The NO CHARGE saga...please help.

6372 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

See less See more

Save

41 - 50 of 50 Posts

CCIE

· #41 · Sep 15, 2017

hellsop said:
Ah. It's seeming that buying a "salvage" Volt, even if its your own, is about as money-effective as buying flood-damaged laptops.

If you're going to pay someone to fix it, then it definitely doesn't make sense. If you have the tools, knowledge, and time it can make sense. I'm sure the OP could buy a used charger and cable assemblies for a decent price. But that would require installing it himself and dealing with GDS2 & SPS to do the required reprogramming.

Save

hellsop

· #42 · Sep 16, 2017

CCIE said:
If you're going to pay someone to fix it, then it definitely doesn't make sense. If you have the tools, knowledge, and time it can make sense. I'm sure the OP could buy a used charger and cable assemblies for a decent price. But that would require installing it himself and dealing with GDS2 & SPS to do the required reprogramming.

Exactly. Being even ABLE to fix something costs about $2000 (MDI, cables, GDS2 subscription for a month, service manual subscription) even before you buy the parts and that presumes you've got a gearhead's normal toolchest already. PLUS the cost of the salvage car, plus the parts, and you're within a grand or two of buying the same car with a clean title from Carmax or someplace. Sure, once you've bought the MDI, you don't have to buy it again, so you're all set to rebuild other salvaged GM cars, but you're pretty committed to keeping it because that's going to be the first thing you have to reach for when something goes funny in the future.

Save

SmjVolt

Discussion Starter · #43 · Sep 17, 2017

Well thank you all for your great comments. As I thought I'd sort of mentioned yes I took the car back and I'm driving it and it has been charging ever since! But I'm nervous about the future of course so that is why I was asking if it might be possible for me to fix this piece. So that is why I brought it to the group to see if I could possibly cut the wires and replace the connector which they said was a bit corroded. But as I read on here seems to be quite the task and yes I realize I bought a salvage title car which got me into a volt, thank you very much! I love this car and I have loved the ones before it and I usually buy salvage title cars but you have to be careful as always with all cars specially where you buy them from. I am hoping this will charge now for quite some time but it did rain here in the past week so I worry.

See less See more

Save

CCIE

· #44 · Sep 18, 2017

hellsop said:
Exactly. Being even ABLE to fix something costs about $2000 (MDI, cables, GDS2 subscription for a month, service manual subscription) even before you buy the parts and that presumes you've got a gearhead's normal toolchest already. PLUS the cost of the salvage car, plus the parts, and you're within a grand or two of buying the same car with a clean title from Carmax or someplace. Sure, once you've bought the MDI, you don't have to buy it again, so you're all set to rebuild other salvaged GM cars, but you're pretty committed to keeping it because that's going to be the first thing you have to reach for when something goes funny in the future.

Yeah, not worth paying all that. I have a copy of the service manual, which is pretty easy to find online. And I got a VCX Nano on Amazon which includes GDS2 for $139. There is no avoiding the SPS subscription @ $55 for two days, if you need to update firmware on any modules.

Save

Total_Idiot

· #45 · Sep 20, 2017

I had a 2000 Insight whose battery went DOA 1000 miles after warranty went out.

2K to fix at dealer.

Drove car w/o battery assist. It ran fine, MPG was the same but acceleration was what one expect for a .9 L engine (not good).

After dealing with Honda, a deal was struck and battery cost me $500 to replace. All was well after that.

If the deal would not have happened I would have just drove it w/o the hybrid function as the car was not worth putting $2K into.

Drove it another 18 mo. and then sold it for a good price.

If my Volt would run into the same issue (high price to get EV charging back in service) I would do the same...just drive it as a normal car.

In the OP's situation the battery is good and so is the EV system sans charging so drive it like that until it dies.

See less See more

Save

Floridiot

· #46 · Oct 2, 2017

After my last experience with the Chevy dealer I have found the perfect answer. I am going to sell the Volt, and buy a Dodge product.

Save

CCIE

· #47 · Oct 2, 2017

Floridiot said:
After my last experience with the Chevy dealer I have found the perfect answer. I am going to sell the Volt, and buy a Dodge product.

I don't know if Chrysler, or now FCA, has ever made any reliable car. I like Jeeps, and had a Wrangler, but can't deal with that level of unreliability. Be sure the buy an extended warranty if you're serious about getting one.

Save

SmjVolt

Discussion Starter · #48 · Oct 10, 2017

Maybe a Honda, but come on this Volt product is a work of magic. Yes there are problems as with any product. All the time I'm asked so are you going to get a Tesla, sure when I mortgage the house. But seriously I drive a Tesla with a dealer that can actually look at it if I help them through the process. This car is a Tesla most of the time, almost 100 percent of my driving. Anyway the moral of the story is that I love this car. Who has a Volt with the red highlights in the inside but the dark grey on the outside, please tell me it exists!!

Save

leppard3

· #49 · Oct 10, 2017

I have a dark gray 2011 with lime green inserts in the door panels. I have never seen another one like it.

Save

thisadviceisworthless

· #50 · Oct 20, 2017

Two things,

1) Symptoms you are describing may be related to the Charge Receptacle , the 2011s had TSB #PIC-6015 issued about charge failures due to micro cracking on the Charge Port. I don't know, off hand, how to get the contents of that TSB, but if you can, that's a start.

2) If it is the charger connector coming unplugged, like the dealer describes, the I would start by unplugging it and applying dielectric grease (to keep out moisture), then, try to zip tie or clamp the connector in place. If this doesn't work, you can always buy another charger later. My last car (a very high mileage (270K) Subaru), had a couple busted connectors that were zip tied together.

Save

41 - 50 of 50 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month