Volt Not Charging after 1500 miles on the Odometer

[Andrew00]

Don't worry. I had a similar issue with my Volt. I know while I was at the dealership a mechanic ran through and grabbed the charger out of their Volt. They have a 220 on their wall, I'm not sure if they tried using it. My car was cutting off the charge half way and giving me an error text message. It of course also triggered a few codes.

In the end it seemed to be water issue. The Volt was seeing an incorrect Voltage and when that happens, even a slight difference and it shuts down and says "nope." lol

So in the end, they dried it out and applied a lubricant to the rubber on the charge port door. I tried to tell them that was likely not a fix because I was parking it outside. (Had work done in the garage) and the rain probably came in during that time. Due to the angles of the plug going into the car, perhaps that wasn't the issue. It never happened again. So I guess the water damage could have happened when there was no plug in the socket and the charge door was closed, but perhaps not sealed. Annoying, but in the end not a huge deal.

I really hope your issue is resolved promptly. Perhaps try making sure it's very dry in the plug area. Maybe hold a blow dryer near it, on low and at a safe distance. Of course if they weren't able to do this and reset the code and get it to charge, you may not get it to charge anyway. I don't know the exact details of how that works. For the record, I do know that you can unhook the 12v battery for a little while in an attempt to reset things. If it has codes though and they don't have them saved you might call onstar and ask them to save the diagnostics report so your dealer can have access to that in the future. Just brainstorming here.

Thanks for the input. Shaved head though, no hair-dryer BUT I do have a heat gun, which is kinda like a hair dryer on steroids. I may try that on the 'low' setting at a respectable distance on the charge port. We've had a couple of warm days and I did have hope that if it was a 'water' issue that it might have dried out, but no joy there.

Going to give the Volt Advisor(s) another call today to see IF anything is going on at the dealership. If I don't get an idea that something is going to happen in the next couple of days or they give me SOMETHING definitive(yes we ordered parts, but they won't be in until xxx because they're being shipped by oxcart from Mongolia and crossing the Pacific is tough that way), I'm going to ask if there's a dealership within 50 miles of me that has worked on this issue(successfully).

Again thanks. ("B'Elanna is the only one I know who tried to kill her animal guide")

[Andrew00]

I spoke with a Volt Advisor(Kevin) just now. He took a lot more information after asking many more questions and said he was going to call around looking for a dealer with more experience in this(paraphrasing). That's much better than when I spoke with another advisor last week who just called the dealership I tried(where I bought the Volt from) who just called them and called me back and told me the same things they already told me(no clue, recalls, waiting for parts for recalls, drive on gas).

UPDATE:

Just spoke with Kevin again, first thing he told me was that the dealer had not conveyed everything to me. They did not tell me that GM tech support had advised them to replace the charge port. They did order a replacement charge port and have it now as well as the battery enhancement.

[bjhorton2005]

Ah good news! They had said that and the wiring to the charger (inside the front bumper area) were the next steps. I think a new charge port will be the right solution. I was wondering how they weren't fixing it. When complicated things arise you are honestly dealing with the same people no matter where you are in the country. They call in and speak to the Tech Support or as my dealer called it the "engineers." So, the dealer shouldn't matter as much, because it all kind of gets called into home base. They literally set up a speaker phone or something and keep in communication through some of it.

LOVE the Chakotay reference by the way!

[Andrew00]

I just spoke to the dealership. Monday(5/7/2012) is when they'll work on it. That's when the Volt Tech and a rental will be available. That's 11 Days from the time that I first brought it in to something concrete getting done. Not happy about that. This of course assumes that the job gets done properly. The dealer or GM is paying for the rental. I'm not taking the car back until it's accepting charges.


Friday after that(May 11) the CT500 charging station is supposed to go in.


I may use the time to video document the dash lights and charger behavior, some other poor sap may find that useful.

[Sharkonwheels]

Good news, at least. Hope that good streak continues for you, and that you're driving your Volt again ASAP!

[Andrew00]

Well it's FINALLY at the dealership and they say it will be a couple of days. It will have to be charged up before I take it back. If they haven't, we're waiting until there's at least 6 miles of charge on it before I do(45-50 minutes on a 240V charger). I don't want them to do the battery update, cluck at it a few times, declare victory and hand it back to me.

To add to the comedy of this affair, the rental they hooked me up with is a pick-up truck. They almost handed me a Nissan Altima but then the rental agent said, "Wait, is this a GM warranty thing?" to which I said, "Yes." "sorry, we have to give you a GM product and the only ones we have left are a pickup truck or a SUV that's even bigger."

[DonC]

A pickup truck? I think I would have gone with the SUV. That's so funny though you're probably not laughing. Maybe in time?

[Andrew00]

In retrospect the SUV might have been better. This thing has the turning radius of an Aircraft Carrier, noisy, doesn't accelerate so much as 'lurch', feels like the windshield is right in my face and I have a sudden craving for a gunrack. But hey, if I have a couch that needs moving, I'm ready.

I wonder if it's deliberate. I'll be so happy to get a quiet, smooth Volt back. IF it's taking charges again.

[Andrew00]

Day #2 at the Dealership. They just got a call saying it's "almost ready" but it's not going to be ready until tomorrow. 11 Days 'Just driving around on gas" followed by 3 days(and counting) of driving around a truck.

[Andrew00]

Day #3 at the Dealership. I just got this message in my email/textmsg:

Your 2012 Chevrolet Volt is not charging due to an interruption. Please check your vehicle. Possible causes are: vehicle has been unplugged or loss of power to outlet. To learn more about your charge mode settings, visit myvolt.com. To disable these alerts, change your notification settings on the OnStar MyLink Mobile App. For further assistance, call 877-4VOLTINFO

The message that I typically get when this issue is 'in effect' that it's stopped charging. This means one of two things:'

1) They're finally LOOKING at this issue(after 3 days, correction after 2 full days going into day #3)
2) They THINK they're done and have just plugged it in.

We'll see