I have a 2014 Volt. 3 times in the last month I have gone out of town for the weekend and come back to a dead battery. I'm 100% sure I didn't leave anything on. I took it to the dealer twice and they said the battery tested fine and they detected no draw. I called GM and they told me this counted as sitting for an extended amount of time and I needed to plug it in or have a trickle charger! This seems ridiculous to me. How can a car battery not hold a charge from Thursday night until Sunday? I guess I'm adding a jumper pack to my camping list.
2014 Volt 12v battery dies after sitting for 3 days. GM says this is expected
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Make sure you do not leave the key fob in the car or it will stay awake. If you still have a issue, try having the dealership keep the car over the weekend and let them see that it needs a jump after 3 days. That is not normal and should be fine if left for 3 weeks.
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Sounds like the key is near it or in it.
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It should last at least 3-4 weeks when OFF. Is your OnStar subscription active? I've seen some weird high periodic parasitic drains from OnStar, especially if it's expired.
Did the dealer say what your max draw was? Normal on the Gen1 Volt is less than ~25mA
But sometimes there will be modules powering up after some time period. So I wonder for how long they monitored it for.
I find you need to leave the ammeter on there for at least a couple hours sometimes longer (recording on min-max with auto-power down disabled) in case the draw only exposes itself after a period. The dealer could also temporarily pull the fuse to the OnStar module (after disconnecting the back-up battery) to see if that's the source of the drain.
HTH
WOT
Did the dealer say what your max draw was? Normal on the Gen1 Volt is less than ~25mA
But sometimes there will be modules powering up after some time period. So I wonder for how long they monitored it for.
I find you need to leave the ammeter on there for at least a couple hours sometimes longer (recording on min-max with auto-power down disabled) in case the draw only exposes itself after a period. The dealer could also temporarily pull the fuse to the OnStar module (after disconnecting the back-up battery) to see if that's the source of the drain.
HTH
WOT
I'm glad to hear this is not normal. The GM rep on the phone was making it sound like this is something a lot of owners deal with and that I should check this forum. Having the rep offer to email me links here was very disheartening.
The key wasn't near the car when this happened. I double checked that everything was off before leaving my car the second and third time. My OnStar subscription is active, so that's a possibility. If it's OnStar, at least I'm paying for my subscription to them with the free jumps they offer
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I have 400 miles left on my warranty, so I'm feeling a bit more stressed about it. The dealer said there was nothing they could do since the tests passed, and GM wasn't any help. It sounds like I should take another trip to the dealer (maybe a different one) and ask them to test it overnight.
The key wasn't near the car when this happened. I double checked that everything was off before leaving my car the second and third time. My OnStar subscription is active, so that's a possibility. If it's OnStar, at least I'm paying for my subscription to them with the free jumps they offer
.I have 400 miles left on my warranty, so I'm feeling a bit more stressed about it. The dealer said there was nothing they could do since the tests passed, and GM wasn't any help. It sounds like I should take another trip to the dealer (maybe a different one) and ask them to test it overnight.
I'm interested to know what links show this to be normal operation. If they believe it's normal to require a jump after 3 days, how can the explain the thousands of cars sitting in long term parking lots for weeks without needing a jumpstart? I would still probably replace the 12V battery, even if it does pass the tests. I have had a similar situation on another car. Periodically, even after driving it would require a jump. Had it tested, and of course it was fine. Even passed a 500A load test. Ended up replacing it and never had another problem after that. Although its rare, the guy who tested it (family friend, runs an shop rebuilding alternators/starters/etc for HD equipment) said that he's seen what can best be described as intermittent failures of a battery where full power is temporarily not available. It's possible your 12V battery falls in that category where its got a problem but hasn't entirely failed.
Since your warranty is about to expire, just be sure to have your complaint well documented on a repair order and keep the record. You don't have to get a problem fixed during the warranty period, you just have to notify them of the problem during the warranty period.
It also sounds to me like it could need a new battery, but it could be other things. There were some threads here long ago about the car staying awake due to a Bluetooth connection to a phone that did not terminate correctly.
It also sounds to me like it could need a new battery, but it could be other things. There were some threads here long ago about the car staying awake due to a Bluetooth connection to a phone that did not terminate correctly.
I left my 2015 volt in long term airport parking for almost 2 months and it fired right up.
Cleaning 3" of oak leaves and twigs off the windshield and out of the wipers was more of a challenge.
If you don't use onstar, tell them to brick the imei and cease all contact with your car. Otherwise it wakes up and pings every night at a minimum.
Cleaning 3" of oak leaves and twigs off the windshield and out of the wipers was more of a challenge.
If you don't use onstar, tell them to brick the imei and cease all contact with your car. Otherwise it wakes up and pings every night at a minimum.
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I keep saying I'm going to put a logging battery meter on my Volt, as I had the dead 12V battery condition after leaving my (then) year old Volt for 12 days. But now here we are 15 months later, and I still have the original battery, and no more issues. I have checked the idle drain, and WOT is right, it's normally very low. I've been rationalizing it was the key fob being too close. During that 12 day incident, the car was in a different location, and I had the key fob only about 10 ft away. Now I keep both key fobs in a metal cookie tin. I also have a solar panel to trickle charge the battery occasionally.
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Definitely not normal. I would take it to a different Chevy dealer - actually, I would call a few different dealers, ask the service dept if they have a Volt technician and ask them if this is normal. I've gone on business trips leaving my 2013 Volt at the airport for longer and have never had this issue. Isn't there also a Volt Advisor Hotline (or something like that) that you can call? Where are you located?
Good luck - keep us posted.
Good luck - keep us posted.
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The remote FOB will typically not cause a drained battery condition, UNLESS there's a button stuck or internally shorted sending constant lock/unlock signals.
Unlike completely passive locking/unlocking features (using active remotes) on some cars like the Corvettes and Cadillacs (where the door can unlock as you approach the car with no additional input required) the remote controls in the Volt are actually passive devices and SEND NO SIGNAL until you either press one of code the buttons on the remote, press one of the door handle buttons triggering a keyless entry security challenge, or press the POWER button (with the FOB in the car) triggering an Immobilizer security challenge.
Most of the earlier dead battery issues on the Gen1 Volt were often due to various firmware/software anomalies (like the old bluetooth glitch) in either the BCM, instrument panel, or radio. The sequence of events that might trigger the draining behavior was often not ever even isolated. So in this case if they can't find and identify an offending parasitic draining component, it would usually be SOP to try some updates. Especially if you've noticed any other symptoms in the IP, radio or center stack display.
WOT
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Auto shops test batteries with a big bad ~100 Amp load test for a few seconds.
Aviation shops test batteries with a capacity test over time. Those batteries have an Ahr rating.
Car batteries have the equivalent rating as 'Reserve Capacity' with a generic 25 Amp load timed test.
I've had a car battery pass the big load test, but when I tested it's capacity if fell flat on it's face in less than 9 minutes.
Replacing it cured the problems I was having with a Hybrid. Hybrids don't put a big load on the battery. They only have to boot up the system.
Good luck finding an auto shop that will be able to perform this test,,, or even know about it...
Go to Wally's and buy a battery for a week trial in you car the next time you leave the car. Keep the standard battery in the car too, in case the car drains the new one also.
It doesn't have to be the exact replacement. It just has to fit.
If the car is fine with that battery, return it ,,, the way those people do...
And then shop around for the exact replacement.
This is all assuming you have the tools and skills to swap out a battery in the nice clean back end of a Volt.
Aviation shops test batteries with a capacity test over time. Those batteries have an Ahr rating.
Car batteries have the equivalent rating as 'Reserve Capacity' with a generic 25 Amp load timed test.
I've had a car battery pass the big load test, but when I tested it's capacity if fell flat on it's face in less than 9 minutes.
Replacing it cured the problems I was having with a Hybrid. Hybrids don't put a big load on the battery. They only have to boot up the system.
Good luck finding an auto shop that will be able to perform this test,,, or even know about it...
Go to Wally's and buy a battery for a week trial in you car the next time you leave the car. Keep the standard battery in the car too, in case the car drains the new one also.
It doesn't have to be the exact replacement. It just has to fit.
If the car is fine with that battery, return it ,,,
the way those people do... And then shop around for the exact replacement.
This is all assuming you have the tools and skills to swap out a battery in the nice clean back end of a Volt.
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+1
And every time a battery has been left discharged for any length of time and then needed to be jumped,
that event just took a lot of the life time out of the battery. Lead acid batteries go bad quick if left in the discharged state.
Your car may have been through this with months of setting on a dealership lot and you don't even know it.
I'd start shopping now. Try to find a fresh battery. Not one that has been sitting on a dealers shelf for 6 months waiting for a new home.
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Batteris ONLY last about 3 to 4 years tops. If that's the originally lead-acid battery, it's probably done due to internal corrosion over time, low on fluids so the cells aren't properly charged or holding charge. If you want a battery to last 4 to 5 years with proper maintenance, get an Optima, Bosch AGM, or similar deep cycle battery.
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