[CmVoltOwner]

I had trouble with my 2012 Volt (129k miles) earlier this month and it's ongoing. The first sign of trouble is that I got a reduced propulsion power message a few miles from my house and limped home to my garage. I forgot to charge it that evening, and the next day, my car took an unusually long time to start up. The "initializing... wait to shift" message was up for a long time (a minute or more) and when the system finally finished coming on, the check engine light was on and my car would not drive. I shifted to reverse and got no response from the pedal. then, I wanted to try restarting the car to fix it, but it wouldn't turn back off. I plugged the car in to the wall charger and it then allowed me to turn off the car. Tried restarting the car a few times and kept getting the same issue where the car would not turn off unless I unplugged and re-plugged in the wall charger. Connecting the wall charger would only get the orange light on the dashboard, and the light would not turn green or charge. Towed the car to the dealership, suspecting problems with the 12v battery. Dealer says they put a charger on the 12V battery and it did not fix the problem, wanted to do a diagnostic. A few days later, I get back the following service recommendation:

Recommended Services	Service Date	Price ("$")
(OTHER) : section 1 of the hybrid battery, coolant; (section 1 is the front section) cell 3 has degraded causing a no charge condition. requires replacement section to correct.	06/07/2021	5,921.46

up until the low propulsion power message, the only trouble I was having was an intermittent bucking while stopped that was around for years (but only occasionally happened) and no-one has been able to identify that particular issue.

Car was throwing codes identified by onstar:

IC - VEHICLE INTEGRATION CONTROL

P0AFA

The Lithium-Ion Battery is not performing as expected. An issue has been detected in the Hybrid Battery System which is a high voltage battery used to propel your vehicle.

Service within 7 days

ECM - Engine System

P1E00

The Engine and Transmission System is not performing as expected. An issue has been detected in the Engine Electrical System, including the Charging and Starting System that monitors and controls the engine starting system and 12V battery charging system. If the charge system light stays on, or comes on while driving, there may be a problem with the electrical charging system. Driving while this light is on could drain the battery. If a short distance must be driven with the light on, be sure to turn off all accessories, such as the radio and air conditioner.

Service within 7 days

Any advice? Does this sound like the problem really is in the high voltage system? I thought it sounded like there was an issue with the 12 volt battery based on my research. The cost of the high volt battery fix is more than the car is currently worth and I was hoping for some insight on whether there's a better way to check if perhaps I only need a coolant change and a 12 volt battery replacement or if I really need to replace the cell? Is there a way to get help paying for the fix or a guarantee that if it doesn't work I could get my money back?

I was expecting to trade the car in for the new car I will be getting soon, but I'm stuck with only one car for the household until the chip shortage is resolved enough for my car to be built, and I need to drive distances a lot longer than an affordable uber while the other car is unavailable.

Help! Advice! Anything....

 

[Off Oil]

It looks like the dealership Volt Tech has properly diagnosed the issue, as they have it down to the errant cell number. Once a cell is dead, it will reduce the overall pack voltage, and the reduced propulsion message in advance would be consistent with experiences others have posted here as the BECM detects the low voltage condition.

If you want to verify it yourself, you can use a diagnostic port reader to read the cell voltages which would show the dead cell.

 

[Tim S FL]

Hello
Curious as too how much they charged to determine that the one cell is bad. The dealer here claims they it takes a lot of work to measure the individual cell voltages. 1000 to 1200$. But maybe when the cell is bad the Volt trips a definte code and they did not have to do direct voltage readings.

indirect readings can be taken with a scanner and only some apps. Mygreenvolt is the only one I know that reads these voltages. Another was mentioned but have not tried that one yet

 

[CmVoltOwner]

Hello
Curious as too how much they charged to determine that the one cell is bad. The dealer here claims they it takes a lot of work to measure the individual cell voltages. 1000 to 1200$. But maybe when the cell is bad the Volt trips a definte code and they did not have to do direct voltage readings.

indirect readings can be taken with a scanner and only some apps. Mygreenvolt is the only one I know that reads these voltages. Another was mentioned but have not tried that one yet

My dealership wanted $160 to figure out the general issue. I think that's regardless of what the initial issue that presents itself is

 

[CmVoltOwner]

It looks like the dealership Volt Tech has properly diagnosed the issue, as they have it down to the errant cell number. Once a cell is dead, it will reduce the overall pack voltage, and the reduced propulsion message in advance would be consistent with experiences others have posted here as the BECM detects the low voltage condition.

If you want to verify it yourself, you can use a diagnostic port reader to read the cell voltages which would show the dead cell.

Thanks. It's just a hard pill to swallow when I was so close to trading up and now I'm without a car for several months instead. sigh

 

[EddyO]

Did you ever resolve this issue? I have a 2011 volt with 112,000 miles experiencing the same exact problem. I really don’t want to replace individual cells or the whole battery pack…