.pdf
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (11:00 am)http://money.cnn.com/2010/12/09/autos/chevrolet_volt_setbacks.fortune/index.htm
Take Care
Arch
+2
Dec 10th, 2010 (11:07 am)Here is one for the conspiracy crowd — Remember how GM was responsible for the elimination of mass transit in LA back in the late 40′s & Early 50′s? Maybe GM is manipulating the price of oil to sell more VOLTS at higher profit margins!
LOLOL
I am joking!! LOLOL Or am I? LOLOL 
Dec 10th, 2010 (11:11 am)Thursday, December 9, 2010 http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/111544/as-prices-rise-questions-on-opening-opec-spigots?mod=bb-budgeting
As OPEC prepares to meet again this week in Ecuador, some oil-market watchers are pointing to the latest gains in prices to raise an important question for the group: When will the time be right to open the spigots again?
“The price of oil is going up”
“I don’t think much will happen in Quito,” said Shokri Ghanem, Libya’s top oil official, last week, echoing a commonly held view.
=D-Volt
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (11:18 am)Wow…that’s too complex. I don’t know how Volt owners will ever maintain it. Oops, ‘pologize – sarcasm
Ya know, I’m kind of enjoying the trolls now. EricLG and the gang are hilarious, I do miss my favorite troll comment though. VAPORWARE, ha ha ha. Yeah that’s right VAPORWARE. But we did see an angry Volt Hoax rant from the worlds biggest hydrogen advocate. It’s just not the same though. Good luck with that Greg. Perhaps FC’s will make great range extenders some day.
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (11:31 am)Other than a few barrels under-producing because of a world-wide economic down-turn, oil producers got nothing. They cannot ‘open the spigots’ because they are nearly wide open already.
OPEC members are already producing ‘over quota’ and have been all along. The other oil producers are already at maximum production.
Oil field owners/producers have a limited non-renewable commodity that is expected to greatly increase in price over both short and long term. There is no motivation to sell more now.
Oil producers are keeping their dirty little secret (peak oil) as close to the vest as possible. If the world finds out how little reserve there actually is, oil will quickly become obsolete as an energy source.
Not only with ‘not much happen’ during OPEC’s meetings, nothing CAN happen.
I have no personal knowledge of oil reserves, however, I can read between the lines. With companies extracting more and more difficult deposits it’s not hard to figure out that the cheap oil is gone.
Dec 10th, 2010 (11:37 am)Reality check:
I wouldn’t get too cocky just yet. For some reason (and there have been hints of a display-power-supply issue) Volt’s aren’t actually shipping.
Dec 10th, 2010 (11:58 am)Have held various oil related stocks for years. Mostly as part of mutual funds and some individual exploration companies. Have phased these out over the last two years.
Currently hold: 35% bonds ~ 35% CD’s ~ and 30% stocks: (MEA) metal recycling, (ABAT) lithium battery manufacturing, (RPC) cancer research and detection kits, (LNGT) laser signage and personal protection devices. Recently sold: (EXEL) molecule drugs and compounds, (GT) Goodyear Tire.
No Plug No Sale
Dec 10th, 2010 (12:19 pm)Ain’t it great? Not quite on the level of “what did we do before microwave ovens?” or “before cellular phones” or “before computers”… but it sure is a big time saver versus trying to track down a PAPER version when you need a manual.
Quite a large number of manuals for a wide variety of products can be found just for the Googling or visiting the maker’s website.
This one’s no different I guess, except, wow, it’s the first AUTOMOBILE owner’s manual I’ve ever seen released this way. And it’s the Volt! Yikes, cool
Dec 10th, 2010 (12:42 pm)Is GM going to put the PDF version of the manual on the Volt’s hard drive? If not, can you put it on an thumb-drive and open it somehow? I don’t know if the Volt’s operating system supports PDFs.
Dec 10th, 2010 (12:57 pm)Good question.
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:01 pm)As far as operation and maintenaince goes, the most complicated (by far) is “Infotainment”. Without having a car in front of me, I got lost – that should me remedied soon!
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:02 pm)If you look at Saudi oil production it has been dropping since 2008. The question becomes whether what you’re looking at is a big supplier and low cost producer cutting production to keep prices high or a big supplier and low cost producer running out of product. I actually think it’s more the former but the numbers themselves don’t tell you much.
Same for the current prices. You can read the current $80/bbl price as being the harbinger of higher prices in the future or as a temporary upward blip because of unique but transient conditions. Either story is plausible. I lean more towards the latter but mostly because I think world demand for oil will take longer to recover.
However, if you want to see how well people learn lessons, just a bit over two years after the last oil price spike, the demand for oil in the US is spiking at a record pace.
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:05 pm)The Saudis are probably sitting on some reserve capacity, but probably not much. Conventional oil production probably peaked in 2005. Hopefully, this will be a plateau and not a rapid decline.
It would be great if oil could be quickly phased out, but the reality is that nothing is really ready to take its place until well after 2015. Hopefully, new battery technology will arrive like the cavalry in the old westerns to save the day. Realistically, to replace most of our oil consumption (not diesel), we’d need commercially-practical batteries capable of 300+ miles per charge. That probably won’t happen before 2020.
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:16 pm)Nope, the USB input device and hard drive supports music type file formats only.
WOT
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:27 pm)Software upgrade anyone?
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:28 pm)Guess I’ll just put it on my Ipod/Iphone
Related:
I create the operator interfaces for our industrial equipment. I’m working on putting the manual and possibly maintenance videos right on the OIU screen. This way our customers can no longer use the excuse “we lost our manual”.
+3
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:36 pm)Dave
The term “simplistic” is relative to your point of reference. In this case it was just easier to use a belt driven water pump that is: a) only required to be working when ICE is running and b) adjusts it’s flow to ICE RPM. Since there are very low belt loads present , this inexpensive belt has a 10 year/150K miles service interval where it only needs to be inpected for fraying, cracks or damage and required to be replaced ONLY if these are noted. Since this a “stretch intall” type belt (something more common in these days of maintenance free “everything”) so there’s no tensioning system to worry about either.
HTH
WOT
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:45 pm)Thank you Loboc. That was awesome. I can’t wait to see it.
I own the DVD for “Who killed the Electric Car”.
Thank goodness the same people saved it.
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (1:45 pm)Regarding OPEC and other unfriendly oil producers….
I am looking forward to the day when we can all say “KEEP YOUR OIL!”. According to some geologists, (see link below) they just might have more oil than what we think. So….I’m hoping that they foolishly keep the price artificially high!
Doing so only helps us in the long run….by helping the VOLT (and other electric cars) get a foothold!
http://www.rense.com/general63/refil.htm
Dec 10th, 2010 (2:00 pm)Great story. I see that he got less than 38 MPG, which is a little disappointing. But he did mention the Volt was not fully charged when he started. I think the point to take home from the video is this: No range anxiety. I really like that.
Thanks for the link, Arch.
Dec 10th, 2010 (2:02 pm)I remember my father saying, “Fill it up with High Test”.
Whatever that was, it was gone by the time I started driving.
Dec 10th, 2010 (2:18 pm)From the article
A few years back GM let us get our hands on die cast model of the concept car to bide time while waiting.
Yup, I bought one of those. It rests on my fireplace mantel.
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (2:31 pm)I like how there’s a positive, objective video wrapped in the middle of a very biased, negative and mis-informed article.
Thanks for sharing!
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (2:48 pm)I didn’t see that scale model in any store. But I do have two of Hasbro’s Transformer Jolt cars (about two inches long), and one of them does transform from the blue Volt car to the Autobot Jolt, although it doesn’t look much like the the Jolt in the ROTF movie.
I am still waiting for a lifesize Volt! For now, I have the two scale cars and the Owners Manual to comfort me.
Raymond
Dec 10th, 2010 (3:01 pm)I’m a bit worried about the warning on page 5-45 about “Battery too cold, plug in to warm”. Previous information on thermal management have stated that it would not really be a problem to leave the car in the cold for a day or overnight, but it now appears that this may not be the case.
If will be fairly common for my Volt to sit for 8 hours at -25C (-13F) in an open parking lot at work. There are no plugs available for at least 1000 feet. If I get that message, what do I do, call Onstar and have them tow the vehicle to a plug?
Why not just start the ICE/generator to get the electricity required to warm up the battery? I don’t mind waiting a few minutes to get the pack at temperature, but saying you’re SOL isn’t very nice.
Luc
+1
Dec 10th, 2010 (5:34 pm)rofl.
The video does not match the text at all. They even go with different perspective onprice. (Video = ‘not bad considering’, Text = ‘what are they thinking?’)
The $14k estimate for the cost of the Volt’s battery is the highest I’ve seen so far.
Overall, entertaining, but not very informative.
Dec 10th, 2010 (5:44 pm)TheRFMan,
You should ask your employer for a parking space that has a 120 VAC outlet nearby. I read that in the past, some car owners had a battery tray warmer installed in their cars because in such cold weather, the 12 VDC battery couldn’t start the ICE. Give a similar explanation and your employer should be able to comply. If your Volt cannot start under such cold weather conditions, and you cannot convinced your employer for the outlet, then talk to your Chevy dealer for a solution.
If the Volt cannot start, then a regular ICE could suffer the same problem of a very cold battery!
Raymond
Dec 10th, 2010 (8:19 pm)ROFL on the die cast model… the first post… ROFL…. “Jim I” predicted the price of the volt.
Dec 11th, 2010 (12:11 am)Rashiid Amul,
Most welcome.
Take Care
Arch
Dec 11th, 2010 (12:14 am)Krahnos,
Glad you saw my point.
Take Care
Arch
Dec 11th, 2010 (12:16 am)Rashiid Amul,
Me too.
Take Care
Arch
Dec 11th, 2010 (12:36 pm)Unfortunately, that’s not possible where I work. It’s a large research facility with over 1000 employees, and there are no parking spots within a few hundred feet of buildings, and even then, there are no outside outlets on the buildings.
I’ve never had a problem starting my current car is really cold weather. I always changed batteries every 5 years to avoid any issues. And if ever one car won’t start, it’s easy to jump start off of somebody else’s car. I’m sure that the volt’s pack could operate in those cold conditions, and would warm up pretty quick. What I’m afraid of is that the software would prevent me from even trying to get started at those low temperatures.
Perhaps the solution would be to run a remote start cycle mid-day on the really cold days. The 10-minute cycle would probably build up enough heat in the battery to keep it from getting excessively cold by the end of the day. that would be easy to do via the iPhone app.
Luc
Dec 11th, 2010 (7:32 pm)My local dealership is saying that the Dupont Paint Protection will be required when purchasing (or at least with a lease – as I am planning) and will run about $2000. The paint section in the manual doesn’t mention anything one way or the other (just to wash frequently, especially when foreign materials are on the car). Should I resist this option entirely, or try to negotiate the price?
Dec 11th, 2010 (10:25 pm)If you’re leasing, there’s not point. The paint will still look good in 3 years regardless. 2000$ is a rip-off. I’d try to find another dealer.
Dec 14th, 2010 (11:20 pm)I actually found your site shown on Yahoo news a little bit ago under the cell phone section so I thought I would let you know. I attempted to comment on one of your other blog posts three times but didn’t get the form to accept it.