[kmo]

2012 Chevrolet Volt. About 11 months ago I received a software update to my Volt. A few days ago, my car refused to charge and produced the message, “Service High Voltage Charging System” with the diagnostic codes of P1E00, P0AA6 and P1FFF.

I took the car to Priority Chevrolet in Chesapeake, Virginia, and was hoping the issue would be associated with a service bulletin or covered under my GM Financial Extended Protection Plan (platinum version), however it wasn’t. It cost me $300 and the dealership was unable to tell me the root cause of the issue, which appears to be a software defect. The dealership noted that a software defect existed in the cars software and that this software defect would falsely detect a coolant issue and prevent the car from being charged. Apparently in July of this year, a notice was released from Chevrolet about this issue and that a software update was available to resolve it. The issue however didn’t impact my car until October of this year. My car doesn’t have a coolant issue or anything materially wrong with it. The notes from the dealership state, “P1E00, P0AA6, P1FFF stored in HPCM2 and BECM. Found PIC5920G. OHM readings in data list show good. Checked drain for hybrid battery, no coolant in system. Reprogrammed HPCM2 and BECM modules. Codes cleared. Coded did not return. Plugged car into to verify charging.”. In short, I was charged $300 for a known software defect when nothing was wrong with my car.

Has anyone else experienced this with their out of warranty Gen 1 Volt and had better luck with it being covered by a service bulletin, recall or other means?

 

[PrivatePilot]

What's your mileage? If your Voltec warranty has not expired (>100,000 miles) this IS a very well known issue that IS covered 100% under the Voltec warranty...I know, because I just went through and it got my Volt back Tuesday after the exact same issue & repair.

If that's the case, your dealer took you for a ride and owes you a refund.

There's also a very large thread on the subject with all sorts of information right here in the Gen1 forum if you search for it - as mentioned it's probably the most common Gen1 issue and it's caused by a wonky sensor in the battery coolant reservoir and it's extremely well documented by GM for any dealer that actually takes the time to read up on it, which again, it seems your dealer failed at.

If they didn't fix the issue (as it doesn't seem they did based on your description) there's a good chance the issue will return.

 

[Steverino]

search "WOT Sensor"

 

[LANMAN]

Quite a number of 2012 had this issue just over this summer, mine included (in July). This is definitely covered by the Voltec warranty.

 

[Roostre]

I have had the WOT sensor installed since about 85k miles and mine started doing this at 101k.

Hearing that it may be a known software glitch makes me wonder if there is an update that will *permanently* fix this. Thanks for posting.

 

[Steverino]

I have had the WOT sensor installed since about 85k miles and mine started doing this at 101k.

Hearing that it may be a known software glitch makes me wonder if there is an update that will *permanently* fix this. Thanks for posting.

Sounds like your issue was not caused by the sensor issue then.

 

[Roostre]

Sounds like your issue was not caused by the sensor issue then.

No. But I'm not finding many clues as to the problem. I am able to clear the CEL and charge using Torque Pro so I haven't been in a hurry to get it to the dealer. I replaced the 12v with an Advanced AGM a week ago and I have been monitoring my voltages coming from the APM. Occasionally my voltage at the adapter is as low as 11.5v so i was wondering if this might be going beyond the tolerance built into the WOT sensor.

Searching the archives really doesn't show any other common issues with these codes setting, so I am in no man's land here. The car is functioning normally in every other way so I have time to investigate things. I ordered a VCX Nano to delve a little deeper. These are such great cars, it is a shame that an issue like this is haunting them.

 

[leeG]

2012 Chevrolet Volt. About 11 months ago I received a software update to my Volt. A few days ago, my car refused to charge and produced the message, “Service High Voltage Charging System” with the diagnostic codes of P1E00, P0AA6 and P1FFF.

I took the car to Priority Chevrolet in Chesapeake, Virginia, and was hoping the issue would be associated with a service bulletin or covered under my GM Financial Extended Protection Plan (platinum version), however it wasn’t. It cost me $300 and the dealership was unable to tell me the root cause of the issue, which appears to be a software defect. The dealership noted that a software defect existed in the cars software and that this software defect would falsely detect a coolant issue and prevent the car from being charged. Apparently in July of this year, a notice was released from Chevrolet about this issue and that a software update was available to resolve it. The issue however didn’t impact my car until October of this year. My car doesn’t have a coolant issue or anything materially wrong with it. The notes from the dealership state, “P1E00, P0AA6, P1FFF stored in HPCM2 and BECM. Found PIC5920G. OHM readings in data list show good. Checked drain for hybrid battery, no coolant in system. Reprogrammed HPCM2 and BECM modules. Codes cleared. Coded did not return. Plugged car into to verify charging.”. In short, I was charged $300 for a known software defect when nothing was wrong with my car.

Has anyone else experienced this with their out of warranty Gen 1 Volt and had better luck with it being covered by a service bulletin, recall or other means?

Yes, I have experienced it. Wife's 2012 with 70,000 miles thew codes P1E00 and P1FFF and wouldn't charge. Took it to the same dealership, Priority in Chesapeake. I was thinking it was the coolant level sensor, but it was a software problem, not covered by Voltec warranty and $270 to fix. Still mulling a formal complaint to GM about an issue that disables charging not covered by the Voltech warranty.

From the invoice:

VERIFIED COMPLAINT. RETRIEVED CODE P1FFF. PERFORMED DIAG. FOUND BATTERY ENERGY CONTROL MODULE SOFTWARE OUT OF CALIBRATION. PERFORMED MODULE SOFTWARE UPDATE AND SETUP. CLEARED CODE. VERIFIED ISOLATION RESISTANCE TEST PASSED AT 3KOHM. VERIFIED EPAIR.

 

[PrivatePilot]

I'm 90% sure that according to the SHVCS specific service bulletin even software updates that are related to this issue are covered under the Voltec warranty – it sounds like this dealership in specific it's just not with the program

 

[2VoltFamily]

When you go to a dealership you have to actually be knowledgeable about your warranty and persistent. You have to push them about the Voltec warranty.

 

[fishhawk]

My experience with these codes, if it helps any.
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?134610-2011-Volt-with-CEL-MIL-on-and-codes-P1E00-and-P0AA6-but-drives-charges-normally
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?183570-check-engine-light-P0AA6

 

[kmo]

FYI. Based on the feedback from this forum, I raised the issue with the Volt advisors as well as Priority Chevrolet (Chesapeake, VA). I received no response from the advisors, however, the dealership service manager did concede that the issue was covered under the Voltec (100k) warranty and has agreed to refund the service charge. Thank you all!

 

[Bill Step]

FYI. Based on the feedback from this forum, I raised the issue with the Volt advisors as well as Priority Chevrolet (Chesapeake, VA). I received no response from the advisors, however, the dealership service manager did concede that the issue was covered under the Voltec (100k) warranty and has agreed to refund the service charge. Thank you all!

thats great news.

 

[jbakerjonathan]

Excellent news! From the tone of your posts, you sound like a level-headed guy. What did you say to the dealership to convince them that it was under warranty? It seems that at least one other poster needs to get his money back.

 

[Steverino]

I received no response from the advisors, however, the dealership service manager did concede that the issue was covered under the Voltec (100k) warranty and has agreed to refund the service charge.

Way too often I see posts where the GM advisors ceded warranty coverage determination to the dealer. When the dealer says "not covered" the advisors just shrug and say it's the dealer's call.

It seems that 1) some dealers either are confused themselves and error on "no coverage" not wanting to eat the cost, or 2) they say it's not covered because they can make more money than under GM's warranty reimbursement plan.

And of course, if the dealer says no, and GM defers to them, GM is not on the hook for the cost either. Pretty crappy that you have to argue with dealers about covering warranty repair for things covered under the warranty. That one dealer will repair under warranty and another denies coverage and yet a third will deny and then agree it's covered shows something is broken in this process and GM should be the one fixing it.

 

[PrivatePilot]

Being a strong and determined self advocate in these situations goes a long way so long as it's done tactfully...IE, you get more files with honey than vinnegar.

With my latest issue I came out with all guns blazing right out of the gate - on my very first phone (before they had even seen the car) call I bypassed all the "service advisors" and asked to speak directly to the service manager. I politely and thoroughly explained my issue, made it clear I was educated on the matter (without making it sound like I had "self diagnosed" the car already), and that I was also aware of the Voltec warranty coverage. I also made sure they were familiar with the Volt in general. The result was a smooth fix without any charges, or even talk of charges.

When we first bought our Volt we had issues with the OnStar not working despite the car having been advertised as being sold with OnStar. After getting mostly brushed off at the lower levels I marched in one day and asked to speak to the dealership manager. 20 minutes of polite but firm discussion in their office and we had an agreement to get the issued remedied at no cost to myself.

In our OP's situation I would have refused to pay the bill the moment it was presented to me (knowing that it was something that should have been covered) and skipped straight to that "I'd like to speak to the manager in his office right away, I'll wait here until he's available" step.

 

[MsKitty4]

This is infuriating! We received the "service high voltage charging system" error message the other evening and our car will not charge. I called OnStar, who gave me the exact same 3 codes, then looked on this site and found the thread. I called the dealer (Jim McKay in Falls Church, VA) to set up the appointment for tomorrow, and the service guy acted as though they'd never heard about this issue. "It might take 4 hours" my ass! Thanks to you all, we are charging this to the Voltec warranty. Sorry to vent. I love our car, hate the bull stuff.

 

[deyoungkr]

My 2012 Volt just had this exact issue this past Saturday. It is scheduled to go in tomorrow morning for service. Seems many 2012 Volts have a common problem. It would be nice if GM steps up and admits the issue and covers the repair, if there is any remedy.

 

[PrivatePilot]

. It would be nice if GM steps up and admits the issue and covers the repair, if there is any remedy.

It is covered under the 100,000 mile/8 year Voltec warranty. Google the issue and you'll find the service bulletin on the issue - having it printed out and ready to show the dealer when you bring it in should head off any charges.

 

[deyoungkr]

Anybody have any phone numbers to connect with management at GM regionally. I'd certainly like to speak to somebody regarding the service calls on this vehicle over the past 12 months? Possibly somebody in the Chicago region.