My 2013 Volt with 89k miles had a CEL come on last week, took it to the dealer a week or so ago where they said one section of the battery needed to be replaced. Because they told me this one other time and it ended up not being true I waited for confirmation this time before posting here. I checked in with the service department today and they said that GM is sending a replacement for one section of the main traction battery. The service rep said there were bad cells, but I haven't seen that written/confirmed anywhere. He did say the battery is ordered, but it will take 3 weeks to get here. Oh, and tonight when leaving work another CEL came on stating something like "Service high voltage charging systems" and the car will not accept a charge at all.....Soooo, off to the dealership again in the morning, getting really tired of this car......love/hate relationship with the Volt, great car when it is working, but I have never in my life had so many issues with a vehicle.
2013 Volt - Traction Battery Issue
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WOTs COOLANT LEVEL SENSOR / SERVICE HIGH VOLTAGE CHARGING SYSTEM MESSAGE DEFEAT PLUG
Heads-up there is an inexpensive defeat plug that would make redundant unnecessary visits into the GM service dept. in order to clear these latched codes preventing charging and is a no-brainer mod for high-mileage Gen1s approaching end of warranty periods IMHO!
Sounds like a great idea, especially if I keep this car past 100k.....I guess I will see how they handle this one, might get this part asap.WOTs COOLANT LEVEL SENSOR / SERVICE HIGH VOLTAGE CHARGING SYSTEM MESSAGE DEFEAT PLUG
Heads-up there is an inexpensive defeat plug that would make redundant unnecessary visits into the GM service dept. in order to clear these latched codes preventing charging and is a no-brainer mod for high-mileage Gen1s approaching end of warranty periods IMHO!
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Was this issue fixed in Gen 2? I believe it was.
89K miles on a 2013, whoa! Lots of driving, huh? If you're the original owner, it wouldn't hurt to make some noise up the chain at GM. I've had some issues with my '13 and, after making some noise, they offered me some $$$ to get out of the car (so long as it's a GM car of course)--still debating on taking it. Just the offer itself made me feel better about the brand and that GM is acknowledging that this is not acceptable.
89K miles on a 2013, whoa! Lots of driving, huh? If you're the original owner, it wouldn't hurt to make some noise up the chain at GM. I've had some issues with my '13 and, after making some noise, they offered me some $$$ to get out of the car (so long as it's a GM car of course)--still debating on taking it. Just the offer itself made me feel better about the brand and that GM is acknowledging that this is not acceptable.
WOT's plug eliminates a failed coolant sensor as a source of the CEL and the resultant latched code. If the reason for CEL is something else, like failed cells, I fail to see how it would help in a case like this. Why do you feel otherwise?WOTs COOLANT LEVEL SENSOR / SERVICE HIGH VOLTAGE CHARGING SYSTEM MESSAGE DEFEAT PLUG
Heads-up there is an inexpensive defeat plug that would make redundant unnecessary visits into the GM service dept. in order to clear these latched codes preventing charging and is a no-brainer mod for high-mileage Gen1s approaching end of warranty periods IMHO!
I bought it as a CPO with 13k miles on it. I use it as a commuter car and we drive it whenever possible so the miles add up for sure. What chain did you climb? This is my first GM vehicle ever(I am not young) and quite possibly my last.
Yeah, I figured I would wait to see the reason for the CEL, if it seems to be the sensor then maybe WOT's part will make sense.
I spoke to the service writer today, he said it was the largest section of battery that is being replaced, 3-4 weeks before it gets to the dealership. They were nice enough to give me a rental car until the work on the Volt is completed. He also told me they have completed a fair number of these replacements.
I wonder how many that is. "It happens all the time" seems to be thing that just comes out of a mechanic's mouth instead of "I empathize with your disappointment."
isn't that part of the voltec warranty? I think they have to.
I think it is too, but my situation was interesting because the car was running safely with the bad battery, then I got another CEL that seemed to indicate another problem, but they just said get a rental car until we get everything resolved.
I asked if the tech guy had performed any of these battery replacements....he just laughed a bit and said, oh yeah, plenty. I don't live in the most populated area either, so I was a little surprised by the comment, but happy that he had experience doing the job.
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I guess you would have to define "plenty." I doubt there have been many nation wide. It would be interesting to know how many nation wide have been done.
Well, he wasn't offering exact numbers, but his "plenty" seemed to indicate more than a few based on other comments they made like...... witnessing the tech on many occasions having the batteries spread out on the shop floor for a few days during the repairs. I also spoke to a service rep that worked in the shop for 3 years previously and he said that these battery replacements weren't super frequent, but not infrequent either......so take that for what it is worth, but my W A G is they fail more than we can imagine.
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I am currently waiting for dealership to get my replacement battery section in. My 2012 shut down after "propulsion power reduced" message and they diagnosed as bad cells/section.
And the question to myself is....when are the other 2 sections going to fail, and what is that going to cost to replace them out of warranty. Every car has its maintenance costs, just need to calculate the Volt's to see if it makes economical sense to keep it.
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Ditch and switch.
Read my mind...lol
well, long as they get you taken care of.
Well, I got my Volt back sooner than expected. They found skewed temp sensor in both cell#3 & 4, says they replaced #3 cell section. I have all the codes etc., just don't have time to type it out right now. Drove it today for the first time, it seemed to be doing some funky stuff....like gaining a bar/4 miles after parking for a few hours.....it also showed 11.5 kWh used where I was getting 9.8ish before....I also noticed that my miles/kWh were less than I normally saw on a known daily commute. I expect things to settle in and be back closer to normal after a few charge cycles.
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