While driving electric this Monday morning something strange happened to my Volt 2018.
All the screens in the car went dead while driving. No more heating or ventilation. No headlights or turn signal. I also assume the taillights must have been off. The car was still drivable.
After 3 or 4 minutes the screen turned back on just like when you start the car.
I tried turning the car off and on when I arrived at work and the check engine is still ON but the car appears to start just fine.
So I left work yesterday and as soon as I got to the 1st light and put my right blinker on... bam, all screens went dead, no ventilation, etc, etc. Same as in the morning. I then remembered putting my blinker to turn right right before it happened the 1st time. I wonder of it has anything to do with somehow activating the right turn signal. A possible electrical short?
I drove the dark volt to the Chevrolet dealership. Not fun when there are no turn signals working. I also assume no break lights. Not super safe.
I picked the Volt from the dealer the day after. They saw a ton of error codes but nothing that pointed to the source of the issue. So they reprogrammed the ECM... I drove the car back home with no issues.
Last night I had to pick up an Amazon package, so drove to the pickup location with the "fixed" Volt. All good going there. I returned home but as I activated the right turn signal to get in my driveway both car screens, the AC, the radio, etc went dead again. I parked it in front of the garage to assess and now the car won't go in drive again. Even when I cycle the car OFF and ON the screens stay black and the shifter won't budge from park. Lights around the car are all mixed up. Also, the OBD2 port won't power an obd2 reader when the car is "turned-on"... This is very very bad...
Here is a link to video and pictures of the dead Volt with the strange light pattern: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZfkePry9hdVvpYEbA
I even tried to disconnect the 12-volt battery for 20 seconds and it did not help one bit. Any idea?
So a flatbed showed up. Obviously, the car can't be put in neutral and is parked ass-backward as can be seen in the picture. The truck has no dollies for the front wheels. So we tried to find jump posts under the hood as requested by the driver (nice guy by the way). Can't find them there. So we went in the trunk but he was not sure he wanted to try to jump the 12V battery. We went in the car to give it another try and as soon as I opened the door the screens went back on. I knew I could start the car at that point.
And it did. Darn! I wanted the dealer to see the car in the zombie state. So the tow truck driver asked me to drive the car to the dealership while following me there just in case. All went well until the highway exit to the dealership. Put the right turn blinker on and BAM, the screens turned back off. I could drive the car to the dealership parking lot and park it in reverse in a charging stall where I plugged the car in after turning it off. Obviously, I could not start it again after that. I hope it stays that way until the technician can have a look tomorrow (hopefully).
I really hope it is not an electrical issue... even if the symptoms are leading to it. Those are the kind of issues that never really get cured. I will be left driving a Volt that could go full-on zombie at any moment.
FYI. The car has 24000 KM/12700 miles and is 13 months old on a 4-year lease.
Returned to the dealership this morning to drop the keys. The car was working fine again so it must have "reset itself" during the night. I also showed them pictures and video to the supervisor and manager. They were both surprised. They had never seen this before. They will try to drive the car while making plenty of use of the right turn signal to try to reproduce the issue. Fingers crossed.
Update:
Picked up the car from the dealership. Here is a copy of the diagnostic and actions:
SCAN TEST, MULTIPLE COMMUNICATION CODE IN ALL MODULE + NO COMM WITH SOME.
TRACE MAIN POWER + GROUND
REPOSITION CONNECTOR X1(BLU) AT X50D Fuse Block (NOT LOCK PROPERLY)
LABOR TIME: 0.5 XTIME 0.8
So far so good. A connector not properly locked can certainly cause something like this. I am curious what is an X1(BLU) connector in Fuse Block X50D for?
All the screens in the car went dead while driving. No more heating or ventilation. No headlights or turn signal. I also assume the taillights must have been off. The car was still drivable.
After 3 or 4 minutes the screen turned back on just like when you start the car.
I tried turning the car off and on when I arrived at work and the check engine is still ON but the car appears to start just fine.
So I left work yesterday and as soon as I got to the 1st light and put my right blinker on... bam, all screens went dead, no ventilation, etc, etc. Same as in the morning. I then remembered putting my blinker to turn right right before it happened the 1st time. I wonder of it has anything to do with somehow activating the right turn signal. A possible electrical short?
I drove the dark volt to the Chevrolet dealership. Not fun when there are no turn signals working. I also assume no break lights. Not super safe.
I picked the Volt from the dealer the day after. They saw a ton of error codes but nothing that pointed to the source of the issue. So they reprogrammed the ECM... I drove the car back home with no issues.
Last night I had to pick up an Amazon package, so drove to the pickup location with the "fixed" Volt. All good going there. I returned home but as I activated the right turn signal to get in my driveway both car screens, the AC, the radio, etc went dead again. I parked it in front of the garage to assess and now the car won't go in drive again. Even when I cycle the car OFF and ON the screens stay black and the shifter won't budge from park. Lights around the car are all mixed up. Also, the OBD2 port won't power an obd2 reader when the car is "turned-on"... This is very very bad...
Here is a link to video and pictures of the dead Volt with the strange light pattern: https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZfkePry9hdVvpYEbA
I even tried to disconnect the 12-volt battery for 20 seconds and it did not help one bit. Any idea?
So a flatbed showed up. Obviously, the car can't be put in neutral and is parked ass-backward as can be seen in the picture. The truck has no dollies for the front wheels. So we tried to find jump posts under the hood as requested by the driver (nice guy by the way). Can't find them there. So we went in the trunk but he was not sure he wanted to try to jump the 12V battery. We went in the car to give it another try and as soon as I opened the door the screens went back on. I knew I could start the car at that point.
And it did. Darn! I wanted the dealer to see the car in the zombie state. So the tow truck driver asked me to drive the car to the dealership while following me there just in case. All went well until the highway exit to the dealership. Put the right turn blinker on and BAM, the screens turned back off. I could drive the car to the dealership parking lot and park it in reverse in a charging stall where I plugged the car in after turning it off. Obviously, I could not start it again after that. I hope it stays that way until the technician can have a look tomorrow (hopefully).
I really hope it is not an electrical issue... even if the symptoms are leading to it. Those are the kind of issues that never really get cured. I will be left driving a Volt that could go full-on zombie at any moment.
FYI. The car has 24000 KM/12700 miles and is 13 months old on a 4-year lease.
Returned to the dealership this morning to drop the keys. The car was working fine again so it must have "reset itself" during the night. I also showed them pictures and video to the supervisor and manager. They were both surprised. They had never seen this before. They will try to drive the car while making plenty of use of the right turn signal to try to reproduce the issue. Fingers crossed.
Update:
Picked up the car from the dealership. Here is a copy of the diagnostic and actions:
SCAN TEST, MULTIPLE COMMUNICATION CODE IN ALL MODULE + NO COMM WITH SOME.
TRACE MAIN POWER + GROUND
REPOSITION CONNECTOR X1(BLU) AT X50D Fuse Block (NOT LOCK PROPERLY)
LABOR TIME: 0.5 XTIME 0.8
So far so good. A connector not properly locked can certainly cause something like this. I am curious what is an X1(BLU) connector in Fuse Block X50D for?
