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No electric heat yesterday, 3 start cycles, but fine today

77K views 158 replies 65 participants last post by  Bugstrider 
#1 ·
Yesterday was a very rainy day, and after I drove around in the rain in the morning, I left for the store in the afternoon. I was plugged in and at 80% charge. When I got in the Volt it was 38 degrees outside, and I drove 6 miles and 10 minutes and the HVAC was blowing frigged cold air. I was watching the heater squiggle on the climate display, and they would blink on for a second every minute, then shut off.

I tried setting the temp to max, tried comfort and ECO and Fan Only, I tried manually adjusting the blower speed and vent position - nothing. I couldn't get any heat. Finally, I turned on HOLD mode and within a minute had warm air.

This morning, as I was prepping to take the car to the dealer - it was working perfectly fine. Prestarted the car, toasty warm when I got in, and stayed nice and warm the whole drive in to work. squiggle indicator cycling as expected.

Anybody had this happen to them? The only thing I can think of is the heater pack got wet and was malfuntioning, but dried out and started working again? How do I convince the dealer something is wrong now that it appears to be working correctly?

~jdb
 
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#148 ·
OK, so after a month of delays I dropped the Volt off for the 3rd time.

They called me a few hours later and it was ready to pick up. Tested the heater this morning and it works like it should now. Happy camper.

I feel that I must comment about how tough it was to get the work actually done. Waiting for parts was understandable, but the next few weeks were waiting for high voltage gloves to be certified. I'm not really understanding that part or how it would relate to the heater control module. I thought that pulling the orange plug between the seats shut off all high voltage systems powered by the battery??

It certainly seems like the dealers are having a difficult time stepping out of their "norm" and embracing the change that cars like the Volt represent.
 
#149 ·
This is a very long tread and I don't think I'll wade through it. So I don't know if the common 2013 heater problem has been discussed already. Many of the 2013's had a heater problem. Mine would rarely blow out heat but mostly it was just lots of cold air. No drive mode or heater mode seemed to have any effect on whether it worked or not. It seemed rare and random. They had to replace a part which I think they called the heater core. Since then it has worked fine. I keep the climate on auto and mode on comfort. I don't have any specific complaints. Car heaters can always be better. The heater is mostly controlled by software except for a few things you can control yourself like temperature. It seems they're constantly tweeking the software.
 
#150 ·
I may as well join the chorus. No heat but intermittent in my early MY 2013. I have not had the PIC applied nor a heater control module replacement. This will have to be done on my dime - or I can buy an extended warranty for my 37500 mile used Volt for $1395 (5 year, 35000 mile (it won't see many miles), no deductible). I imagine that with other minor issues that come up, like the charge door latch issue, that I will probably break even buying the warranty. Anybody know the price of the heater control module plus installation? The software update will run about $60.
 
#151 ·
I may as well join the chorus. No heat but intermittent in my early MY 2013. I have not had the PIC applied nor a heater control module replacement. This will have to be done on my dime - or I can buy an extended warranty for my 37500 mile used Volt for $1395 (5 year, 35000 mile (it won't see many miles), no deductible). I imagine that with other minor issues that come up, like the charge door latch issue, that I will probably break even buying the warranty. Anybody know the price of the heater control module plus installation? The software update will run about $60.
Contact the Volt advisor...since this has been identified as a problem since 2013...if your vehicle did NOT have the software update, you might ask why you shouldn't be able to get it now for free...since it probably was an intermittent problem for the previous owner...
 
#153 ·
Same here...no heat all of a sudden. Going to review this thread. Already checked coolant levels. I did a 12Volt reset, but not for the five minutes that was suggested elsewhere, so I'll try again. I had trouble getting the connector off of the top of the battery. I'll do a deeper dive on that this afternoon. I've got Torque with OBDII but I'm not sure if there are any parameters in there that would be informative. Otherwise, it's to the dealer I go.
 
#159 · (Edited)
Hi everyone,

I guess I now get to enjoy being part of this group of “no heaters”.

Four days ago I got to experience the heat failure in EV mode. At least it was 42 degrees in a driving rain storm so humidity levels were sky high with foggy windows to boot.

It actually started a hour earlier when I left work. At that point, it had not started raining yet. However, when I was getting the car out of our work hangar, I activated the “pre-conditioning” mode which I did note as sounding “odd”.

I am familiar with the sounds the car makes. In this settings, all sorts of electronic wizardry takes place as the pixy-dust and magic happens while the computer does it thing running the components. It began making a very strange “gurgling”(scientific definition) sound from the right front of the engine/bumper area when I decided to pop the hood and take a look. The moment I raised the hood the 1” to access the latch, everything stopped. Now I haven’t researched the system enough to determine if there is a safety cutoff of the pre-heat process if the hood is raised, although the entire system shut-down when this was done. This was at around 4 minutes into the 10 minute cycle. So I closed the hood and headed home.

My first leg of the commute was at freeway speeds and I kick over to “hold” and kick on the heat. I did not detect any heating issues in this mode which I understand will be normal in the “no heat in EV mode” problem. 40 miles later I roll into a gas station to top the tank for the wife’s commute the following few days. Even in “hold” mode, the car switches to battery when speeds are low and in traffic. When I pulled into the station, freezing air was blowing inside the cabin. I honestly didn’t think anything of it before shutting down for fuel. During this time, rain started as I waited to fill up and during as well. Add several open door moments and lots o moisture in the air, equals plenty of fogging inside the Volt. When I pulled out to head up the hill, another 35 miles, I really noticed the cold air and cold air blowing through the defroster as well, which compounded the fogging issue. Once I entered the freeway, I kicked back over to “hold” and got the heat back. Now realizing there is a possible issue, I toggled between normal and hold for the trip home. Each time, I reached down to feel the air temp coming from the lower blower only to feel the temp wax and wain from hot to cold with each driving mode change. Since we have owned the car, there have been a couple of times that the interior did not warm up on cold mornings when I activated the “pre-conditioning” while still jacked into the home power. I assumed this was due to me not setting the temp properly. I guess this was an indication of things to come. No error or warnings popped up on the dash or via OnStar either. The wife reported only warm air while in “hold” and at freeway speeds. The next day I used the car for my commute, I closely monitored the issue and took notes.

Pre-conditioning mode, no heat but all fans and servos running.

Interior reading, only cold air being pushed out.


Another thing I noticed which I am unsure if it is related, the difference between the front windshield defroster button and auto. When I touch the front defroster, the fan comes on very low, but if I first hit the defrost button, then kick the climate to “auto” then back to defroster only, it becomes a windstorm from the defroster vents. Can someone chime in if this is normal.

We purchased the 2015 Volt in December from a dealer with an extended warranty(glad we did). I have since discovered that it is out of the 36 month bumper to bumper warranty based upon the “in service” date. I have an appointment at a Chevy dealer Monday. In speaking with the advisor, they are aware of this issue and have a few things to look into as to the cause. Since I am not getting any type of an obvious error code or system message, does this mean I am in for a battle to get this fixed. Or are there any suggestions anyone has before we go to the dealer to get this addressed?

Thanks


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