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2018 Volt Unable to charge

15K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  Cord 
#1 ·
Hi All,

For the past two nights, after plugging in my car and going to bed, I'm getting the unable to charge message about 60%ish through. When I unplug the car and plug it back in, it immediately starts charging again.

I have an engine light but OnStar says it's just a generic service the electrical system at your convenience light.

I'm going to take it in to the dealer but curious if anyone has dealt with anything similar, and if so, what fixed it.

Thanks,
Chris
 
#2 ·
Hi Chris,
Could be that the A/C receptacle is heating up, due to being loose. That will shut down charging. Make sure it is a quality receptacle - spec grade is best.
You don't say if you are charging at 8 or 12 amps.
 
#3 ·
As previously noted, it could be a loose and worn out 120V outlet. Best to replace the outlet you use to charge with a commercial grade or hospital grade 5-15R receptacle. Don't let the EVSE hang from the power cord connection, the cord and plug will fail.

Other considerations include looking at what else might be running in your home when the charging interruption occurs. Maybe you have a sump pump, dishwasher, dehumidifier or even a coffee maker running when the interruption occurs. Sometimes home appliances have sufficient noise or voltage leakage on the ground connection to trigger the EVSE to see a power fault condition and stop charging.
 
#4 ·
It may clear after a few re-starts
BUT

always get the codes they will e-mail you if asked.
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I learned 2 things at Texas A&M

1. you need a soil sample to tell why the corn is not growing
2. Twinkle twinkle little star E is equal to I times R
 
#6 ·
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. Wanted to post an update as my saga continues.

After the couple days where it didn't charge, I got an appointment for this past Tuesday at a local dealership, and dropped the car off. It was actually charging over the weekend and the check engine light was off, but Tuesday morning, the check engine light had popped back on even though it fully charged.

When I dropped it off at the dealer, they said I had a plethora of error codes, and said it might take a while. They've been working on diagnosing it this week with the technical assistance team at GM and had to do a recorded session of it running. They're still working with GM to pin point the exact problem, but they've basically said it's either an issue with the battery control module that runs the battery pack or the battery pack itself will need full replacement. Apparently they're hoping it's the battery pack because that's significantly easier to replace.
 
#7 ·
All the dealer said may be true but for a double check give us the codes.

Even un-plugging or a low 12 volt battery can throw some codes that will self clear.

Plus most will like to add the data and how the problem gets fixed to the common knowledge pool.

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And tell them to move the bad part to another volt and see if that volt still works :)
 
#8 ·
Hi All!

My dealer tried to send me the codes via email, but failed so I gave up until I got my car back today. They replaced the entire hybrid battery and it seems to be working fine.

Here were the codes for reference:

P1E00-00
P1E4F-00
P1E7E-00
 
#9 ·
Also - one more cool thing they told me. They had to wait for GM to ship them a new battery, and then the dealership ended up using a T-shape lift that conformed to the battery to pull it out / put it in there. Supposedly it's so heavy / tough it takes special equipment to change it out.
 
#10 ·
My saga continues! I got the charge interruption again over the weekend, milage and capacity were off, and now I'm getting new CEL codes.

On-Star sent this:

P1E00 The vehicle's electric system is not performing as expected. The HPCM (VIC) may or may not have another code active. If no other code is found service at your convenience

P1B2B The Lithium-Ion Battery is not performing as expected. An issue has been detected in the Hybrid Battery System which is a high voltage battery used to propel your vehicle.
 
#14 ·
Well, just got my car back after the dealer changed a battery section and high voltage cables. They had the car for 2 months total.

Thanks for the link on the lemon law, looks like if it happens again over the next year, I'll be taking to a lawyer. I love the car so I hope it works, but we'll see.

Oh... And the damn oil life monitoring looks broken. Dealer swears they've changed it twice, still at 48%... Sigh!
 
#15 ·
And the damn oil life monitoring looks broken. Dealer swears they've changed it twice, still at 48%... Sigh!
The dealer needs to reset it when they do an oil change.
 
#16 ·
Yah, dealer said they changed oil before they sold me the car but it was a 78% so I just reset it.
 
#18 ·
As far as i know ( when it gets to ZERO ) it says at zero unless acted on by an outside force ( wonder if Newton had a Volt )

The car tracks miles and time for oil life

-- the 2011 and 2012 did not track time - mine was at 95 % after 3 years
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