I'll do that tomorrow morning. The charger indicated it was charging the battery (although I suppose I could go check it again and see if it's still charging), and the battery was able to drive the car a bit (with headlights...I opted to turn off HVAC and the radio just in case), so it's providing decent current.
What you want to find out is if the car's APU is working or not. The APU is an electric car's alternator. If the APU is making 12-14 volts, then you can drive the car even without a 12 volt battery (just can't start it). If the APU is NOT working, then the car will drive until the 12 volt battery is dead.
I'll see if I can get up early (before the dealer calls me back) and hook a multimeter up while it's running. I'd kind of like to charge the traction battery overnight, but I know full well not to do that with a 12V charger hooked up to the battery (plus, I'm using the low-gauge extension cord for my HV charger on the 12V charger right now). Suppose it doesn't matter if I have to have it towed...
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread...ce-Charging-System-quot&p=3668202#post3668202
I thought that was the issue that was giving people random "Shift to Park" errors? It runs fine currently; it just can't charge the 12V battery while it's running.
I got a different service rep than last time, but he saw in my history that they had performed a number of repairs on it already and he said he was honestly surprised that it had so many problems. We joked that it was because it was bright blue
I did try to explain everything that I observed to them; I can only hope that I explained it well enough for the service rep to tell the Volt tech on Monday. I know 12V issues can cause all sorts of other issues with the car, but the other issues I've had are completely unrelated. I had to get new spark plugs at 4000 miles. I had to get a new hybrid battery segment at somewhere around 5000 or 6000. I had to drive a '15 Malibu for 2.5 weeks for that repair. A new car shouldn't have problems like that.
I believe you're right, ***, that it's an intermittent problem. When I got home from the 5-10 minute drive that initiated the problem, the charger I hooked up said it was at 12.7 volts only a couple minutes after shutting it off. Obviously low. The next morning, after charging it all night, the charger said it was at 14.9 volts. Sounds right. I disconnected the charger and started the car. Battery warning light came on right away, but when I measured it with a multimeter (while running), it read 15.0 volts. Backed the car out of the garage into the driveway for the tow truck, and the warning light went out (but MIL stayed on).
Actually 12.7V is perfectly normal when the car is OFF and not being charged.I got a different service rep than last time, but he saw in my history that they had performed a number of repairs on it already and he said he was honestly surprised that it had so many problems. We joked that it was because it was bright blue
It is CPO, but the previous owner was a "corporate fleet" that drove it for about 550 miles total, 500 miles EV. Not much room to drive it rough, unless they were driving it on extremely rough terrain or something.
Does "lemon law" apply for CPO cars? I thought it was only for new cars. I would love to have it exchanged for a '17 if I knew the 17 wasn't going to have problems like this. I can't spare the time off work to take my car into the shop every month and a half, especially not when I'm paying what I am for it less than a year out of college.
I did try to explain everything that I observed to them; I can only hope that I explained it well enough for the service rep to tell the Volt tech on Monday. I know 12V issues can cause all sorts of other issues with the car, but the other issues I've had are completely unrelated. I had to get new spark plugs at 4000 miles. I had to get a new hybrid battery segment at somewhere around 5000 or 6000. I had to drive a '15 Malibu for 2.5 weeks for that repair. A new car shouldn't have problems like that.
I believe you're right, ***, that it's an intermittent problem. When I got home from the 5-10 minute drive that initiated the problem, the charger I hooked up said it was at 12.7 volts only a couple minutes after shutting it off. Obviously low. The next morning, after charging it all night, the charger said it was at 14.9 volts. Sounds right. I disconnected the charger and started the car. Battery warning light came on right away, but when I measured it with a multimeter (while running), it read 15.0 volts. Backed the car out of the garage into the driveway for the tow truck, and the warning light went out (but MIL stayed on).
If the car was just running, shouldn't the battery be closer to 13 or 14? The "full charge" voltage for an AGM is 14.8 volts, so it makes sense that the charger I had it connected to would bring it to 14.9.
With all the problems a weak/bad 12V battery can cause in a Volt you would think GM would build in a voltage readout in the DIC somewhere, low battery warning indicator. With all the tech in the Volt, this seems quite simple to do. I've scheduled a reminder at 40 months from when I got the car to replace the 12V just as preventative maintenance. Goes against the old rule if it ain't broke, don't fix it however this seems like a good situation to break that rule.
It's high for the likely conditions in the Volt. It's about right for a cold-ish (like around freezing) absorption charging AGM, but in a Volt, I'd be surprised that a battery would NEED enough charge to go into absorption instead of simply floating up.
I just checked a guide on lead-acid batteries; absorption charging kicks in at 80% SOC and floating at about 85%. My charger said the AGM was at 75% SOC right after turning the car off, so that's probably why it had to do absorption charging.
