The NO CHARGE saga...please help.

6379 Views 49 Replies 18 Participants Last post by thisadviceisworthless, Oct 20, 2017

SmjVolt

Discussion Starter · Sep 7, 2017

I have been on and off GM-Volt for several months now in hopes to somehow just find a solution to my woes. I have a 2011 volt that has been struggling to charge for well way too long now. The weird thing is, it will just work for a couple days in a row here and there and I get so pumped that I think it will just work forever again! That is now the case however. Here goes nothing...

Several months ago I started having this problem where I would plug the car in like usual at ANY ANY plugging unit (Home, parking lot, work, anywhere, plus different units) and the car would blink green and later I would come back to find it with no color at all. Now sometimes the on star app lets me know that "there is a charge interuption" so then I would go out and see what is up. Sometimes just a simple unplug and replug would do the trick, however most of the time not. I would plug back in, get orange then hear some clicking in the engine bay and either stay orange or just go out completely.

So I thought it was definitely my 240 charger from Clipper Creek, so I contacted them (one of the best businesses I have every dealt with btw) and we trouble shot over the phone and I was in warranty so even though it didn't seem to be their unit I got a new one. To no avail same problem. The weirdest thing is that it is so random, like now for several weeks it has been very consistent not to be charging at all ever. When my car texts me through the on star and it says completely changed I draw attention to myself because I'm so pumped, this shouldn't be.

I have taken this to a dealer (in the sticks of MN) and have gotten absolutely no where, once my car was completely dead to the point of towing it to their garage over night. The next day was Saturday and the Volt tech was not in. I went to the car and I fixed it myself trouble shooting from this website. So the next time I brought it there I was worried as usual and then they seemed to have gotten it fixed, they said the plugged in their unit to see the codes and such, reprogrammed some things and $150ish later they plugged in to charge and said it did. That very night I plugged it in and the same thing happened no charging...

So I come to all of you, I have been trying to reach ANYONE for too long and finally got a reply from some folks saying start an new Thread, well I hope that helps, there are a ton on here with charging issues. I tried posting there as this is a charging issue, but here I go with a new thread PLEASE HELP

. I love this car and want it to keep working.

The latest trial and ERRRRROOR

is the replacement of the 12v battery in the back. I hooked up a new one and tried to let the computer sense it and such and then plugged in the main charging unit...NOPE same thing.

HELP: the codes I'm reading are the same as many P1e00 and Pod17

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llninja

· #15 · Sep 8, 2017 (Edited)

Mister Dave said:
I could. It's been a while since I was in that business though.

BTW, you have a private message.

While you have the Volt cut into two, you might as well stretch it into a 30-40 foot limo. Even just 1 section to add a row of seats would solve the seating and cargo space issue. It would clobber your EV range though.

My vote goes to the charge port or a connector problem near the charge port. Though the time I had trouble charging, a moth kamikaze'd himself towards the light on the end of the J1772 just as I was plugging in. I had to scrape bug guts out of the plug and the port before it would charge. Don't worry, the power won't flow until the EVSE and car successfully negotiate the rate through the pilot wires. Go from easiest to hardest. Clean the pins in the plug and port first, then replace the port, then look deeper into the car.

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llninja

· #24 · Sep 12, 2017

I think you need to try changing out the charge port. Check the contacts, and check continuity to the charger. That has been a problem for many Gen1 volt owners.

I do worry, I think in an earlier post you mentioned putting distilled water into the radiator. That will ruin it, you need Dexcool 50/50 premix with deionized water.

The fact you are going all over the map trying anything - slow down. Think. There is a logical solution in here somewhere, we just need to peel the onion one layer at a time.

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llninja

· #25 · Sep 12, 2017

SmjVolt said:
Lastly could anyone answer me the last question I asked the reply before this on. Once you take the neg off the 12v what does that do, I mean do I have to take the car into a dealer to have them really clear the codes? Does my phone ODII clear these codes? Lately when I go into the system with my phone to clear the P1e00 and Pod17 they just pop right back up...any help before 9:00 a.m. tomorrow would be greatly appreciated...don't leave me know community.

Well, codes pop back up because there is a problem in the system. You need to fix that problem for the codes to stop popping up.

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llninja

· #33 · Sep 14, 2017

SmjVolt said:
Hey everyone or anyone that might still be interested. Update is that the dealer saga began this morning after a night of wonderment again...it worked then it didn't then I thought it was to only find no charge in the morning. I had thought great this is the time that it will work when I actually have an appointment the next day.

I took the car in and mainly just said please try to plug in and charge and go from there. Its hard talking with service folks about all the items we have talked about here, they look at me like I know nothing, so I just played that game, I know nothing.

The car went in at 9 am and I heard nothing if they actually start working on it, left it outside, moved my appointment, nothing. Then thanks to my phone I got the great message "charge interruption, car not charging" so at least they were doing something! Still no call or update. So around the time I was to leave town I emailed the boss to see what he wanted me to do with the loaner (another volt, one point to the dealership). Within seconds I got a call from the service manager.

Good and bad news it seems. They actually found the problem, they actually were able to replicate my issue after the car seemingly charged but then stopped. The started eliminating things as you all helped me do and that led them to the little silver box on the aforementioned charger (and pictured, thank you!) There is apparently a plug with 2 wires that was completely corroded to the point of green fuzzy. They were able to unplug, spray, and replug the connector. They then plugged the car in after clearing all the codes and vwalla it seems to be working! So great, but the bad news. It seems as if I need to really fix the car, meaning I need to replace the silver charger box, but mostly the connector which can't be just replace for some reason? So this would all run me $1200 charger + $600 connector + $7/800 labor or there abouts, so this puts me in the OH CRAP THAT IS A LOT category.

So I bring more questions to you all. I asked them how this could happen and they are thinking that was the spot of impact in that corner from the accident (not sure if it was but makes sense) so then the plug might have been disconnected for a time, or anything like that. Here is my confusion they told me multiple times that the plug in question is something called a weather sealed connector? So why the corrosion, so I asked about a cover that might be missing after the repair, but that seems to not be the case.

Can anyone help me to discern if this is a job I can do, and/or can I just get a connector and replace that since the charger seems to be working? Could more corrosion be into the unit, or does the connector pretty much block that from happening? Any advice/help would be much appreciated. Thank you all for your time and suggestions.

You are asking questions to people over the Internet, where we really need eyes and hands on the parts to make that determination. This is in the bowels of the charging system which I wouldn't touch, let the pros with the right tools and repair manuals fix it. If you don't have enough cash for the fix at the dealership, continue to limp along while saving money until you do. Then consider pulling together an emergency fund of 3 to 6 months of expenses so another incident like this isn't an "Oh crap, this is a lot of money". I've got $40K in such a fund, and it's amazing how when you have such a fund, the peace of mind is here, and these type of things seem to stop happeneing (I've never had to touch my emergency fund, even when an emergency pops up). You got the car with a salvage title, so it had to be heavily discounted, which means you have to expect things like this.

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