[captainofiron]

We just purchased a 2011 Volt with 68k yesterday and it had 0% on the battery, well I tried to charge it with the supplied charger and it will not charge, if I open the door it says "Not Able to Charge"

I tried multiple outlets in the garage and the front of the house, no charge, no honk no light, nothing.

I took it to a few public chargers and nothing, finally I found a free fast charger behind a Rudys BBQ and plugged the car in, it started making a noise, the charging station didnt show charger, but then clicked and showed charging fault and power fault blinking lights.

To top it all off, the Nissan dealer we bought it is not open, and none of the Chevy dealers around here have service departments that are open either (expected).

I have videos and pics but I cant post them due to my post count...

Any tips?

 

[2VoltFamily]

Yep, Hopefully Nissan has a warranty on it. Take it back to them. Could be many things, but if the CEL is not on it could be the charge port.

 

[Steverino]

May not be related, but what level is the battery coolant at? Have you had rain?

 

[TheBlueFlash]

You bought a Volt with a dead battery and didn't bother to try charging it before buying it and leaving the lot?

 

[Taser54]

Check state law re: returning used car from a dealership.

 

[Sean-a-Tron]

Take it to an auto parts store and ask them to get the codes from it. Let us know what the codes are. The Voltec warranty should cover the issues 8y/100k.

 

[MnVikes]

I would try placing the car in Mountain Mode and seeing if it could build a charge that way.

 

[captainofiron]

Yep, Hopefully Nissan has a warranty on it. Take it back to them. Could be many things, but if the CEL is not on it could be the charge port.

The Nissan dealer was closed so I took it to the Chevy dealer by my work, I have tried to call Nissan about it but keep getting voicemail boxes...

Yea there is no CEL light, so I didnt think to plug in my OBD2 scanner

May not be related, but what level is the battery coolant at? Have you had rain?

Coolant looked about good, no rain, I checked all the fuses that had charging related sounding names and all looked good.

You bought a Volt with a dead battery and didn't bother to try charging it before buying it and leaving the lot?

Yep, adding that to "Stupid Things Ive Done That I Regret, Volume: 9"
BTW thanks for the helpful post thumbsupmeme.jpg

Check state law re: returning used car from a dealership.

In Texas we have 3 days

Take it to an auto parts store and ask them to get the codes from it. Let us know what the codes are. The Voltec warranty should cover the issues 8y/100k.

I have an OBD2 scanner, will that work on a Volt? but anyways its at the Chevy dealer

I would try placing the car in Mountain Mode and seeing if it could build a charge that way.

with the regenerative braking it builds enough charge to put around a little on just battery, so I dont think its the battery

 

[hellsop]

with the regenerative braking it builds enough charge to put around a little on just battery, so I dont think its the battery

Don't even bother trying to diagnose it -- If it's under 100k miles and you just want it working, call the Chevrolet customer assistance line, and ask them where the closest Voltec-certified dealership is, and get an appointment there. It'll be a warranty repair. All the Voltec (charging stuff, HV battery, power controllers, electric moters, e-"transmission", most of the cooling system are all Voltec) warranty is a minimum of 8 years/100k miles. If it's over or you're annoyed enough at the Nissan place, take it back to them and insist that they sold you a car with an undisclosed defect. Which they did, unless they told you it didn't charge.

 

[captainofiron]

Don't even bother trying to diagnose it -- If it's under 100k miles and you just want it working, call the Chevrolet customer assistance line, and ask them where the closest Voltec-certified dealership is, and get an appointment there. It'll be a warranty repair. All the Voltec (charging stuff, HV battery, power controllers, electric moters, e-"transmission", most of the cooling system are all Voltec) warranty is a minimum of 8 years/100k miles. If it's over or you're annoyed enough at the Nissan place, take it back to them and insist that they sold you a car with an undisclosed defect. Which they did, unless they told you it didn't charge.

No they didnt say anything about it not charging.
well right now its at the Dealer by my work, not sure if they are Voltec Certified.

I am pretty annoyed at the Nissan dealer (especially after playing the "let me talk to my manager" game for 3 hours...) but the sales guy has been pretty responsive to my texts/calls today so if I need to bring the hammer down I will, we will see, I really want to keep this car, its so much nicer than my wifes Hyundai Santa Fe

 

[captainofiron]

turns out the car is fine, the problem according to the service guys is that the cable is bad.
and they said that the cable is not covered under the Voltec warranty...

Which does not answer my question about why it didnt work with the public chargers

so the ball is back in the Nissan dealers court

 

[obermd]

turns out the car is fine, the problem according to the service guys is that the cable is bad.
and they said that the cable is not covered under the Voltec warranty...

Which does not answer my question about why it didnt work with the public chargers

so the ball is back in the Nissan dealers court

Have the Chevy dealership try a different cable from a Bolt or another Volt and show you it's charging with that cable. If it does, go back to the Nissan dealership and have them replace the charging cable for you under the Texas 3 day law (or they can take the car back.)

 

[somms]

turns out the car is fine, the problem according to the service guys is that the cable is bad.
and they said that the cable is not covered under the Voltec warranty...

2013 Volt Stock Charger Cord Failure

Glad you Gen1 is fine but this EVSE 'cable' is certainly covered under the 8yr Voltec warranty...

5040230 Drive Motor Battery Charger Cable Replacement

This is the labor-op they should be looking at and it shows voltec coverage code V.

 

[JoeMap]

turns out the car is fine, the problem according to the service guys is that the cable is bad.
and they said that the cable is not covered under the Voltec warranty...

Which does not answer my question about why it didnt work with the public chargers

so the ball is back in the Nissan dealers court

So far, I've seen nothing in your posts to indicate the car is actually fine. Unless the Chevy dealer showed you the car charging, then I would be leery to take their word for it, especially given their statement that the EVSE is not covered by the Voltec warranty. As stated earlier, you can take it back to the Nissan dealer, or follow hellsop's advice earlier about contacting GM support. Either way, I'd let the Nissan dealer know ASAP so you can fall within the 3-day window mentioned earlier.

One thing I did want to do is help you "learn to fish." You mentioned not knowing if the Chevy dealer is Voltec certified but you didn't indicate which dealer you took it to. That's fine. If you will browse to Chevrolet.com > Find a Dealer and then put in your zip code, you can then filter by dealer services. From there you can choose Volt Sales and Service to find out which ones are certified. Hope this helps and good luck! Please keep us informed.

Joe

 

[WopOnTour]

If the car has been sitting for a long time and the battery has dropped (due to self discharge) to below 12% SOC when you turn on the key it will set not only low voltage codes but "secured" DTCs as well.

This condition can be verified by a long "Waiting to Initialize" message and a no-go~no-start (No EV or ER operation)
The car may have DTCs P0AFA and/or P0BBE set in HPCM2

To recover from this you will need to have a dealer tech complete the "Clear Secured HV DTCs" process to the letter, following Bulletin PIC5523 with a charge cord ready to be plugged in immediately after the procedure BEFORE STEPPING ON THE BRAKE OR PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON! (substitute "plug in charge cord" for Step. 8 of the bulletin procedure)

This should allow it to charge however depending on how long this low state of charge had been present there may be further DTCs for unbalanced cell voltages. If those do not disappear after 6-10 complete discharge - charge cycles the lithium ion battery (or perhaps just an offending section) may need to be replaced

HTH
WOT


EDIT: I hadn't read the whole thread and it appears the car was fine and this was a charge cord issue. However I will leave my post "as is" in order to support the bulletin being used for a seemingly "dead" lithium ion battery

 

[captainofiron]

2013 Volt Stock Charger Cord Failure

Glad you Gen1 is fine but this EVSE 'cable' is certainly covered under the 8yr Voltec warranty...

5040230 Drive Motor Battery Charger Cable Replacement

This is the labor-op they should be looking at and it shows voltec coverage code V.

I really appreciate that info, I am going to call the Chevy dealer right now and see what is going on

So far, I've seen nothing in your posts to indicate the car is actually fine. Unless the Chevy dealer showed you the car charging, then I would be leery to take their word for it, especially given their statement that the EVSE is not covered by the Voltec warranty. As stated earlier, you can take it back to the Nissan dealer, or follow hellsop's advice earlier about contacting GM support. Either way, I'd let the Nissan dealer know ASAP so you can fall within the 3-day window mentioned earlier.

One thing I did want to do is help you "learn to fish." You mentioned not knowing if the Chevy dealer is Voltec certified but you didn't indicate which dealer you took it to. That's fine. If you will browse to Chevrolet.com > Find a Dealer and then put in your zip code, you can then filter by dealer services. From there you can choose Volt Sales and Service to find out which ones are certified. Hope this helps and good luck! Please keep us informed.

Joe

Thanks Joe, I appreciate the help. I called the Volt hotline I found on the website but I guess its changed from Volt specific to a more general owners line, and they were ZERO help, they basically said if the dealer says its not warrantied, its not and to leave it. LOL

I will do that, I have until the end of today,

yesterday I plugged my coworkers MiEV's plug into the Volt and it started charging right away, and I plugged my cord into his car and nothing.

just the top green light illuminates, but the second one to show charging does not light.

If it has an orange cable I believe it's under a recall.

no actually its a black one, but the "box" on it is small and doesnt have a handle like the one in the manual

If the car has been sitting for a long time and the battery has dropped (due to self discharge) to below 12% SOC when you turn on the key it will set not only low voltage codes but "secured" DTCs as well.

This condition can be verified by a long "Waiting to Initialize" message and a no-go~no-start (No EV or ER operation)
The car may have DTCs P0AFA and/or P0BBE set in HPCM2

To recover from this you will need to have a dealer tech complete the "Clear Secured HV DTCs" process to the letter, following Bulletin PIC5523 with a charge cord ready to be plugged in immediately after the procedure BEFORE STEPPING ON THE BRAKE OR PRESSING THE POWER BUTTON! (substitute "plug in charge cord" for Step. 8 of the bulletin procedure)

This should allow it to charge however depending on how long this low state of charge had been present there may be further DTCs for unbalanced cell voltages. If those do not disappear after 6-10 complete discharge - charge cycles the lithium ion battery (or perhaps just an offending section) may need to be replaced

HTH
WOT


EDIT: I hadn't read the whole thread and it appears the car was fine and this was a charge cord issue. However I will leave my post "as is" in order to support the bulletin being used for a seemingly "dead" lithium ion battery

no worries that is great info

one of my pet peeves is to do a web search on a problem then read about it and even though it was resolved the OP never says what fixed it or what happened, lol

 

[obermd]

I wonder if this is why the car was traded. It's about a $250 "repair" to replace the cable at Amazon. In the meantime, go fill the gas tank and put the car in Mountain Mode to generate some charge while you wait the two days for Amazon Prime to deliver your new charging cable.

 

[captainofiron]

WELP,

I called all the local Chevy dealers and all of them told me that:

5040230 Drive Motor Battery Charger Cable Replacement

Expired on July 1st 2017 and that the cable has been transferred to the Powertrain warranty...

B.S.

 

[Sean-a-Tron]

WELP,

I called all the local Chevy dealers and all of them told me that:


Expired on July 1st 2017 and that the cable has been transferred to the Powertrain warranty...

B.S.

I recommend contacting Chevrolet customer support if the dealers refuse to do the warranty replacement. The Voltec warranty should still be valid on your Volt. The powertrain warranty is the Voltec warranty.

From Chevrolet website.

The Voltec Warranty
In addition to the Bumper-to-Bumper Coverage, General Motors will warrant certain Voltec components for each Chevrolet Volt (hereafter referred to as Voltec) for 8 years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first from the original in-service date of the vehicle, against warrantable repairs to the specific Voltec components of the vehicle. For complete details, refer to your Warranty and Owner Assistance Information booklet.

For Chevrolet Volt owners requiring more comprehensive coverage than that provided under this Voltec warranty, a GM Protection Plan may be available. See your Chevrolet dealer for more details.

In addition to the initial owner of the vehicle, the coverage described in this Chevrolet Volt, Bolt EV, and Malibu Hybrid warranty is transferrable at no cost to any subsequent person(s) who assumes ownership of the vehicle within the 8 years or 100,000 miles (160,000 kilometers) term. No deductibles are associated with this warranty.

 

[captainofiron]

I recommend contacting Chevrolet customer support if the dealers refuse to do the warranty replacement. The Voltec warranty should still be valid on your Volt. The powertrain warranty is the Voltec warranty.

From Chevrolet website.

I called GM Corporate customer service this morning (1-855-435-7284 fyi) and started a case with them

Either way, the Nissan dealer sent the PO for a new cable and the Chevy dealer called me and said to pick it up after 1pm