Hi everyone. I need some advice. My dad had one of the very 1st Volts delivered to the state of Maryland. He loved that car and so when he passed away a few years ago my mom began driving it. When she heard some strange sounds last week she took it to the dealer to find out she needed a new transmission to the tune of $7000+. The car only has around 55,000 miles. Does anyone think this should be covered under the voltec warranty? I can't help but think this is a manufacturer's defect in that why else would a transmission die like that? Is the transmission specific to the volt or is it a standard one they use in other cars? The most the dealer has offered her is $2000 towards the purchase of another Volt. I feel like she is being taken advantage of and I'm looking for advice on where to go from here. Thank you.
New transmission?
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The Volt 'transmission' is unique to the Volt and not used on any other cars. It appears that the transmission is covered by the 5-year 100,000 mile (whichever comes first) powertrain warranty. If this is a 2011 Volt, the 5 year point has been reached so the powertrain warranty has expired.
The GM parts direct price for a remanufactured trans-axle (includes electric drive motor) is $3602.84. You can also find these units on ebay for $1000 - $2000. Check what your dealer is charging for the part and see how it compares to the GM parts direct price. Also see if that is for a remanufactured part or a brand new OEM part.
You might search this forum to see if anyone else has had to replace the transmission out of warranty and what their cost was.
The GM parts direct price for a remanufactured trans-axle (includes electric drive motor) is $3602.84. You can also find these units on ebay for $1000 - $2000. Check what your dealer is charging for the part and see how it compares to the GM parts direct price. Also see if that is for a remanufactured part or a brand new OEM part.
You might search this forum to see if anyone else has had to replace the transmission out of warranty and what their cost was.
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I would definitely get a second opinion.
What are the "strange sounds"?
The one known failure on the Volt transmission is the bearing cage on the back of the main motor, which will give of a sound like a table saw stopping as the car slows. That's replaceable without even removing the transmission from the car.
Is this a dealer that supports a lot of Volts? If not, it might be worth going to one that knows more about the cars.
The one known failure on the Volt transmission is the bearing cage on the back of the main motor, which will give of a sound like a table saw stopping as the car slows. That's replaceable without even removing the transmission from the car.
Is this a dealer that supports a lot of Volts? If not, it might be worth going to one that knows more about the cars.
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290 Posts
The transmission is covered under the Voltec warranty.
8464670 Transmission Replacement
WARRANTY CODE: Coverage Code: V
8464670 Transmission Replacement
WARRANTY CODE: Coverage Code: V
What is being suggested is that you try another dealer, not go back to the service manager. The Volt doesn't have a traditional transmission, it uses a planetary gearset. I suspect this would be covered under the Voltec warranty which is 8 years and 100K miles. AFAIK we haven't had a planetary gearset fail. Consequently we're looking at two potential fails on the dealer part. One in missing the warranty question and a second in diagnosing the failure. This isn't to say the dealer is wrong on either or both, but it seems unlikely it's right.
The bearing cage is easy to diagnose. As mentioned, it sounds like a table saw when you take your foot off the brake. Can't miss it.
The bearing cage is easy to diagnose. As mentioned, it sounds like a table saw when you take your foot off the brake. Can't miss it.
Thank you so much to everyone. I have shared the information about transmission replacement coverage under the voltech warranty with her. She has spoken with both dealers in the Baltimore area, one of which does not work on transmissions in house and the other referred her to a guy they send all their transmission work to. She has spoken with him and he has worked on at least a few volts and is aware of the bearing cage failure issue which he will evaluate first after the car is towed there. Definitely agree that being a woman she is at greater chance of being taken advantage of so thank you for arming us with all this information so that doesn't happen.
If the car is making a loud buzzsaw like sound, it is most likely a bearing cage failure. A common issue for older Volts, and something that GM should cover under Voltec warranty.
I find it hard to believe that the planetary gear system failed .. its a very robust system ... but it could happen. Again, since it is an integral part of the Voltec drive system, it should be covered under Voltec warranty.
You may want to escalate this to Chevy Electric Car Support, or whatever they are called now (started as Volt Advisor)
[email protected]
https://twitter.com/ChevyElectric
http://https://www.facebook.com/ChevroletElectric
I find it hard to believe that the planetary gear system failed .. its a very robust system ... but it could happen. Again, since it is an integral part of the Voltec drive system, it should be covered under Voltec warranty.
You may want to escalate this to Chevy Electric Car Support, or whatever they are called now (started as Volt Advisor)
[email protected]
https://twitter.com/ChevyElectric
http://https://www.facebook.com/ChevroletElectric
There is actually a hydraulic logic section supporting the three clutches, so a failure of either of those is possible, though the rev matching and controlled thermal environment should make it less likely and I haven't read of such failures.
Stop.
Call Chevy customer service. Tell them you need the name of a Chevrolet service department nearest you that's Voltec-certified. Do not take the car to any other dealership for anything more complicated than tire rotation. There is no "transmission shop" that is qualified to work on this car. A Voltec-certified dealership will never send the car out for ANYTHING related to the drivetrain, electronics, fueling or charging system -- they will ALWAYS do that stuff in-house because that's what they paid for the expensive training to be able to do.
Seems like a profoundly bad idea. You can only get warranty repairs done at a dealer. If some other place is working on the car then you've given up the warranty. Or is this another dealer? If it's not then it seems unbelievable that they have worked on other Volts with the bearing cage issue.
If it is a dealer then seems like a great idea.
Having an independent shop will not void the warranty and it is possible for them to even do the repair under the warranty for Chevy. The MMWA is pretty clear on this.
The independent shop may very easily be able to determine it is simply a bearing cage failure and tell Chevy to replace it under the voltec warranty, while the dealership won't even bother looking.
Actually, all GM Automatic transmissions I've ever heard of use planetary gear sets.
The vast majority of automatic transmissions use planetary gear sets - with one element of the sets always fixed in place by some sort of clutch or band (different elements in different gears.)
The Volt sometimes does this as well, but at other times has all three elements floating and two power sources hooked to different elements, like the Prius and a number of other hybrids.
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Great info! Thank you for doing the leg work.
2014 Volt Premium - Safety pkg 1 and 2, Navigation
I'm pretty sure that the Volt "transmission" as defined by GM includes both drive motors, and possibly both inverters. It's not surprising that it would be more expensive than the typical automatic, defined that way.
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