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Battery Module Failure

17240 Views 67 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  VoltenRock, 
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Battery Module Failure

First a little background –
I drive a 2013 Chevy Volt that I purchased that was certified preowned about 22 months ago. Up until the beginning of January, it has been the most reliable automobile I’ve ever owned, and it has been a lot of fun to drive! I use it primarily as a commuter car, and my commute is 38 miles round trip – however I routinely only use 8 kWh for this trip. The car has just under 75,000 miles.
The problem –
I was driving on my last stretch of my commute back home when I received a message on my dashboard “Propulsion reduced”, however, what it should have read was “propulsion unavailable”. While traveling at speed I lost all propulsion and power steering, but the 12v system continued to operate normally. I managed to coast into my neighborhood, and pushed it the rest of the way unto my property. I attempted to restart the car several times and force the generator to start by putting it in “mountain mode” to no avail. The car was towed to my local dealership. They have dropped the main battery out of the car and determined that one of the battery modules needs to be replaced. Today I was told that there is still not ETA on when the part will be shipped. I have contacted GM support and the dealer and they will not give me a reason how there can be no ETA on the part. I also inquired about replacing the vehicle with another used Volt, and they will only offer credit towards a new vehicle (which I cannot afford at this time since I am still paying off my existing vehicle).
I am appreciative that GM has provided a loaner vehicle, but I want to be back in my Volt or a replacement Volt. I have an infant that I am uncomfortable putting in the back seat of the loaner because I don’t want to damage the seat or carpet with various projectiles and/or fluids. I am troubled that there is no ETA on these parts required for the repair, and that GM is not willing to work out a replacement vehicle (I even offered to pay the difference in value). I just want this to be resolved. Has anyone else had a similar experience? Does GM not carry a stock of replacement parts for the first generation Volt?
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Steverino said:
I would not be surprised if this issue affected <.05% of the Volt's on the road. If so, hardly an epidemic of unreliability, all things considered.
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I agree that my Volt's issue is rather rare, and up until the failure, it has been the most reliable car I have ever owned. I would also second your opinion that only 0.057% of first generation Volts are likely to exhibit this problem. I cannot find the original press release, but GM stated that for every 1 million cells produced, only two fail. Being that there are 288 cells per Volt it's a 1 in 1736 chance. But those are good casino odds, better go try my hand at blackjack! :)

- Article from GAS2.org that mentions the cell failure rate.
http://gas2.org/2016/03/09/what-lessons-from-a-300000-mile-chevy-volt/
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Steverino
Electrified_Propulsion said:
I am also very concerned about having something like this happen in a couple years when my warranty expires.
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My Volt is going on 6 years and has over 85,000 miles. Out of pocket maintenance and repair to date $36. The battery is fully depleted and recharged 6 days a week. Of course, who knows what year 10 or 15 will bring? I'm sure normal car stuff (brake pads, 12V battery, struts, bulbs, etc.) will need repair/replacement at some point, but those would be expected.

I did have a relay and an oil hose go out, both within warranty. This has been one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned. Meanwhile, Chevy updated the lift struts for free, updated my EVSE for free, added battery tunnel reinforcements for free, and gave me 5 years OnStar for free.
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Steverino said:
My Volt is going on 6 years and has over 85,000 miles. Out of pocket maintenance and repair to date $36. The battery is fully depleted and recharged 6 days a week. Of course, who knows what year 10 or 15 will bring? I'm sure normal car stuff (brake pads, 12V battery, struts, bulbs, etc.) will need repair/replacement at some point, but those would be expected.

I did have a relay and an oil hose go out, both within warranty. This has been one of the most reliable cars I have ever owned. Meanwhile, Chevy updated the lift struts for free, updated my EVSE for free, added battery tunnel reinforcements for free, and gave me 5 years OnStar for free.
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The Volt is a work horse, and not only practical but a pleasure to drive. I hope that this is the last issue I have with the electrical system for many years. I anticipate other parts to go out over time too, but to replace the battery after warranty could effectively total the car. All the cars I have kept hit the 200,000 mark, I hope the Volt performs the same too, and maybe beyond!
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My Volt's battery at the shop. Despite this unfortunate situation, the battery is pretty neat to look at.
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Steverino said:
I would not be surprised if this issue affected <.05% of the Volt's on the road.
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Do you mean, of Volts in warranty.

How many will it affect out of warranty?
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Norton
TripleTrucker said:
My 2012 with 52K just had a similar thing happen. Just coasted into spot at work, then towed to dealer last Thursday. They just called today saying they were having trouble diagnosing the problem. ....
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This is a Red Flag.
As soon as they don't find an obvious problem they need to immediately get on the phone and get Chevy Tech Support on the job. That's what Tech Support is for.

Is it a matter of pride or something with some dealerships to not ask for help?

This situation is what caused my Volt to be at the dealer for a very, very long repair.

Keep us posted. Good luck.
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TripleTrucker
Electrified_Propulsion said:
Sorry to hear about your Volt! This appears to be a limited problem among these cars, because you are only the second person I have heard of that had this problem. I read about someone across the pond having similar trouble with their Opel though. I will definitely keep you updated, and I appreciate your comments!
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Just picked mine up from dealer. Very next morning after calling to say they were having trouble diagnosing it, they found the chart port issue and had it fixed within a few hours.
He said they found small crack on back side of the "charger receptacle". This apparently allowed water intrusion which caused multiple malfunctions on last "charge event" and apparently caused the shut down on the road.
Write-up also shows 12 volt battery was very low, too. Shows they charged and tested 12 volt battery and it passed.
I'm going to assume the 12 volt is not an issue now or they would have suggested replacement.
Hope your Volt gets fixed up soon!
Update/edit... Just looked up second part number and it comes up as a 12 volt GM battery. Guess I got one N/C?
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Steverino
ampera_jed said:
Do you mean, of Volts in warranty.

How many will it affect out of warranty?
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The number posted here at GM volt, whether in or out of warranty is small. But if you give me the number that are in vs out of warranty I'll compute the answer. There simply aren't many Volt's outside the 8 year/100k mile (10/150k for CA) warranty yet. However, it is my personal experience that cars over 100k miles start to have parts fail. I expect the Volt will too. What parts those are only time will tell.

The problem with a site like GM-Volt is it tends to make any issue appear bigger than it is.It acts like a magnifying glass. Just because you see a half dozen or dozen posts on an issue here does not mean the issue is big or there is a reliability problem. People tend to post the negatives, that's normal. If every GM-Volt member posted weekly about their LACK of issues, you'd have a hard time finding the relatively rare posts about a problem someone is having.

TripleTrucker said:
Just picked mine up from dealer. He said they found small crack on back side of the "charger receptacle". This apparently allowed water intrusion which caused multiple malfunctions on last "charge event" and apparently caused the shut down on the road. They replaced
#23281030 (S) RECEPTACLE
#88865475 NEW GM RIM PARTS SOURCE.
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Here's an image of a charge port backside with a hairline crack:

Revolver Auto part Engine
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TripleTrucker
Here's an image of the charge port backside with that hairline crack:

View attachment 129273 [/QUOTE]

Thanks for the pic. Are you familiar with the parts codes? Just wondering if I got a 12 volt battery as part of the repair based on the write-up I posted.
I'll give them a call and check just so I know for future reference.
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VoltenRock
I take it the "multi-point" inspection for certification doesn't include the charger receptacle? Was it visible from the front?

Either way, I (hope) this is a very rare event. How would it "crack" unless there was some kind of damage to the vehicle, like an accident? Which, by the way, all certified vehicles are supposed to be accident free.
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hellsop
VoltenRock said:
I take it the "multi-point" inspection for certification doesn't include the charger receptacle? Was it visible from the front?
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Usually that's just the routine service department peeking at fluids and lube, measuring brake pads, and looking for broken/loose/worn stuff on the suspension and steering
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-- Update on my 2013 Volt's battery module replacement --

I just received word from GM customer service that the battery module should ship next week. There is light at the end of the tunnel yet, I'll keep you posted! :)
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TripleTrucker
I think we're in the same boat. Mine shut down again and now they found that I had a bad cell in the traction battery. Waiting to see if GM wants to replace that section or the whole battery.
Electrified_Propulsion said:
-- Update on my 2013 Volt's battery module replacement --

I just received word from GM customer service that the battery module should ship next week. There is light at the end of the tunnel yet, I'll keep you posted! :)
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Earlier today, the dealership called to let me know that my Volt was ready for pickup. There was about half a ream worth of paper with all the notes from the mechanic that the dealer kept. I spoke with the mechanic, and he indicated that there were two cells within the top portion of the 'T' (behind the seats) that fell outside operating voltage range that caused the battery to shutdown. He stated that although this is not a common occurrence, most replacements happen with this particular module. GM replaced the entire module (#3) though I'm not sure if it was a newly manufactured or refurbished unit. It was in the shop for 43 days, and about 32 of those days were spent waiting for the module to be shipped. It has been a long wait, but I am glad to be behind the wheel of the Volt once again!
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TripleTrucker said:
I think we're in the same boat. Mine shut down again and now they found that I had a bad cell in the traction battery. Waiting to see if GM wants to replace that section or the whole battery.
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I'm sorry to hear about your Volt :(
Have you heard anything from GM yet?
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VoltenRock
Electrified_Propulsion said:
Earlier today, the dealership called to let me know that my Volt was ready for pickup. There was about half a ream worth of paper with all the notes from the mechanic that the dealer kept. I spoke with the mechanic, and he indicated that there were two cells within the top portion of the 'T' (behind the seats) that fell outside operating voltage range that caused the battery to shutdown. He stated that although this is not a common occurrence, most replacements happen with this particular module. GM replaced the entire module (#3) though I'm not sure if it was a newly manufactured or refurbished unit. It was in the shop for 43 days, and about 32 of those days were spent waiting for the module to be shipped. It has been a long wait, but I am glad to be behind the wheel of the Volt once again!
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Since you've had a 1/3 replacement (like me), I would be very curious to hear what kind of range you're getting. I've had a couple mile bump and I'm wondering if I just lucked out or there is some kind of reprogram they do during this procedure that gives us "15-like" battery performance.
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TripleTrucker
YIKES! I'm waiting for my section to come in to dealer now. I sure hope it's not that long a wait. It's been in there just over a week now. He said it was shipping direct from manufacturer.
Electrified_Propulsion said:
Earlier today, the dealership called to let me know that my Volt was ready for pickup. There was about half a ream worth of paper with all the notes from the mechanic that the dealer kept. I spoke with the mechanic, and he indicated that there were two cells within the top portion of the 'T' (behind the seats) that fell outside operating voltage range that caused the battery to shutdown. He stated that although this is not a common occurrence, most replacements happen with this particular module. GM replaced the entire module (#3) though I'm not sure if it was a newly manufactured or refurbished unit. It was in the shop for 43 days, and about 32 of those days were spent waiting for the module to be shipped. It has been a long wait, but I am glad to be behind the wheel of the Volt once again!
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VoltenRock said:
Since you've had a 1/3 replacement (like me), I would be very curious to hear what kind of range you're getting. I've had a couple mile bump and I'm wondering if I just lucked out or there is some kind of reprogram they do during this procedure that gives us "15-like" battery performance.
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I am still waiting for the battery to settle in. The first kWh of the drive acts very strange and I don't think is registering correctly (10 miles for the first kWh when I normally get around 5 miles). After that it works fine. I'll update you after I get a few more cycles on it.
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VoltenRock said:
Since you've had a 1/3 replacement (like me), I would be very curious to hear what kind of range you're getting. I've had a couple mile bump and I'm wondering if I just lucked out or there is some kind of reprogram they do during this procedure that gives us "15-like" battery performance.
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Take a look at the attached photo. These are the values the Volt showed after my drive to work this morning. It usually takes 3.4 - 4.1 kWh to get to work. I think that I do have a few miles extra range, but not 64 miles! I did run it down a few days ago and reached 55 miles. I normally get around 47.
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Curious if either of you have OBD, what the fully charged voltage and SOC reading says?
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