[siai47]

I just came back from lunch with a friend and was commenting about how much I liked the car and how little gasoline I needed to use. I must have jinxed it.

I had about 45 miles of EV range remaining and was slowly accelerating from a traffic light. I noticed the ICE had started and looking at the dash I noticed a "check engine" light was on. In less than a minute, the EV range had dropped to zero. The state of charge indicator was switching from green to blue and was moving up and down on the state of charge gauge. Sometimes it was up to 100% and green, sometimes it was down to 20%. In addition the black line indicating lower charge limits was in various places (between 20 to 50% charge). I called OnStar and asked what was going on and they said it was the "Hybrid integration system" reporting an out of spec. problem. The engine was racing and then idling for no apparent reason. They said I needed to get it to a dealer within one day for repair.

I shut off the car and stopped and restarted the system 5 times and the "check engine" light went off. Operation of the car seemed normal for about 5 miles and then the light came back on. same symptoms as before. Another call to OnStar and they told me I had a high voltage battery module failure and wanted to know if I needed roadside assistance. However, the car was still drivable.

Of course it is Sunday and the dealer may be also closed tomorrow. I am really not too happy about this but it is a complex car and things happen. I just hope it can be repaired quickly as this is my only car and I expected it to be reliable. I am hoping it is some sort of control module and not a battery module. The car appears to take a charge via the EVSE and I would assume the BCM wouldn't allow this if there was a cell in the pack that was out of range. Crossing my fingers.

 

[Neromanceres]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. As the car is under warranty the dealer should provide you with a loaner at GM's expense so you won't be without a car.

Hopefully the issue can be resolved quickly.

 

[JFChamp]

Thanks for sharing your experience, as a fellow 2017 owner I sure hope this is quickly resolved for you. As you said, this is a complex car and the more electronics in a car, the higher the risks of component failure.

 

[rand49er]

You'll get this resolved, and make sure when you do to post up what happened.

 

[Cord]

Still need to get the code numbers from onstar -- may give people something to work with if an old problem.

 

[Coppersnowboarder]

When our public transit buses get a "Check Engine" idiot light glowing, the cause is usually an exhaust issue or a slopping of engine oil during a climb. Only the computer knows for sure.

 

[accelerus]

I had something similar on my 2017... basically the car would not go into EV mode and defaulted to gas mode, even with a full charge.

Other symptoms were that the AC would not function.

Turns out some high voltage fuse blew and the car goes into some sort of safe mode, it's not a fuse that's available to the public and according to my service manager (fellow volt guy) it had to come straight from the GM engineering dept. Sucky part, it was on national backorder and took 2 weeks to get. This was at 4000 miles.

at 8000 miles I had some fuse blow that caused the 12V system not to charge and got stranded on the side of the road. The dealership and service guys there have been awesome... GM as a company hasn't done anything to make me feel better or "make it right" that a brand new car has had 2 major problems so far. They wouldn't even answer my questions or put me in touch with anyone that could (the GM reps here/volt advisors)

 

[siai47]

Dropped the car off at the dealer this morning and picked it up tonight. Seems to be running OK. The Powertrain Control Module 2 was causing the DTC. DTC code P1E00 was present. It looks like a "catch all" code for any problem(s) in the module. However, the recall on the Gen II volts, #16055 is for "re-calibration" of this same module. I don't know what information OnStar captured when the DTC was active but the dealer contacted GM about the situation and they said the reprogramming would solve the problem.

I never got any warnings like reduced propulsion power---just the DTC, the changeover to ICE operation and the weird indications on the SOC gauge. Hopefully that was all that was involved. Still very happy with the Volt and glad to have it back. The dealer (Starling Chevrolet in Deland, Fl.) was right on top of it---I dropped it off, explained what was wrong, they put me in a loaner and had the car repaired, washed and back to me in the afternoon. No drama, just good service and communication. Hope this resolves the problem.

 

[siai47]

Hope is fading. The car had the same problem this morning. Logged the DTC with OnStar and they said it was the same code the car gave on Sunday. I believe it was DTC P0175 that was the initial code, the other code was secondary. I drove the car to the dealer with the DTC still active, they scanned it and talked to GM tech support. GM asked that they drive the car for at least 10 miles with a data logger attached and video the dash display to show them what is being displayed on the screen. Sounds like there may be a battery module failure but nobody is sure what is happening. All I know is the car is having a meltdown. So far the dealer is really being nice and trying to help. They were going to give me another Malibu loaner but after I said the Volt might be down for days, they offered to take a new Volt out of stock and give it to me for the loaner. 20 minutes later I drove off in a new Volt with 14 miles on it. Couldn't ask for more---I should know in a day or two what's going one---the recall re-programming had no effect on the situation.

 

[rand49er]

Where is the guy-eating-popcorn icon?

 

[chevyman142000]

Thanks for keeping us updated. Looking forward to hearing what the resolution will be!

 

[Geohec]

That stinks. Too bad your service guy would have tested it some more before giving it back.

Hope it gets resolved soon.

 

[rcuz]

Hope is fading. The car had the same problem this morning. Logged the DTC with OnStar and they said it was the same code the car gave on Sunday. I believe it was DTC P0175 that was the initial code, the other code was secondary. I drove the car to the dealer with the DTC still active, they scanned it and talked to GM tech support. GM asked that they drive the car for at least 10 miles with a data logger attached and video the dash display to show them what is being displayed on the screen. Sounds like there may be a battery module failure but nobody is sure what is happening. All I know is the car is having a meltdown. So far the dealer is really being nice and trying to help. They were going to give me another Malibu loaner but after I said the Volt might be down for days, they offered to take a new Volt out of stock and give it to me for the loaner. 20 minutes later I drove off in a new Volt with 14 miles on it. Couldn't ask for more---I should know in a day or two what's going one---the recall re-programming had no effect on the situation.

Keep that one!

Best,
Rick

 

[siai47]

I couldn't find the "guy-eating-popcorn icon" nor does anybody know what is wrong with my Volt. The car has been driven with the DTC on, a data logger was attached and the results sent to GM for review. The tech at the dealer says his gut feeling is a bad HV battery module but needs to hear back from GM. So once I know what is going on (and it gets resolved) I will report back. Until then I will drive the new loaner Volt and make some popcorn for myself. Just having an issue deciding to cook it in coconut oil or red palm oil .

 

[siai47]

Got the call from the dealer today. GM asked for them to re-run the diagnostic tests on the car and log the data for a second time. Something is wrong in the pack---cells #1 through #36 are out of spec. Sounds the entire first module in the car has some sort of failure common to all of the cells. A replacement module has been ordered and they say it will be installed by weeks end. This car has 4900 miles on it and never exhibited any problems until a week ago on Sunday. I am wondering if something in the BMS failed or that the entire module was being monitored incorrectly. Maybe they are not balancing correctly. I could understand the failure of a single cell or cell pair --- but all 36 in the same module? I will know more after the pack is disassembled---maybe a connector fell off. Anyway, miles are being put on the "loaner" Volt and not mine. Can't complain too much.

 

[Kraven]

Thanks for the update. What is the build date and last 5 numbers of your VIN? I wonder if there might have been a bad batch of batteries that lines up with others who had similar problems.

 

[siai47]

The car was built on July 18, 2016. Last six 121222. It sure doesn't seem to me that it would be a bad battery but more likely a bad battery management system. Because the Gen2 has a common BMS for the entire pack, you would think a problem would be found throughout various cells in various modules, not all cells in one module. Like I said in my last post, maybe something just came apart in a connector or there is a bad harness and it took this amount of time and miles for the cells in the module to be impacted to a point that they are "out of spec." In any event, if it was the one module, it will be repaired. If it is something else, the new module will mask the problem until time and mileage catch up to it. They must be able to see the voltages at the cell level when testing the car. I will ask for information from the dealer (if I can get it) to try to get a better handle on what really happened.

 

[Arcanox]

Yet another bad battery segment...

My '16, VIN 109000, had a bad segment 3. Haven't had any issues at all since they replaced it, but my symptoms beforehand were similar to yours (although I didn't have my battery charged, so I didn't notice any jumping around of the charge...it just showed 100% full when it was 0%)

 

[siai47]

The module arrived last night and they were installing it this morning. The service advisor had no idea that the module had even arrived. They usually get the part from the parts department and put it on the service order before repair work is started. I found out later that batteries and modules are not invoiced to the dealer but exchanged so no invoice is issued to the dealer. In this case the advisor was busy when I came in so I went to the waiting room. In the waiting room they have a flat screen display with about a dozen cameras in the shop area. I could plainly see my Volt on the hoist with the battery pack on the floor and a module being put in a shipping container. When the advisor was free I asked about the car and he took me out to the shop. I finally was able to talk to the technician working on the car which straightened out a couple of concerns. First and foremost was that there was only one cell pair in question, not all of them in the module. He also said he didn't see anything with his equipment that looked out of spec. but when the logs from the recorder were sent to GM they advised that one cell pair was suspect so they sent a replacement module. I was able to get some pictures of the pack out of the car and will say it is an impressive piece of engineering. You almost wish it was in a clear case so you could see it. They think they will have the car back by Friday as they need to drive it for a day to see if the problem was actually related to the module that was changed correcting the issue. Again, Kudos to Starling Chevrolet in Deland, Fl. for their good work and fast response in getting the Volt back in order.

 

[quirkySquirt]

That is so cool! Wish my dealer had a camera system to view the service bay. Makes for great entertainment builds immense customer confidence. Thank you for the update!