My biggest gripe: Check Engine Light and Charging errors

[tboult]

I've got the Check Engine Light on right now. The dealership cleared it, but said they don't see any issue from the car...and the light came back on a few hours after I left the dealership. The technician did mention GM knows that the CEL will sometimes come on and they don't know why, or how to fix it but are working on a solution.

For me, the issue is that the car is clearly operating less efficiently on electric. I went 1.1 miles and used almost 1 KW, despite that I'm consistently getting around 44 miles on my range. There was nothing unusual about my driving or the weather, so something is up.

Whenever you get a CEL.. hit the blue onstar button and get them to read the codes to you. People here can tell you what they meann.


If you are getting 44miles of of the car you are not using 1kw per 1.1miles on average. Its possible to use a lot more when you first start out, if its hot and the car decideds it needs TMS to cool the battery it may draw some power..
Then again if the 1.1miles is sitting in manhattan/tunnel traffic doing .1mph with comfort blasting, then the next 40 is cruising the parkway at 55mphs you might still average 44..

[Henry_FL]

The technician did mention GM knows that the CEL will sometimes come on and they don't know why, or how to fix it but are working on a solution.

Press the onStar button request the codes and post them here, you'll get an answer to what they mean

The Technician is just saying something to get you to leave ... its really a shame GM can't fire dealerships, its there weakest link for sure

[drbruns]

When my CEL came on, I called OnStar and they told me they showed three codes, all related to charging. Since I had had just been doing some 110v charging experiments and had issues, both myself and OnStar concluded that since I was not having any 240v charging issues, it was probably Ok and the CEL would likely clear on its own in a day or so (which it did, as well as for others here who reported similar issues).

However, if you call OnStar and get codes showing that are not charging related, it is a different ballgame.

Let us know what your codes are and what your final resolution is.

[MadOverlorrd]

I have had repeated CEL's in the 10 months I've had my Volt (4 or 5 of them). My Volt never stopped working properly, it just kept popping the CEL every couple of months for random reasons. After the most recent one, the Volt was at the dealer for 2 weeks (!!!) while they debugged the problem. They ended up basically replacing the entire front of the battery pack.

Apparently one common issue is with the battery heater. When you plug in the Volt, one of the things it does is quickly test the heating element (which is a high-voltage device). Unfortunately, some of them get stressed by this and start to fail, and the Volt thinks there may be a danger of a high voltage short to the chassis.

[focher]

I call OnStar and they transferred me to the Volt specialist to review the codes. But none of them actually told dealer what the problem was so they cleared the codes but the condition came back. Now my charging system error indicator is on and I need to get back to the dealership today.

[tboult]

I call OnStar and they transferred me to the Volt specialist to review the codes. But none of them actually told dealer what the problem was so they cleared the codes but the condition came back. Now my charging system error indicator is on and I need to get back to the dealership today.

If you get them to tell you the codes and write them down (or record the call on a smartphone), we can tell you what they mean.. Some of the "charging" ones are really not a need to go to the dealer.

[sipNgas]

I've had my Volt for under 30 days and have had 5 CEL issues, after which they won't reset and the the car won't charge on 220v. These all seem to be related to ChargePoint America stations (the only ones available). Every time I bring it back to the dealer they call GM engineering who in turn tells me it's the charging station and not the car. BUT, I have several other Volt owners that charge at the same stations and they have had NO issues with the same chargers. I'm thankful for the dealership as they've been great through the whole thing. Gas reimbursement, getting me right in to service, etc.

I haven't even made my first car payment yet and I'm frustrated as heck!! I love the dang car but this is getting ridiculous.

[BiCoastally Charged]

My CEL went on after 350 miles of gas free driving. Charged up only on 110 charger. OnStar told me that the codes tripped were P1E00 and POD3F, both of which are charging/battery issues but neither of which is urgent. Anybody out there know anything about either of these codes?

2012 Chevrolet Volt
2012 Fisker Karma

[DonC]

Nothing to worry about. Your car didn't like the charge. They should clear after you charge a few times. If you do a search on those codes you'll find many posts discussing the issue.

[BiCoastally Charged]

Nothing to worry about. Your car didn't like the charge. They should clear after you charge a few times. If you do a search on those codes you'll find many posts discussing the issue.

Thanks so much Don!