[DGRugby]

Looking for a little guidance...

My 2014 Volt is at the dealer for not being able to charge. Last Wednesday night, I charged with no problem and went to work Thursday. I charged the car at work and did my evening running. I came home and went to charge the car but it tripped the GFI switch. I checked the 110V charger...both green lights were on and once I attached it to the car, it tripped again. Friday, i drove to the dealer to try their charging station to rule out the charger and it didn't charge.

While I was at work on Thursday, it did rain most of the day.

Dealer has tried to troubleshoot the issue for 2 days now. They replaced a drive motor battery charger (~$1200) but it will still not charge. It keeps tripping.

Any thoughts from other owners? I am going to rest a loaner if they can't fix it today.

 

[DGRugby]

I had Onstar run a remote diagnostic on the car and nothing came back. alot of people just scratching their heads.

 

[Loboc]

dealer to try their charging station to rule out the charger and it didn't charge..

So it's something with the car. We have seen symptoms like this if the car's charge port is defective/cracked/wet.

 

[2VoltFamily]

The charge-port or the on-board charger are usually the two main culprits. I am sure the checked the coolant levels. Beyond that and the coolant level sensor more diagnostics are in your future.

 

[llninja]

I've had a moth do a kamikaze run at the charge light and get squashed into the charge port. Could it be as simple as one of the terminals is blocked not allowing the power to flow, but the pilot signals are good, so the car and EVSE are happy, the, the relay clicks and only one is energized? I'd check the car-side and scrape at it with a small flat screwdriver, which is how I got the moth guts out of my charge port. A shot of compressed air later, I was good to go.

 

[Genecpu]

It rained on me and the car would not charge. Dealer told me not to charge in the rain, I told him, am I only suppose to drive on sunny days?. Anyway the charge port was replaced, crack in the housing, water gets in crack causes signal to change resistance on the pilot signal. The GFI tripping is also probably due to a water short.
Changing the port is relatively simple. My dealer also told me it was a big job. I have the service manual now. I will never go to this dealer again. These service managers will tell you anything. They are so full of themselves.
I am an electrical engineer I can detect dealer's BS.

 

[llninja]

It rained on me and the car would not charge. Dealer told me not to charge in the rain, I told him, am I only suppose to drive on sunny days?. Anyway the charge port was replaced, crack in the housing, water gets in crack causes signal to change resistance on the pilot signal. The GFI tripping is also probably due to a water short.
Changing the port is relatively simple. My dealer also told me it was a big job. I have the service manual now. I will never go to this dealer again. These service managers will tell you anything. They are so full of themselves.
I am an electrical engineer I can detect dealer's BS.

There are good service departments out there. The best I've seen is Sullivan Parkhill Chevy Cadillac, though they are several thousand miles away from you.

 

[Mister Dave]

While I was at work on Thursday, it did rain most of the day.

I had Onstar run a remote diagnostic on the car and nothing came back. alot of people just scratching their heads.

Same here a couple of years back with my '14. It would charge again once the car dried out (usually the next day). No issues since the charge port was replaced. It was fixed under warranty. In your case you may need to call Chevy customer service to get it paid for. They should be very aware of the issue considering how many of them they've had to replace.

 

[Sean-a-Tron]

As others have mentioned, it definitely sounds like an issue with the charge port. Especially since the on-board charger has been replaced to no avail.

 

[jcramer]

As an experimental physicist, I would say that tripping the ground-fault interrupt (GFI) means that current is flowing from one of the power leads to the ground connection. That sounds like water in the charging port. The green ground wire is not supposed to be carrying any current and is just included in the electrical connections as a safety measure. If it were my Volt, I would borrow my wife's hair dryer and blow a limited amount of hot air on the charging port. It's also possible, however, that somewhere else in the car a power lead is being grounded.

 

[bsquarewi]

I had the same exact same initial symptom as you a few weeks back with my '14 (wouldn't charge on L2 charger and tripped house fuse on L1 110v). Nothing came back from OnStar diagnostics, so took it into dealer. Was told by the dealer that they needed 'reprogram the Hybrid Powertrain Control Module' based on the ODB code returned. That fixed the problem. Now, what followed was a back and forth with the dealer and then GM to point out that this should be covered under the Voltec 100k/8yr warranty as anything related to charging of the battery is part of the voltec system. Eventually they covered it, but not without a couple weeks of complaining.

 

[Mibaiamonte]

It rained on me and the car would not charge. Dealer told me not to charge in the rain, I told him, am I only suppose to drive on sunny days?. Anyway the charge port was replaced, crack in the housing, water gets in crack causes signal to change resistance on the pilot signal. The GFI tripping is also probably due to a water short.
Changing the port is relatively simple. My dealer also told me it was a big job. I have the service manual now. I will never go to this dealer again. These service managers will tell you anything. They are so full of themselves.
I am an electrical engineer I can detect dealer's BS.

I took my 2014 into the dealer for a software update the car needed. Since they were doing that I asked them to check as I had a time that the charger tripped my system and I had to disconnect the battery cables to get it to reset. I figured since they were on GM's recall time they could just take a look and provide me some feedback.

when I went to pick up the car they presented me with a $125 diagnostic charge and told me they 'thought' the charge port could be bad and that they could replace it for $725. I declined the service and went home, ordered the part and did it myself for less than $100. Dealers are a total rip-off.

Unfortunately I still have a charging issue but it is not what the dealers suggested fixing. I'll find a good local mechanic I can trust.