There seems to be at least one other recent thread on this with many 2013 owners having the same problem. I, too, have noticed crappy heat, but i've used my car so little so far i've kind of just lived with it without paying attention. I'll start making notes on the situations I see so i can add to the conversation and eventually contact my advisor/dealer.

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread...m/showthread.php?18655-No-electric-heat-yesterday-3-start-cycles-but-fine-today

 

I had a similar experience recently. It was 40 degrees outside and the heat would not turn on. When I turned the temperature up, the fan blew more intensely but still no heat. I stopped and turned the car off and then back on. The problem didn't go away. It seemed to recover when I drove the car the next day. I took a video of it with my phone if anyone is interested.

 

Yeah, i think posting your video (especially to the earlier thread i linked) would be helpful. Someone else posted a video earlier as well. Comparing situations would be helpful, i'm sure.

 

Thanks for posting the temporary fix, wst-volt. It sounds like this issue will come up again until GM releases the fix. I wonder if this is related to the radio changes (the radio seems to be king of the console) made for 2013? Seems like some software got messed up somewhere.

 

For reference, how long should it take until the air becomes warm using electric heat when starting the car from relatively cold? That is, when the heater is working properly, of course!

 

I have a 12 model, and in comfort mode the heat starts warming up immediately, and is blowing nice and hot within 2 minutes. Be sure to put the cat in recirculate mode, as that way it is heating the cabin air, and will warm up much faster than drawing in cold air.

 

In the 30's, my 2013 takes ~4 minutes in comfort mode before the vents aren't just warm, but warm enough to start heating the cabin. You could try using your Power Gauge, to see if at least the battery is delivering the 4-5,000 watts that the Comfort/Hi draws. Another point of potential confusion is the looking for dash venting, when the 'Auto' setting isn't delivering any. I'd test full manual, no recirc, at just the dash vents before concluding something was wrong.

I have had zero heat, but only once. It was odd, and obvious, but I believe restart worked. Sorry you are having trouble. I hope it doesn't also happen when you use the engine??

 

Didn't see this thread before, and posted in another..
The OP's issue sounds just like what my 2013 is doing.
I've noticed that it has only done it to me after the engine has heated enough to force the electric heat off. From that point on, the "heat" icon stayed off even after the car got cold. Restart didn't work. It just blew cold air unless the engine kicked back on again for long enough to warm up.
When it happens, the guage on the climate screen can go all the way to 100%, but the graph on the dash doesn't show any draw from it. Mine was showing 100% on climate screen, but only .5kw actually used while standing still, and I think that was the seat heaters.
I tested everything. Manual vent settings, no recirc, auto recirc, even setting temp to "HI". The auto-defrost button just turned the AC on and just about froze me. I just couldn't get the heat icon to come back on. You still get engine heat, but no electric heat.
It all went back to normal after a full re-charge, and heater worked again. Did it to me twice this week so far though.
I did just e-mail volt advisors asking if there's a fix.

What happens if you use Hold Mode to turn on the ICE? Just curious.

You get the heat while the engine's running, and then freeze at stoplights when the ICE is off.. No change on the heat icon, it stays off no matter what when it gets bugged until you recharge it again. Haven't tried the 300ft distance away from the remote trick.

 

Thanks pjwood,

I haven't done enough troubleshooting yet myself and will try not to clog the conversation with speculation. But I will say i haven't tried the ICE yet, and when i was having poor/no heat, the heater/heating-element definitely seemed on (icon said 'on' and climate power gauge was high). From what i gather in the previous thread, there are two different classes of problems seen:

1) Heater off despite cold car and cold outside, just blows cold air (heater icon says 'off', climate power low-ish)
2) Heater on (according to icon and high power), but still blows cold air

I think the theory on the 2nd one is the internal vent doors (directing which heat reservoir it uses) may be going to the wrong state, i.e. using ICE coolant when it should be using the electric heater, but I don't know.

 

2) Heater on (according to icon and high power), but still blows cold air

I think the theory on the 2nd one is the internal vent doors (directing which heat reservoir it uses) may be going to the wrong state, i.e. using ICE coolant when it should be using the electric heater, but I don't know.

Glad its working. If it happens again, I just wanted to say that on the 2013 you have a rotating dial to the left of the steering wheel, where tire pressure, nav instructions, etc are found. One of the new selections on that dial is what a Volt Advisor called the 'Power Gauge'. Not the climte power percentage on the center stack display, but this gauge will tell you how many watts will come from the battery as you turn the heat on. This could further confirm that the reservoir doors may be your problem, as long as you see the normal ~4kw rise in your power gauge when you go Comfort/Hi-heat. If watts don't jump, it's probably software. Obviously, you'd need to do this when stopped so you can control for steadier watt output.

 

Kind of obvious, but I suppose you tried full auto / comfort and were not in the fan only mode. I've never had that problem on my 2011 in over 48,000 miles and into the second winter.

 

Yeah, from the other thread you can see that this seems to only be affecting 2013 models and seems quite real.

 

What happens if you use Hold Mode to turn on the ICE? Just curious.

 

This is the known workaround from the other thread. The engine can be used to provide heat when the electric heater is not functioning.

 

I had the same thing happen to me. The second time I tried to get into the dealer while the problem was happening but the dealer did not have a volt tech. He was on vacation. So after trying many things here is what got the heat back. With the car plugged into a level 2 charger I turned the ignition on and selected "on hold". I thought this would start the ICE. But it did not. The climate control was on auto and I think ECO set to 72 degrees. After about 10-20 mins I went out to check and the heat was working. The put the drive mode back to normal and it has been fine ever since.

Ray

 

Just thought I would add something. The first time the heat did not work I selected "on hold" to run the ICE while driving. This did nothing for the heat. It was still blowing ice cold.

 

Guys, I had the same problem with the heat not switching on today for the first time. In addition to the heat not switching on the AC switched on sporadicly at any temperature setting - even at HI and also in the Comfort setting - Fan blowing at high speed! Restarting the car after mall visit didn't resolve the issue. Looks also for me like a major SW bug in the climate control program. Did Chevy already release a SW update / fix?

Thank you

Pete

 

I've had the same thing happen to my 2013 volt about a week ago. I drove with it on auto for at least 15 minutes, but no luck.

 

There is a bulletin out from GM for the heater issue. My dealer showed it to me after my first 2013 Volt had that exact same issue, no heat and instead the AC would turn on in electric mode. But they were awesome enough to give me a new replacement Volt as I had only driven it 2 miles. The issue is present only in certain 2013's.

 

After reading the Volt coffee table book; "Chevrolet Volt, Charging into the Future." On page 136, Andrew Farah talks about this very problem on page 136 where some of the circuit boards for the electric heaters in the preproduction Volt were connected wrong. It seems that the instructions for which connector went where were confusing and "was probably translated from some other language" [his words].

He went on to say, "We swapped a couple of wires around the other way, and it worked flawlessly."

Earlier in the book they talked about color-coding connectors to avoid such issues on the production line but, maybe they didn't follow that process on the heater module.

Might be worth a look at the dealer to see if that happened to yours.

 

Had this(no heat) happen to me today also... I will contact my VA.

 

2013 Volt electric heater issue FIXED!! PIC5796

I have been battling the dreaded electric heater issue on my 2013 VOLT and I am happy to report it is now fixed. The fix is service bulletin PIC5796--basically the replacement of the electric coolant heater.Reprogramming of the heater control module, did nothing to fix my problem.

If you have a 2013 and your heat (in electric mode) does not provide heat FASTER than your gas car, then you need to have this service done. Now that the fix has been performed, it heats quickly and completely--better than my gas car.

Thank you to everyone on this forum who have been communicating about this issue. It was my mentioning PIC5796 to the service adviser that got it fixed.

 

Now that the fix has been performed, it heats quickly and completely--better than my gas car.

Glad it is finally fixed. I suspect that the electric heater now uses more energy. Have you noticed any impact on battery energy available for propulsion or on AER?

KNS

 

PIC5976C is just an update to the B, still software related. I am told though that a new bulletin may come out soon addressing the heater module issues from a batch of those units.

Glad your issue is fixed! Mine was fixed a couple weeks ago replacing the same module, as the SW update did not do the trick, and I'm very pleased.

 

My 2013 built in Feb 2013 is not afflicted with this bug. I still wonder what the VIN range is for this anomaly? Any one have a guess?

 

Your vehicle is probably within the range but isn't afflicted. I have an April 2013 build that was afflicted and one of the first fixed 4 weeks ago.
As Clarkson said, you're probably not going to see 100% failures. Be happy!

 

OK Can we find out what the "C" is software or a module????
My Cyber Gray Volt was build in December 2012 and has this problem

 

It's simply a new revision to the SW module update bulletin, as Ian said above. I've had this confirmed by GM and my tech, independently.

There's supposed to be a bulletin on the way though. Hopefully it's not rumor.

As for VINs affected, the problem is more annoying than that I think... The manufacturer of the module had yield issues, so it's related to all modules between two build dates. However, not all modules within those build dates will fail, some (many?) will work just fine.

 

Same problem with my 2013. Heat works if you switch the air recirculation from default to auto setting. Just in passing, since the VOLT is connected, why no alerts about these things? I have had phone calls telling me my warranty was expiring, not, so why not come in for a software update?

 

I have a 2013. It was 50 degrees the other night and I set the temp to 72 and got no heat. I even tried 80 and no heat. On the Climate screen, do I have to manually turn on the Heat Status Indicator? I was in full EV mode and tried to get heat in both Fan mode and Eco/Auto mode. Is this the problem that is described in this thread?

Thanks
Dave

 

Where were you directing heat? As I mentioned on my "ownership" thread we seem to get no heat when directed to feet, but it'll happily blast warm air in our faces, which suggests something like a door actuator problem.

 

Now that Los Angeles is getting a blast of winter's air, I think my 2013 Volt leased in September is also exhibiting these same symptoms as described by SimiVolt; unless I am missing some "on" toggle somewhere!

Maybe Simi and I can meet over at a Chevy dealer on Monday and save some time getting this fixed together? I am wiling to drive about 45 miles! hahahahha

 

Where do you get that choice? Out with the manual for me...

I get no heat from the dashboard vents, which is the only place I know how to control at this point.

 

> Suggest you just stick to PIC5706 when discussing it.

Did you mean PIC5796?


MOD EDIT: Yup! Thanks!!