First problem (12V battery dead)

[DonC]

As for if it was off when I stopped the car, yes. I actually hit the power button habitually to turn off the radio/nav/etc when parking the car and it stops at the Volt logo screen, which disappears when I open the driver's side door after powering off.

Just so we understand, you hit the main power button which turns everything off, right?

The choices seem to be: (1) console doesn't turn off so there are parasitic losses which deplete the battery; (2) something stays on after charging is complete which depletes the battery; or (3) battery is bad. Not every dead 12v has to have the same cause. We have a couple of reports of not being able to turn the console off but it may just be that your battery is bad. That may in fact be the case because usually the report is the Volt springs to life immediately while you're reporting a more labored process.

FYI the 12v does charge during charging.

Hope you get this sorted. Since we've gotten the electrics the ICE just sits and we end up with a dead battery fairly frequently. A complete PITA.

[wizkid057]

Just so we understand, you hit the main power button which turns everything off, right?

Both, actually. I turn the radio and nav off with the round power button on the center stack as a pull in the driveway usually. Then I park and hit the shiny blue button to power down the car.

FYI the 12v does charge during charging.

During charging, but, not after a full charge, as I've read many times on this forum.

Heading to the dealership in a few hours, so, we'll see what they say. I already know they're replacing the 12V battery, so, doubt they know more than we do at this point.

-wk

[DCFusor]

Has anyone had multiple failures like this on the same car yet? Seen a few dead 12v batteries - and it would have been soo easy to add a trickle charge to the big charger that ran even after the main charge is done it's a silly oversight IMO. But would a passive ammeter hack on the 12v system do anyone any good? Wouldn't be real hard to implement, as the wiring back there is really simple to stick a shunt and good ol moving coil meter into.

You know, it might not be that it ran down during being plugged in. It could be it's just failing to charge when it should - the symptom would be the same - eventual dead 12v battery. You might pay attention to the incandescent dome lights if you're not put in leds to see if they are getting dim...when they shouldn't be. Maybe a failure to charge when the car is on or the big battery is charging is the actual fault here. Until we tag and bag this one - we simply don't know.

[raj7]

I had this happen to my prius, my wife did not close the hatch back door and the light was on for over 48hrs and the battery died, but after I jump started it did drive fine. So I always lock the car when I leave to make sure all the lights are off and doors are locked properly

[wizkid057]

Well, just returned from the dealership with no CEL/MIL finally.

They replaced the 12V battery with a new one. The technician said that he tested the original 12V battery and it had a dead cell... this diagnosis is also reflected in the service/warranty work paperwork.

I won't really be able to test if this solved the issue any time soon, though, because I drive the car every single day and it never sits for more than 14 hours before being driven again. This past weekend was a rare exception. (Girlfriend's Prius-C gets better all-gas highway mileage than the Volt, so, we took her's.)

-wk

[dwl]

Did the tech say that he thought the dead cell might have caused this? Or just that there was a problem with the battery so it needed to be replaced anyway. And hopefully that was somehow a contributing factor.

[wizkid057]

Did the tech say that he thought the dead cell might have caused this? Or just that there was a problem with the battery so it needed to be replaced anyway. And hopefully that was somehow a contributing factor.

He said that the 12V battery being bad and flat lining over the weekend was the root cause of all of the issues/trouble codes. Basically the charging system had yet to be able to bring the 12V battery back up to a full charge, which was throwing some code with the electrical system and the few other issues were due to the under-voltage on the 12V system due to the dead cell.

We'll see I guess.

[dwl]

I'd buy that explanation. Doesn't sound like he was BSing you to me.

Good luck!

[wizkid057]

I'd buy that explanation. Doesn't sound like he was BSing you to me.

Good luck!

Yeah, I believe it. Just a quick note, while I think most of the dealer techs probably wouldn't know enough about the Volt on the service side of things to really diagnose an issue like this, I think that my dealership has the upper hand on this one. They were recently named the "Largest Volt dealer in the country"... and it's pretty obvious, as they have over a dozen Volt's on the lot.

Classic Chevrolet in Maple Shade, NJ (Moorestown, NJ)


(one section of Volts)


(My Volt in the foreground)

Not trying to advertise for them or anything, but, I just wanted to explain why I feel they know what they're doing.

Also, I know they've done the battery reinforcement work on dozens of Volt's. I've actually seen a different Volt in one of their service bays with the HV battery removed almost every time I've been there. Going to be having mine done next week probably.

-wk

[DonC]

It seems that you had a bad battery rather than something else. Love all those Volts! Thanks for the pics.

Has anyone had multiple failures like this on the same car yet?

I think the survey indicated one person but no details. One person said they had one failure and "caught" another -- the console hadn't turned off and they had to turn off their phone to get it to turn off.

Obviously until this is sorted it seems the wise course would be to follow the OP's practice and to turn off the console, and make sure it's off, before powering the car down. That won't help if it's a failure during charging but it will eliminate one possible source of the problem.