A few issues with the ICE

[ChrissieMeas]

I've had my Volt for 9 months now, and recently I've noticed a few new things with it (mostly because of the winter driving and increased ICE usage).

1. One day I noticed a slightly louder noise coming from the ICE when I pressed on the accelerator harder. It reminded me of the ole days when I was a student and had a busted car with a hole in the muffler. It only happened one day, and hasn't occurred since.

2. The oil life is stuck at 77%. I just browsed through my monthly emails and noticed in October it was at 78%, went to 77% in November, and has been stuck there since (I have driven 1174 gas miles since October).

Anyone else experience either of these issues? I am planning to take it in for an oil change soon as it also needs a tire rotation and the new battery mods.

[DonC]

Oil life seems off. It has a shelf life of 24 months, which is about 62%. I can see how it might not move for a month or two depending on how often the engine came on -- if the engine wasn't running it would just be time -- but after 9 months the remaining life seems too great.

No idea about the engine. Haven't experienced anything like this though I don't run the engine very often.

[Bob_Livonia]

I assume you were in D and the vehicle was moving, even at a low speed. The engine does run at various speeds to maintain charge, sometimes faster at lowervehicle speeds than you are used to.

The engine oil life algorithm takes into account cold starts and how long the engine has run. I am at almost 25,000 miles (over 10 months) and I have 31% EOL left. Extrapolating from my EOL reading, you should have 94% oil life left, but it doesn't work that way. Long trips like I take are less stressful on oil than short running times where the oil doesn't get warm enough to evaporate any moisture. It looks like you will make it to the 2 years before you need an oil change (unless you want to throw away good money as well as good oil that must be recycled back into the ecosystem), so if I were you, I would just chill out and not worry about it.

Exhaust leaks don't tend to be intermittent, but it is possible, so if you are concerned, I would recommend you take it to your friendly Chevy dealer to have it checked out.

[MrEnergyCzar]

I have 97% oil life after 5,000 miles... 220 miles using the ICE.... most Volt owners will change the oil well before it gets to the 10% oil life level or after 24 months to be safe...

MrEnergyCzar

[Jeff N]

I'm at 18,000 total miles over 14 months with about 7,000 of those on gasoline. My oil life remaining is 65% and has been stuck there for awhile. The vast majority of those gas miles are on the highway for at least 15 miles per trip segment. About half of them were added during two extended road trips with long highway driving segments.

[mtndrew1]

The noise is likely a mis-routed A/C line. My Volt did this for a while and the dealer quickly corrected it; apparently it's a common issue. Made a nasty buzzing sound upon acceleration, particularly from a dead stop.

[Frankman]

I've had my Volt for 9 months now, and recently I've noticed a few new things with it (mostly because of the winter driving and increased ICE usage).

1. One day I noticed a slightly louder noise coming from the ICE when I pressed on the accelerator harder. It reminded me of the ole days when I was a student and had a busted car with a hole in the muffler. It only happened one day, and hasn't occurred since.

2. The oil life is stuck at 77%. I just browsed through my monthly emails and noticed in October it was at 78%, went to 77% in November, and has been stuck there since (I have driven 1174 gas miles since October).

Anyone else experience either of these issues? I am planning to take it in for an oil change soon as it also needs a tire rotation and the new battery mods.

I remember reading a post where an owner graphed the remaining oil life percentage over time and he noticed that after his 2011 Volt received the "big" software update late last year the oil life percentage halted its steady decline. I don't recall how much the engine was used on his vehicle but I believe he said he mainly used electricity to drive. However, 1174 gas miles representing 1 percent of oil degradation seems too low to me. It seems that 1174 miles of engine use would represent more than 1 percent.

Did you get the software update? If so, I am wondering if the change in the remaining oil life percentage was an unintended change in the software update? My 2011 Volt has not yet received the software update and 99% of the miles driven over the past year are using electricity (CD). The remaining oil life percentage steadly declines in my Volt on track with 0% left at 24 months.

[ChrissieMeas]

Frankman,

We had the software update sometime last summer, so a month or two before the stopped decline in the oil life. Most of the miles drivien were electric, though. Day to day I am almost 100% electric, and only when I go on a road trip do I run on gasoline. I think I am going to try to reset it and just remember to take it in early for its oil change, see if that will "unstick" the oil life. If it doesn't start moving after that I believe it is time to go see the dealer.

[ChrissieMeas]

Update to my issue: I took my Volt in for the battery updgrades (actually my hubby was nice enough to do it) and he mentioned the oil life issue. They went ahead and changed the oil and charged us for it (we have had the car for only a year), then said if we never run the ICE the oil life should never decline. My husband said he now knows how most women feel dealing with servicing their vehicles because the service guy was talking down to him and explaining "how the car works". Considering we were one of the first to buy a Volt and the dealer told us "you know more about this car than I do" it is rather insulting.

I will be calling my Volt consultant soon and expecting some explanation and an apology from a certain dealer...

[Chevrolet Customer Svc]

@ ChrissieMeas,

We are very sorry to hear this and do want to apologize for your experience at the dealer. I will definitely notify the advisor in charge of the Delaware region and will handle this from our end.