Anyone else had this issue. A couple of days ago after unplugging my 120V charger during a rainstorm with the bottom of the charger in about half an inch of water, my check engine light came on. I guess I would almost be more surprised if it didn't throw a code under those circumstances! I called OnStar and they said there were two codes, one improper charger operation and the other improper charging system operation. (Or something similar) They said one code called for service within seven days and the other "when convenient."

That night my Volt charged properly with my 240V charger at home and the 120V charger that came with the vehicle worked fine the next day. My current plan of action is to simply wait and see if the code doesn't clear after a few days, if not, then take it in.

Just wondering if others have experienced anything similar and what the outcome was. TIA

Sounds like you had quite the significant rain event. I think we've had folks with charging/check engine light issues -- sometimes after charging in ways and in places they don't normally charge -- but I don't remember this type of situation specifically. In most cases the codes never reappeared, which doesn't mean of course that you shouldn't take it to your dealer.

Let the car cycle through a couple full charges. The light may go away. If not, to the dealer you go. Also, the charger should be hung three feet off the ground. It's not meant to be submerged.

.... It's not meant to be submerged.....

Hah! Yes, I would guess it wasn't meant to be submerged! I had it sitting on a about a 1" piece of rubber standing upright, but I hadn't realized I was in a low spot. This is all temporary until my employer has installed a 240V charger which they have promised to do....

Hah! Yes, I would guess it wasn't meant to be submerged! I had it sitting on a about a 1" piece of rubber standing upright, but I hadn't realized I was in a low spot. This is all temporary until my employer has installed a 240V charger which they have promised. to do....Overall probably an impressive story for the safety of these devices.

We have seen put put a notch in one of these boxes for the cord to go through for protection from the elements.

http://the-storage-solutions.com/images/under%20bed%20clear%20plastic%20box.jpg

Great idea! I think I will do that pending the installation of my charging station....

Just for the record..... sure enough, the CEL cleared after a few charge cycles. I don't guess I will bother even taking it in at this point. Pretty sure I know what happened and why!

Also for the record, I received a Check Engine Light (CEL) after charging in the rain. This is with the 120v charger and it was plugged into a weathertight receptacle in my driveway. No extension cord was used and the charger was off well off the ground dangling from the outlet. When I put the charger away upon leaving, water leaked out of the charger. Quite a lot too, so I was pretty certain it had gotten into the charger unit as even dangling horizontally, it didn't seem it could hold that much water. The car did have a full charge at 6:30am though and seeing as it didn't finish until about 5:45am and the rain was from 1am - 3:30am it wasn't an instant problem. There was clearly rain inside the charger as the plastic covers to the lights which had been facing downward had water under them.

Got to work and I plugged in and got two flashing red lights on the charger (ground fault, should have unplugged it but didn't know). Then I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in. It reset green and I got one chirp off the car. CIS and chirp indicated it was charging. 9 hours later it did have 6 miles on the battery (I get to work with about 1-8 miles on the battery), but the CIS was amber indicating there was no charge occuring.

CEL was on as soon as I started the car. OnStar reported three codes after a diagnostic, but I can only remember that one was for the electronic propulsion system, and two were related to charger fault codes. One was "service in 1 day" and one was "service in 7 days", the last was "service when convenient".

I got the car to charge with no problem when I came home, but on Saturday I talked to my Volt Advisor (thank you GM, I love these people!!) and they set up an appointment and convinced me to take it in for service. Tech reported that indeed the charger had gotten thoroughly wet on the inside. I asked him simply... "Is this unit supposed to be weathertight?" to which he responded "yes, it is. It's definitely faulty and we are getting you a new one from GM."

So I left the car with them in case they want to do more trouble shooting and playing around with the car some more. I don't think it's a big deal, though I wish the 120v charger was made a bit tighter. What I am pleased with is that though the unit got water in it, the end result appears to be a nominal problem. At that current for charging, the general perception by untrained people like myself would be that there would be a catastrophic problem. At least this is not the case.

Anyway, I didn't want to hijack a thread, but I figured rather than start a new post the best thing would be to put my story here for reference by other users who may experience similar issues. As I get the car back and a new 120v charger (and my 240v should be installed by next week) and put some more miles on it, I'll post an update here to close the loop. Cheers!

So I left the car with them in case they want to do more trouble shooting and playing around with the car some more. I don't think it's a big deal, though I wish the 120v charger was made a bit tighter. What I am pleased with is that though the unit got water in it, the end result appears to be a nominal problem. At that current for charging, the general perception by untrained people like myself would be that there would be a catastrophic problem. At least this is not the case.


This is what i see as a problem, these type of things should be available on the information console and not as a blanket CEL, CEL's have always freaked people out

This is what i see as a problem, these type of things should be available on the information console and not as a blanket CEL, CEL's have always freaked people out
I completely agree. The CEL has become a bucket for manufacturers to dump error codes into that range from really serious (aka - OMG! race to the dealer!) and totally not serious (aka - cool! I'll set up an appointment in a couple of weeks during that blank space on my calendar).

I don't like that. I used to have a couple of cars where the CEL would come on if the gas cap didn't get closed tightly enough. And I worked in NJ at the time where they pump your gas for you and hardly ever put the gas cap back on correctly. Actually they twice broke the gas door off on my Saturn in the winter. Different story though.:p I used to live with that CEL light on, so how is that helpful to anyone?

I have a similar problem with my Volt. I have an outdoor 240 volt Coloumb charger, and I plugged my car in at night when I got home and it started charging just fine. It gets foggy and damp where I am, so there was a good amount of moisture in the air over night. When I hopped in the Volt to go to work the next day, the battery wasn't fully charged... it was at something like 25 miles range. I thought that was strange, but didn't think too much about it. The next day, plugged it in, and we had rain. Same thing... it charged to about 20 miles of range and then stopped. I plugged it in third night, and watched when it was around that 20 mile range area... the Charging station indicates that the car was either fully charged or paused the charging process. The car displayed the message that "Unable to Charge" (or something like that... not sure of the exact wording). I unplugged and replugged, the yellow light came on, then it would shut off... no green light. Very disappointing. I even waited a while, it won't charge past around that 20 mile mark. Makes me fear I have a defective battery.

Other than this charging issue, i love the car. I'm hoping it's a quick fix. Thank goodness it has that gas engine, too.

@ dbro,

See if you can charge it with the 120v cord. If the same issue or message comes up, I would definitely take your Volt in for the dealer to inspect.

You most definitely got some water inside your charger. Make sure you get it dried out. Hopefully there is no permanent damage to it.