[Harrison1991]

Hello everyone. My 2011 first gen number 415 has not been able to charge since a cold front came in. I’m not sure if the cold was the culprit or not, bud I received the error message Service High Voltage Charging System. Since then it will not charge by cord or at a charging station. I’m currently in between jobs and have not money for a service check at Chevy. My question to y’all is, once I’m back on my feet financially, how much should I expect this kind of repair to be? It’s over it’s 100,000 mile warranty for Voltec so it would need to be out of pocket.

 

[Steverino]

moved to Problems...

 

[scottf200]

Not sure what your tech level is based on your message so don't really know what to suggest.

Not clear what the real underlying problem is yet. Do you have a code reader or borrow one from a friend?

12v maybe? When was last time changed? Can you test it / charge it (ie. you may have a 12v charger).

Re: charging
Can you raise the hood while 'on' (started) to see if the ICE runs?
Can you put in Hold or Mountain mode?

If you have an OBDII dongle you may be able to use an app called MyGreenVolt to see the cell voltages ($0.99 on Android for that part of the app)

 

[masospaghetti]

As scottf200 suggests, read the codes (if there are any) and post them. If you don't have a reader, go to Autozone and they'll do it for you for free.

 

[caronjeff]

Put it in mountain mode and let it run for about 20 minutes, maybe take a short trip or run an errand. After you shut off - then on again you should have about 3-4 bars of range on the guessometer.

 

[wordptom]

The Service High Voltage Charging System message, indeed, indicates you may not be able to charge your 2011 Volt from the wall socket. You may be able to "self-charge" the car using Mountain Mode. Try this:

Start your Gen 1 Volt, then switch to Mountain Mode while parked outdoors. The engine should start, and in 15 minutes, using ~0.4 gallons of gas, should recharge ~4 bars of power into the battery, and then the engine should shut itself off. Now restart the car, and that gives your Gen 1 Volt ~4 bars of battery power. If that works, your car can still charge, it just can’t charge from the wall plug for some reason or other, as indicated by the Service High Voltage Charging System message.

I can’t tell you the cost of having that done at the GM service center, because when it happened to my 2012 Volt some years ago, the cost was covered by the then-still-existing warranty. If you have a code reader, or if you go to a place like Autozone that may test it for you for free, you can post those codes here and perhaps someone can advise you about what the codes indicate, and if you can do anything about it yourself.

 

[PTran55417]

Most likely a software update; this happened to my 2012 Volt twice in the past 9 months and both times were related to software updates. I just got another one today; so I expect to pay ~$175 for the service. I will attempt to ask the Dealership for a discount since the last similar service was a little over month ago.

 

[hellsop]

"Reprogramming" is sometimes "service represtative" simplifying of "clearing latched DTC codes", when the Why has vanished and the condition that set it has gone. The vigilance that made several things about the Volt require dealer service visits made good sense in 2013 or something, when this was all very new and the ways things went wrong needed to be recorded and reported. But now, with cars out of the longest imaginable warranty period and the entire model line dead, they're just an annoying legacy.

 

[anxiousMN]

Most likely a software update; this happened to my 2012 Volt twice in the past 9 months and both times were related to software updates. I just got another one today; so I expect to pay ~$175 for the service. I will attempt to ask the Dealership for a discount since the last similar service was a little over month ago.

Hi, can you tell us what the software update was? Was it related to the battery or was it related to the on-board charger that converts from AC to DC? My son's 2011 is experiencing the same issue and so far it looks like the charging module has failed. It's expensive to replace needless to say.....

 

[Harrison1991]

Most likely a software update; this happened to my 2012 Volt twice in the past 9 months and both times were related to software updates. I just got another one today; so I expect to pay ~$175 for the service. I will attempt to ask the Dealership for a discount since the last similar service was a little over month ago.

That sounds like an easy update and repair!

 

[Harrison1991]

Well there is a new development. When I turned on the car, it said the engine was not available. This has happened before once when it was very very cold outside. But now that it is happening again, I’m wondering if it isn’t better to just scrap her. :/ I really want this to work. She is one of the first 1000 made back in 2011.

 

[caronjeff]

It’s telling you engine not available because the computer sees not enough Voltage/energy in the HV battery to even turn over the engine and get it fired. Get the car into a heated garage or shop overnight, warm up the battery and try again. If you can get the engine to fire you can at least try a mountain mode charge. My 2011 did this earlier this week, with the “engine not available “ message. It stalled on my wife about 1/2 mile from home with minimum battery charge also. I drove down to look and after several power on power off attempts finally the ICE started. The ICE immediately went to max RPM (obviously to get max charge pumping into the HV battery) and I drove it home the 1/2 mile and plugged it in. It’s taken a charge and I’ll see how it performs today, Haven’t needed it as we bought a 2018 Gen2 Volt. We got a great price on the 2018 and the $4,000 tax credit will take the actual purchase under $20K. It hard to justify $10,000 for a refurbished battery in a 2011 when you can get a low miles Gen2 for under $20K net. We are going to keep the 2011 as we have space in the garage for it and nurse it. Hopefully in spring temperatures it will perform ok again. The last several years the 2011 gets about 26-29 miles range in Summer 20-23 in Winter. So far very impressed with the 2018. 42 miles range in 18-22 Fahrenheit weather on Friday.

 

[scottf200]

My 2011 did this earlier this week, with the “engine not available “ message. It stalled on my wife about 1/2 mile from home with minimum battery charge also. ...
We are going to keep the 2011 as we have space in the garage for it and nurse it. Hopefully in spring temperatures it will perform ok again. The last several years the 2011 gets about 26-29 miles range in Summer 20-23 in Winter.

It seems like these early Gen 1 ('11, '12) should just be run in Mountain Mode anytime people think they are going to go over 15 miles (ie. may run out of HV battery range and need to run ICE). This is what I'm suggestion to my kid driving our old '11.

 

[PTran55417]

Hi, can you tell us what the software update was? Was it related to the battery or was it related to the on-board charger that converts from AC to DC? My son's 2011 is experiencing the same issue and so far it looks like the charging module has failed. It's expensive to replace needless to say.....

The work order (receipt) said "software update to the battery charging control module and the Hybrid control model 2"

 

[PTran55417]

The bill receipt said: "software update to the battery charging control module and the Hybrid control module 2".
Not sure why such updates are needed for the 1st gen.

 

[anxiousMN]

The bill receipt said: "software update to the battery charging control module and the Hybrid control module 2".
Not sure why such updates are needed for the 1st gen.

Thanks, I'm still not sure we have the same issue. Their diagnostic came up with an error code of P0D39, which directly refers to the Charging Control Module (AC to DC). I've had my local dealer order it and hopefully they can get it (he said there are only 9 in the entire country). Which of course, makes it not cheap. Good luck.

 

[ElectricCow15]

The bill receipt said: "software update to the battery charging control module and the Hybrid control module 2".
Not sure why such updates are needed for the 1st gen.

They are changing thresholds to not set error codes.

 

[anxiousMN]

The work order (receipt) said "software update to the battery charging control module and the Hybrid control model 2"

Thanks for the reply. My son's seems to have been just the ac to dc control module. I went ahead and had it replaced (took 3 weeks to get the part at the local dealer). It wasn't cheap but worth it to keep the car going. The dealer installed it and all is good, charging like a champ.