[jxlang]

Well here we are again the temp has dropped and my Volt turns to #### again. 2012 Volt and had this issue ever sense I bought it new, when it gets cold I have all kinds of electrical issues and chevy and the dealership never find the issue they just drag it out till it warms up again and everything works again. It will not charge again, and I know when I take it back in and repeat the issue again (when it is cold things (charging and other items) do not work. So they will park it in a heated garage and plug it in and call me back with the news nothing is wrong it works perfectly. And when the Volt group gets to working with the dealership again nothing changes.

All I have asked for from the time this was purchased is a vehicle that will run in the summer and winter, it is way to expensive for a car that is not reliable 3 months out of the year when I have to find other transportation as this one is not reliable for transporting children.

Have worked with the Volt group twice and two dealerships to no improvement. It left the dealership last winter after the last cold spell with "It is fixed and you will not have any more issues", they were right as long as it is not cold but the first cold snap and down it goes again.

I get bring it into the dealership Monday and we will look at it, as it will be warmer then I will get the tried and trusted response "it works great".

Chevy has lost 2 car sales over this so far (one was a one ton diesel dually pretty loaded) and will continue to miss sales opportunities until I feel they can take care of this and stand behind their products.

And I am not a troll, I have the records to prove what I said here.

 

[caronjeff]

Get a Volt advisor on the case, also insist that they change the on board charger. That may or may not be the issue, but it's a good place to start. Possibly also try a different dealer.

 

[Loboc]

Are there any other symptoms? Such as weirdness in the displays. I'm thinking 12v battery low voltage.

 

[WopOnTour]

Have an electrician come out and check your home mains supply for voltage, ground offsets, and stability.
The Volt's charging system typically either works or it doesnt.
Temperature shouldn't really affect things much.

What DTCs are they recording on your copies of the workorders?
WOT

 

[jxlang]

Have with multiple Volt advisor and they even have had engineers and or other with chevy working on this every winter. Even forced me to buy another charger (they covered 3 others as that is their fall back solution) even when it was good (I kept it and a friend used it for the last year).

This is the second dealer after the first one refused to work on it any more as I needed a loaner and they didn't want to give me one as they could never find the problem and would have the loaner for periods of time.

I can try to insist the change the on board charger but they like to make me pay for as much as they can and if I say to change it they will say i wanted it not the mechanic, been there before but will try again.

Thanks

 

[jxlang]

Yeas it throws different codes and onstar documents then when it goes in they get different codes and tell me onstar is worthless and not to even mess with them. It is a bunch of issues but all electrical and only when it gets cold.

 

[jxlang]

Have had a electrician look at it as I work for a electric coop have plenty of them around. All looks fine, at the house but the problem is everywhere when it is cold not just charging at home. It did not charge last night at the house or here at work today bu worked at the house 2 nights ago and couple of days ago here at work both places were warmer at the time.

Also charge here at work right next to another volt,
we can swap plugins his works mine doesn't,
we can swap chargers his works mine doesn't.

 

[Henry_FL]

Next time you have the "won't charge" issue, measure the AC voltage / HZ, I bet you will find its likely out side the acceptable voltage/hz window. Since your on a CO-OP it could be town/city wide as very few things that plug into the grid actually check the voltage and or frequency of the grid power. I would expect and over voltage if its cold relate.

 

[jxlang]

I don't mind doing that but let me reiterate this problem is not just one place I have had the issue in
Tulsa Ok,
Big Cabin Ok,
Vinita Ok,
Saint Louis Mo,
Peoria Il.
Chicago Il
and SpringField Mo.
All are different coops or electric companies.

Also stated in another response that the not charging is just one of the issues, I have had numerous engine codes or service codes while driving, but only when it is cold out side, once it warms up all the issues go way.

The only thing consistent is the cold temp.

What is the acceptable voltage/hz window?

 

[Loboc]

Also charge here at work right next to another volt,
we can swap plugins his works mine doesn't,
we can swap chargers his works mine doesn't.

Good information and diagnostic method.

Did the dealer check the plug socket? Heat/cold could affect a cracked/intermittent connection. Since you are having other electrical issues, though, it points to a more systemic issue. As this has been happening over the life of the car, it's probably not the 12v battery but some connection that is loose somewhere. Although it could be a bad 12v battery out of the box such as an internal short when it is cold.

I'm surprised you haven't gone the lemon law replacement route.

 

[jxlang]

Have talked about it but
4 repair attempts same issue or 45 days out of service in express warranty period or 1 year whichever occurs first.
Not charging and 3 different engine codes are 4 different issues, they don't look at the issues only occur when it is cold to make it one issue that they can't fix.
Also when it warms up the problems goes away so the time limit is against me.
So we were told it would be a long uphill battle.

The volt adviser (from what they said) tried to get the dealer to do something but could not force them and that the dealer was not interested in resolving it and even told the volt adviser to have me go to another dealer as they were tired of working on it. When I went to the area manager I received a apology from them and then a call from the dealership apologizing and asking me to bring the car back in, but would you go back and this was the dealer that the car was purchased from in Claremore Ok.

 

[2VoltFamily]

Have they replaced the charge port? That is a known issue.

 

[BillG]

Guys, if you look at Mr. Lang's other posts, you will see that this is the 4th winter he has been dealing with this issue! I don't have that high a pain threshold. I would have dumped this car, one way or another, long ago.

 

[jxlang]

Yes, I thought we were going to get rid of it last winter when the last volt adviser got involved and went to the dealer but that went no were other then "We can't force the dealer to do anything about it even though we know it is a problem." and "We can't do anything really it is chevy that needs to step up and fix this.".

Also resale and trade in is really bad on these from what I have seen from looking around at replacing it, so I have to live with it until I am in a little better spot or they step up and fix it or offer another solution.

 

[Henry_FL]

I don't mind doing that but let me reiterate this problem is not just one place I have had the issue in
Tulsa Ok,
Big Cabin Ok,
Vinita Ok,
Saint Louis Mo,
Peoria Il.
Chicago Il
and SpringField Mo.
All are different coops or electric companies.

Also stated in another response that the not charging is just one of the issues, I have had numerous engine codes or service codes while driving, but only when it is cold out side, once it warms up all the issues go way.

The only thing consistent is the cold temp.

What is the acceptable voltage/hz window?

I see, then it needs to be looked at in the failure condition, I would have it parked overnight outdoors in the cold, and then try to charge, assuming its then not working, a tech can track down why ( outside of course ). Intermittent issues are the worst to get fix, takes the application of logic to find the true issue

 

[jxlang]

Yes but they will not store out in the cold so it is warm when they look at it. Or when I take it in in a failed condition they can't look at it then I need to make a appointment and bring it back.

I work with computers and you have to be able to reproduce the issue or how do you know you fixed something.

From what I have seen neither the company or the dealers are real worried about fixing a hard issue as they have plenty of easy repairs to stay busy and hell they already sold you the car so they already made money there. And car sales have been good so one unhappy customer is not going to hurt either chevy or the dealership. And he works so he doesn't have the time to stand out front and hold a sign saying the car is bad, so how much pain is there by blowing of a customer here and there.

 

[wclark57]

Trying to think outside the box a bit, and being unfit for that job, let me try to add to this. Presumably you are charging it outside or perhaps sometimes in an unheated garage, and presumably you've kept a log of temps so that you can say that it won't charge below a certain temperature. And presumably you've communicated all this to the dealer(s) and they are just not willing to say that they don't know the answer--which is why they park it in an heated workshop and charge it in direct contravention of the stated problem. Also presumably someone is keeping track of all the codes and is reviewing them for a common thread--no matter how small.

What I think I know is that temperature extremes can move electrical contacts so that they no longer contact, and the 12 volt battery not providing sufficient power to the beast can cause weird non-specific (or random-like) behavior. Anyone know of a safe way to heat the 12 volt battery to see if that changes anything--other than temperature of course? I had in mind a good hair blower or heat gun, but I'm not sure that's safe. Perhaps a heating blanket over the driver's side fender to warm-up the devices under there? If we could identify the areas and the means to isolate and heat them up, we might be able to find the general area for the dealer to look.

 

[caronjeff]

My own charging issue was resolved with changing the onboard charger. And I suspect relay contacts in the charger to be a primary cause suspect. In my case the Volt would charge fine with the 120V EVSE but kept faulting out with the 240V L2 charger. My dealer ( Cole-Krum in Schoolcraft Mi, one of the best) started by changing the charge port. That didn't help so they moved on to the onboard charger. Problem solved. No cost to me all warranty and I was provided a loaner car.
Of course they should fix this on warranty, sit with the service manager and have him read through this thread!

 

[voganni]

I think it's time to find another dealer. Make a video of it in failure mode, showing the OAT on the car's screen and the failure to charge. Jeez, all a tech has to do is verify there is AC voltage present at the charger, and no DC voltage is going out. Even in the cold it shouldn't take more than a half hour.
My Leaf had an issue of the 12v battery running dead due to an intermittent vampire drain. Once it started it wouldn't stop until the battery was disconnected, then it would reset and be OK for a while. I finally bought a DC clamp ammeter (had been wanting one for awhile anyway so it was a good excuse), waited for it to be in "vampire" mode, and took it to the dealer and showed the service manager the nearly 1 amp drain. They never found the problem, but at least they admitted there was one. It was a lease. Gave it back early and got my Volt. Never looked back. Good luck!

 

[maczr1]

Has the 12 volt battery been replaced?