I finally wore down the tires that came with my 2012 volt and got a new set yesterday. I didn't go to the chevy dealer since I figured it was just tires like any other car and it saved me nearly an hour of driving. Last night when my wife was out running errands the Service High Voltage Charging System error showed up and now the car won't charge. Is there anything special that needs to be done when the tires are changed? Has anyone else had this happen to them?
Tire change then SHVCS
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Replacing tires has nothing to do with the battery. Zero. This is either a coincidence or as Off Oil said, the car may have been damaged during the tire replacement.
Given the year and the message, when was the last time you looked at the battery coolant level? If it gets too low, it can trigger this error and prevent charging. If this was the cause, you will need a trip to the dealer. They will want to pressure test the coolant system for leaks, then they'll add coolant and reset the system so you can charge again.
Given the year and the message, when was the last time you looked at the battery coolant level? If it gets too low, it can trigger this error and prevent charging. If this was the cause, you will need a trip to the dealer. They will want to pressure test the coolant system for leaks, then they'll add coolant and reset the system so you can charge again.
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Agreed. Either coincidental coolant low, coincidental but something else, or they damaged the undercarriage. Hopefully it's the former. You don't have to take out to the dealership to check coolant level. Just look under the hood.
If the tire place damaged the battery, it's going to be interesting. When I changed my volt tires, I didn't trust the tire place to lift the volt correctly, so I actually bought new wheels and tires from Tire Rack, then took my OEMs into the tire shop to get snow tires installed. Whenever I have a tire repair, now I have enough to be able to pull all the rims off and bring them in for them to change. The locally owned place I go to is great at mounting tires (in and out in 10-15 minutes because they work like a pit crew (2 tire machines, one balancer, multiple people working on your set like a well tuned orchestra). It's amazing when I go to other national places like NTB. Firestone, Goodyear, they have a 2-3 hour wait, each one mechanic per car, bottom line, I trust them with my tires, not with lifting the volt correctly. They usually put a big jack under the rear differential on RWD vehicles and lift the entire rear end with one jack. Hopefully your tire place used the two spots under the rear springs and not the T portion of the battery.
If the tire place damaged the battery, it's going to be interesting. When I changed my volt tires, I didn't trust the tire place to lift the volt correctly, so I actually bought new wheels and tires from Tire Rack, then took my OEMs into the tire shop to get snow tires installed. Whenever I have a tire repair, now I have enough to be able to pull all the rims off and bring them in for them to change. The locally owned place I go to is great at mounting tires (in and out in 10-15 minutes because they work like a pit crew (2 tire machines, one balancer, multiple people working on your set like a well tuned orchestra). It's amazing when I go to other national places like NTB. Firestone, Goodyear, they have a 2-3 hour wait, each one mechanic per car, bottom line, I trust them with my tires, not with lifting the volt correctly. They usually put a big jack under the rear differential on RWD vehicles and lift the entire rear end with one jack. Hopefully your tire place used the two spots under the rear springs and not the T portion of the battery.
First thing I would do is check the battery coolant level. Like others have said, changing tires has nothing to do with it unless damage to the battery cooling system was accidently done.
That said a number of other 2012's have popped up this message in the past week or two, mine included. Mine was a pint or less low, but I was unable to get my Volt in until next week to have it inspected and the error code cleared.
That said a number of other 2012's have popped up this message in the past week or two, mine included. Mine was a pint or less low, but I was unable to get my Volt in until next week to have it inspected and the error code cleared.
Sorry, I should have mentioned that I checked the coolant level this morning before posting; it's the first thing I thought of after following this forum for a couple of years. 
The coolant level is a little below the max line, but well above the min line. I guess now I'll need to hope that it is a random, minor thing when I take it in to the dealer on Monday. Whatever it is, we drove the car several times that day and plugged in with a successful charge several times as well before the failure.
The coolant level is a little below the max line, but well above the min line. I guess now I'll need to hope that it is a random, minor thing when I take it in to the dealer on Monday. Whatever it is, we drove the car several times that day and plugged in with a successful charge several times as well before the failure.
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What are you calling the Min line?Sorry, I should have mentioned that I checked the coolant level this morning before posting; it's the first thing I thought of after following this forum for a couple of years.
It could also be a faulty coolant sensor. Have you installed the WOT sensor yet to eliminate that possibility? If you haven't you should. If you haven't you'll need to wait until after the car is serviced.
So I just had this happen to me last week on my 2013.
Apparently there is a problem where a sensor falsely detects that there is an internal coolant leak in the battery.
I'm over 90K miles now, but this sensor problem is covered under the 100K Voltec warranty.
The technician will need to follow Technical service bulletin #PIC5920.
First, they check to see if the battery has any coolant leaking, and if not, they reprogram a module to correctly identify internal leaks.
Here's a copy of my invoice if it helps you convince your dealer to look at what mine did. There was no charge as it was covered.
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Apparently there is a problem where a sensor falsely detects that there is an internal coolant leak in the battery.
I'm over 90K miles now, but this sensor problem is covered under the 100K Voltec warranty.
The technician will need to follow Technical service bulletin #PIC5920.
First, they check to see if the battery has any coolant leaking, and if not, they reprogram a module to correctly identify internal leaks.
Here's a copy of my invoice if it helps you convince your dealer to look at what mine did. There was no charge as it was covered.
Thanks brentalan, I've saved off a shot of your invoice to take with me on Monday.
Steverino- I saw a set of arrows on the passenger side of the coolant reservoir that I assumed were indicating a low mark line. I must have been mistaken. I don't have the WOT replacement sensor, so I'll be ordering one of those to install after the SHVCS is cleared.
Steverino- I saw a set of arrows on the passenger side of the coolant reservoir that I assumed were indicating a low mark line. I must have been mistaken. I don't have the WOT replacement sensor, so I'll be ordering one of those to install after the SHVCS is cleared.
It looks like the car that had it covered under warranty was a 2013 with under 100k miles, so 5/100 powertrain warranty was likely still in play. That does cover this issue, but the Voltec warranty doesn't cover it.
Here are the relevant threads:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?13194-quot-Service-High-Voltage-Charging-System-quot-Message
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread...H-VOLTAGE-CHARGING-SYSTEM-MESSAGE-DEFEAT-PLUG
Order WOTs sensor now since it takes a while to arrive.
I just fixed this on my car and explained how in a recent post in the first thread. It's not simple, requires special equipment, and requires computer skills.
If you're going to bring it to the dealer, I highly recommend educating yourself first so that you can tell them exactly what you want done. Otherwise they'll likely not know how to fix it and will spend hours trying to figure it out. You don't want to pay for that. They're going to see a code about a battery isolation issue and want to track that down. It's a false code and you don't want them wasting hours on it. They only need to do the following:
1. Replace battery coolant sensor.
2. Reprogram HPCM2 module, even if SPS says it's up to date. They need to re-apply the same version. That's the only way to clear the special low battery coolant code.
3. Clear all DTCs
If you can convince them to do that, it should only cost you $21 for the sensor and 1-2 hours of labor.
Here are the relevant threads:
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?13194-quot-Service-High-Voltage-Charging-System-quot-Message
http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread...H-VOLTAGE-CHARGING-SYSTEM-MESSAGE-DEFEAT-PLUG
Order WOTs sensor now since it takes a while to arrive.
I just fixed this on my car and explained how in a recent post in the first thread. It's not simple, requires special equipment, and requires computer skills.
If you're going to bring it to the dealer, I highly recommend educating yourself first so that you can tell them exactly what you want done. Otherwise they'll likely not know how to fix it and will spend hours trying to figure it out. You don't want to pay for that. They're going to see a code about a battery isolation issue and want to track that down. It's a false code and you don't want them wasting hours on it. They only need to do the following:
1. Replace battery coolant sensor.
2. Reprogram HPCM2 module, even if SPS says it's up to date. They need to re-apply the same version. That's the only way to clear the special low battery coolant code.
3. Clear all DTCs
If you can convince them to do that, it should only cost you $21 for the sensor and 1-2 hours of labor.
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The coolant level should be at the top of the black label on the tank's passenger side. Min would be at the tank seam, but I would advise not letting it get that low. At 5 years, the coolant should be replaced.
Got my car fixed. It just needed some software updates. They reprogrammed the battery control module, battery energy control module, and hybrid powertrain control module 2. They said that they already knew what it was when I brought it in because they had two other Volts in for the same thing last week. They tried to charge me $234 saying that software updates are only covered by the bumper to bumper warranty. After an hour of phone calls between us, the service department and GM everyone finally agreed that those particular software updates are covered by the 8 yr 100k battery system warranty. Just wanted to give that heads up to anyone else who has this problem and stumbles across this thread. Maybe it'll save some time, money, and headache.
If they didn't change the battery coolant level sensor, the problem will recur, likely soon. I suggest ordering the WOT sensor to fix the issue permanently.
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