[om617]

Hey there,

Happy owner of a 2013 Volt here. Well, happy until last weekend. I'd never had any problems with this car, but on Saturday it showed the "Service High-Voltage Charging System" message. Thankfully it was in my garage at home, so I was able to troubleshoot stuff over 2 days. I pored over a few long threads on this great forum, tried everything I'd read so far, but nothing has gotten the thing moving.

One difference with my issue is that in addition to the SHVCS message, when I power-on the car it shows "Initializing....Wait to Shift." After 12 seconds the lights and accessories come online and it allows me to shift out of Park, but no motors are engaged. There's no power to the propulsion system.

Fast-forward to today; it has been towed to a Chevrolet dealer. They have diagnosed it as a failure of the "Battery Energy Control Module and Relay Center." Replacement cost estimate is $2,200. Oh, and my warranty ran out just 7,000 miles ago.

I'm really bummed. This car has been flawless until now. I'm amazed something could go out so suddenly. I've been singing this cars' praises to everyone I meet... but today I learned the real costs of keeping it on the road. An article on Autoblog seems to confirm this, along with an accurate cost --assuming the BECM is the problem. (I'd post the link, but I guess I need more forum points first...)

Would appreciate any advice. Has anyone out there experienced this same issue?

 

[centro7610]

Something you could try first, is to just replace the 12v battery in the trunk and see if it fixes the issue. I have seen this exact behavior in my car, but they replaced a section of the battery under warranty. The car also seems to be in "service mode" but I havent been able to exit on my own. One thing that seemed to randomly work is to turn on and off the car many times in a row and then it started up the engine.
What point is this happening? When the battery is almost dead or dead and running on engine power? I ask, as thats when the issues come up for me.

 

[Jiminy]

I replaced a battery pack in my daughter’s 2011 Volt last May. I used a pack out of a 2013 Volt. I have a BECM out of that pack you can have if you still need it.

Jim