[Nook]

I have a 2013 and have owned it for several years. I'm in MN and it has been cold (-20F). It has 110k miles.
The car gets plugged in every night. One night it didn't charge. The next day, there was a trip with the power reduced message, which went away.
Since then, I now get "Unable to charge". The bulb goes yellow for a handful of seconds, no green.
The car recognizes something is plugged in (can't shift to drive, engine doesn't come on to warm it until the charger is unplugged, etc.)
The connected light comes on on the charger.
I have tried multiple chargers on multiple circuits, and both at 240V and 120V.
I have installed a new AGM 12V battery. (Old one tested fine on the big tester at the auto parts store. I think it's the original AC DELCO, so 9 years on it probably?!?, but that's a different topic)
The charging port and pins on the car appears in good shape (straight, not corroded, etc.).
Coolant levels in all three containers appear good.
I have searched the forum and come up with nothing that fits my situation.
The weather has warmed to close to freezing and the problem persists. This includes across several drive cycles following battery replacement.
Mountain mode put bars into the battery icon, but the icon remains grey. This would imply the traction battery and getting power into it is still ok.
I do NOT have a check engine light or any other indication of problems.

My local dealer is not an electric expert, nor is my regular mechanic.
I do not have access to a heated garage to soak the whole car with summer temps.

Looking for ideas (with some reasoning behind them).

 

[wordptom]

I can’t comment on the unable to charge/service high voltage system issues, but charging via Mountain Mode is often possible, as you discovered. This uses gas, so the system tries to account for it on the non-Electric Mode side of the ledger. That’s why the battery icon remains grey.

If you turn the car off and back on again, the computer will recognize the state of charge is above the normal switch to gas level, and you should be able to use that MM-recharged battery power to drive Electric Miles... but the kWh Used will not increase because that’s not grid power.

The 2013 Volt, if equipped, has a setting in the vehicle personalization configuration menu that enables Engine Assisted Heating (Plugged-In). This should NOT be turned on, of course, if the car is parked inside a closed space:

If equipped, this feature turns on or off the ability for the engine to run to help heat the vehicle when it is plugged in. A change in setting will not take affect until after the vehicle is first powered down. The Engine Assisted Heating (Plugged-In) options are On or Off.

 

[Nook]

I can’t comment on the unable to charge/service high voltage system issues, but charging via Mountain Mode is often possible, as you discovered. This uses gas, so the system tries to account for it on the non-Electric Mode side of the ledger. That’s why the battery icon remains grey.

If you turn the car off and back on again, the computer will recognize the state of charge is above the normal switch to gas level, and you should be able to use that MM-recharged battery power to drive Electric Miles... but the kWh Used will not increase because that’s not grid power.

The 2013 Volt, if equipped, has a setting in the vehicle personalization configuration menu that enables Engine Assisted Heating (Plugged-In). This should NOT be turned on, of course, if the car is parked inside a closed space:

If equipped, this feature turns on or off the ability for the engine to run to help heat the vehicle when it is plugged in. A change in setting will not take affect until after the vehicle is first powered down. The Engine Assisted Heating (Plugged-In) options are On or Off.

I know how the car works. I brought up mountain mode only to show that the car can put power into the traction battery, which eliminates a number of possibly root causes.

 

[uchual]

It's curious that the vehicle is not throwing any codes. My suggestion would be to take the vehicle to a dealer experienced with Volts.

 

[jayoldschool]

You might suspect cracks on the back of the charge port, this is common on gen 1 and there is an updated part. I had to change the charge port on my ELR for this.

 

[Sly Bob]

You might suspect cracks on the back of the charge port, this is common on gen 1 and there is an updated part. I had to change the charge port on my ELR for this.

That was my thought as well...

 

[MetasysTech]

That was my thought as well...

I had a similar issue and ordered a new charge port. When replacing it I found a burned connection where the port plugs into the harness from the car. I cleaned the old one and have not had an issue since. If it does it again I suspect that single wire will be cut from the plug and connected directly instead of through the plug. I kept the new port just in case.

 

[Nook]

So, just got the new charging port installed. No change.
The old one did have cracks in the back of the potting.

 

[jayoldschool]

Well, the good news is that you replaced a bad part. Might be dealer time.

 

[Nook]

yah, looking at the instructions, it's due for coolant flush - all 3 tanks, plus new plugs. I was hoping to avoid the dealer though, but unless somebody else has some ideas, I think we're there.

 

[supchrgamx]

how much fuel do you have in the car

 

[Nook]

how much fuel do you have in the car

1/2 tank or more. why?
it runs normally from the gas, the gas is regularly cycled through, and will charge in mountain mode, just not from the wall

 

[supchrgamx]

car wont precondition with low fuel and no codes
was a shot in the dark
did you try disconnecting the 12 v battery for 10 min
usually if its not the charge port its the hv charger or fuses in the battery box or connector in battery box
usually there are codes though

 

[supchrgamx]

seem to me that it was put on here before and it ended being the module that controls the charger
to much info becoming a jumble
sorry

 

[Nook]

car wont precondition with low fuel and no codes
was a shot in the dark
did you try disconnecting the 12 v battery for 10 min
usually if its not the charge port its the hv charger or fuses in the battery box or connector in battery box
usually there are codes though

It's not preconditioning that is the issue, it is charging.

 

[supchrgamx]

ok
fill it up and see what happens

 

[Nook]

So, the internal charger was out. PN 24276662. $1400 for the part, plus $600 for the labor.
They described the diagnostic process as "voltage was getting there, but not coming out. Therefore, change the module."
Car has 119k miles, so it looks like the powertrain is only 100k, plus they would likely claim it isn't part of the powertrain.
So, spent 3k total on a car that retails about 10k-13k, but now it's charging again.

 

[Prohidium]

I know this is an old thread but I have the exact same issue. I have not taken the car in for the final diagnosis but I did replace the charge port with no change on the issue so it is very likely the On Board Charging Module. The replacement cost would be close to $3k in Canadian dollars and the car is almost 11 years old albeit low mileage of 60k miles (100,000kms). I am now driving it as an HEV (no more plugging in and charging) and using Mountain Mode to keep it at a 50% state of charge. It is basically just another gas car now and I will be the backup vehicle as there is no real advantage to drive it over the other gas car we have. I may hunt around for a used OBCM but there are probably few and far between.

 

[backyardbeerguy]

I am experiencing this on my 2015. I replaced the charge port and I still get the "unable to charge" message.

In the fall I originally had the P1E00 code with the MIL illuminated. $200 later the dealer couldn't tell me what the issue was but their procedure said the charge port should be replaced. I didn't replace the charge port immediately because it was still charging. At the time I had managed to locate a charge port for about $200 from another dealer but I didn't want to deal with all the plastics in the cold weather in case I cracked something. When it stopped charging the other day we had a warm break so I replaced the original charge port with the new one. As best as I can tell, there was nothing wrong with the charge port I took out. I continued to to get the "unable to charge" message so I cleared the code to no avail, it still won't charge.

I had to drive to work so I put it in mountain mode and the engine charged the battery up halfway and, on braking, the regen seems to send charge to the battery. I have an appointment at the end of the month to have the dealer take another crack at it.