[ZackVolt]

I live in the Northeast and it gets cold up here, so the remote start is a god send. I noticed recently that it would not work; neither the key fob (tried both) or my phones app.

I took a trip a couple days beforehand and got down to around 40 miles left for gas. That’s when the “Low Fuel” light came on; and that’s also around the time the remote start didn’t work. I went to the gas station and put in $3 worth of gas which brought it up to 95 miles and removed the “Low Fuel” light. Lo and behold the following day I tried the remote start and it worked!

Not sure if this a known issue where remote start won’t work without a certain amount of gas or it limits it to something; I don’t know. But I think that fixed the issue and I hope if anyone else has an issue like this, give that a shot and see if it works!

 

[Barry]

Thanks for the heads up. The manual p 38 says "A second remote start or extension will not occur if the fuel level is low." Not exactly what you described, but related.

The manual also says "Conditions in which a remote start may not occur include: ...Vehicle propulsion system fault conditions, including an emission control system malfunction." I wonder if the low fuel light is considered a fault for this purpose.

 

[AZ EV Driver]

It's working as designed, so it's not an "issue".

VIN # B0985

 

[ZackVolt]

Awesome! Thanks all, won’t have to worry this coming winter season!

 

[jeff_h]

The manual says the second remote start will not work if the fuel level is low, but when my 2016 Volt was on low fuel it would not work on the first attempt either.

 

[Loboc]

Remote start (Precondition) also won't work if you leave the headlights on and the car turns them off automatically. At least on ELR.

 

[Cord]

And your final exam question

"can you turn it on while it is on to get 2 in a row"

or do you have to wait for the first to finish

 

[Bill Step]

Remote start (Precondition) also won't work if you leave the headlights on and the car turns them off automatically. At least on ELR.

is that on the auto setting or the ON setting?

 

[cougsfan]

I have a similar but slightly different issue. My preconditioning won't start from either of the FOB's but will start from the phone app (??) None of the conditions stated in the manual that would prevent preconditioning to engage are present. Has me baffled!

 

[Arcanox]

The manual says the second remote start will not work if the fuel level is low, but when my 2016 Volt was on low fuel it would not work on the first attempt either.

Mine is the same way. As soon as the fuel drops below about 50-60 miles range (doesn't even have to be in "low fuel" mode, with the warning message displaying on startup), it won't remote start at all.

I have a similar but slightly different issue. My preconditioning won't start from either of the FOB's but will start from the phone app (??) None of the conditions stated in the manual that would prevent preconditioning to engage are present. Has me baffled!

Do the lights flash both when you lock it and then when you hold the remote start button? When mine won't precondition due to low fuel, the lights flash when I lock it, then after holding the remote start button, but the DRLs and tail lights never come on and it never actually starts.

 

[cougsfan]

T-square pointed out to me in another thread that you have to lock the doors before you hit the preconditioning button (Seems sort of dumb to have to lock the car while it is in your garage). That is what I wasn't doing. I still don't have it all figured out though. From what I can tell, sometimes it appears to precondition with the heating devices in the operational mode I shut it off in, and other times, everything is off. I will hopefully figure out these little idiosyncrasies with time.

 

[jcanoe]

I have a similar but slightly different issue. My preconditioning won't start from either of the FOB's but will start from the phone app (??) None of the conditions stated in the manual that would prevent preconditioning to engage are present. Has me baffled!

When you use the key fob you have to first press the door lock button then press and hold the preconditioning button for 3 seconds.

When you use the MyChevroletApp you don't have to tap the door lock button, only need to tap the preconditioning button.

When you use the Apple Watch App (communicates with the MyChevrolet App on your iPhone via Bluetooth) you have to tap the door lock button on the Apple Watch App screen before tapping the Apple Watch App Preconditioning button. Go figure?

Note: If you want to extend the preconditioning cycle from 10 minutes to 20 minutes but don't want to wait for the first preconditioning cycle to end you can press the door lock button and then press and hold the preconditioning button for 3 seconds (a second time) but you must wait 30 seconds after initiating the first 10 minute preconditioning cycle for this to work and extend the preconditioning cycle to a total of 20 minutes. My experience with successfully extending the preconditioning cycle for a total of 20 minutes has been hit or miss, I was probably not consistently waiting the full 30 seconds before sending the commands a second time.

The FAQ page on the my.chevrolet.com web site states that you can send the remote start command to the vehicle via the MyChevrolet App up to 5 times per day, I believe this change is an increase from the previous limit of 3 times per day. There is no limit if you use the key fob.

 

[TSquare]

T-square pointed out to me in another thread that you have to lock the doors before you hit the preconditioning button (Seems sort of dumb to have to lock the car while it is in your garage). That is what I wasn't doing. I still don't have it all figured out though. From what I can tell, sometimes it appears to precondition with the heating devices in the operational mode I shut it off in, and other times, everything is off. I will hopefully figure out these little idiosyncrasies with time.

Start with the manual:

During remote start:
. The climate control system will
typically default to the last
climate setting. If the fan is off or
if eco and MAX are not selected,
the air conditioning or heat will
turn on as needed.